When I wondered aloud last week if new SL users remember the virtual world's Wild West years of creative anarchy over a decade ago, many old timers replied by more or less sighing, "Those were the days." For instance, reader "Mondy":
I can remember a time when griefing by self-replicating objects was fairly common, and although it was annoying, it was also an event. People would COME to a sim to see sometimes hilarious flying…appendages? Or whatever infantile creations had been brought into being. Sure it was stupid, but it was also a talking point and often amusing. You also got to see the Lindens arrive to clean up the mess if the sim didn't crash and the owner couldn't deal with it themselves.
Or reader "Jackie", who fondly recalls what we might call an ethical, White Hat Griefer:
Knew a guy who did fun griefting such as turning the sky from blue to green a smiley face moon. He loved combat sims and making folks he knew fly three Sims away for kicks. Crashing Sims and hurting others wasn't cool with him.
I remember those days well and miss them too! I'd also distinguish types of griefing:
