Griefers, Botters and Trolls... Oh My!

I've often wondered if the Wicked Witch of the West would be considered a Griefer, Botter (well, she did wanna copy her lovely sister, or walk in her footsteps so to speak) or a troll. Seriously, she's green, I think that qualifies for trollness... she threw fireballs and tried to block Dorothy's path with destructive behavior, and I already covered the botter part.

Any of the aforementioned three, can be quite irksome to say the least, but over the years I've gotten pretty good at dealing with two of the categories, and well botters will be botters, so all you really can do is be extra paranoid I suppose.  Botters are probably the most destructive though as they can completely wipe a business out in a very short amount time. I sort of throw them in the mix, because there's no joy in it for them really other than knowing they destroyed someone's work, much like a griefer. They are just more insidious in their work, as it takes a little bit of time before realizing that your work has been botted and is now full perm and free in the various markets out there.

Then you have the griefers. And you sincerely have to ask yourself their motivation in doing silly things like say covering a sim in rezzing objects over and over. Or, blocking pathways with invisible walls. Loading 16k scripts on their avatar to drag a sim down. What exactly drives them to be just plain malicious in other words? Some, are REALLY creative in their tactics, and they get a bit of grudging respect (I said a bit, let's not go off the wall with that comment). So then you have to wonder, with the creative ones, what could they do with themselves if they put that energy to something useful? Not that griefing isn't useful, it is. Seriously. Don't look at me like that, or I take the chair away!

Griefers DO have their uses, no matter how foul, or how much work it takes to clean up their messes they leave behind, you can always learn something of value. It just depends on if you're willing to look at the lesson learned. For example, how many new land owners, leave their sims open to build on, script on, the whole nine yards? And how do they learn to turn those options off when they can't be there to babysit their region? Someone comes along and whether innocently or not, builds from one prim to a script that can bring the sim to it's knees. Once the mess is cleaned up, watch how fast those little options get turned off. Sometimes, even, when they are using illegal viewers it's handy, as things can get blocked out that shouldn't be allowed through. But that's the point of saying griefers are handy lessons, if one is willing to actually fix the things they show to be broken or exploitable.  This is not to say we should welcome them with open arms and never do anything mean to them such as banning, just to look for a lesson learned in the exercise.

Trolls, are a tricky lot though. I live by the golden rule: Do NOT feed the trolls! What a tough rule that is, every ounce of you screams to either pick at them, make fun of them, tell them you're not reading or listening (when, duh of course you are cause you WANT to comment!) or say something snidely. It's tough to ignore the trolls when they've made a successful round.  They all have their own interesting tactics... Some play really stupid so you feel the need to correct them, and I think we all fall into that trap at some point or another. Some like to scream how they will grief you to no end if you don't listen to their drivel, which typically means they can't do any griefing. Some show up with just completely OFF the WALL stuff that you sort of cock your head at your monitor and say Huh? Whatever their tactic, once a troll has been identified, the only way of diffusing them is to completely and utterly stop feeding them. It's what they want. They are seeking attention in whatever medium or format they can, and they will sit behind their computer and cackle maniacally as you respond to them (I knew a troll once, this is no joke, was something to behold). Banning them, is generally a futile exercise. For every single troll you ban, there's 5 more lined up right behind them. And while it might fall into a TOS as harassment, can they truly harass you if you don't let them? If you don't feed them, do they really pose a threat? 90% of the time, that answer is no.

We've had all of the above already InWorldz, and we've dealt with the worst 2 of the three. Most Trolls, I simply don't bother with. Banning them is almost like feeding their ego. I can see the little troll sitting at their computer whooping with glee, screaming "MWAHAHAHAHAHA I irritated them so much they banned me!  Let me make an alt! BWAHAHAHAHA"  Probably in their underwear, with bad hair and breath going on, cans of empty Mt. Dew littering their floor all around them, and half eaten bags of chips, cheetohs and other unidentifiable things that should have been thrown away ages ago. Maybe I'm stereotyping (do NOT ever ask to see my desk!), but this is the mental image I have.

No matter what they are, griefer, botter or troll, just remember there is always a lesson to be learned or a mouth to be ignored, either which way you choose to deal with it, it will save alot of personal angst down the road, and seriously, stress only makes us all a bit more insane than we currently are!