What is the point of trolling/insulting people in videogames?

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Instead of starting a new short-lived thread, I'll reuse this one.
It's about insulting and games, so it will do.

I have recently played X-Com and I always love to personalize the **** out of game characters. I do have a few personal comedy characters that I use in games with offensive and goofy names (the latest iteration in Spanish... like Manuel Maricon or Xavier Xenofobo).
However in X-Com you have your countries of origin and a lot of soldiers to name, so when I ran out of my usual character names, I started using ethnically offensive names (like Hans Hitler, Hiroshima Hentai and worse), because I like juvenile humor.
Now I know people sometimes use friends and family as inspiration, or even pop culture characters. But do you also have some more creative scheme of naming characters? I'm both looking for ideas and curious what other people are doing.
 
I have several tricks.
One is to fake it into sounding plausible enough that it's close enough for you. However, it may not work for the players from the culture you'll be imitating.

Second one is to reuse old names but alter them by switching out syllables, slicing and combining two different names or running them through a ceasar cipher. Usually this method requires slight adjustments. Here's some examples:

switching out syllables
Michael Bay -> Mike Bayheal, Mike Healbay, Yabchel Kim, etc.

Slicing and combining
Steven and Timmothy -> Timmost, Venim, Steve Moth, Venmost, etc.

Ceasar cipher
Zombie -> (rot13) Mbzovr -> Mobozor, Umbazov, etc.

My third and final trick is simply googling a list of names on google. It's often the best approach if you want to have a name that's accurate to a specific culture. Curiously enough, Wiktionary holds several lists of given names for many different cultures, which may or may not explain a name's meaning. For example, I found out that if I want to introduce a polish robin hood npc in my next dnd campaign, I should probably name him Witold.
 
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I think these are old DnD tricks for generating fantasy names. They are widely used in fantasy literature too, particularly the cheesy "change a letter" trick - even GoT is full of it. Apparently that Japanese guy in your first link tried it too. :smile:
That Wiktionary method seems to be the best way to get plausible national names with extra meaning, which should be useful for games like X-Com or Civ. And you learn stuff as a bonus.
 
Even LoL's or Apex's characters "insult" other in-game characters with their own speeches(in their own world).

And.

The most successful mp games have freedom at multiple points for the players to choice desired one(s). This freedom gives oppurtunity to play like a troll. A playstyle that can be very different(or dark) than expected. As i said, that's just an option while playing.



So, if you ask me..
1 - "Insulting & trolling" is a bad thing if you make it for real world or individuals.
2 - "Insulting & trolling" is a good thing in successful mp games.


If you want to prevent first, you are right. Do it.
If you want a casual game. Stop. No cry, no gain.
 
eddiemccandless said:
What's the gain? Are we gonna get buff from all the trolling?
Click to expand...
Gain: enriched entertainment.

Of course some people can fall in love with pure realistic & casual gameplay [i.e. some ppl do love Squad (a FPS game) which is a good example in this case]. But, for some reasonable reasons, i do believe that BL should remember how its' games became popular(entertainment in flexibility) & also TW should see modern approaches that accept having trolls in game as an enriched entertainment factor. So, unless TW wants a püre simulation game, all enrichment approaches should take place at MP.

We will get ambition to take off the troll that make us cry.
 
Enriched entertainment. Interesting. I would argue that that depends on your definition of trolling though. It could range from very menial things like "yo mama is fat" jokes to some darker things like someone threatening to track you down and kill your family (which is something I actually witnessed happening to someone in League of Legends). The former can be entertaining, you know, if that's what you are into. The latter, I hope you agree, not so much.
 
eddiemccandless said:
Enriched entertainment. Interesting. I would argue that that depends on your definition of trolling though. It could range from very menial things like "yo mama is fat" jokes to some darker things like someone threatening to track you down and kill your family (which is something I actually witnessed happening to someone in League of Legends). The former can be entertaining, you know, if that's what you are into. The latter, I hope you agree, not so much.
Click to expand...
My definetion is for gameplay(let players play as they want without Sharp gameplay designs), not individual harrasment. And, i already said trolling works fine only in game(speeches, emotes, blocks, camps etc), ıts different from what you telling me.

I didnt withnessed one in this specific case. However, ıts possible in everywhere. Wild animals; hearthless killer spirits dont need a reason btw. There are tona of news all över the world.

Now, please dont defend a casual gameplay. Let players play differently. Let them use emotes etc. And, report problematic wild animals that dont belong the game/play.


