This was my first live experience with a griefer and it brought many thoughts to mind about the act of griefing.
- Is it really disruptive if the technology does not get shut down? The griefing made it dizzying and unpleasant to be in the NPC sim, but I was still able to talk to avatars. I got bumped around a bit, but it was a little like trying to have a conversation in a hailstorm or a typhoon. The rain though, in this case was hundreds of little square teenage mutant ninja turtle posters. There was also a deafening scream, but I just muted my computer.
- It became a spectator sport. Avatars whom I rarely see showed up, as if it were a show of fireworks on the fourth of July.
- It was a mass attack on dozens of sims
- Coughran Mayo IMed the griefer who designed the attack and he said he did it because he was sick and tired of being spammed with Second Life emails. When Coughran asked him to stop, he said he was not done playing yet. Then his avatar disappeared off the fact of the grid. I searched for the griefer and he was gone.
- I was wondering if this was the work of a Goon or a Goon-in-training. At SLCC I learned about the goons who are an elite group of griefers who only accept members after proving themselves for at least three months. The act of greifing becomes a sort of activst protest for them.
We are working towards reconciling this attack. Master Quatro is on the case. It seems too simplistic to just question why people want to be greifers. It seems more apt to wonder why more people are not griefers, and frankly, I am worried about that.
It does also give me pause to think about how vulnerable SL is to hacks, though.
Written by: Glitteractica_Cookie