[MUD-Dev] DGN: Random questions about griefers

[Tess Snider]

On 8/20/05, Peter Harkins <ph at malaprop.org> wrote:

> The percentage that come back in the same or different guise is
> basically 100%. They want to make the admins angry, so every time
> they get kicked Pavlov's bell rings and they're a little bit
> happier.

Contrary to all expectation, there is a tiny, tiny percentage of
banned griefers who come back quietly, secretly and never cause
trouble again.  I have seen this happen before, myself, and as I
recall, it was also suspected of the griefer in "A Rape in
Cyberspace."  I don't know whether it's because they've grown up, if
they've finished their social-experiment-run-amok, if they've
realized that they actually miss all of the people they were driving
nuts, or what, but it happens, oddly enough.

I have never found a reliable way to block griefers for good.  Every
technique has its own flaws.  Short of requiring people to buy
thumbprint scanners (a technique which can also, in theory, be
gamed), you're always going to have trouble keeping past griefers
from coming back.

Games with good social networks tend to recognize abuse patterns and
identify recidivist troublemakers very quickly, but larger games
have a harder time with this.  Nonetheless, even on a game the size
of WoW, I've seen players do a fantastic job of tracking so-called
"ninja looters," even across name changes and server changes.

Tess
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