Schadenfreude: The pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others

"Other researchers have found that people with low self-esteem are more likely to feel schadenfreude than are people who have high self-esteem.[23]"

Quoted directly from Wikipedia

Also:

Brain-scanning studies show that schadenfreude is correlated with envy.

So griefers envy the people having fun in the game, and wish to destroy their fun.

let's not incite anything.. ~tGM

(Before anybody complains that this is another complaint-against-griefers-thread, just know that this is in off-topic and I'm actually not complaining about griefers, just explaining their rationale.)

Not gonna comment on forum drama, but regarding griefing.

The times that I grief, I do it because the reactions are hilarious. Mainly the "OMG STOOOOP" from the kids who are so upset about their blocks. It has nothing to do with some kind of psychological conditioning or self-esteem or crap. I do it to be a dick.

I don't really envy their fun, because it gives me fun as well.

And aren't you the one who told us to grief reddit's server? :P

EDIT:
(...I'm actually not complaining about griefers, just hypothesizing on their rationale.)
FTFY

I don't have much problems with griefers (on my own team), because mainly I'm too busy shooting other people.

The only time I get ticked is when they shoot away my cover, which I'd be angry at if I wasn't too busy finding new cover not to get shot. :/

Either way, it's immature but not THAT annoying. (Unless you're a builder, THEN they'll be annoying.)

I only find griefers annoying when it's a very useful structure they're destroying..
for example, the bridge in bridgewars. The map is simple but good when the bridge is ungriefed, or even partially griefed, but when it's brought down.. the map is just no fun whatsoever.

Their whole demeanor is one of taunt and the ruining of fun for others. I'm just sad they have to resort to that in, what is, a fun game.
To be honest, it's so much more rewarding destroying the opposing team's structures. It makes it a challenge (and a skill) to invade and remove buildings swiftly.

Ahem, people play games to NOT be provoked by other people (they mostly get this IRL a lot), and one could say that's the only purpose of gaming.

So when you are dick and have fun at people overreacting, think about it. They rage for a bigger reason than you thought, and might harm them more than you thought.

For instance, let's take Mr. Trolol, who works for a big company and, of course, has the most boring office job ever. If that's not enough, his boss keeps controlling him and puts lots of pressure of him. At the end of day, he's exhausted, both physically and mentally and he just wants to relax, so he sits at computer and play his favorite game, that happens to be AoS. Scoring headshots slowly sweeps stress out of him, and then, he gets this great idea to make strategic sniping tower. But then RaubenMcHawk comes and griefs it, laughing at poor Mr. Trolol who has just enough. What do you think, why is Mr. Trolol so angry? Because there is no fucking place on this world where people just leave him alone and let him wash out his stress of course. You might think it's kids who overreact, but kids mostly shoot and destroy, never build. So yeah, poor Mr. Trolol has to practice yoga because of you.

' The times that I grief, I do it because the reactions are hilarious. Mainly the "OMG STOOOOP" '
Schadenfreude: The pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others

Okay.

>hypothesizing

Nope. "Doing it to be a dick" and "finding it hilarious" doing it means you experience schadenfreude. There's no hypothesis about it.

Also, tGM, I'd appreciate it if when you edit mine (and other people's) posts, you don't add your tidbit of *snip*. I find it very rude.

A lot of things rely on that side of human nature.. TV programmes for example, especially home-video/out-take ones. We all laugh at other people's misfortune.

That said, those programmes are designed to provoke that, whereas this game is meant to be a fun/challenging CTF.

@Kaede-chan:
I don't see why you should find it rude :S It's just a simple word to show it's been edited/removed.. but ah well, easily changeable.

Well, what if someone did it for a reason that wasn't schadenfreude? Your post came off as if you made some kind of breakthrough in finding out why every single person does something, when you honestly can't be 100% sure. Everyone has their own reason to do things.
Nothing personal, but I just hate it when people get all psychoanalyzing on a griefer. We break shit to piss people off, not because we see towers as our own inadequacies or something like that.

@Danke: I don't derive pleasure from the fact that they are now structureless, I derive it from the byproduct of such misfortune, the fact that most of them are, for lack of a better term, buildfags who overreact about a structure built in a video game, and treat it like I just curbstomped their dog. That is honestly hilarious, whether I was the one who incited it or not.

For instance, this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkfBR6OhPr8
(some language)

I, along with a couple hundred thousand others, think this video is hilarious because of the child's over-the-top reaction. Schadenfreude? Not really.

Ahh... Garrysmod.

Classic.

If you are purposely causing chaos to just to see the reaction of others, that is Schadenfreude. There is no way around it that is the definition of the word. The reasons you suffer from Schadenfreude are personal to you. It could be from what the OP started or it could be for other reasons. It doesnt matter.

If you get accused of griefing when you arent, that is a different matter.

I suppose Schadenfreude is (almost) the same as trolling?

Wrong.
I enjoy griefing because of topics like this, the rage I get from people, and how I get to observe others reactions under pressure.

