Meet the Griefers

By CJ Davies Published 4 January, 2012

Headset: check. Multiplayer: check. Rage: check.

There's a moment in 2002's Jackass: The Movie which has become something of a perennial favourite among fans of Johnny Knoxville and company. Hiding in the bushes on a golf course, the pranksters proceed to blast a deafening airhorn whenever the hapless golfers attempt to line up a shot, sending their perfectly-honed swing way off kilter. It's childish, irresponsible, anti-social, silly, ultimately pointless and pretty much devoid of any artistic or cultural worth whatsoever.

It is also bust-your-gut, wet-your-pants, double-you-over-in-stitches hilarious.

Jackass was, of course, the most famous millennial extension of the prank show format. Tricking members of the public for fun and profit has been a TV mainstay for years: Allen Funt and his Candid Camera, the fake-beard antics of Beadle's About, Dom Joly's meddling about in Trigger Happy TV. Of those examples, perhaps the last show contains the most interesting aspect: the famous prank in which Joly yells into a massively oversized mobile phone, disturbing the peace in various social situations.

1

'Ha! The guy you just killed was suicidal from the horror of war anyway, so you lose, griefer!'.

It's a gag reliant on the technology of the time - mobile phones only really came of age in the late nineties. Which is why, in recent years, a new phenomenon has emerged - one dependent on the increased ubiquity of online multiplayer gaming and video platforms like YouTube. There's a new generation of pranksters out there, firing up their headsets and utilising the likes of Xbox Live to ply their trade. Ladies and gentlemen... Meet the griefers.

"Call of Duty is serious business to a lot of people. It's all about your kill/death ratio more than it is just having fun with friends."

We're probably all familiar with them, but for the sake of clarity, the average griefing video goes a little something like this: player joins an online game (more often than not Team Deathmatch in a shooter like Call Of Duty). Player makes a series of increasingly inept manoeuvres that result in countless deaths upon the same team, thus making it impossible to win the match. Player attempts to justify said manoeuvres with ridiculous excuses. Other players rant and rave. Arguments escalate.

Doesn't sound like much, sure - but just like that Jackass clip, it can often be charged with a weird kind of guilty pleasure. You know you're not supposed to laugh at someone breaking wind or falling off their chair (you're far too civilised) but damned if you don't chuckle along anyway. There's a reason the Jackass movies raked in the cash at the box office: let's face it, puerility is funny.

While the griefing 'celebrities' of YouTube might not be operating on Johnny Knoxville's level, one look at their account stats shows that they're still capable of pulling in a crowd. General Minus, and Spartan Jay (yep, we're going for the whole 'real names have been withheld' thing here) are the big boys in the playground - both are YouTube comedians with serious subscriber numbers, Minus clocking in at over five million views, Jay heading towards the 3.5 million mark. 17-year-old whippersnapper KillerKarrit has amassed over one million views, while mw2losers is the new kid on the block with just under 300,000. None of these figures, needless to say, are small potatoes.

"I am still to this day shocked about how popular my videos are," says Spartan Jay. "I started making the videos as a joke. I still can't believe that millions of people have heard my voice." General Minus is similarly amazed. "I never expected my videos to get so popular," he remarks. "I think it's great that so many people will watch my videos and have a good laugh."

So: they've become online sensations, bona fide griefing gurus. How did it all start? "It was something I did for fun before even thinking about making short movies," recalls Spartan Jay. "Whenever I would get bored of playing a game, I would always choose to get kicked, rather than leave. Halo 2 was always fun for griefing. You would get people coming together to play a custom game of Zombies. Back then it was up to the players to change team after being killed. I was always the idiot that refused to change team. The reactions I got!"

"I never originally intended to make videos from it," General Minus agrees. "I'd just do it for my own amusement. I started watching some griefing videos on YouTube - which had a much smaller audience at the time - and it inspired me to do it myself on the Xbox 360 because of the amount of rage some people will vent over a video game."

These, of course, are merely all logistics. There's a more pressing question to be asked: is griefing just a bit of harmless fun? Is it merely a brief comedy diversion on YouTube? Or is it actually a genuinely annoying blight on the world of gaming? There are those who would fervently argue the latter: people have paid for the privilege to play these games, after all, and the last thing they want is to be wound into a frenzy by someone deliberately antagonising them.

The thing is - just as the victims of prank TV shows mostly laugh things off once the setup has been exposed - the griefers maintain that most people simply find their online antics amusing. Obviously they pick the most extreme reactions for their videos, but the majority of people just laugh at the silliness on display. Far from being enraged, most gamers are good-humoured enough that they simply play along.

2

''I'm just saying, show me the bit of the army rulebook which bans teamkilling.'

"I think some people just have fun," mw2losers explains, "and even though it is affecting them, most of the people who have seen themselves in my videos get a great laugh." Killer Karrit muses how "lots of people just generally don't get annoyed. In a series I have called Grandad and Grandson, in which one of my friends pretends to be my grandad, I've had lots of people laughing at us."

Spartan Jay backs this up: "I would say that around 80 per cent of people that play online games are troll-proof. I guess my videos give people an unfair assumption of what the gaming community is really like. Most people I come across on games are fairly chilled out people. Sometimes when making a video, it can take over an hour before I find someone that will get angry over my griefing."

And it's that seething, disproportionate anger which provides the comedy. It often spills out of the game and into the real world too. "I get at least one death threat per day," Spartan Jay reveals. Interestingly, mw2losers states that "certain sexual preference insults seem to be the favorite of most ragers" - which ties into one of the most satisfying elements of the griefing videos.

