Mean People are a Core Demographic
(or, one more reason why griefing will never go away)
It seems like there’s always at least one ongoing discussion of griefing. Why? Because it sucks for the griefee. That’s why it’s called griefing! And it seems like the real question is: what kind of person gets off on deliberately doing things that make life less fun for others in an MMO?
Evil people, that’s who. Evil is when you treat other people as objects, as robots put here for your entertainment. And in this context, MMOs are the ultimate Bad Person Wish Fulfillment Engine. Why? Because you can treat the other players however you want, with no repercussions. Heck, you can even claim that it was in character!
So, how do we get rid of these evil people? We don’t! Because MMO gaming is now about the absolute maximum bottom line, and evil people are a core demographic. That’s right, griefers pay to play, therefore MMO games will always be deliberately balanced to allow griefing. Let me say this
again: MMOs welcome griefers, as long as their credit cards work, of course. Of course, even if they weren’t making money for the game owners, they’d still be around. But if anything, there’s lots of motivation to include griefing features in a game so that asshats will be inspired to stay around. Don’t expect any serious attempts to suppress it from the game designers themselves.
There’s only one solution: peace through superior firepower.