Low Self Esteem? Wrong.
I have several friends I hang out with almost daily, live a healthy life, and I think I look pretty good. I feel confident of my future ventures in pursuing a well-paying career in Web Development. I am satisfied with the house I currently live in. I'm single, but I have my options, plus you know what that means when I get into college soon

Envy? Wrong.
I don't care about your structure, and I actually am more than happy with a 5x5 3 high square for my living area if I so choose to build it. Having more fun than me? Impossible. I find it thrilling to grief out of the way structures that serve no purpose while playing the game normally (i.e. building tunnels, shooting)

Also, I'm calling admin favoritism. When I make a thread about the stupidity revolving around a few of the players within this game, it is taken down. However, when there is a thread created bashing griefers and calling them names or whatever, it is kept up, perhaps even considered being stickyed probably. (Yes you said this isn't a complain-about-griefers-thread but it might as well be that or worse as you are describing or insulting or just "explaining their rationale")

edit
(no i don't care i wrote a story deal with it)
(no i am not mad in fact i'm so mad i could eat a horse)
(yes fett this post is on topic you saying "what?" and posting rules is not)
(no i don't care i didn't punctuate or mess up in terms of grammar somewhere in this story somewhere)
(no i don't care i'm a cock mongler faggot bitch cunt idiot in your eyes for whatever various reasons i love cock but this is internet and idc)
(then you suffer from Schadenfreude haha caught your call buddy i bet you feel like your argument is invalid smily face -_- etc" wrong if you consider a not-real-fake building you built being destroyed on some internet mmog game very serious and akin to sin or is deserving of the death penalty then we need to talk. you're sounding like what that kid in the video reuben posted might say after one of his temper tandrums of being griefed. no irl i do not intentionally cause the harm of others for miscellaneous reasons like i said this is internet. for christs sake just build your structure back we'll leave eventually, if i got stagnant reactions from players i wouldn't be griefing.)

I grief because autistic castle builders in A1 belong in Minecraft Creative.

well i wouldn't insult them but me too it's silly.

Are you saying that TeamAvo are silly heads? Kaede must be bannished from the council of Shoo!

Griefing is fun. I'm usually too immersed in the combat to care about griefers, but I do it from time to time because it is a nice break from the combat and it is hilarious. The only same-team griefers that actually annoy me are the ones who take away my cover or block me in when I'm on the front line. I already enjoy making people rage quit due to combat, making them rage quit from being griefed to hell (or getting the rest of the trolls/players to /votekick them) is just as fun.

I guess I am a skralendprague or whatever. I enjoy seeing other players complaining, whether it be from me killing them ten times in a row, or from me "renovating" their precious (yet, useless) castle.

Wait so, if I enjoy seeing the opposing team complain about me killing them, that makes me a scrotumpod? Lolwut?

Society (at least, American society) is so full of all these pseudo-science mumbo jumbo answers for things that do not need them.

^this guy.
exactly.

I occasionally grief things up front but I don't much any more, rather I grief things that serve no purpose. What she's saying is your a skerkesiefjffifn because you enjoy causing others harm. HOWEVER, it would appear as if people take griefing VERY personal (like IRL personal internet iz srs bzns) VERY VERY.

That is also true. Some things don't need answers.

I grief, yes. But I don't grief my team. I switch teams and go destroy their stuff from the other side. I think of it as the equivalent of a spy class.

If you're griefing pointless buildings that some kiddie is building, then whatever. I just don't care either way (unless you're on a build-only server, or the host has otherwise implied that they dissaprove of this behavior). If you're destroying the other team's stuff, then congratulations! You're doing well on the battlefield. If you're teamgriefing the fort I just built that FINALLY stopped the enemy from executing major raids succesfully in that portion of our spawn, then your computer should be fed into an incinerator.

@VFB1210: That's one of the least popular forms of griefing out there, actually. If anything, it's the one kind of griefing that the majority of the community agrees is wrong.

Griefing is fun
Now, lets take a look at the word griefing

Griefing: In online gaming, someone who takes pleasure in creating grief

Taking pleasure.... in creating grief.... aka.... misfortune.

Sounds like schadenfreude to me.

Anyone arguing against that is 100% wrong.

Also: @VFB1210: That isn't only griefing, but exploitation of game mechanics, grounds for being kicked from a server.
Read: Cheating.

Schadenfreude is a funny word.

unless your destroying the other teams structures, griefing is kind of pathetic and it pretty much makes you a sad & childish individual. Somtimes griefers can get real mad when you keep killing them when they try to grief as if its their right to grief. The best feeling ever when a builder pisses off a griefer.

>kaede disregards all arguments posted before restates op
>implying that even though we might have schrheireifejefjifef we have all the symptoms of it including low self esteem also implying we envy everything
>kaede disregards all arguments posted before restates op

all this thread is a sugar coated more logical version of insulting another group

@Jazz: Kaede is criticizing a group of AoS players that detracts from the community and ruins everyone else's fun (never mind the motives). I fail to see how ciritcizing them is somehow wrong.

It's racism!

