Griefing in the DK starting zone

The other night I witnessed some of the worst case of ganking I had seen in years. My oldest was playing a new Worgen Deathknight, doing the quest where you pick up your runeblade for the first time when he got jumped by three Horde Deathknights. Needless to say they made quick work of him, and each time he rezzed they finished him off.

With the starting zone being phased he was effectively trapped with his tormentors, so I suggested he log out and play another character. Offering that he could raid on my shaman if he wished.

While I enjoy PVP, I play on PVE servers to avoid unwanted PVP and griefing behavior such as this. It has been a long long time since I actually saw anyone in game behaving like this and had forgotten about it. But it got me thinking about what sort of individual likes griefing.

The next day I read a really good article by Chris Mooney published on Slate titled Internet Trolls Really Are Horrible People

Chris Mooney references a study conducted by Erin E. Buckels, Paul D. Trapnell and Delroy L. Paulhus of the University of Manitoba that found the following:

“people who engage in trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others)." - Trolls just want to have fun

While I am sure there are other studies out there on the topic, this one seemed to really support the behavior I had observed. That said, I admit I might be a little biased.