the Internet is serious business
Source: Wired 02.08 “Griefer Madness”
I’ve always known they existed, but found myself surprised and disappointed to hear that they have numbers and they’re organizing. Basically, a “griefer” is someone that gets joy from others’ grief. “Griefer Madness” discusses an organized online community of users who play games of every sort with their own mission: destroy the game for all others. Destroying the game may be as simple as harrassing individual players or as complex as bringing down a game’s servers. Something Awful has more than 100,000 members, which are referred to as “goons”. This online humor site is said to be a “semi-mythic place of origin” of the griefer culture. Griefers seem to be very contradictory… they believe that people should not take the internet or games seriously… they take this so seriously that they feel they must convert all others to their side… their catchphrase: “The Internet is serious business.” The founder of Something Awful, Rich Kyanka, puts up with serious death and torture threats towards his daughter and himself; he also makes his living from the site. This article reminds me of how many potential threats there are to a database’s security. When you think you’ve finished your list of risks… don’t forget to add those whose only motivation is to make others miserable.
