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JGVW 7 (3) pp. 243–258 Intellect Limited 2015
Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds
Volume 7 Number 3
© 2015 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/jgvw.7.3.243_1
MMORPG
World of Warcraft
griefing
self-determination
theory
SIDE model
online gaming
West Virginia University
This article expands on the use of self-determination theory (SDT) as an explanation
for enjoyment in video games. Two d-ifferent types of players with contrast-
ing gameplay styles were examined and compared using the theory: griefers, who
enjoy engaging in activities meant to disrupt other players’ game experience, and
more community-focused players. A two-condition experiment (randomly assigning
respondents to complete different survey prompts) was used to examine griefers’
satisfaction of SDT needs compared to their levels of enjoyment when griefing
others and if their gameplay style hinders their enjoyment or not when compared to
community players. Results support the relationship between SDT need satisfaction
and enjoyment, and indicate that griefers enjoy their gameplay style as much as
community-based players, despite the antisocial nature of the gameplay style result-
ing in differing levels of need satisfaction. The results show the relationship between
the three SDT needs and enjoyment based on an emphasis on the importance players
place on individual needs.
Self-Determination Theory (SDT) suggests the highest satisfaction of an activ-
ity comes from satisfying three needs: autonomy, competence and related-
ness (Deci and Ryan 2000; Ryan and Deci 2000). Research on video games
supports this, with the most enjoyable games being those that satisfy all three
needs over just one or two (Ryan et al. 2006; Tamborini et al. 2010). Yet, an
emerging video game play style is that of the grief gamers: gamers who enjoy
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244
ruining the gameplay experience of other players (Coyne et al. 2009; Foo
and Koivisto 2004). By definition, this gaming style would seem to disrupt
any chance of their relatedness need being satisfied, which should result in a
diminished ability for the game to be enjoyable. Yet even with griefing being
looked down upon and even punished in most games, it is still a common
and self-reportedly enjoyable gameplay style, with 13 per cent of a sample
of Second Life users admitting to griefing at least once and another 7 per cent
doing it on a monthly or even daily basis (Coyne et al. 2009). Thus, if griefers
enjoy their style of gameplay as much as regular players, this seems to conflict
with the premises of SDT. This study looked at the reasons one might engage
in griefing for enjoyment purposes.
Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) are a genre of computer
games known for their persistent virtual world containing hundreds or thou-
sands of people playing online simultaneously amongst each other to accom-
plish a myriad of goals. Examples of activities in MMOGs range from fighting
monsters to gain experience, attaining items to develop the player character
or socializing with other players (Achterbosch et al. 2013). Among the many
motivations players have for playing MMOGs, one motivation in particular is
to manipulate or dominate other players against their will (Yee 2006b). The
griefer falls into this category, and while the definition of griefing has not been
consistently agreed upon, it is typically known as style of gaming in MMOGs
whereby the griefer intentionally disrupts another player’s game experience
for his or her own personal enjoyment or gain (Foo and Koivisto 2004; Ross
and Weaver 2012).
Seeking an understanding of griefing and its forms, Foo and Koivisto (2004)
analysed discussion board posts and interviews conducted with griefers, non-
griefers and developers looking for common features. This resulted in a defini-
tion of griefing as typically intentional and enjoyed behaviours that cause the
victim of griefing to enjoy the game less. Similarly, four categories of griefing
were found, the last of which exemplifies a form of griefing in which intention
to disrupt other players’ experience is less concrete and the motive is different
from mere enjoyment. These four categories of griefing are:
Harassing: causing emotional distress for the victim by shouting slurs, •
insults, spamming, disrupting events or threatening
Power Imposition: dominating players through repeatedly killing them, •
targeting new and inexperienced players or exploiting loopholes in the
game to harass players
Scamming: using fraudulent schemes to swindle other players •
Greed Play: when the griefer seeks to benefit themselves even if it bothers •
other players, such as stealing items or achievements from other players
who earned them. (Foo and Koivisto 2004)
An illumination of griefing can be seen in Warner and Raiter’s (2005) arti-
cle describing griefing in World of Warcraft (WoW), an MMOG. The article
describes one instance where an update to WoW contained a spell that play-
ers could use, which could kill lower level characters easily, and the effects of
the spell would spread to other characters like a plague. While many players
unintentionally spread the plague to new areas by trying to get away from it,
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The Enjoyment of grieng in online games
245
griefers took advantage of the situation and would intentionally infect and
kill other players or stored the plague to use later by infecting their pets. The
end result was a change to the spell made by the developers to prevent such
exploitation (Warner and Raiter 2005).
This type of griefing would be an example of Foo and Koivisto’s (2004)
griefing category of power imposition, whereby the griefers in WoW enjoyed
exploiting a loophole in a feature of the game to grief other players. These
forms of griefing have been confirmed in other studies seeking to understand
the behaviour (Achterbosch et al. 2013; Rubin and Camm 2013).
