Negative Behavior within Online Communities

The Affect of Negative Player Behaviors

Most players who play online games know to expect negative behavior from other players. These behaviors affect a players overall online experience which might cause players to quit playing the game. If a community is populated by this negative behavior players spread the word and avoid the community, which will eventually kill the community. For a developer making games, a toxic community for your game means the loss of money and time spent working on the game.

What are the different types of negative behavior?

Griefing

Griefing is a play style used by players to intentionally disrupt or inhibit other players for their own personal enjoyment. Research collected by Yang Foo and Koivisto (2004), found evidence of a small percentage of players are griefers, about 3% of players as quoted in the Game Developer Conference in 2002. However this small percentage of griefers affect a large amount of players.

Greed Play

Greed play is very similar to griefing with the exception that the player did not intend to disrupt other players, but did so unknowingly. A player who is the only one benefiting among other players which could potentially upset or harm other players (Yang Foo & Koivisto, 2004).

Elitism

Elitism is when experienced players are forced to match up with new inexperienced players that inhibit the success of the team. Experienced players get upset and begin to harass the inexperienced player or simply quit the match out of rage. The inexperienced players can't learn the game properly when players leave the match and experienced players are not rewarded when playing with the inexperienced player (Busold, 2014).

References:

Busold, C. (2014, February 09). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/CarstenBusold/20140109/208282/Game_design_and_toxic_player_behavior.php

Foo. , & Koivisto, (2004). Proceedings of the 2004 ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in computer entertainment technology. Defining Grief Play in MMORPGS: Player and Developer Perceptions, 245-250.