We've all been in multiplayer games in which violent, sexist, racist, homophobic and generally hate-filled insults spew forth from certain players. Most of us choose to ignore it - but one could argue that much of the hilarity stems from the griefers' willingness to take these people on headfirst. Just like Bill Hicks' famous joke about 'walking into a Klan Rally wearing a Boy George outfit', there's something undeniably funny about stoking the ire of some of the more disagreeable characters online.

And - as if to fulfill the notions set down by the Battlefield fanboys - it's a sad truth that most of these unsavoury types dwell within the world of Call of Duty. "Call of Duty is a top choice for most griefers," General Minus explains. "Some people can take it very seriously and care a lot about their stats. It doesn't take much sometimes to get a player really annoyed on that game. In my griefing videos I tend to talk really calmly and play the innocent guy whilst one or more people are raging at me over the microphone, which makes for funnier comedy in my opinion." According to mw2losers, "Call of Duty is serious business to a lot of people. It's all about your kill/death ratio more than it is just having fun with friends."

Spartan Jay, meanwhile, thinks that griefing opportunities are more down to the game design rather than certain types of player. "I don't think it's necessarily the game that makes people angry," he says, "but there are many advantages for using Call of Duty to grief for reactions. The main one for MW3 is the fact that there is no way you can be kicked at any time in the game. I could be more creative with my griefing on Halo: Reach but there is no way to turn the game volume down, so it is hard to hear the reactions. I believe that if Halo 4 has a game volume option, it will become the game that most people grief on."

3

''We might lose the war, Sarge, but at least the look on your face was kind of funny.''

All well and good - but in the end, though, isn't this just a bunch of guys engaging in a simplistic wind-up? Isn't the whole thing beneath analysis? Well... not quite. Just as Jackass and Trigger Happy TV often amused audiences with their creativity, some of the angles taken by the griefers are getting increasingly elaborate. Be it a droning 'live commentary', posing as a moderator, getting revenge on would-be account hackers, turning the match into a life-or-death gameshow, or acting as the 'camping police' - whatever you think of griefers, it can't be argued that they're not a creative bunch.

So: how will this peculiarly modern phenomenon evolve next? There's already something of a griefing community, in which the most successful personalities often join forces to make teamkilling supergroups.

"I do talk to some of the the other griefers on YouTube," General Minus explains, "and sometimes I'll team up with somebody to make a video. It can be a good laugh griefing with someone else." Plus it seems that new griefing protégés are often being fostered.

"There are many up and coming griefers that are starting to make a name for themselves," Spartan Jay says. "I like to promote new griefers that have just started, as it's hard to get the views in without help from others. The other griefers are always promoting new people on the scene. So I guess we are a community. At the same time, we are always trying to make the best griefing content out there. So I also see other griefers as rivals. I believe that is a good thing as if there was no competition, my content would be nowhere near as good as it is."

Hated or hailed, the hit counts for these griefers are growing day by day, and that essentially guarantees they won't be going away anytime soon. We could well be witnessing a new breed of celebrity pranksters - or just a soon-to-be-forgotten method of wasting away five minutes on YouTube. Either way, they don't seem too fazed. They have motivation enough as it is. As General Minus sums up, "I find wind-ups very funny... and that's my main reason for wanting to do it really."

Comments (129) Latest comment 5 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • FogHeart #1 5 months ago

    Well, if anyone wants to argue that it's fun to watch the youtube videos of griefing, I'd say that it's like graffiti - more than 99% is just vandalism, and of the remainder the people who have to live with it mostly would rather it weren't there.

  • Po1ymorph #2 5 months ago

    These Griefer's sound harmless enough. Griefers in Minecraft on the other hand are a different story.

  • nickthegun #3 5 months ago

    You callin' CJ a bitch?

  • zegerman1942 #4 5 months ago

    Well done Eurogamer on actually writing a long dreary "report" on this. Thankfully i don't really come across muppets who take pleasure in ruining the game experience of others a lot (on normal servers in BF3 that's not often the case), however i think lending any kind of publicity to these people is not really a smart thing to do.

    Sure a video like this might be fun from time to time, but essentially it's a few ****heads having fun at the expense of others - really soemthing that needs to be advertised and encouraged by boasting what high youtube ratings they have?

    Is it a slow news day today Eurogamer?

  • berelain #5 5 months ago

    "It is also bust-your-gut, wet-your-pants, double-you-over-in-stitches hilarious."

    No, actually, it isn't.

  • Gusdor #6 5 months ago

    I'm amazed that so many people dont just bail off the server.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #7 5 months ago

    A bit of harmless trolling is fine - but once you ruin someone's hour long game (or even worse buildings in Minecraft that took weeks) the fun stops quite quickly.

    I really, really like what FogHeart says. 99% of it isn't even funny on paper.

  • Whitster #8 5 months ago

    Kudos to these guys for calling out and antagonising the people who take it all far to seriously. I shall be checking for their videos come my next teabreak.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #9 5 months ago

    Just went over to Spartan Jay's channel after reading this and the first video is him (?) posing as a Microsoft employee and starts to pick on a 13 year old.

    Well done indeed...

  • the_dudefather #10 5 months ago

    The grandson and granddad videos are pretty funny

  • FanBoysSuck #11 5 months ago

    While it can be funny in certain situations, most of the time it's just annoying.

    If you want to witness this mentality taken to the extreme, try die2nite. In a group of 40 people there is always at least one person who takes pleasure ruining the game for everybody else. This may not seem to be an issue for most using free accounts but those who have the payed for hero mode are literally having their money wasted.

    Most of the time it's not a case of being a prankster, it's being the kind of dick who kicks over other peoples sandcastles because, well, they're dicks.

    While death threats are a bit far a swift kick to the balls in public would be a fair punishment to these cunts.
    Edited by FanBoysSuck at 04/01/12 @ 13:46

  • Shikasama #12 5 months ago

    Why the fuck are you giving these tossers a forum?

    Who the hell is CJ Davies?

    How are we supposed to take anyone seriously when they describe Jackass as "It is also bust-your-gut, wet-your-pants, double-you-over-in-stitches hilarious."

    Not a good start to 2012 guys.

  • TravisTouchdown #13 5 months ago

    Granted, I'm not someone who would be troubled by these types, avoiding online gaming in general as I do. But from the tone of this piece, I actually thought some of their antics sounded kind of amusing - Leeeeeerooooooy Jeeeeeenkins-esque, perhaps.

    Then I watched the linked "live commentary" of Spartan Jay. Fundamentally unamusing, in every way.

  • jonbwfc #14 5 months ago

    If I want to see a group of dickheads congratulating each other for being dickheads, I can probably find that on the internet too. However, I find Eurogamer to be a poor choice of host for it.

  • Whatascoop #15 5 months ago

    I hope CJ Davies is a pseudonym like Alan Smithee.

  • CaptainQuint #16 5 months ago

    Future sex offenders, the lot of 'em.

  • organica #17 5 months ago

    "A new breed of celebrity pranksters" is a long and fancy way of saying 'cunts'.

  • spacemonkey2000 #18 5 months ago

    I think if its really well done it can be very funny. Takes me back to Fansy the famous bard on EQ PVP servers. Just classic.

    [link url=http://www.notacult.com/fansythefamous.htm[/link]

  • Squidgywidgywoo #19 5 months ago

    Tomorrow on Eurogamer - SOME ACTUAL FUCKING GAMING NEWS.

  • schnide #20 5 months ago

    I didn't know that this kind of thing had any kind of popular following.

    And thanks to this article, now I do. This is very, very similar to the emulation article in what it's going to achieve. That was another low point for EG, and one I forgot to mention in the recent survey.

    And to make it worse, none of the videos I watched from these links were even remotely funny.

  • JetSetWilly #21 5 months ago

    It is also bust-your-gut, wet-your-pants, double-you-over-in-stitches hilarious.

    The long winter nights must just fly by in your house.

  • Bilstar #22 5 months ago

    Well, I for one thought that was an interesring article. I shall check out some vids later on. Good work.

  • ronuds #23 5 months ago

    This is like a chicken and egg argument. None of us like to be pranked, but most of us enjoy watching others fall victim to it.

    I think what these guys are doing is harmless enough, because these are frecking video games we're talking about. Some of you are acting as though your life depends on whether or not you win a match. Nobody cares.

    The guy from Activision isn't going to give you a golden belt for going 25-0 in COD. EA's CEO isn't going to call you on the phone and congratulate you for suppressing the enemy in BF. Laugh at life sometimes. It's good to.

  • OllyJ #24 5 months ago

    just seen a "camping police" video, that was pretty funny as it goes.

  • Genyus #25 5 months ago

    Some people are way too serious, the only thing griefers are good for is putting them in their place, realizing they are only playing a game and it's not their life.

  • threemoh #26 5 months ago

    @schnide What/when was the 'emulation article'?

  • geeza2020 #27 5 months ago

    While I may not find the griefers particularly funny, I'm also not one of these morons who actually blow their tops in online games as a result of griefing. Just quit the game and join another server.

    Personally, I'd prefer it if the griefers weren't there but they're just games and not worth getting so furious about. I'm not sure these people deserved an article about themselves though, the last thing we need is griefers with even higher opinions of themselves!

  • Der_tolle_Emil #28 5 months ago

    @schnide The article was fine - it's nice to read something different and it was well written too. Besides, humor is quite subjective and not everyone is laughing about the same things. There are good trolling videos out there (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAabVQ_XkJ4 ) and finding bad jokes funny is still far from condoning piracy :)

  • duckmouth #29 5 months ago

    @Der_tolle_Emil Report him to MS, it's a guaranteed permaban for impersonating MS staff.

  • el_pollo_diablo #30 5 months ago

    I find them funny. I'd also like to read more features like this please Eurogamer.

  • QotSAfan #31 5 months ago

    I love all the discrimination against 'griefers' in the comments section. Just because we are more creative in the way we get fun from games, doesn't mean you guys have to get jealous and hate us. It's okay to not like things but don't be mean about it.

  • Sildur #32 5 months ago

    Ummm... Yep - most of the griefing in these videos is extremely boring.

  • zegerman1942 #33 5 months ago

    @ronuds it's not necessarily about winning or loosing the match. in fact it's not even about getting killed by a team mate from time to time. it happens.

    It's about people going on a server deliberatly to ruin other people's experience for their own amusements and to grow the e-peen on youtube.

    getting killed, over and over and over again by someoen who does not care and just has a laugh is not fun. sure i can leave the server, but the point is i should not have to resort to that, just because some people are muppets.

    imagine if you go skiing and some muppet consistently runs into you and makes you fall over. Hey it's just a sport, it's just about a hobby right? your life does not depend on whether you make it down the slope without falling on your ass from time time. But still it would be highly annoying no? :)

  • huckan #34 5 months ago

    Typical 'because I can' bullying antics to fuck other people about, pathetic and cuntish.

  • FogHeart #35 5 months ago

    It all boils down to this: how much of your time, effort and opportunities are you willing to lose in order to allow the world at large to have a chuckle at your expense? If the answer is 'none whatsoever' and are massively hostile against anyone who takes any away from you then yes, you should be taken down a peg or two and your anger will make you look silly.

    But there are limits. An entire team for an entire game? Days or even weeks of patient planning and building? How can anyone say that the victims need a better sense of humour in those cases?

    And for the 'pro' griefer, how much of other peoples time do you waste before anything happens that is worth keeping for posterity (as judged by others and not yourself). The tiny amount of griefing that is actually funny doesn't begin to justify the mountain of crap that it's buried in, and does a lot to encourage griefers that are only capable of producing crap.