A broad look at griefing bears resemblance to definitions of cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying has been characterized as aggressive, intentional acts carried out
by a group or individual using information and communication technologies,
typically repeatedly over time and against a victim who cannot easily defend
himself or herself (Hinduja and Patchin 2008; Langos 2012; Smith et al. 2006).
This definition comes conceptually close to that of griefing, in that for both cases
an individual or group is intentionally antagonizing a typically weaker victim,
possibly resulting in these two being conceptually the same. Yet looking at the
two more closely, it appears a distinction lies between the two in regards to both
the medium in which they take place and more importantly the motive.
The mediums in which these phenomena take place may form a starting
point at forming a distinction. Where griefing takes place in video games, cyber-
bullying has only been studied under the contexts of text-based online commu-
nication, either through use of a mobile phone or computer (Hinduja and
Patchin 2008; Smith et al. 2006; Vandebosch and Cleemput 2008). Furthermore,
outside of simple harassment through insults or spamming messages, most
griefing behaviours are exclusive to the game environment, such as player kill-
ing, theft of game items or exploiting loopholes in the game to harass other
players (Foo and Koivisto 2004). In contrast, while sending insults or spam are
common to both griefing and cyberbullying, examples of cyberbullying exclu-
sive to the concept found in a study by Vandebosch and Cleemput (2008) found
accounts of hacking into e-mail accounts and changing passwords, spreading
gossip and receiving threatening phone calls or calls at inconvenient times.
But a more clear distinction appears to clearly separate cyberbullying and
griefing. This difference lies in the cyberbully’s intention to harm the victim
through their actions – a key feature found in Vandebosch and Cleemput’s
(2008) study. Whereas griefers seek to disrupt the enjoyment of other players
(Foo and Koivisto 2004) or deny them from achieving goals (Ross and Weaver
2012), cyberbullies are characterized by aggressive behaviours intended to
inflict emotional harm (Langos 2012; Vandebosch and Cleemput 2008). Thus
while a simple difference between cyberbullies and griefers may lie in the
mediums in which they have been studied, a more pertinent distinction may
be the cyberbully’s motive to harm compared to the griefer’s motive to ruin
enjoyment as a style of playing the game.
Defined and categorized, the question still remains why griefers intentionally
inhibit the gaming experience of others. Through a series of observations and
focus groups with users of the virtual world Second Life, Chesney et al. (2009)
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246
found some beliefs and motivations common to griefers in Second Life. One
relevant motivation found was the griefer’s desire to assert power through
knowledge of game aspects, something rather unique when compared to other
types of players. Similarly, griefers were found to generally have the belief that
Second Life is just a game and meant to be played like one, bringing fighting
and conflict into a virtual world most users think of as a place for socializing
or even conducting business (Chesney et al. 2009). Thus for the griefers in
Second Life, it would seem their belief that the virtual world is merely a game
allows them to feel justified in their behaviour even against the expectations
and reactions given by other players.
This finding complements Joeckel et al.’s (2012) study showing the influ-
ence an individual’s personal moral code has on their choices in a video game,
allowing players to violate the expectations of the game in pursuit of follow-
ing their own beliefs. Following this example, some players have been found
to use griefing as a form of punishment or justice against those who violate
game norms (including other griefers). In these instances, regular players fight
fire with fire when griefers inhibit their gameplay by using the same tactics
against the offender as punishment (Ross and Weaver 2012). However, it is
worth noting that griefing as a form of revenge may lack the enjoyment of
ruining the other player’s experience, which is inherent to most definitions
of griefing, possibly qualifying instead as a reaction to griefing or perhaps a
different play style entirely.
Thus at this point while the behaviours that constitute griefing have been
observed and well defined, as well as some of the triggers and beliefs behind
the play style, the reason why griefing is enjoyable to these players in the first
place largely remains unknown.
SDT anD gaming
Yet while the SIDE model may be used to explain why griefers behave the
way they do, it has no relevance to the question of why griefers often take
enjoyment in their antisocial behaviours. For this, SDT (Deci and Ryan 2000;
Ryan and Deci 2000) seems appropriate to explain the enjoyment of griefing
in video games. SDT aims to specify factors that aid in developing the psycho-
logical well-being and growth in individuals by means of satisfaction of three
basic intrinsic psychological needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness
(Deci and Ryan 2000; Ryan and Deci 2000). The need for autonomy refers to
the need to have volition in an activity, the need for competence is related to
how effective a person feels at accomplishing a task and affecting the environ-
ment, and relatedness refers to the desire to feel connected to others. People
pursue goals that allow themselves to satisfy their needs, and finding an
activity as interesting (intrinsic motivation) is influenced by past experiences
of those activities satisfying needs (Deci and Ryan 2000). Furthermore, SDT
claims lack of need satisfaction leads to poor psychological well-being, and
continues to acknowledge that while many intrinsically motivated behaviours
are performed in isolation without issue, suggesting that relatedness is not
always necessary, but overall satisfaction of relatedness seems important to
well-being (Deci and Ryan 2000).
