While looking for a video on goons and griefing to analyze on Youtube, I had somewhat of an epiphany. While our class discussions talked about those who griefed for laughs or those who had some other agenda, I have found something that they both share in common: they both do it for attention.
According to a statement given to Julian Dibbell for his article Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World, the interviewee known as ^ban^ says "We do it for the lulz...for laughs...most of us are psychotic." But I don’t think that this is solely the case.
As I looked through the various videos on Youtube for griefers and goons, I found that all the videos were of either acts of griefing such as this video named THE GREATEST GRIEFING VIDEO EVER MADE, or people trying to show how to get rid of griefers. What caught my attention were the comments on the various videos that mostly sound like this one: “HAHA this video is so great. I've watched it so many times. =)”
It was at this point that I came to the realization that goons and griefers are no different than that annoying kid that sat behind you in high school throwing paper balls or poking you with a pencil until you jumped out of your seat screaming at them. They just want attention. And they’ll get it, either through your attempts to get them to stop or the chuckles and approvals they get from their friends. The question is how do you stop them? You cannot simply ignore them because they will not go away, they will just get worse to try and get the attention they want, and if you try to out-grief them, they will come back with friends and grief you worse. I ask again, what do you do?