GIMs – The new generation of players?
Posted By The Nude Nerd on May 23, 2009
I mentioned a few posts ago that I have a special name for those who strive to ruin others gameplay. I like to call them GIMs – short for Griefing Idiotic Morons – pronounced like “him with a G”. For anyone who plays multiplayer games these days, you have most likely run across these fine specimens of the human race. They can be found spread across the various games on the market – from World of Warcraft to Eve Online to console games such as Call of Duty. No game is safe from GIMs.
They vary in age, race, sex… I’ve seen people often refer to them as “kids” or “children” but many times I have come to find out that even those out of their teenage years can be a GIM. Their tactics vary from game to game as well. My first real MMO was Ultima Online, where people would frequently corpse camp your body after killing you. The term, “Player Killer” or PK, really originated from Ultima Online, where your character would turn red for frequently killing others, giving anyone free reign to attack the PK without consequence. Many PK’s wore their red color with pride though.
Player vs Player (PvP) combat was only one of many tactics for a GIM to try to ruin your gameplay. In World of Warcraft, I saw GIMs that would purposely exploit various game mechanics to ruin others day. Stealing raid ID’s, attacking a quest mob before you could do enough damage to it so you wouldn’t get credit, purposefully ruining a market for a crafting skill… the list could go on for some length. WoW was that much worse too because of it’s huge popularity and lesser learning curve – the more people there were, the more GIMs that abounded. I’ve seen guilds destroyed just because a GIM decided he didn’t like the guild.
Console gamers have it worse than most from the little bit I’ve seen. I’m not sure if it’s because the majority of console gamers tend to be younger or what, but anytime I have joined a game on my PS3, the smacktalking over voice chat is just ridiculous. I had thought that my days of playing Battlefield 2 on the PC would prepare me for it, but all I can do is shake my head as I think about the cursing, the belittling of others and the “teabagging” that goes on in these games. It makes me wonder many times what the parents of that 13-year old is doing while he screams epithets into his mic while shooting your already dead body.
I only recently have started playing Eve Online again. Many times I’ve heard it described as a more adult-oriented game. Sure, there is a younger crowd that plays it but I doubt many 10-14 year olds play. The game mechanics and user interface themselves just aren’t as user friendly to the younger gamer in my opinion. This does not mean there isn’t a sizeable crowd of GIMs around though. Huge scams have happened several times in the past. Can flipping, or stealing from another players can of ore, is a popular tactic as well – many times it’s just an attempt to try to get the miner to agress the can flipper so they can be blown into space debris. Of course let’s not forget the GIMs that find it amusing to fly around highsec, declaring war on industrial or newbie corps, getting their kicks out of destroying these player’s new ships. Playing station docking games when a sizeable fleet is brought against them, smacktalking in local chat while safely docked up.
Sometimes I really have to wonder what these GIMs do in real life. Is it some young kid sitting in his parents basement, laughing away as he ridicules others in some game? Perhaps its a group of college kids, drinking and having a good ole’ time at the expense of the new player that doesn’t know how to defend themself? Really though, it doesn’t matter. All of them fit into a category of people that enjoy the misfortune of others. Is this the new generation of player?
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Hi, I'm posting here because I cant seem to find an e-mail link. Please delete when you have read this comment
Thanks for adding my pluggit buttons! I also run a blog hosting website for eve called podlogs.com, would you be interested in swapping 125×125 image links or perhaps tower ad (will be in rotation on podlogs)
I will have to disagree about can flipping, it's a legitimate piracy technique and easily countered by miners.
You have a point and I do agree to an extent. Eve is a very different game from the normal MMO in that a lot of things are policed by the players more than the game itself. CVA space is a perfect example of this. That being said, it still rather fits into a category of people purposefully trying to ruin others game. I never said it wasn't a legitimate tactic in Eve… not sure whether I would classify the can flipper as a GIM or not now that I think about it. More input would be great.