While SDT primarily deals with psychological well-being as a result of need
satisfaction, studies applying SDT to enjoyment of video games have shown
satisfaction of autonomy, competence and relatedness leads to greater enjoy-
ment of video games (Ryan et al. 2006; Tamborini et al. 2010). In Ryan et al.’s
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The Enjoyment of grieng in online games
247
(2006) studies on media enjoyment as the satisfaction of SDT’s psychologi-
cal needs, the relationship between need satisfaction and enjoyment of video
games was found to be positively related. Specifically relevant was the fourth
study surveying MMOG players. While regular non-online video games can
satisfy needs for autonomy and competence through game characteristics such
as how challenging the game is or how much freedom of choice players have
in the game, the addition of the social component in MMOGs allows for all
three needs to be satisfied and subsequently higher enjoyment than without
need satisfaction (Ryan et al. 2006). Tamborini et al.’s (2010) study on media
enjoyment through satisfaction of SDT’s psychological needs further rein-
forced three characteristics of video game play that lead to enjoyment. Game
controls, perceived game skill and a social play context lead to satisfaction
of autonomy, competence and relatedness needs respectively, thus leading to
the highest enjoyment when all three needs are met. These studies bridge the
connection from use of video game features to satisfaction of SDT’s psycho-
logical needs and finally to enjoyment, characterizing the highest enjoyment
one can achieve from a video game being a result of the three needs of auton-
omy, competence and relatedness being met.
However, excluding the extrinsic motivations held by griefers acting in their
own self-interest regardless of the negative impact it has on the other players –
i.e., greed play (Foo and Koivisto 2004), griefers are primarily known for
performing antisocial behaviours for the sake of the enjoyment they find from
disrupting other players’ experience (Coyne et al. 2009; Foo and Koivisto 2004).
If the greatest enjoyment of the game would come from all three needs being
satisfied, then with griefers consciously harming their chances of building social
bonds with other players, they would be actively defying their need for related-
ness and theoretically lowering the possible enjoyment they could experience.
griefer relaTeDneSS by SiDe
One possible explanation presented here for how griefers satisfy their need
for relatedness or compensate for it relies upon the claims made by the social
identity model of deindividuation effects (or SIDE model; Postmes and Spears
1998). The original theories of deindividuation proposed that variables such as
state of decreased self-evaluation, anonymity, reduced self-awareness and being
immersed in a large group resulted in antinormative and disinhibited behaviours,
such as those seen in angry mobs and in computer-mediated communication
(Postmes and Spears 1998). However, in a meta-analysis on studies of dein-
dividuation, Postmes and Spears (1998) found little support for deindividua-
tion as a result of the variables mentioned above, including some instances that
supported conclusions opposite to deindividuation theory’s predictions.
Nonetheless, one very strong relationship was found between situational
norms and deindividuating conditions. In conditions where deindividuating
conditions of anonymity, immersion in groups and reductions in self-awareness
were present, participants would behave according to the situational/group
norms present more strictly (Postmes and Spears 1998). This highlights the
claims of the SIDE model, namely that the factors related to deindividuation
can actually reinforce group salience and conformity to group/situational norms
associated with the social identity of the group, rather than conformity to any
societal norms. Studies that showed large amounts of antinormative behav-
iour in deindividuated conditions actually show behaviour that was normative
according to the group/situational standards (Postmes et al. 1998).
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248
The SIDE model has also been applied to online subcultures where
antinormative behaviour by society’s standards are seen as good or desirable
in the online community (Postmes et al. 1998). Applying the SIDE model to
griefing, griefers’ antinormative behaviour according to the respective game’s
norms may actually be adhering to the norms of the griefer social identity.
In this case, the griefer’s disruption of other players’ game experience may be
an expected behaviour for anyone who identifies as a griefer (although it is
important to note that identifying under the griefer social identity does not
necessarily mean they socialize with other griefers). This explanation is partially
supported by the frequency of griefers surveyed in studies not thinking of their
actions as wrong (Achterbosch et al. 2013) or feeling that their behaviour is
just part of the game and justified (Chesney et al. 2009; Coyne et al. 2009).
