Like Robin Hood, but not really...?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_19/122-Griefing-for-the-Greater-Good

When I hear the term griefer, I think of an annoying, socially inept player whose reason for everything is “just because.” This article shows another side of griefers.

A GM in A Tale in the Deserts, Khepry, happened to find the only source of a particular resource, and greed overcame the responsibility and respect that should have come with his title. He monopolized the resource and turned away players who asked for him to share.

Knightmare, one of the players who had been turned away, formed a group called Mafia to bring Khepry to justice. While he planned to create a blockade of sorts to prevent Khepry’s miners from entering the mines and to sabotage people willing to trade with Khepry, one of the members of Mafia went too far. In an effort to bring attention to Mafia’s significance, that member deliberately harmed a non-profit organization that helped other players raise their Gastronomy rating. The reason for his attack on the organization was to get players to make laws that took care of griefers rather than just banning them as they came. The idea backfired and left a permanent stain on Mafia’s once-righteous cause. Knightmare found out, but while he disapproved of that member’s actions, he did not regret what Mafia had started out as.

I wonder if having these sort of vigilante forces in games promotes more griefing. I recall hearing that there existed a group or a few in WoW that griefed griefers, but I haven’t been following that story. Some griefers feel the need to make up a reason for what they are doing, but if they ruin a player’s experience for that player ruining another player’s experience, are they any better? I read a lot of sites suggesting to ignore the griefers, but that is, like the above example, only a temporary fix. If players fight back, some may be doomed to forget their honorable cause and turn into those they once fought against. And it seems we remember the negative things that happen in games more than the positive. The article states that “the name of Mafia will always go down as a griefer,” despite Knightmare creating the group for the betterment of Egypt.