Writing this article was quite an eye-opener for me, I think most of us have experienced a griefer in our time on Second Life. Griefing can take on many forms and none of them should be tolerated.
I tend to keep to myself so the extent of the griefing I have written about is far wider and more diverse than I could have ever imagined, including targeting people on outside of SL websites. So in an effort to combat this behavior I took to the SL streets on a hunt for some griefing stories to help bring awareness to this problem.
The following stories are true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent parties.
Missy was a very successful clothing creator, shop owner and ran a club, she had to stop due to constant harassment from one particularly nasty griefer who went beyond SL and into RL.
“It was horrible, it happened over and over every time I would log on he knew where I was and what I was doing, even on my own sim. I reported him to Linden Labs so many times and nothing happened. One day I logged in to find he had hacked my account, left vile messages with all my friends, and had done things that got me banned all over second life. Even though he used my payment details to buy the maximum lindens and my evidence showed he transferred them to his alt nothing happened. I fought hard to remain strong but eventually I gave up and closed everything down, I now stay low on my alt”.
Molly is a DJ at a club and has many stories to tell, she explains her most memorable one.
“Three griefers came to a club where they harassed the child avatars who were attending a DJed even with a crowd of around 15 avatars. The music being played was 80s tunes. Everyone was having fun and it was a wonderful time until the three griefers arrived.
One of the griefers started yelling very loudly during the DJ set, interrupting the entertainment and harassing a child avatar named Lucy. It was difficult to understand what the griefer was yelling. A few of the VIPs at the club began yelling and things became chaotic. Somewhere amongst the frey, one of the griefers said they would be posting or publishing what happened. We found the YouTube Channel they have been using and waited to see if they posted a video of the trolling they had done.”
Brandy is your regular SL Resident who would use a sandbox to build, here is her story.
“I love to tinker, just build and learn and I would use a sandbox to do this, I was actually griefed by the sandbox owner, he would watch and wait until I was almost done with something then he would send all my things back. I thought it was auto return but it wasn't and his cross hairs on me all the time was a give away, when I needed to run scripts he would turn scripts off on the sim, when I complained he banned me, about a month later he IMed me and asked me out on a date, I was shocked and refused politely and then he began a tirade of abuse and when I would mute one avatar he would get a new one, over 150 avatars he used. I got a new av and started again. I never used a sandbox after that!”
Michael worked for a Land Estate Company and he has a story from another point of view.
“I worked as a sales agent for an Estate, and I did really well, I enjoyed it but I wasn't always happy with the way the Estate owner did things, he would ban residents from their land for small trivial things, I had a lot of regular customers so it would upset me that they were banned after paying weeks on their lands. When I asked why, I was told he could do what he wanted to do and so I quit, and went on my way, it wasn't until I tried to TP to a few other estates looking for land I found out I was banned, I asked why and was told the Estate owner I worked for had told all estate companies I was a poacher and griefer! And so they listened and I was banned on over a thousand sims on SL for no reason, this person continues to track me and harass me from a distance, I don't sell land anymore I am a DJ and they still tell my bosses I am trouble, luckily the good ones listen to me and not him.”
Brian owns some large shopping malls and events, his griefing story takes thing outside of SL.
“I have thick skin, so a lot of it doesn't bother me so much but griefers will pick on my staff and the people who create and enter my events, but they are not brave enough to do it to their faces they go to outside webpages and make stupid memes and comments about them and then everyone has a good old laugh about it, it doesn't sound bad, but it can really bring down your self esteem and to me that's bullying”
Griefing takes on many forms in SL and it doesn't matter what form it is, it can really spoil your day, your week, or even your life, so be careful who you share things with, stay safe on SL and Mute, Derender, Report. And don't react, it's what they want.
I tend to keep to myself so the extent of the griefing I have written about is far wider and more diverse than I could have ever imagined, including targeting people on outside of SL websites. So in an effort to combat this behavior I took to the SL streets on a hunt for some griefing stories to help bring awareness to this problem.
The following stories are true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent parties.
Missy was a very successful clothing creator, shop owner and ran a club, she had to stop due to constant harassment from one particularly nasty griefer who went beyond SL and into RL.
“It was horrible, it happened over and over every time I would log on he knew where I was and what I was doing, even on my own sim. I reported him to Linden Labs so many times and nothing happened. One day I logged in to find he had hacked my account, left vile messages with all my friends, and had done things that got me banned all over second life. Even though he used my payment details to buy the maximum lindens and my evidence showed he transferred them to his alt nothing happened. I fought hard to remain strong but eventually I gave up and closed everything down, I now stay low on my alt”.
Molly is a DJ at a club and has many stories to tell, she explains her most memorable one.
“Three griefers came to a club where they harassed the child avatars who were attending a DJed even with a crowd of around 15 avatars. The music being played was 80s tunes. Everyone was having fun and it was a wonderful time until the three griefers arrived.
One of the griefers started yelling very loudly during the DJ set, interrupting the entertainment and harassing a child avatar named Lucy. It was difficult to understand what the griefer was yelling. A few of the VIPs at the club began yelling and things became chaotic. Somewhere amongst the frey, one of the griefers said they would be posting or publishing what happened. We found the YouTube Channel they have been using and waited to see if they posted a video of the trolling they had done.”
Brandy is your regular SL Resident who would use a sandbox to build, here is her story.
“I love to tinker, just build and learn and I would use a sandbox to do this, I was actually griefed by the sandbox owner, he would watch and wait until I was almost done with something then he would send all my things back. I thought it was auto return but it wasn't and his cross hairs on me all the time was a give away, when I needed to run scripts he would turn scripts off on the sim, when I complained he banned me, about a month later he IMed me and asked me out on a date, I was shocked and refused politely and then he began a tirade of abuse and when I would mute one avatar he would get a new one, over 150 avatars he used. I got a new av and started again. I never used a sandbox after that!”
Michael worked for a Land Estate Company and he has a story from another point of view.
“I worked as a sales agent for an Estate, and I did really well, I enjoyed it but I wasn't always happy with the way the Estate owner did things, he would ban residents from their land for small trivial things, I had a lot of regular customers so it would upset me that they were banned after paying weeks on their lands. When I asked why, I was told he could do what he wanted to do and so I quit, and went on my way, it wasn't until I tried to TP to a few other estates looking for land I found out I was banned, I asked why and was told the Estate owner I worked for had told all estate companies I was a poacher and griefer! And so they listened and I was banned on over a thousand sims on SL for no reason, this person continues to track me and harass me from a distance, I don't sell land anymore I am a DJ and they still tell my bosses I am trouble, luckily the good ones listen to me and not him.”
Brian owns some large shopping malls and events, his griefing story takes thing outside of SL.
“I have thick skin, so a lot of it doesn't bother me so much but griefers will pick on my staff and the people who create and enter my events, but they are not brave enough to do it to their faces they go to outside webpages and make stupid memes and comments about them and then everyone has a good old laugh about it, it doesn't sound bad, but it can really bring down your self esteem and to me that's bullying”
Griefing takes on many forms in SL and it doesn't matter what form it is, it can really spoil your day, your week, or even your life, so be careful who you share things with, stay safe on SL and Mute, Derender, Report. And don't react, it's what they want.
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