Similarly, another aspect of the SIDE model was explored in an article by
Klein et al. (2007). They showed that when in-group norms are punishable
in terms of out-group norms, members of the in-group are more likely to
rebel against the out-group and express these defiant norms when in-group
members are anonymous. In the context of MMOGs, a player’s identity is
their avatar, rather than their identity in the real world, giving them a sense of
anonymity. Thus griefers, who are often persecuted both by players and game
developers, may take advantage of their anonymity and freedom in-game to
express their social identity as a griefer and rebel by seeking power over the
greater player population through their behaviours.
Furthermore, other studies on in-group and out-group interactions using
the SIDE model showed that the degree of affiliation one has with a group
identity polarizes their opinions against out-group members with obvious
extreme affiliations, facilitating an ‘us vs them’ mentality (Carr et al. 2013;
Eun-Ju 2007). It stands to reason that with griefing being seen as an anti-
normative behaviour by other players in MMOGs, griefers would be seen as
an out-group compared to the typical MMOG player, and conversely griefers
who recognize their identity as a griefer would see themselves as the in-group.
Thus, with their identities being very salient as a result of their behaviour,
griefers would be polarized against other players and vice versa.
Under the SIDE model, griefers may come to achieve a sense of relatedness
through their social identity as a griefer, rather than a more tangible bond
with actual players. The persecution and isolation from the general gaming
community may actually be enhancing a griefer’s identification as a griefer,
giving them a sense of relatedness to other players who engage in the game-
play style they do. Alternatively, SDT accepts that there are times when activi-
ties pursued in isolation (without fulfilling the need for relatedness) can be
satisfying (Deci and Ryan 2000). Even if griefers do not satisfy their need relat-
edness, it may be possible that their satisfaction of autonomy and compe-
tence needs is higher than other regular play styles. Considering how griefers
engage in behaviours that are not condoned by the gamer community or
developers, they may feel a great deal of autonomy in defying the norms and
expectations held to them. As well, considering many games try to restrict the
ability for players to engage in antisocial behaviour (Foo and Koivisto 2004),
a griefer’s ability to find and exploit loopholes or other aspects of the game to
accomplish their goals in unexpected ways may greatly satisfy their need for
competence.
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The Enjoyment of grieng in online games
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That said, while SDT accepts that there are times when activities pursued in
isolation (without fulfilling the need for relatedness) can be satisfying (Deci
and Ryan 2000), griefing goes the step further in purposefully ruining any
chance at connecting with the players they torment. Thus, in summation it
would seem likely that either griefers have different needs and motivations
than non-griefers do, or they are satisfying their need for relatedness through
their (perhaps even imagined) bond with other griefers rather than through
actual connections with regular players.
From this, we might expect:
H1: Non-griefers’ satisfaction of autonomy (H1a), competence (H1b)
and relatedness with other players (H1c) from their regular gaming
experience will be positively related with enjoyment.
H2 and RQ1: Griefers’ satisfaction of autonomy (H2a), competence
(H2b) and either satisfaction of relatedness with other players or lack
thereof (RQ1) from griefing will be positively related with enjoyment.
To test the validity of the hypotheses and proposed model of enjoyment speci-
fied in Figure 1, a two-condition experiment was implemented. Participants
were randomly assigned to recall a gaming situation in which they either
engaged in grief gaming (actively tried to disrupt other players’ gameplay expe-
rience) or engaged in community-based gaming (actively tried to assist other
players’ gameplay experience) as well as take measures of need satisfaction and
enjoyment in response to how they felt during that recalled experience. Notably,
the manipulated treatment in this study was the specific survey prompts (grief-
ing or community-based gaming) that participants responded to.
Participants
Participants for this study were 258 current or former players of the massively
multiplayer online role-playing game (or MMORPG) WoW. While we do not
claim that WoW is representative of all MMOs, players of WoW have been
chosen as the sample due to the overwhelming popularity of the game,
massive player population and because the game encourages both pro- and
anti-social gameplay styles. Due to a confusing typo in part of the survey
caught early on in participant recruitment, 37 participants had to be cut from
data analysis, resulting in a sample of 221 WoW players. The sample consisted
of 153 males, sixteen females and 52 did not provide gender. The mean age
of participants was 32 years. Participation in this study was voluntary and
the study was approved by human subjects review at the authors’ institution.
Participants were rewarded for their time with the opportunity to participate
in a raffle for a choice of six months of paid WoW game time (equal to $77.94)
or a gift card of approximate equal value ($75).
Procedures
A survey link was distributed to participants through social media adver-
tisements or posts in various online forums targeting WoW players. The link
randomly distributed participants to one of two conditions of the survey.