@Kaede: VFB could be refering to destroying his (Former) team's structures as the enemy.

I'd like to point out that it isn't griefing if it's the other team's structures:
e.g: A blue destroying green's fort.

Griefing is so fun and effective because people place such a large amount of emphasis on the value of the blocks in their virtual world. I guess I am a shgrandoflab, I literally laugh my ass off when some kid cries about his blocks being destroyed. I especially love it when you manage to turn the rest of the players against them, resulting in them (instead of the griefers) being kicked. Usually this happens because that person's bitching is more annoying than the actual griefer. I hate being griefed, but I've realized (especially on pinpoint) that it is much easier to get kills when there is nothing to hide behind.

So I deal with it, just like most of the other players who are older (mentally and physically) than 15.

Once again, would I be a spfargltrund if I enjoyed watching the enemy team bitch about me killing them? After all, getting killed in a video game would, under most circumstances, be considered a "misfortune." Right?

Or is this snagglepuss theory only applicable in certain situations; i.e: ones that you agree with?

@1337101 however, i cannot criticize people for the silly things i see in AoS thhe other day and it was taken down. Yes, it had crude language, but whatever, how old are we here? This only pushes the fact that 5 year olds must be lurking somewhere. (basically she's making fun of people here i guess you'd feel good for being called the devil basically)

Basically this is your argument, OP:
Griefing is when these faggots take down my structure. Griefing in its root meaning under some circumstances means to cause trouble intentionally. Now lets find a mental disorder associated with this. Schadenfreude is when you intentionally cause trouble for pleasure.
Therefore, all griefers have schadenfreude IRL and in-game without a possible doubt no questions asked i win griefers are faggots i am justified in this forum

So, I shall apply this argument the other away.
A few symptoms of Autism: Difficulty understanding other's perspectives, need for sameness or routines, an unusual focus on routines, preoccupation with certain topics.
A few indicators of a builder and/or griefer patrol: Difficulty in understanding other's perspectives, they don't like griefers and don't understand that sometimes, griefing can be fun. They are very ignorant. Need for sameness or routines, to a wide extent all griefer patrols/builders always join the game and will begin building a structure that is usually symmetrical in some sort of way similar to all castles they build. Unusual focus on routines, builders will normally keep building even though they're being shot at and will immediately kill and griefer they see (like within seconds as if they have a constant view) and immediately rebuild. Preoccupation with certain topics, builders are too preoccupied with building massive structures to usually do anything else IRL or in game, like take intel.
Therefore all builders have autism IRL and in-game without a possible doubt no questions asked i win builders are faggots i am justified in this forum

Please also consider:
--- Real Life variables. You don't know me. I gave you a small glimpse previously that I have average self esteem (which is good too high of a self esteem is bad). Just because I might portray schadenfreude like behavior online does not mean I am like that IRL, which you are directly stating and implying in OP, which is why in my previous post I explained how i am IRL to get my point across.

Also, me taking down your virtual structure isn't going to actually put a dent in your ego, personality, or attitude when you go to school the next day. You're not gonna lose sleep over it. If it does and you're showing your ass in front of your friends (i.e. pouting, unintentionally yelling at them, only talking about AoS that day, saying smart ass things to your parents) due to an anonymous person that took down your 1,000,000 block structure last night, then you're probably the one with issues. That's very childish and silly. Keep in mind that in your argument and statement in OP, we're going to the EXTREMES. So i can too.

--- Define misfortune. Do you consider losing a virtual structure in a MMO online game absolutely evil omg plz kill him i'll slit ur throat irl buddy u watch out? Most people overreact to losing their castle. Tell me that isn't game for any mental disorder either; get over it, it's just a game, there is a middle ground for overreacting and under-reacting. Do you gain pleasure in killing lots of others in-game due to your pr0sk1ll? Probably, some boast of their skill. Well, to those being killed, as shown in some videos on youtube and various other areas, some people get pissed and start flaming in the chat or over microphone. These people find it funny and will probably record it. Aren't they gaining pleasure from someone's misfortune? That sure does mean they're fucked up schadenfreudes too right.

Just because I grief things doesn't mean I get high or gain full on pleasure from doing it. It's not my poison. Schadenfreudes also probably display CHRONIC versions of its symptoms (like torturing people causing both intense mental and physical harm), not mild "oh i took down your structure lol" kinda things. As with autism as well, not all builders are autistic simply because they merely display some of the symptoms of it. I bet if you were to take AP Psych you'd flip; you would think you fill out every last disorder in DSM-IV. We learned that it's not mild displays of the disorders, rather CHRONIC and ADDICTIVE behaviors.

Also, what if I'm not in to griefing for the pleasure like some people? Like i said, i like the reactions I get but i don't get a kick out of pissing people off and am often hesitant to do it. Also, sometimes, I grief to preserve the game's quality. For instance, that massive castle in cell A1 is not protecting anyone or anything (especially if there's no tent or intel there) nor is it helping anyone advance forward.

I think Jazz hit the nail on the head here.