  • jonbwfc #36 5 months ago

    'doesn't mean you guys have to get jealous and hate us. It's okay to not like things but don't be mean about it.'

    Oh the irony.

  • motorwrists #37 5 months ago

    Team Roomba are the best at this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUPzN7tp7bQ&feature=related

  • Arsecake_Baker #38 5 months ago

    @berelain

    You beat me to it!

    It's not funny EG, niether was jackass or the myriad of other "look at me i'm fucking someone off to make you laugh" TV dross

    You actually mentioned Bill Hicks in there somewhere, Bill Hicks was a comedian with a social message, not a jumped up school bully grabbing the limelight at somebody else's expense!

    Griefers/pranksters call 'em what you want, i'll call 'em fucking idiots, but hey that exactly what they want in the first place.

  • VibratingDonkey #39 5 months ago

    The only type of griefer I've ever encountered is the guy being an asshole having fun at the expense of others.

    I put them in the same slot as these guys.

  • DrStrangelove #40 5 months ago

    Hated or hailed, the hit counts for these griefers are growing day by day

    As if a major gaming site linked their videos.
    Edited by DrStrangelove at 04/01/12 @ 15:37

  • GAmbrose #41 5 months ago

    I quite liked this article, but I started watching a few of the videos inc Grandad and Grandson and Camping Police and they were hardly laugh out loud funny.

    The Jackass movies are however, rather amusing (never really liked the show)

  • nimzy #42 5 months ago

    CTRL-F: myg0t

    Not even a single mention of the original gaming griefers?

  • CFacto #43 5 months ago

    This is only amusing when then 'griefed' deserve it. Sandy Ravage's 'Booster Justice' videos are a good example of when it works. Just being a knob and trying to pass it off as comedy is rarely funny.

  • Neppy #44 5 months ago

    The only FPS I really play online is Team Fortress 2 and thankfully there's no TKing or ways to completely screw your own team (only mild annoyances like putting teleporters down in such a way that you must always jump over them and mic spam which can easily be muted).

    I've met some nasty people playing on my ps3 though; lately it's been on Castlevania HD where your country flag is displayed and I've had insults thrown at me and been kicked just for having the UK flag next to my name. You can't even block these people since they don't show up in the ps3's 'players encountered' menu. Also been kicked for my choice of character to play as (thankfully not too much) and have had people deliberately close gates on me so I need to do a huge backtrack and likely miss out on the boss. Almost as bad are the people who just AFK at the start of the level letting the rest of us do the 'work'; it's fine if you don't have good equipment or you mess up and die but not even trying annoys me.

  • Triggerhappytel #45 5 months ago

    I don't play online FPSs much, but I find any form of 'griefer' to be an annoying sad twat if he gets more enjoyment from ruining the game for others than just playing it as intended.

    This is why I rarely bother with comms when playing online.

  • humanchu #46 5 months ago

    I don't like anything about this article.

    The griefer jokes are on individuals (however silly/stupid someone might find their motivations) who are just trying to enjoy themselves.

    Will the next article cover the joy of bullying?
    Edited by humanchu at 04/01/12 @ 16:50

  • Lemming81 #47 5 months ago

    Well I think they're hilarious, but then I don't play FPS multiplayer games on consoles with voicechat, for the same reason I wouldn't swim in a river of shit with my mouth open.

  • MatMan562 #48 5 months ago

    I see no reason why this should be endorsed and glorified in any way. I usually play games to take my mind off whatever's going on in my life at the time (shooting people in the face (in a video game) can be strangely calming) and having somebody stop that can really put me in a bad mood which, with my mind, can lead to me getting depressed which in turn can lead to suicidal thoughts. Now i'm not saying that someone teamkilling me would make me kill myself, I know that they're just games and all that, but with other stuff going on in my life it's certainly not going to help.

    Just remember that there is a real person behind their in-game avatar and you have no idea what they are feeling or how you're "griefing" is going to affect them.

    The same goes for Jackass really, I only like the bits they do to eachother and the non-harmful stuff they do in the public.

    All that being said, i'm all for "griefing" to anyone who is racist, homophobic, sexist or downright ignorant and prejudiced in any other way.

  • danjfor #49 5 months ago

    The 21st-century equivalent of grown men going to the playpark and standing on one side of the the see-saw so the kids can't use it.

  • mattrix33 #50 5 months ago

    Just watched a few of the videos on you tube...

    About as funny as falling down a flight of stairs whilst holding a knife that then slams into your side.

    I'm not a COD player but I would be pissed right of if some idiot thought it was "fun" to spoil everyone else's enjoyment while I was playing.

    It's the sort of immature gaming habits of 8 year olds.

  • Buztafen #51 5 months ago

    What about Anti-griefers...or Ungriefers?

    I was playing Dark souls the other night and got invaded by a high level phantom...only to have the phantom bow and give me a big soul as a gift. :)

  • guernican #52 5 months ago

    We've all, I'm sure, heard the tartrazine-intolerant 12-year-old going berserk on an online shooter and those sorts of reactions are pretty funny.

    Most of the stuff linked to here just seems like perfectly reasonable people getting more and more irritated with a droning penis.

  • guernican #53 5 months ago

    @Buztafen

    Remember Buztafen from the original Demon's Souls group on the forums here :)

    Remember the occasional Black Phantom that would appear in a Demon's Souls game, accompany you through the level, help you kill everything, then offer his neck to be severed at the end. Ah, the Japanese... I'm guessing that doesn't happen very often on Xbox Live.