All participants who provided consent were then asked if they were current
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250
players of WoW and if not, if they had played the game in the past. Participants
who indicated they were current or past players of WoW then continued on to
a prompt asking them to either recall a time in which they engaged in griefing
(defined as actively trying to disrupt other players’ gameplay experience)
in-game or community-based gaming (defined as actively trying to work with
other players in their gameplay experience), depending on the condition. If
they were able to recall such an experience, they were then asked to describe
the experience in as much detail as possible. Those who were unable to recall
a time they engaged in the indicated style of gameplay were then asked to
try and recall a time they engaged in the other style. This question and open-
ended response served to prime participants for the following measures
provided, as they would answer them in regard to how they thought and felt
during the experience they recalled.
Measures
Need satisfaction
The satisfaction of autonomy, competence and relatedness needs was meas-
ured using a modified version of the proprietary Player Experience of Need
Satisfaction (PENS) scale (Ryan et al. 2006). The scales are derived from SDT
and designed specifically to measure the satisfaction of needs as a result from
video game play. Each SDT need was measured using three-item seven-
point Likert-type subscales from the PENS scale, with answers ranging from
‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’ with one ‘not sure’ option. These items
were modified to reflect the past tense in reference to how players felt during
the past experience engaging in griefing or community-based gameplay they
described. Sample items used included ‘The game provided me with interest-
ing options and choices” and “I found the relationships I formed in the game
important’. Means, standard deviations and reliabilities for each subscale
were: autonomy – M=5.80, SD=.97,
α
=0.72; competence – M=5.74, SD=1.11,
α
=0.73; and relatedness – M=4.69, SD=1.62,
α
=0.85.
Enjoyment
Enjoyment was measured using Tamborini et al.’s (2010) adaptation of the
interest/enjoyment subset of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (Ryan 1982).
This scale consists of seventeen eight-point Likert-style items with answers
ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’ with a ‘not sure’ option
included. Sample items from this scale included ‘The game was fun to play’
and ‘I thought the game was an enjoyable activity’. Mean enjoyment across all
conditions was M=5.78, SD=0.79, and the scale gave a reliability of
α
=0.92.
Video game skill
A measure of general video game skill was used to search for possible inter-
action effects of game skill and need satisfaction on enjoyment. The meas-
ure used was the Game Playing Skill scale developed by Bracken and Skalski
(2006). The scale consists of ten eight-point Likert-style items with answers
ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’ with a ‘not sure’ option
included. Sample items from this scale included ‘I have good video game play-
ing skills’ and ‘I often win when playing video games against other people’.
Mean video game skill across all conditions was M=5.56, SD=1.12, and the
scale gave a reliability of
α
=0.94.
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The Enjoyment of grieng in online games
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In addition to these procedures, the survey also consisted of measures on
gameplay frequency/duration, character attachment and gaming motivations.
Additional questions included character and player demographics, frequency
of in-game activities and game/genre preferences. These measures are part of
a separate study examining the habits and interests of griefers and regular
players and thus are not included in the current data analysis.
Results
Manipulation check
Participants were randomly assigned to address questions about their griefing
(n=116) or community (n=105) gameplay experiences. For participants who
were assigned to answer the griefing question first, n=56 were able to recall an
experience by which they engaged in grief play and n=51 were able to recall
an experience by which they engaged in community play instead; n=9 were
not able to recall either experience. For participants assigned to recall experi-
ences about community gameplay first, n=97 were able to recall a community
experience and n=2 were able to recall a griefing experience instead; n=6 were
not able to recall either experience.
For further analysis, a variable was created that coded participants’ gaming
experiences (‘0’ for those who recalled a community-based gameplay experi-
ence and ‘1’ for those who recalled a griefing experience) removing participants
who could not recall and describe their experience, leaving a final n=132 for
analysis. Of these participants, only 29.5 per cent (n=39) self-reported engag-
ing in griefing experience, compared to 70.5 per cent (n=93) who self-reported
a community gaming experience.
Hypotheses
In testing the hypotheses, Hypothesis 1 focused on the ability of non-griefers’
satisfaction of autonomy (H1a), competence (H1b) and relatedness with other
players (H1c) during past community-based gaming experiences to predict
enjoyment scores. A hierarchical regression model using WoW gaming experi-
ence (average days they play WoW per week), age, gender and general video
game skill as control measures (Step 1) and the three self-determination
needs (Step 1) supported H1a, b and c. For participants who reported on a
memorable community-based gameplay experience, there enjoyment was
best explained by the satisfaction of autonomy (ß=0.52, p<0.001), followed in
magnitude by competence (ß=0.28, p=0.003) and relatedness (ß=0.17, p=0.04).
All three measures had a significant positive impact on enjoyment. While self-
reported video game skill provided some power to the model with enjoyment
as a control measure (ß=0.26, p=0.07), its impact lacked power and retained
no significance when accounting for need satisfaction (ß=–0.14, p=0.19).
Thus for community-based gamers, enjoyment is highest when all three
self-determination needs are satisfied, with particular importance to auton-
omy. The overall model was significant, F(7,81)=15.7, p<0.001, adj. R2=0.58.
