The Lantern Hall
Painting: an ancient lexicon open on a carved lectern in a dark chapel of books, glowing runes and symbols lifting off its pages like fireflies.
TermDigital term

Griefing

Deliberately harassing other players in ways the game does not intend, such as killing newcomers, stealing kills, blocking doorways or destroying player-built structures, for the pleasure of causing grief.

Deliberately harassing other players in ways the game does not intend, such as killing newcomers, stealing kills, blocking doorways or destroying player-built structures, for the pleasure of causing grief.

Origin

Applied to online games by the late 1990s, notably in Ultima Online communities.

Quick answers

What does "Griefing" mean?
Deliberately harassing other players in ways the game does not intend, such as killing newcomers, stealing kills, blocking doorways or destroying player-built structures, for the pleasure of causing grief.
Where does the term "Griefing" come from?
Applied to online games by the late 1990s, notably in Ultima Online communities.

Nearby in the archive

Player killer (PK)

Digital term

A player who attacks and kills other players' characters, especially where the game allows it but most people would rather not. Unrestricted player killing in Ultima Online (1997) sparked years of design debate, reputation systems and separate PvP servers.

Painting: a bustling medieval fantasy town square crowded with hundreds of adventurers of every kind, player-built houses on the hills, a blacksmith's forge.

Ultima Online

MMORPG1997

Richard Garriott's Britannia turned into a living, lawless shared world: thousands of players building houses, running shops, and killing one another. UO popularized the MMORPG and taught a generation of designers how hard virtual societies are.

The Assassination of Lord British

Incident1997

In a 1997 Ultima Online beta test, a player called Rainz killed Richard Garriott's supposedly immortal avatar, Lord British, with a fire field spell: online gaming's first great lesson in what players will do.

Respawn

Digital term

The return of a defeated player or monster to the game world after a delay, usually at a set point. Respawning monsters made endless hunting and Grinding possible, and camping respawn points became a notorious online habit.