Video games have come a long way. No longer are you forced to play with a family member or friends, as, now, you can play video games with people all over the world. Though expanding your gaming friendships is great, there are also negatives to gaming online.
Video games are much more than a fun activity for some gamers. Competitive multiplayer games often bring out the worst in people. Arguments can start for any reason, such as letting down your team by poor performance. Most shrug it off and try again, but some trolls take the game so seriously that they feel they must punish their rivals in real life. If punishing the gamer isn’t enough, they will stoop so low as to harass their friends, families, and even their employer.
Anger can also arise by viewing video game related content. Gamers streaming their video game experiences online through services like Twitch or Beam also face trolls. These trolls will harass players, hoping that their fun is ruined. On top of that, people who write about video games have also been subjected to harassment from trolls.
Many trolls escape by creating new accounts or avoiding punishment through loopholes, and companies admit it is impossible to catch them all. However, there are a few trolls who attempted to ruin the community for others and received the punishment they deserved.
15 Overwatch Filters Trolls With Bad Sportsmanship
Overwatch is a competitive action game. Gameplay can get heated between players and unkind words are then exchanged. Text chat isn’t available on consoles, but currently open to PC players. Blizzard received several complaints on their forum regarding the phrase “gg ez” or “good game, easy win,” which is said after a match is over. Some gamers found that phrase insulting towards less skilled players.
Blizzard implemented new filters on their Overwatch test server to trolls who decide to insult others. Typing “gg ez” will be filtered in several different ways, which are more insulting to the person typing them. Some examples of the twisted filters include: ““I’m wrestling with some insecurity issues in my life but thank you all for playing with me,” “Gee whiz! That was fun. Good playing!” and “For glory and honor! Huzzah comrades!” Those who try to trolls others end up looking ridiculous.
14 YouTuber Novex Tricks The Trolls In The Division
The Division is largely player-versus-environment until you enter the Dark Zone. This region of the game is a player-versus-player experience where you fight for loot and you will also face more challenging AI enemies. Most times, any player you encounter is hostile unless you are in a group. Naturally, since the Dark Zone is a hostile environment, it is home to several trolls.
Trolls can make players go Rogue by running in front of them just before they shoot an NPC. Rogue status will put a bounty on your head and other players will receive rewards for killing you. Dying as a Rogue also brings you harsh penalties. Trolls tried to pull this on YouTuber Novex. Though he indicated he was friendly, they assumed he was an easy target. He was able to avoid shooting them and their attempts to kill him. The trolls grew frustrated with him and attacked. Novex was then able to take down the group of trolls.
13 Heroes Of The Storm Troll Faces Jail Time After Harassing Blizzard
Gamers aren’t the only victims of trolling and harassment from other players, as some trolls take it to the developers themselves. Stephen Cebula from California threatened fellow Heroes of the Storm players and employees of Blizzard.
Heroes of the Storm is an MMORPG with an open area where players can duel each other and the game has a chat system for players to communicate with each other. At first, Cebula was only trolling other players. Victims of hiss harassment contacted Blizzard with screenshots of the offensive messages. The harassment ranged from threatening terrorist attacks to hurting the children of his opponents.
Before banning him from the game, Blizzard removed Cebula’s chat privileges. Angered by this punishment, he sent Blizzard message threatening to attack employees at their headquarters. Blizzard reported him to the FBI and he was taken into custody a week later. Cebula faces five years in prison and a hefty fine.
12 Brandon “Famed God” Wilson Arrested In Nevada For Threatening Multiple Gamers
Brandon “Famed God” Wilson is a 19-year-old teenager who participated in “swatting” activities in America. He allegedly reported a murder to the Naperville, Illinois police, which caused police to swarm the victim’s home. No crime was found at the scene. He also hacked into a victim’s personal accounts, revealing their social security information and banking account. Wilson threatened to put the victim’s father into debt.
State Attorney James Glasgow is aware of how dangerous swatting is, he planned to introduced legislation to make it a felony in Illinois. Convicted swatters would also be made responsible for paying for the costs of the police response. Wilson lived in Las Vegas, but was transferred to Illinois for the crimes he committed there. He also faces additional federal charges for hacking, intimidation, and identity theft. With all that accounted for, Wilson faces up to five years in prison for his harassment of gamers.