Hypothesis 2 was concerned with the ability of griefers’ satisfaction of
autonomy (H2a), competence (H2b), and the unknown role of relatedness
with other players (RQ1) from past experiences griefing to predict enjoyment
scores. A hierarchical regression model using WoW gaming experience, age,
gender and general video game skill as control measures (Step 1) and the
three self-determination needs (Step 2) supported H1a, b and answered RQ1.
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252
For participants who reported on a memorable griefing gameplay experience,
their enjoyment was best explained by the satisfaction of autonomy (ß=0.68,
p<0.001), followed in magnitude by competence (ß=0.36, p=0.003). These two
measures had a significant positive impact on enjoyment. Self-reported video
game skill was shown to be unrelated to enjoyment scores for griefers as a
control measure (ß=0.08, p=0.67). In answering RQ1, satisfaction of related-
ness for griefers failed to reach significance in relation to enjoyment (ß=0.19,
p=0.09). The overall model was significant, F(7,30)=12.0, p<0.001, adj. R2=0.68.
However, it should be noted that the difference in the ß weights for relat-
edness experienced by griefers and non-griefers are greatly similar. Thus it
could be the case that scores failed to reach significance for griefers because
of a lack of statistical power. When running a further regression accounting
for the issues with sample size, relatedness achieved statistical significance
(ß=0.19, p<0.001), as well as the controls for general video game skill (ß=–0.17,
p=0.003), gender (ß=–0.17, p=0.003) and days played per week (ß=0.12, p=0.02)
with the overall model retaining significance as well, F(7, 120)=48.19, p<0.001,
adj. R2=0.72. Thus we conclude that for griefers, enjoyment is highest when
all three self-determination needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness
are satisfied, with particular emphasis on the importance of autonomy once
again. The satisfaction of needs associated with other players is not signifi-
cantly associated with their enjoyment.
Group differences
With the SDT need satisfaction relating to levels of enjoyment similarly
between the two groups, it was then asked whether enjoyment levels would
differ between community-based players and griefers. To check this, inde-
pendent samples t-tests were used to test for significant differences in griefers’
mean scores enjoyment compared to non-griefers, weighted to account for
sample size differences once again. For enjoyment, scores did not differ signif-
icantly between both groups of players, t(262)=–0.34, p=0.74, suggesting that
both community players (M=5.88, SD=0.67) and griefers (M=5.91, SD=0.72)
had similar, and rather high, levels of enjoyment. Scores of autonomy need
satisfaction did significantly differ between the groups, t(262)=–2.25, p=0.03,
showing higher scores of autonomy for griefers (M=6.05, SD=0.82) than
non-griefers (M=5.81, SD=0.94). As well, relatedness need satisfaction scores
also differed between the groups, t(262)=2.82, p=0.01, showing lower scores
of relatedness for griefers (M=4.41, SD=1.89) than non-griefers (M=5.00,
SD=1.49).
Open-ended responses
Finally, an emergent thematic analysis was applied to the open-ended
descriptions of the griefing gameplay experiences to look for themes within
the data that may further explain the results. Thematic analysis as used here is
an interpretive and inductive process of identifying emergent patterns within
data sets, guided by established theory when looking for said patterns (Glaser
2012). This process involved being immersed in the data, reading through the
responses multiple times. Upon initial readings, a pattern seemed to emerge
of griefers reporting their experience being social or solo play (i.e., playing
with friends or playing the game alone at the time), whether the griefing was
initiated or retaliated (i.e., the player griefed someone else of their own voli-
tion or in response to being griefed by someone else first), and the type of
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The Enjoyment of grieng in online games
253
griefing behaviour that was collapsed into Foo and Koivisto’s (2004) types of
griefing of harassment, power imposition, greed play and scamming.
Thus, out of the 39 griefers who provided descriptions of their experience
nineteen were playing socially when they griefed while thirteen were play-
ing solo, seventeen initiated the griefing with eighteen griefing in retaliation/
revenge, and 24 players engaged in a form of power imposition griefing with
five engaged in harassing griefing and four engaged in greed play. Overall
the breadth of these griefing descriptions show a wide variance in what WoW
players consider griefing, including social elements and often occurring as
reaction to other players griefing first as Ross and Weaver (2012) focused on in
their study. This contrasts from other notions of griefers as the lone wolf seek-
ing to ruin everyone else’s fun for their own amusement. These contrasting
findings may illuminate why relatedness need satisfaction retained about as
statistical power in leading to enjoyment for griefers as it did for non-griefers,
because half of the griefers were doing the activity with friends around and/or
only in retaliation for someone else’s transgressions.
