[MUD-Dev] Interesting EQ rant (very long quote)

[John Buehler]

Ananda Dawnsinger writes:

> The thing is, the "grief player" phenomenon is by no means unique to
> GoP MUDs.  You find 'em in MUSHes and MOOs.  You find 'em in
> talkers.  You find 'em in graphical chat services like the Palace.
> You find 'em in IRC.  You find 'em on Usenet and message boards.
> Long before the 'Net was opened up to commercial traffic, you could
> find 'em in places like CompuServe, GEnie, and QuantumLink.

Yes, I *know*.  I've been doing network stuff since 1983 and I've
*seen* it.  Now please stop citing examples and speak to the topic:
why do grief players do what they do and can they be actively
dissuaded?  Sneakily dissuaded?  Stopped outright?  Does it take
elimination of anonymity?  Some clever application of psychology?  A
cultural change?  Ignore the fact that you don't believe any of these
things can happen.  Speculate.  Please.

> If grief playing were a MUD phenomenon, or even a gaming phenomenon,
> there might well be compelling reason to believe that there's a
> solution that nobody's found yet.  It's not.  "Grief players" are a
> feature of online communities and groups in general.  Actually,
> they're a component of all communities and groups -- it's just that
> restraining orders don't work too well online.

Why, and what has to change to address it?

JB


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