How to Deal with Rude Players

By Jonathan Olsen

Online multiplayer gaming is the most popular way to play computer games these days, since everyone wants to have fun playing a game with friends. Far from the stereotypical socially inept computer nerds, online gamers enjoy playing games as a type of social activity. The co-op games even require players to work as teams.

It’s not only your friends who play games, however; on the public servers there are thousands of random people who you’ve never met, and a lot of them get their kicks by acting rude to other players. I’ve personally been sworn at, humiliated, and told to “shut up” on many occasions.

Another kind of rude player is a “griefer.” A griefer is someone who enjoys destroying other people’s work or harassing other players. Griefers act like bullies and vandals do in real life.

A popular game for griefers is Minecraft. This blocky sandbox game is all about building structures and contraptions, which are a perfect target for griefers (see image above). One time I built a nice house, only to come back a few hours later and find that someone had stolen all my stuff. If you play on a public Minecraft server, chances are you’ll run into a griefer.

The best ways for dealing with rude players and griefers are: ignoring rude comments; muting the player who is making rude comments; contacting the admins (when available) to deal with player harassment/griefing; and building far, far away from other people on the server while telling only your friends where you are.

Multiplayer games can have an online community of people from all around the world playing together, or a group of friends can play over their own local area network. If you’re playing on a public server, just beware of the rude players and griefers, and don’t let them spoil your fun.