A final unweighted regression was used to test the relations between the
controls and SDT need satisfaction scores with enjoyment only for griefers
who initiated griefing, to exclude players who were only acting in response
to being griefed in the first place. Taking note of the small sample of play-
ers, the model nonetheless retained significance, F(7, 9)=14.68, p<0.001, adj.
R2=0.86, with competence (ß=0.59, p=0.004) and autonomy (ß=0.52, p=0.01)
scores contributing far more statistical power to the equation than relatedness
(ß=0.13, p=0.38), which did not reach significance.
This study sought to investigate the occurrence of griefing in online games,
and how these players seem to enjoy ruining the gameplay experience of those
around them. In doing so, Deci and Ryan’s (2000) SDT was employed with the
supporting evidence of video game enjoyment stemming from satisfaction of
psychological needs (Tamborini et al. 2010) to help explain the behaviour. The
findings support the involvement of SDT’s needs for autonomy, competence
and relatedness in game enjoyment for players of WoW, as well as a signifi-
cant difference between how this enjoyment is attained between more social
community-based players and the antisocial griefers.
Just as past research has found the connection between SDT need satisfac-
tion and enjoyment in video games (Ryan et al. 2006; Tamborini et al. 2010),
results of this study support the predictive power for satisfaction of auton-
omy, competence and relatedness needs in games to lead to higher enjoyment
levels. Across both groups of players, all three needs held some relationship
with enjoyment levels. The primary differences were found in the differing
levels of importance for each need between the groups.
In particular, the results shows that while both types of players generally
enjoyed the play style they reported on in the study, the formation of social
bonds were not very important for griefers nor non-griefers in their enjoy-
ment of the game. Despite griefing being an antisocial and disruptive game-
play style, griefers maintain the same levels of enjoyment from griefing as
the community-based players do from their gameplay. Furthermore, while
both players placed the most value in competence and primarily autonomy
need satisfaction in determining enjoyment, griefers (in particular those who
initiate griefing) find autonomy and competence to be far more important to
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254
their enjoyment than the non-griefers. This suggests that they place far more
value in their ability to effectively grief other players and their ability to do so
in a way of their choosing than the social component they are forfeiting by
griefing. The two needs compensate for the lack of satisfaction or insignifi-
cance of the third.
Analysing the provided descriptions of the participants’ experiences grief-
ing provided background to the results found. While relatedness need satis-
faction retained some importance in relation to enjoyment for the players who
reported griefing, half of the group were engaging in griefing as a response
to someone griefing them first. That is, half of the players who were griefing
were victims of griefing, choosing to fight fire with fire to stop other players’
transgressions. Many of these players also reported griefing to protect a group
of players or their friends, allowing for a social element to enter an antisocial
behaviour. It was for those few ‘true’ griefers who were engaging in griefing for
their own amusement rather than protection that satisfaction of relatedness
needs lost important, with the need to prove their competence/skill greatly
rising in importance.
The results of the study complement SDT’s admittance of there being
times when activities pursued in isolation (without fulfilling the need for relat-
edness) can be satisfying (Deci and Ryan 2000). In fact, the results suggest
that there are even times when socially destructive activities can be satisfying
and enjoyable in video games. With griefing being a very socially unaccept-
able activity that breaks the rules imposed by the game’s creators, modera-
tors and player community (Foo and Koivisto 2004; Warner and Raiter 2005),
the activity itself may be tempting to some players as a forbidden fruit. The
game’s norms may seem as a challenge to them to overcome the rules and
systems put in place to block the activity and use their knowledge and crea-
tivity to exploit loopholes or game mechanics to annoy other players. Due
to their ability to do something the game was not even meant to allow and
their competence at overcoming the rules to achieve their goals, griefers could
enjoy the game as much as any other player by placing more importance on
those two SDT needs than all three needs combined.
Our findings provide a better understanding of a play style that can be a
social plague in online video games. By understanding video game enjoyment
through SDT and seeing differences in how players find enjoyment through
different levels of importance given to need satisfaction, game developers may
be able to better accommodate players such as griefers who care less about
the social component of the game and more about showing off their auton-
omy and competence, and even other non-griefers who still do not place as
much importance in the social element of gameplay as one might expect from
the genre. Other combinations of emphasis on particular needs may exist in
different play styles. That is, if griefers are capable of reaching equal levels
of enjoyment through focusing primarily on two particular needs, then other
unique play styles may have an appeal by similarly focusing on the impor-
tance of satisfying one or two needs. Players who use the game world simply
as a means of socializing may be capable of enjoying the game just as much as
players who primarily seek out difficult game challenges.
