Griefer is the term for a player in an online computer game who deliberately sets out to discomfort other players.

A griefer's actions (griefing) include kill stealing, player killing, team killing, stealing dropped items from a kill or during inventory reorganization or a mistake, scamming, and general harassment.

For example in MMORPGs (massive(ly) multiplayer online role-playing games), players typically arrive in the virtual world at specific locations. A griefer may lurk nearby and attack the players as they materialise.

In Furcadia and other online games, griefers are sometimes referred to as twinks. However, usually "twinks" has a narrower meaning. This slang term, derived from Twinkie, refers to players who use methods in the game to artificially increase their characters abilities/equipment (for instance, a beginning player wielding a sword that can only be gotten by slaying the most powerful monsters). The term doesn't directly relate to the gay slang usage, but is intended to be similarly derisive.

Many subscription-based games have taken steps to combat griefers. Since griefers primarily cause anguish through killing other characters, games such as Diablo II have made player-killing nearly impossible. Other games, like Runescape, will just restrict player-killing to certain areas of the game and make it so that people do not need to visit them. In-game communications can provide a venue for harassment but most games include a way for players to ignore others if needed.

External links

• Inflicting pain on griefers article at news.com
• Twinkishness in Furcadia