  • NunianVonFuch #54 5 months ago

    These are just videos of people teamkilling others until someone loses the rag, not creative or funny at all. You or I could do it in five minutes of CoD if we were complete assholes too. For proper comedy griefing OF THE ENEMY (thus also helping your team somewhat), the Operation series from Battlefield 3 can't be beat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV4LDCgWMdI

  • guernican #55 5 months ago

    Just because we are more creative in the way we get fun from games, doesn't mean you guys have to get jealous and hate us. It's okay to not like things but don't be mean about it.
    I crap more creative than you.

  • Po1ymorph #56 5 months ago

    Disregarding my previuos comment stating these griefers seemed harmless. I have watched some of General Minus vids on you tube. 90% of them are just him team killing people for no good reason. Considering a player pays for there internet connection, game and [possibly] gold account, to have there paid for experience ruined for someone eles personnel entertainment I would have to disagree with.

    I did not find any of it amusing.

  • LastAngryMan #57 5 months ago

    Not liking the pro-griefing slant in the article. I've paid money for the game, money for my internet connection, and Xbox live sub, only for my game to be ruined by people f**king about for a laugh? If I can only manage an hour or two a week to play, why should it be wasted by people like this? Wankers, fuck off.
    Edited by LastAngryMan at 04/01/12 @ 18:02

  • silversun #58 5 months ago

    maybe it not same thing but i can always go back, watch that video of the player killer who killed lord british in ultima online and find that funney.
    I dont use mic online and tend to avoid all that stuff just get on with the game.
    I not really a fan of griefing in games but each to there own.
    Edited by silversun at 04/01/12 @ 18:02

  • KDR_11k #59 5 months ago

    I really enjoy the Team Avolition videos about Minecraft. Especially when they get their hands on some major exploits hilarity ensues. Unfortunately about every second one gets blocked in Germany for having licensed music and the GEMA being a bunch of bitches about it.

    Also the videos where they basically engage in stealth sabotage missions are great. They have to make sure they aren't spotted or identified which adds a lot of tension to the proceedings.

    I don't play Minecraft creatively, I build functional homes and go monster hunting so I don't feel any sadness seeing huge statues and stuff wrecked.
    Edited by KDR_11k at 04/01/12 @ 18:14

  • TagemandBagem #60 5 months ago

    "CTRL-F: myg0t

    Not even a single mention of the original gaming griefers?"

    Did the same thing. So, not only was the article an awfully poor attempt to defend these unfunny idots, it wasn't even properly researched.

  • Bremenacht #61 5 months ago

    I got griefed for griefing griefers on pre-patch (360) L4D2 once. They cussed and whined and threatened to inform Microsoft because I unblocked the lift and slashed the bin out of the manhole, thus allowing the survivors to actually complete the level, which resulted in more cussing, a ragequit and negative feedback. HA!

  • TheGuvernor #62 5 months ago

    They're being paid by EA you fools...

  • munki83 #63 5 months ago

    Awesome article reminded me of a time I was down at my mates years ago and we were playing BF2 on the old xbox and we just went around griefing our team in unranked matches. A sniper got in a helicopter with me and I bailed out to land on a building and he whined "You're suppose to tell me if you're bailing out". He was soon next to me lying on his belly getting ready to snipe the other team and I shot him in the head and then laughed. We found this hilarious and we started c4ing our own vehicles and killing all our team mates until they all turned on us. Was awesome and probably some of the most fun I've had online.

  • soviet_ #64 5 months ago

    You could of used some better examples of creative griefing, you know ones that are actually quite clever and funny.

    Team Roomba TF2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPoKaoJu0m4

    EVE Online: Jihad Suicide Gank - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D1lhx3johA

  • PaulieWaulie #65 5 months ago

    Post deleted at 13:34:06 08-05-2012

  • You_shlaaaag #66 5 months ago

    Blimey, talk about an overreaction. It's just a bit of fun guys for fucks sake! It is childish, puerile and most importantly it IS fucking hilarious. I cannot believe the negativity of those who have commented, and comparing it to BULLYING! What the fuck?! Watch Spartan Jay and General Minus team up on this one poor bloke on MW2 and if you're not crying with laughter by the end of it there's something wrong with you. I can only assume the people who don't find this funny also don't like An Idiot Abroad, BlackAdder or South Park, shows which derive their humour from exactly the same place.

    Another thing that is worth bearing in mind and was pointed out in the article, is that on many occasions the victims of griefing are actually the people who spout vile abuse at you in the first place because in their eyes you're "proper shit-like innit you fackin' queer." I say give it back to them. If they can't take it they shouldn't dish it out.

  • berelain #67 5 months ago

    @You_shlaaaag "I can only assume the people who don't find this funny also don't like An Idiot Abroad, BlackAdder or South Park, shows which derive their humour from exactly the same place."

    The difference being, those are fictional characters, not real people.

    I'm not quite sure I see griefing as bullying -though it can come close - and many victims of it are pretty much asking for it, but comparing it to scripted sitcoms is a little naive.

  • You_shlaaaag #68 5 months ago

    @berelain

    I'm not comparing it to sitcoms, I'm comparing the humour within them. Surely whether they're real or fictional (I'm sure you know btw An Idiot Abroad is not fiction) is irrelevant. Humour is humour no matter where it comes from. I just think nowadays too many people take online gaming way too seriously. It reminds me of the ridiculous outcry over Ricky Gervais' hosting of the Golden Globes. They're actors for fucks sake! Why take them so seriously? The same applies to gaming. It's an entertainment, beginning its blossom into art perhaps, and its supporters get in a tizz over someone having a laugh at a braindead and racist/sexist/ homophobic, etc (delete as applicable) twonk who quite frankly deserves all the grief given to them. Griefers show the rest of us who the true twats are.

    If Roger Cook was a gamer, he'd be a griefer...

