The Definition Of Trolling

[Chikachu 402]

Alright, for a long time now as I'm sure many of you know, I have been seriously advocating trying to find a definition of trolling that will make it so we can recognize trolling without having to worry if it is just a joke or what not.

A short while ago I issued a challenge to some of the players who were angry about the excess trolling - which I admit has been getting less lately - and asked them to come up with a good definition of trolling. Only one got back to me (Blundermore) and since when I talk in Skype people haven't all been noticing what I say, I figure this is a good way for everyone to see it and to share opinions.

This is what Blundermore sent me regarding a proper definition of trolling.

Trolling:

 

Defined first and foremost when interacting over the internet it means to post inflammatory comments or remarks in an attempt to attack, belittle or otherwise gauge a reaction much like a local bully would. However, on LOTC, trolling has taken a slightly different term.

 

Trolling In-Game:

The act of acting out of the norm in a way that breaks the immersion of people around you, such as bringing OOC jokes into serious IC matters. Example: "4.0 BLAZE IT" being repeated over and over in full capitals at an important moment in the story.

 

The act of preforming actions in order to annoy, upset and otherwise attack people out of character as well as in game. Such as following someone around and repeating the same actions over and over again directly to their character either vocally or physically with no real IC reason for it. Such as punching someone over and over again when they have clearly told you to stop both ic and oocly. 

 

The use of obvious pop culture in IC when it is not appropriate, such as shouting "FUS RO DAH" IC when a dragon turns up even though your character wouldn't know or understand the meaning ic nor would it do anything.

 

Trolling on the Forums:

The act of targeting a group of people with remarks to otherwise upset or belittle players or provoke reaction from them. 

 

The act of bringing ooc jokes into important IC situations, such as an important council meeting being held over the forums only for "Random peasant" to run in -somehow- and shout "chicken butt", adding nothing in regards to good rp to the situation.

 

The act of preforming social taboos as an indirect attempt to upset others, such as indirectly quoting or using materials from hate references from groups such as the KKK or the Nazis who obviously display their views in public. Using this material otherwise in parody when in a public situation, whether with people directly involved might take it as a 'joke' or not. 

 

Posting IC threads that is essentially an ooc in-joke that only you and a couple of others will get that involve belittling or targeting others who do not take kindly to the joke in an attempt to upset them or gauge a reaction from them. These posts can be considered spam as well, and will fall under the spam rules when applicable.

 

Trolling and its Relation to Harassment:

Generally, trolling in some mediums depending on how often it is repeated can be justified and otherwise classified as Harassment, and thus falls under the rules of Harassment.

 

When does the Rules of Trolling not Apply?:

The rules of trolling do not apply when you are merely having a small joke between a select group in private which they are all in on. However this does not extend outside of a private sitting. Conducting these jokes and involving public participants who do not want to be involved or haven't given consent prior is classed as trolling. Note this is referring to when the joke involves other groups or people who are not apart of your circle in a way that is spiteful or to upset them.

 

You can do whatever you want around your friends, so long as they consent and play along with the joke. Just don't try to bring others in or target others with such jokes, as they may not take it as well as any of your friends do. What you do in private is entirely up to you, we can't control that. However doing anything said above on LOTC mediums to the general public outside of your social circles counts as trolling. 

 

Note that the status bar is an LOTC medium, and thus all rules above apply. 

 

Addition:

Doing something and then claiming that it was "merely a joke" is not a correct reason to do something, jokes can be offensive to others even when you yourself do not see it as being offensive. Be thoughtful of others when conducting your actions on the server, even if they are not a personal friend of yours or are apart of the same group as yours.

We are a community of roleplayers in a game, there are no true "sides" to take. So long as you remember that the community will continue to flourish.

 

What separates a joke from trolling?

A joke is generally a light hearted en-devour that doesn't directly attempt to target certain people in an attempt to upset them or gauge a reaction that the joker would find pleasure in. Light hearted jokes could include running jokes which everyone is in on and enjoys.

Trolling however is done directly to gauge a reaction that they would find pleasure in, usually out of spite due to certain events that happened in game that they did not like oocly, and thus started to target those involved for the sakes of personal enjoyment and not for the enjoyment of others. Note this is referring to the enjoyment of one personal clique or group. 

 

Examples of some things that are immediately regarded as trolling are as follows.

Saying or shouting ooc things in the rp channel without marking it ooc.

Using excessive ooc. (Definition of excessive is up to the moderators.)

Saying or shouting anything modern in the rp channels.

Saying "so-in-so says this" in order to bring in ooc to an rp thread you would not know anything about, would not be involved in, where your post interrupts the rp, or with request from anyone participating in that thread, particularly the thread op.

Jumping into another channel on teamspeak to play loud music, scream, shout, or make any unusual sound, or an audio file when it interrupts conversation.

 

Tl;Dr

It is up to the moderators in charge of the report or who are reading it whether they see it as trolling as well as up to the one being trolled against. If they conflict another moderator should be called in. Ultimately, though, it is up to the one being trolled. This also means if you do one of the automatic trolling things listed above and the one it is done against is fine with it it is considered a joke. So just make sure you have the right audience.

[Chikachu 402]

Updated.

[firespirit44 1323]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.