This understanding of how players enjoy video games could give
developers a means of creating new game content by focusing on which
needs an aspect of the game satisfies, and not forcing all players to socialize,
accomplish challenges or exert their control/creativity on the game. As well,
this study provides new information for researchers on how satisfaction of
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The Enjoyment of grieng in online games
255
needs relates to enjoyment. That is, future research using SDT as a means to
explaining enjoyment should not assume that the greatest enjoyment always
comes from total need satisfaction, and perhaps account for differing empha-
sis of importance of one need over another. This allows for SDT to be under-
stood and applied in a less binary ‘all-or-nothing’ way.
Nonetheless, various unforeseen factors became apparent in the results after
looking at the descriptions of the players’ griefing experiences. The analysis of
descriptions griefers provided of their experiences reveals how rare initiators
of griefing are. Players considered their behaviours as griefing even when they
were only engaging in the behaviours to punish someone who initiated the
transgression, as well as to protect themselves or their allies. These players
seemed to simply be fighting fire with fire and match the type of griefing Ross
and Weaver (2012) were concerned with. However, since these players often
reported doing it to protect their peers or the community, their satisfaction of
SDT needs may be different than the type of griefer who targets anyone, thus
influencing the results. This would suggest an importance for future research
in distinguishing between players who simply use griefing behaviours in-game
compared to players who would be given the label ‘griefer’. This potential issue
could be addressed in future research by emphasizing the difference between
griefing and ‘being a griefer’.
As well, due to the uncommon occurrence and antisocial nature to grief-
ing, this study was unable to achieve an ideal sample size of griefers, limit-
ing the statistical power of the results. Beyond that, this study was limited in
only sampling players from one game with a male-dominated sample. Future
research could address this issue by purposively seeking out griefers when
recruiting participants and from a variety of games, as many of the respond-
ents who admitted to griefing were quite willing to provide many details
relevant to the experience and recalled their memories fondly. Related to
this, future work might give more careful attention to the demographic and
psychographic properties of the research sample, including the use of quota
or purposeful samples that might target specific gaming populations (such
as female gamers, given their severe under-representativeness in the current
study).
Additionally, while the current study did manipulate the nature of the
survey that respondents answered (asking questions related to either coop-
erative or grief play), future research could include more elaborate experi-
mental designs, such as manipulating players’ gameplay options to encourage
or inhibit griefing to see if regular players will adopt a griefing play style, or
exposing players to griefing or not and assessing their reactions. Such designs
would also benefit from using actual gameplay, rather than recollections of
gameplay experiences.
In summation, this study provided further insight into the mind of the anti-
social griefers to understand how they find enjoyment from their destructive
behaviours. The findings support previous research finding a significant rela-
tionship between SDT need satisfaction predicting enjoyment in video games.
As well, an interesting perspective on the theory can be seen in highlighting
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Hunter L. Paul | Nicholas David Bowman …
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the differing levels of importance individuals place in satisfying the three
needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness rather than simply focusing
on seeing if all three needs are satisfied. Finally, for an understanding of video
game play styles, this study details as to how one can enjoy ruining other
people’s fun (or use the same tactics to defend one’s fun) and may provide
insight into how the problem of griefing can be understood as merely a differ-
ent way to play the game.
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Hunter Paul (M.A., West Virginia University) is a graduate of West Virginia
University with a Master of Arts in Communications Theory and Research as
well as a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. His focus of study has been non-
verbal and computer mediated communication, specifically pertaining to anti-
normative behaviour online and the perception of non-verbals in text-based
communication.
Contact: hpaul1@mix.wvu.edu
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JGVW_7.3_browman_243-258.indd 257 8/22/15 4:35:03 PM
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Hunter L. Paul | Nicholas David Bowman …
258
Nicholas David Bowman (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an Associate
Professor of Communication Studies at West Virginia University, where he
researches the intersection of human communication and interactive technol-
ogy in the Interaction Lab (#ixlab). He is the current chair of the Game Studies
Division of International Communication Association, and an Associate Editor
with the Journal of Media Psychology. His recent work considers the cognitive,
behavioural, affective and social demand associated with video game play.
Contact: West Virginia University, 108 Armstrong Hall, P.O. Box 6293,
Morgantown, WV, 26505.
E-mail: Nicholas.Bowman@mail.wvu.edu
Jaime Banks (Ph.D., Colorado State University) is Assistant Professor in West
Virginia University’s Department of Communication Studies, a research
associate at WVU’s #ixlab, and the chair of the National Communication
Association’s Game Studies Division. A scholar of communication technol-
ogy and identity, her research focuses on digital embodiment, communication
and behaviour in immersive digital environments, human–technology rela-
tionships, and actor-networks in gaming. Her most recent work focuses on
player–avatar relationships in multiplayer online games, and how avatars are
engaged by different populations as tools for identity management.
Contact: jabanks@mail.wvu.edu
Hunter L. Paul, Nicholas David Bowman and Jaime Banks have asserted their
right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as
the authors of this work in the format that was submitted to Intellect Ltd.
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