  • jonbwfc #69 5 months ago

    @You_shlaaaag Yeah? Then he'd be a tosser as well.

  • Arsecake_Baker #70 5 months ago

    Humour is humour no matter where it comes from.
    Christ who let in the Chubby Brown/Bernard Manning brigade!

  • You_shlaaaag #71 5 months ago

    Post deleted at 21:06:49 04-01-2012

  • You_shlaaaag #72 5 months ago

    How does that comment make me comparable to Bernard Manning? Way to twist a comment to mean something else entirely. I don't condone racism or discrimination of any sort, but guys, relax. It's online gaming for gawds sake. If people shout vile insults at you they're clearly brainless and deserve whatever shit they get. Sometimes just muting the cunts isn't enough.

    You all take yourselves and this brilliant hobby of ours way too seriously. Anyway, I'm leaving this thread before I get attacked again.

  • kimchibaka #73 5 months ago

    Really valid and interesting basis for an article I reckon, but far too gushing in praise for these people. For each and every person who does it to make "entertaining" Youtube vids (I've seen quite a few but only one or two have made me either laugh or seem justified) there are thousands, surely, who do it simply to annoy and ruin it for others.

    The article gives these people way too much of a platform to pour out their lame justifications. Just for one, "I would say that around 80% of people that play online games are troll-proof". Troll-proof they may be - in the sense that they won't rise enough to make an entertaining Youtube video that will net the creator loads of views. But my guess is that at least 80% will be at least a little bit pissed off.

    I've been in MW lobbies with some of these tits, and on the PS3 at least you'll often see almost everyone quit if not during a round then straight away after.

  • Skirlasvoud #74 5 months ago

    There's already something of a griefing community, in which the most successful personalities often join forces to make teamkilling supergroups.
    That, I would like to see. An entire MW3 supergroup consisting of nothing but griefers. Why? Well, because suddenly, the humor evaporates.

    Griefing and Jackass-ing is only funny because it offends normal society. A griefer away from normal people, is just a moron with a bad taste of humor. Its the reaction and frustration that's funny. The "comedian" himself, less so.

  • peppergomez #75 5 months ago

    Good grief!

  • edgeworth #76 5 months ago

    @You_shlaaaag Do you enjoy people wasting your time? If so, then please, by all means, continue, because griefing is little more than that taken to the next level. People playing ArmA, League of Legends and, depending on the ladder, StarCraft want at least somewhat serious team mates that don't screw them over just because they can. It's their choice and what they want to do with the few precious hours of spare time they have between performing menial, joyless tasks. If they wanted to just screw about they'd be playing Magicka. This is as relevant to gaming as it is to any other hobby.

    For the record, I do quite enjoy both Blackadder and South Park.
    Edited by edgeworth at 04/01/12 @ 22:43

  • local_celebrity #77 5 months ago

    Post deleted at 23:45:03 04-01-2012

  • FWB #78 5 months ago

    No surprises that they're kids or bums. They're the only ones with the time to waste on such crap. Fortunately I haven't experienced them, but if i did it'd be very simple... quit and find a new server.

    Doesn't Live deal with these guys? Surely enough complaints and you'd be suspended.

  • Lukey__b #79 5 months ago

    I don't really like the comments those videos get.

    "Chavs deserve what they get"

    Seems all based on having a regional accent or not. If "chavs" only beat on people that run around them in circles and say 'burberry' in their faces constantly, would that be a bad thing?

  • superdelphinus #80 5 months ago

    The only funny game related 'comedy' type thing I've seen is that guy who does the FIFA ones, because he's obviously mental (and it's not even remotely griefing either if I understand it correctly). HESKEY.

    Just watched one of the spartan jay ones....it's not really funny is it? Sort of to the extent that I wonder why this article was written. It's just a slightly gimpy guy saying words to wind children up.
    Edited by superdelphinus at 04/01/12 @ 23:12

  • akmass #81 5 months ago

    I think there are some very interesting aspects to and types of griefing (see Eve Online and some events as WOW, Second Life Sarah Palin event) but the things discussed in this article are neither creative or interesting. This is Jerky Boys stuff at best. What is a bit noteworthy is the high traffic to the videos--at least for online ad buyers.

  • superdelphinus #82 5 months ago

    @akmass it's nothing like the jerky boys! It's simply a guy saying very unwitty things to young teenagers to get them annoyed. Bizzare.

  • akmass #83 5 months ago

    @superdelphinus Ha! Glad to see someone else remembers the Jerky Boys. I did say "at best". I haven't actually watched these videos and supposed some of them could be made funny by a particularly funny person.

  • akmass #84 5 months ago

    Appropriate ad up top. Troll Hunter.

  • Po1ymorph #85 5 months ago

    Something I read once regarding social interactions on the internet.

    "Just because we are separated by hundreds or thousands of miles, it's no reason to act like a dick"

  • stryker1121 #86 5 months ago

    Watched some of General Minus's vids and the guy's relentlessly annoying. Kind of a David Brent vibe of willful ignorance, and yeah some of the vids taking after the hardcase types made me laugh.

  • skinfasst #87 5 months ago

    @QotSAfan wtf are you on about? No-one's jealous (as if!) but most people think you (as in griefers) are dicks. You can dress it up all you want but at the end of the day you're fucking up someone's free time and an activity they enjoy. If you're playing football in the park and some dick comes and hoofs the ball into the woods then you're not going to laugh and say 'oh how hilarious', you're just going to think he's a dick. Which he is. Same principle here.

