Lore of mayhem: Griefers and the radical deployment of spatial storytelling

Abstract

Griefing is a term frequently used to derisively characterize a wide set of activities on digital platforms that yield atypical or undesirable outcomes. This article offers a fresh perspective on the phenomenon of griefing by resituating it as a form of cultural production derived from a transgressive and often agonistic approach to spatial storytelling. Considering griefing as an expressive performative activity along these lines allows us to better understand its repercussions across digital platforms and increasingly in the real world. It promises to shed light on the process through which subversive meanings take hold as game lore in a true folkloric sense despite the best efforts of game companies and other controlling interests. As such, griefing activities typically point to and reveal an underlying story problem around which power is negotiated by different virtual communities or stakeholders. Using two cases studies drawn from Second Life, I illustrate how contested meanings develop into full-fledged game lore through the innovative mash-up language of spatial storytelling. Such stories leverage an alternative model of narrativity and open up immersive worlds to a plethora of generative meanings that are full of magic, intrigue and irony.