11 Dunkey Banned From League Of Legends Over Toxic Behaviour
Being a popular, well-known video game celebrity does not make you immune to punishment. Riot Games proved this when they banned YouTube personality Dunkey. He created content that amused other League of Legends players, but his trolling behavior caught up with him.
Dunkey often set up unusual situations on League of Legends to film for his YouTube channel. While it delighted his viewers, other players found his behavior frustrating. Though he defended his trash-talking, his insults went so far as to hope other players would face physical harm. He believed that insulting others makes the game more fun. Well, other players who reported him didn’t think the same way. Riot Games was made aware of his behavior and banned him for 14 days. Dunkey felt no remorse and said Riot should be thankful to him for spending so much time creating League of Legends content.
10 Black Desert Online Troll Forced To Write A 501-Word Essay
A user named Kimochi was trolling a group of role-players on the MMORPG Black Desert Online by attacking a group of innocent players. Black Desert Online allows killing other characters, but the Karma system will punish you. City guards will also be aggressive towards you until your Karma gets back to normal. However, Negative karma did not stop Kimochi, who kept harassing role-players and spamming the general chat with “Death to RPers!”
When a troll disrupts a community, it’s not uncommon to see them banned. Lead Gamemaster Rhotaaz took a different approach. He messaged Kimochi, listing his offenses. If Kimochi didn’t want to be banned, he had 24 hours to write a 501-word essay. The topic? He would have to write a background story on his character, a female Ranger, on the Black Desert Online forums. Kimochi was unsure if Rhotaaz was being serious and since he was not willing to risk the ban, he became what he was trolling– a role-player.
9 13-year-old Swatted Minecraft Rival
Swatting is gaining attention in the news, as trolls use it as a method to disrupt the lives of gamers. Not only does it cause panic for a gamer, but it’s also a huge waste of time and resources for local police departments. Swatting can be done for any reason, such as losing a match in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a gamer being too popular, or a troll just wanting to harm someone.
A 13-year-old in California tricked the police three times. One of those calls were about a Minecraft rival. The teen reported ten hostages were in his rival’s house and demanded $30,000 cash as a ransom. If the demands were not met, he would blow up the house. Authorities traced the call and discovered the teen’s identity. He admitted to calling the police. Due to his young age, he likely ended up with probation, while in his parents’ custody. Still, we doubt he’ll do it again since the police ended up showing up as his house!
8 Everquest II Banishes Trolls To Prison Server
In real life, if you commit a crime, you will get sent to prison. In an attempt to create a more realistic experience, Daybreak Games attempted to make a more realistic experience for their MMORPG, Everquest 2, so they created a prison server known as Drunder. If you’re a player creating a negative experience for others or break one of the server’s rules, you will get a pass to Drunder. If you want to go to Drunder for fun, you can use the petition system and ask to join.
Drunder is not meant for only one naughty character on your roster. If you are sent to the prison, all of the characters on your account will be imprisoned there, forever. Drunder also has no customer service support and will still require an active membership to play.
7 Teen Troll “Obnoxious” Gets Arrested
“Obnoxious” was a 17-year-old Canadian teenager, pictured above with his face blurred due to his age, who enjoyed trolling female gamers. He found these female gamers through Twitch. When he found a victim, he would create lag in their Twitch stream. The only way he would stop is if they would speak to him on Skype. From there, he would send the women violent threats to intimidate them. He demanded these gamers send him racy photos and participate in sexual conversations. Banning Obnoxious didn’t work, as he would create a new account and continue the harassment.
Obnoxious would go so far as to disrupt their lives by “swatting” them or calling into the gamer’s local police to have a SWAT team raid them at home or work. He wasn’t afraid to threaten their families, as well. After victims faced years of abuse, Detective BA Finley set out to take down Obnoxious. He was finally arrested and sentenced to 16 months in juvenile jail.
6 Tyler1 Banned After Attempting To Ruin Community
Tyler1 is a League of Legends player who creates content on YouTube and streams on Twitch. He only plays a the axe-throwing character Draven. When League of Legends doesn’t allow Draven as a selectable character in ranked games, Tyler1 gets angry.
Tyler1 would get angry if he was not allowed to use his favorite character, Draven, and take it out on others. In the chat, he would threaten other players and post offensive messages. If the team he was on banned Draven from the team or chose him before Tyler1 could, he would get his revenge. He also got angry when a teammate would take an item he wanted. Though being offensive wasn’t new to Tyler1, he also would help the opposing team win to make his teammates angry. Tyler1’s overreactions eventually got him permanently banned from League of Legends.