    Funny how these griefers consider themselves some kind of 'serious police', but who is anyone else to say how seriously someone else should take their hobby? WTF do you care how serious someone is about CoD, or football, or painting, or making music, or anything? It's their game, their money, their internet connection, their EVERYTHING, and since 99% of these pathetic griefing attempts aren't directed at gamers who are already fucking the game up for everyone else then there's no justification at all. It's just dickish. Even if there is some chav who gets in a rage, so fucking what? If you think that kind of thing is funny then it's you who needs to get a life.

  • PaulieWaulie #88 5 months ago

    Post deleted at 14:23:40 06-01-2012

  • tiddex #89 5 months ago

    i agree with anyon who finds the spartan jay videos crappy, but i laughed my ass off with some of the general minus-vids.
    "camping-police, stop camping, please."
    "knife-test... check! [...] why are you mad at me, you should help me, you have a higher rank!"

  • gav082 #90 5 months ago

    Wow, did eurogamer troll their own site?
    You know what they say people "dont feed...."

  • DDevil #91 5 months ago

    The one thing I learned from this article is that there's a lot of miserable bastards reading this site.

    Sorry, I take that back. I had figured that out a long time ago.

  • PlugMonkey #92 5 months ago

    whatever you think of griefers, it can't be argued that they're not a creative bunch.
    Having just spent 5 minutes on General Minus's and Spartan Jay's youtube channels, I would argue that quite strongly. It's just trolling. Winding people up by being offensive and stupid and refusing to go away.

    No wonder it can take them an hour to get a rise out of someone. It's because they're not very original or funny.

    I mean, look at this. That's funny? At what point exactly? He could have a show on BBC 3. I really mean that.

    Edit: And I've just swung by mw2loser's channel. He shoots team-mates. But the funny part is...wait for it...oh god I can barely contain my mirth...oh my sides...when he does it he shoots them in the groin and says "Bam. Nut shot." over the mike! Ha ha!

    He does this over and over again.

    Presumably when writing this article, someone at EG found a griefer video that was actually interesting or creative or funny? If anyone else manages to find one, please post a link, because I'm fucked if I'm trawling through anymore of that shit. My brain hurts. The only thing I can imagine that would be less funny is being forced, Clockwork Orange style, to watch an entire boxset of Lee Nelson's Well Good Show. I don't want to live on this earth any longer.
    Edited by PlugMonkey at 05/01/12 @ 10:04

  • jonbwfc #93 5 months ago

    'I just thought it was quite amusing that the kid was crying'
    - tells you all you need to know.

  • menage #94 5 months ago

    What a stupid write-up.

  • Raconteur #95 5 months ago

    In future reviews will you be including a 'Griefing' rating - calling it 'Jedward Factor' would make its purpose plain to all. This will make it easier for me to determine which games not to buy.

  • jabberwocky #96 5 months ago

    Is it the griefers that shout out things like n****r, faggot, jew and start trying to slag off your mother? If so then ban them, if not then ban them anyway as they're still ruining peoples games.

    @plugmonkey. If Lee Nelson's funnier than these guys then i say shoot them, shoot them all. Then shoot Lee Nelson.
    Edited by jabberwocky at 05/01/12 @ 11:12

  • mcmothercruncher #97 5 months ago

    I should be above this but I've just wasted an hour rifling through generalminus's youtube vids :(

  • PlugMonkey #98 5 months ago

    @Der_tolle_Emil (#29)

    Actually, that one is quite amusing. The difference here being that he's doing creative, skillful and amusing things to kill, mock and wind up his opponents.

    All the other ones I've seen involve doing tedious, repetitive and unimaginative things to wind up your team-mates, purely on the grounds of how tedious, repetitive and unimaginative you are.

    Edit: This possibly explains how he's got a million and a half views in six weeks on a single video, which utterly eclipses anything any of the people spoken to in the article have managed. Quality over quantity and repetition.
    Edited by PlugMonkey at 05/01/12 @ 11:20

  • Camilitus #99 5 months ago

    As an avid l4d2 player playing vs and especially vs realism, the point difference over an hr plus game can be tight. Simply joining and not even doing much team damage, before getting kicked can decide the 90 minute contest. -my point essentially is that griefers like those interviewed like it because of the reaction, they are some kind of puppeteer/director of rage. Some people (like the l4d2)and the vast majority, imho, do it from a misanthropic* motivation. The article reads like a starcraft tourney preview (look out for and check their vids...!) without actually mentioning what starcraft is. I.e. the day-to-day common experiance we all have with griefers.

    As for super griefers. Forget COD or any FPS, Eve Online has people that will inflitrate ur corp/alliance for months, to steal u, and ur friends stuff built up over possibly years. Just for the lolz...

    *look it up.

  • Skirlasvoud #100 5 months ago

    @Po1ymorph

    "Just because we are separated by hundreds or thousands of miles, it's no reason to act like a dick"

    Maybe they do it because you'd have to be a giant dick to cover such a massive distance. Maybe they're compensating for something? Always reminds me of that one south park episode...

  • randyronald #101 5 months ago

    Some griefers are brilliant. The best of whom for me is still this guy:

    **WARNING: Contains poorly rendered nudity courtesy of No- I mean - Second Life**

    http://www.ralphpleasego.com/no.png

  • muddybrowneye #102 5 months ago

    I just checked out some of these, thought GeneralMinus was pretty good. Mw2losers was hilarious,"two for flinching", and "my area" awesome!!!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0_IwKTwFkM

  • muddybrowneye #103 5 months ago

    @EddieMink tell me this isn't creative??

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0_IwKTwFkM

  • Wheatley #104 5 months ago

    The only amusing trolling videos I've seen on Youtube are Kevin's 'How to Annoy People at Call of Duty' series.

  • JoeBlade #105 5 months ago

    This sort of behaviour is the very reason I don't play any kind of multiplayer games anymore.