I side with Casiella here. While can flipping certainly isn't to my taste I wouldn't call it griefing. If you don't want to get your ship blown up just ignore the flippers and they'll move on. Or, of course, be ready to escalate.
Proper griefing is going out of the way to ruin someone's game experience. Its actually quite a difficult thing to pin down in Eve, I reckon.
Idk. I've certainly noticed the trend in players. But those people have always been around. I'd bet even taking about the same percentage of the population. But as MMO's have been popularized and certain other mass media tools have become available. Their voices have just gotten louder from the relative safety of an armchair.
Just like in RL, these people thrive on your reaction to them. When you are "affected" by them, they feel empowered and significant. The old adage about ignoring the bullies and them getting bored still applies. Treat them with as little regard as you feel they deserve.
My favorite method of handling can flippers is to continue mining like they weren't even there. My corp is not allowed to respond to taunts in local chat. Even if they get some ore, they don't get ANY satisfaction.
It's also important to remember that the game would be a lot less interesting if there weren't people from both sides of the spectrum and in between. If it weren't for those people we would be playing EVE against belt rats forever.
"I know Darth Vader's really got you annoyed, but remember if you kill him then you'll be unemployed…" Weird Al Yankovic
Keep complaining buddy. Whining about griefers in eve pretty much makes you not worth reading.
Well then feel free not to read. I love intelligent discussion and if you don't want to discuss… then good day to you.
One of our collaborators on "The New Edener" is on the same page with his article, "This is not whining…", if you haven't had the chance please check it out. I think you'll find allot of similar views from both sides of the fence.
Pretty much when humanity is left unchecked, much like grade school recess, hazing, in its lowest form teasing aka smack talk, to greifing at its most brutal, are all Darwinism at its finest. If CCP wanted to limit it, then there would be rules against it preventing players from doing so or at the very least have stiff penalties.
I think toning down EVE Online would be a huge disservice to all players whether they like the current state of game mechanics or not. Its what makes EVE Online as colorful and diversified mmorp entertainment stand apart from other games of its kind. There's a reason all of us aren't playing Hello Kitty Online instead of EVE. :p
Don't misunderstand… I play Eve because of that element of risk vs reward. I've played many different MMO's and I know that GIMs will always exist in some form or another. I don't want Eve to tone down the element of risk vs reward but it gets old at times when you see game mechanics abused by players that have no other intent than to ruin your game, all the while talking crap. I can deal with pirates, can flippers, etc… but it's gotten irritating being war dec'd for the past 3 weeks by a group that just preys on little targets and then plays station games anytime we actually try to fight them.
If they wardec you for a fourth week you could possibly petition CCP that they are harassing you (unlikely it would work).
Another way you could do it is post a video on youtube of their (pathetic, immature) docking games, then name and shame them.
@Mordozan: That is a very very stretched use of darwinism, I would in-fact go as far to say you mis used it there.
Furthermore, as far as diversified, eve griefing mechanic's are somewhat similar to WOW griefing. In-fact I'm partly sick of EVE for the EXACT same reasons as I got sick of WOW.
I dont like griefers, but some of them do make me laugh due to their immature stupid retarded nature
@ Kal'Kroc Hardly misused, Social Darwinism, aka survival of the fittest, the strong often prey on the weak. It doesn't mean that the strong aren't jerks. I get it, nobody likes to lose and neither do I.
How is EVE pvp just like WoW pvp? Last I knew WoW doesn't have wardec's and EVE doesn't have battlegrounds and WoW doesn't have open pvp everywhere. Granted I haven't played WoW since before Burning Crusade came out. Unless you're just talking about being able to kill someone over and over again if one lets them. EVE is more like Dark Age of Camelot's Mordred pvp server then anything WoW has to offer.
Eh I wouldn't bother reporting honestly. It's more just an annoyance than anything, I haven't lost anything in well over a week.