(I think the new bloggers here could use some help with the "Continue reading..." feature of Type Pad.)
Second Life griefing was recently defined by a group of residents as unacceptable, persistent behaviour which disrupts the ability to enjoy Second Life. This is strikingly similar to definitions of bullying: aggressive behaviour in a relationship of imbalanced power which happens over a prolonged period of time. Residents described a number of motives which may explain why griefing occurs.
1. Asserting power through knowledge
There was a strong experience that griefers are driven by their need to assert power. In the context of First Life bullying, the victim is weaker than the bully in some way. In Second Life, this weakness translates as lack of knowledge about the virtual world, which prevents victims being able to defend themselves. As a simple example, if an avatar sits down, it is not possible for them to be pushed around. Someone who knows this fact can use it to deal with an assault. Griefers were seen as trying to assert their superior knowledge over those who have less knowledge or who are new to Second Life.
2. Second Life as a game
There is a conflicting view among Second Life users, between those who see it as a game, and those who do not. Some of those with the gaming view come into the world with a 'who-do-we-kill' attitude, whereas the others just want to get on with their work, chat, raising babies, skydiving, fishing and all the rest. Those with the view that Second Life is a game, were also those who didn't see griefing as a problem, it's-just-a-little-harmless-fun-get-over-it-and-move-on sort of thing.
3. The Second Life environment
The third motive is the notion that Second Life may itself promote griefing because it is a ‘safe’ and easy environment to bully in – few rules and few consequences, and programming tools to help cause maximum disruption. Some participants felt that griefers were helped by a sense of anonymity. From the victim's point of view side, there was some suggestion that the consequences are less severe for them than real life – they can just switch off. A victim can end the grief at any time by 1) disconnecting from Second Life, 2) moving to a private area 3) entering the world with a new avatar. However, as with other forms of cyberbullying (if that's what it really is), by doing any of these, the victim is denying themselves, respectively, 1) access to the world, 2) access to a part of the world 3) access to their original avatar (and the reputation built up in its name).
So what are some of the others?