    I don't have gamer mates and don't want to commit myself to clans or the likes so a closed community isn't an option.
    Telling people not to do something because it will get everyone killed then seeing some tard go on ahead and do it anyway and finding it hilarious gets very old extremely quickly however. Unfortunately there seems to be one such a twat for every five reasonable players in a random bunch.

  • rashes #106 5 months ago

    I don't mind the creative one that are doing it with purpose (for example the Call of Duty - How to Annoy People ones are particularly funny).
    The ones that wreck my head are the kids that scream down the mic or play death metal at top volume and everyone has to rip their headsets off till they mute them. What. Is. The. Point?

    To all the commenters giving out about this article for whatever reasons, I think it's great that EG have being doing different opinion piece and alternative articles. I find most of them interesting and it's good to differentiate them from being just another gaming news site. There are plenty they stick to that format if that's all you want.

  • Vintino #107 5 months ago

    I can see both arguements about the videos. I get a kick out of some of them. For instance... when M2losers went around on Black ops playing core deathmatch and was claiming to show some idiots a new glitch. As they jumped up and down on the red barrels looking like fools... he would shoot the barrrel to blow it up and kill them. How is that not hilarious?

    On the other hand... your going to have everyother kid out there trying to make a funny video.

  • Vintino #108 5 months ago

    And make the game more annoying than anything. It would be almost as annoying as people using glitches and cheats. The videos should be left to these guys to make. I bet there's already kids uploading videos right now because of this article. Oh look... there's some here! LOL

  • jonbwfc #109 5 months ago

    @Vintino 'when M2losers went around on Black ops playing core deathmatch and was claiming to show some idiots a new glitch. As they jumped up and down on the red barrels looking like fools... he would shoot the barrrel to blow it up and kill them. How is that not hilarious?'

    It's not hilarious to me, but then I have an IQ higher that that of a sink-plunger.

  • PlugMonkey #110 5 months ago

    @Wheatley

    Excellent post. He's much funnier, cleverer and less repetitive than any of the guys in the article.

    Again, probably the reason he has as many views per video as those guys have for their entire channels. You'd think drawing in tens of millions of views with griefing videos would make him worthy of a mention in the article itself...

  • Stratix #111 5 months ago

    It's fine in moderation. As long as I know I can get away from it if I want to, then I can still find this crap funny.

  • PaulieWaulie #112 5 months ago

    Post deleted at 14:23:40 06-01-2012

  • ronuds #113 5 months ago

    @zegerman1942 - I didn't say there wasn't a limit to what should be tolerated. But once in a while isn't going to hurt anyone.

    Even when there are no griefers, only about 25% of my online games are actually competitive anyway. So it's not like the griefers are really ruining any kind of balance, because there isn't any to begin with.

  • jonbwfc #114 5 months ago

    @PaulieWaulie Did my inappropriate behaviour upset you? Never mind, I thought it was funny, so obviously it was OK.

  • PlugMonkey #115 5 months ago

    @jonbwfc

    Touché!

  • SFG_Clan #116 5 months ago

    I'd never heard of any of these guys but I definetly think it's interesting, I often find myself laughing just because the poor reaction of the players.

    In one of Karrits videos he comes up against incredibly racist people and he just runs circles around them with that calm dour Scottish accent

  • SteelPriest #117 5 months ago

    none of those were funny

  • Vintino #118 5 months ago

    Were you the one jumping up and down on the barrel? It was funny watching someone trying to cheat and get killed in the process. @jonbwfc

  • munki83 #119 5 months ago

    Watched some more of General Minus' videos today and I got to say I like them. Would love to know what a psychologist thinks of some of the reaction he gets. Although he is being annoying, I don't mind the idea of the camp police, the reactions he gets are way out of proportion. You can see where the comparison to some jackass pranks and Dom Jolly come from. However with the anonymity of online gaming the reactions are so much more extreme where the victims become more aggressive than the perpetrator. Its a bit like the scene in fight club where they are tasked to make a stranger fight them and lose.

  • Vintino #120 5 months ago

    MW3 stopped all of them in their tracks. All hardcore matches are now ricochete. And as for the videos... I know these guys will keep doing their best to make us laugh. This article was in the process for a long time. And the 4 guys listed here got their props with humor and youtube ratings. The rest of the games will follow in MW3's steps. But until then... Watch out! We will see you on youtube! LMAO

  • jonbwfc #121 5 months ago

    @Vintino
    1) Never played a moment of BLOPS online in my life.
    2) 'It was funny watching someone trying to cheat and get killed in the process.'
    Yeah, because saying things like that makes you really look like a well balanced individual.

  • MrFunky #122 5 months ago

    Griefing has died out and everybody is too aware of it now.
    The fact that Activision stopped the rocketting the floor thing it's all went downhill and now you actually have to rely on the griefers to tell good jokes to get people angry, which you will notice not alot of them are actually funny and just are videos of them playing dumb with people.
    The last time I ever laughed at a griefer was this guy...

  • MrFunky #123 5 months ago

    @MrFunky http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49MTGcutMdA whoops lol forgot the link that edit button is unemployed

  • bodthekiller #124 5 months ago

    i can see why its funny these people are getting wound up over nothing team kill change game simple

  • TazerFan #125 5 months ago

    Griefing is a lot more amusing when the targets are cheaters- like the sad sacks on COD who boost using tactical insertion until one of them gets a nuke.

  • pointBlank #126 5 months ago

    Great article

  • PaulieWaulie #127 5 months ago

    Post deleted at 14:23:40 06-01-2012

  • muddybrowneye #128 5 months ago

    Looks like MW2losers can still find ways to get reactions in MW3, LMAO this has got to be one of the funniest videos I have seen.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP4GsP57eKc

  • I468UB #129 5 months ago

    MW2 was good for teamkilling it was always fun having a chav rage at you ^_^