Do u ask that to me @MadVader ?
 
Ok but that's not trolling, that's just playing the game. I don't think I have ever met anyone who has a problem with that kind of gameplay (as long as it does not turn into griefing, like say voluntary team kills in Bannerlord).

And as far as LoL goes, not sure if @MadVader was asking me or you, but I played a bit in the past yes. I never really was too serious about it, eventually playing with randoms turned me away from it (and from PvP games in general really). Probably the most toxic community I ever experienced. We are talking about a few years ago mind, things might be better now (although I doubt it).

Interestingly enough, games with a heavier PvE component seem to nurture better communities (Wurm Unlimited comes to mind). I guess that makes sense.
 
eddiemccandless said:
And as far as LoL goes, not sure if @MadVader was asking me or you, but I played a bit in the past yes. I never really was too serious about it, eventually playing with randoms turned me away from it (and from PvP games in general really). Probably the most toxic community I ever experienced. We are talking about a few years ago mind, things might be better now (although I doubt it).

Interestingly enough, games with a heavier PvE component seem to nurture better communities (Wurm Unlimited comes to mind). I guess that makes sense.
Click to expand...
Would you say that the more accessible MP (PvP) games have more potential for toxicity? Because the entry barrier is low and all kinds of people can join in?
The more skill you need to play a game, the less randoms you get and there's a tighter community?
I have questions?
?
 
Anarion said:
zmqlE0N.png
Click to expand...
+1

I'm kinda salty that the meaning of "trolling" has been extended to "felony serial harassments and stalking" or even "organized misinformation campaign to undermined a government", trolling is messing with people in public online venues, just because it's funny. Any IRL agenda or getting someone swatted or long-con online manipulation is not trolling anymore it's being a criminal crazy person. A good troll should never get modded.

At the same time it's annoying how easy it is for people who deserve a good trolling to avoid it nowadays by just blocking people who disagree with them on social media. There is this guy, all the time he reads my forum posts on youtube videos and talks a buncha **** like he completely misunderstand them, then he just blocks me so he doesn't have to deal with being told he's wrong. He deserves a good trolling, but there's nothing good to do without over stepping into being a crazy person who Dox people and calls CPS on them.

In games I like non-direct communication. I like in Dark souls games a person can't directly **** talk you. They can send you messages which you can read, or not. AT the same time the Dark Souls pvp is basically a trolling contest it's self. The less the other person want to pvp to more rewarding it is. The more obnoxiously you kill them, the fanner it is.
 
MadVader said:
Would you say that the more accessible MP (PvP) games have more potential for toxicity? Because the entry barrier is low and all kinds of people can join in?
The more skill you need to play a game, the less randoms you get and there's a tighter community?
I have questions?
?
Click to expand...
Possibly! Although from what I have seen trolling has been linked (see what I did there? :lol:) more to antisocial behavior than low intelligence, so you could have a fairly complex game which also just happens to attract that kind of person (Eve Online comes to mind, I have never played it so I can't say for sure but I have not heard good things about the community of that game).
 

Keywords at your link​

Grief play
Griefing
Online trolling
Psychopathy
Sadism
Narcissism
Machiavellianism
MMORPGs

Nice key words..
But, i should say that not just games, even movies/series have https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_triad elements inside them to being more popular/fun to play/watch.
So, what is the aim? Is it just to detect some problematic profiles/products in one area? Is this study specifies a need for improvement beyond profile and status determination for the (TV series / movie /) game industry?

Can we say same games just for Dark Triadic personalities? So what should the industries do? Do you say what they need to do if they are doing something bad?

Why do people play"a game" that players kill each other? What should be the motivation factors that people must have while playing? Why games have role play elements? How do we decide which elements should be in the products? If there is some harmful elements, are these elements only in games? What will the researchers tell for the goodness at all products beyond the increasement of researtch amount?

I think i have some important questions, and sad that i can't get that article because of my english barier.
If i'm not wrong, there was an organization that was checking all movies, and criticize(or identifies) their violent/criminal elements inside. So? For example..

Did you watch Game of Thrones?

Do you have a bad personality?


A troLoL player asks : /
 
@dijiTurk the paper is not criticizing violence in videogames. It is trying to figure out a way to quantify trolling objectively (or, if you prefer, to measure scientifically when people are being dicks to others in MMOs). It is targeting what you referred to as "bad trolling" (which again, is what most people mean when they talk about trolling).
 
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