5 Ark: Survival Evolved Players Work Together To Imprison Troll
Ark: Survival Evolved is a survival game set in a land of dinosaurs where everything you need can be created. Survival tools include houses, tools, and weapons. That alsmo means that other users can destroy and loot your crafted work. Trolling in Ark: Survival Evolved has been accepted by most players as an unfortunate part of the game. One troll, in particular, Ricky, was going too far and bothering several users. Frustrated by this guy’s actions, Barbaric Seagull (great name) and multiple users put together a plan.
So, they used their resources to trap Ricky in a jail cell. He tried to escape by punching the wall to lower his health in the hopes of passing out. Users would tranquilize him, heal him, and keep watch over him. The punishment lasted for ten hours before Ricky was set free. Barbaric Seagull said: “This is what happens when you’re a jerk, justice is served.”
4 Fable Developer Lionhead Studios Hunted Down Troll
Back in 2003, Fable was in development by Lionhead Studios. A small group of hackers known as Kibitz managed to gain access to Lionhead Studio’s server. The group stole screenshots and upcoming game information, then Kibitz proceeded to threaten and taunt the team at Lionhead Studios.
What Kibitz didn’t know was they were easily traceable through their IP address. Community Director Sam van Tilburg discovered this information and found out their location. The Kibitz member who was threatening Lionhead Studios was only 16-years-old. Instead of going to the police or looking to pursue him legally, van Tilburg tried a more creative approach.
The developer found a poem the teen had written, along with taking a photo of a landmark near his house. They had proof they knew of his identity. Lionhead Studio gave the teenager a choice, Fable-style. Either stop his wicked ways or the developer would contact his parents. The teen kept quiet after that.
3 Video Game Journalist Alanah Pearce Contacted Mothers Of Trolls
Alanah Pearce is a video game journalist working for IGN, Australian radio stations, and various television programs. She also produces content for her own YouTube channel, which has over 100,000 subscribers. Sadly, being in the public eye has made her the target of online harassers and trolls.
At first, Pearce believed the trolls were middle-aged men. After some investigation, she realized many the people trolling her were teenage boys. Many of the trolls used their personal Facebook accounts to send her these terrible messages. Pearce wanted to take a more creative approach to solving the problem and that’s when she decided to contact the parents of the teenage trolls.
Pearce contacted four mothers and informed them about the harassment. Horrified, the mothers apologized and promised to discuss the matter with their sons.
2 Madden Champ Forced To Return Earnings After Racist Troll Remarks
Chris “Dubby” McFarland was crowned Madden NFL 17 champ after winning the Madden Bowl Finals 2017 by EA Sports. With the title also came $75,000 of earnings. When signing up to be part of the Madden gaming community, it’s understood that you are representing EA Sports. Though McFarland was a skilled player in the game, he displayed poor sportsmanship on his social media accounts.
McFarland had a history of making racist slurs and offensive comments on his personal Twitter account. After being told by EA Sports to cut it out, he created a secondary account and continued there. When EA Sports found out, they told him to cease this activity, as it violated their Code of Conduct. McFarland refused and continued to make these offensive, racist remarks days after the tournament. EA Sports Commissioner Matt Marcou decided to deduct $3,000 from his $75,000 earnings, as well as 100 Madden NFL Championship Series points.
1 PayPal Refuses $50,000 Refund
Many popular Twitch streamers get hundreds or thousands in donations, as fans of particular Twitch streams are happy to contribute money to their favorite gamers. One Twitch user, iNexus_Ninja, an 18-year-old Australian named Anthony Archer, decided to donate to different streamers. LegendaryLea is a popular streamer in Twitch who receives donations for playing Hearthstone. She, along with other streamers such as Dizzykitten and Sodapoppin, were thrilled to see the donations from him. The final donated amount totaled an approximate $50,000.
Naturally, as I’m sure you’ve figured out by reading this list, Archer was not donating out of the kindness of his heart. He intended on canceling these large donations after 30 days. After 30 days, the streamers he trolled through donations would have a negative PayPal balance if they spent any of his donations.
PayPal caught on to Archer’s plan. Since he used his parents’ credit card to donate to the unexpecting Twitch streamers, he was not eligible for a chargeback under PayPal’s Buyer Protection program, so now his parents are down 50K. Real smart, buddy!
