FFA PvP, Ganking and Greifing

[YamiOkami]

I thought I knew what these terms meant, I started my online gaming with pre-trammel UO so ive been around a while, and I have run across these terms very often... but recently, all of these seem to have taken on a new meaning, subverting the meaning I knew.

FFA PvP : I was sure this meant you could attack anyone, and while this is true, people seem to be under the impression it means anywhere as well, as in no safe zones. [I consider all forms of UO FFA PvP, is this their mistake or mine?]

Ganking : Afaik, Ganking means teaming up and killing someone who has no chance i.e. 5vs1. But i have been hearing people using it for 1vs1... Why?

Greifing : People seem to think ganking [the term i know] or targetting the same person on different occasions [not reskilling] constitutes greifing, whereas, in contrast, I always considered reskilling, using bugs to cheat players out of items/money and constant verbal assault, in most forms, greifing.

I'm not really looking for a debate about what constitutes what, but after seeing lots of posts about the FFA PvP claim of Xsyon being false it has left me wondering whether these terms have evolved over time as different games come out, or if they have been mistaken by newer, younger players joining the gaming community.

Thank you for reading, if you did, it is a bit tl;dr material.

Yami

[mrcalhou]

FFA PvP is just that Free For All Player vs. Player. Doesn't really have to be combat though. Could be economical undermining as well.

Ganking comes from "gang killing," so it's meant to mean when a player is killed while facing overwhelming-impossible odds.

I'd define greifing as you did.

[orious13]

The terms aren't defined in webster, therefore people call them what they will. They are probably on urban dictionary, but in all seriousness, people defined them how they want to define them because they really have no "universally approved" definition.

But if you actually think about it FFA PVP does mean pvp where every man's for himself and that is what is offered. Grieffing could perhaps be called the act of causing grief in which case is misleading and can mean any number of things. The problem is that such slangs are made up and are really loosely defined. In this game it doesn't matter what you call it or what he calls it. It matters what the devs call it, which is different than what even some UO players do.

Isn't ganking in DF just the kill action upon an incapacitated player (lol I don't remember... "XXX has been ganked" etc.)? Yes.. people now refer to ganking as pretty much any act of rampant and partially meaningless pvp.

All in all... when I played lineage 1 (1999) and lineage 2, people just pvped. It was FFA. I don't ever recall hearing the words gank or grief. Spawn killing, yes. Zerg yes.

This is just my thoughts.

[KeithStone]

My definition of ganking comes from darkfall.

FFA PVP imo is open world pvp with consequence.

Griefing is when you harass someone just for the fun of harrasing them over and over just to be an ass.

In darkfall you kill someone and they fall to the ground helpless and cannot move as the bleed out. There's a timer for someone to revive you before the timer runs out. You are ganked when you get your head chopped off and ends your timer to be revived and you are sent back to your bind stone.

I'm 33, and this is my definition of it probably because darkfall was my first real mmorpg.

[YamiOkami]

Ah thanks guys, that has cleared it up a bit for me, then the definitions i have can be my definitions. Again, ta for the responses

[Doc]

FFA = Free for all, you can attack anyone with no restrictions (although there might be consequences), does not include anywhere

Ganking = attacking "helpless" targets, usually consists of making (large) group, roam the map for newbs/single/highly overwhelmed targets, and run away at anything that looks slightly capable of defending it/themselves - short - reward with 0 risk

Griefing = harrasment. What exactly is harrasment in certain game is decided by devs, can be verbal-"physical"(from ingame point of view), spawn killing where defending player cannot react before he is killed is classical form of griefing

[Darkseid]

FFA = Free for all, you can attack anyone with no restrictions (although there might be consequences), does not include anywhere

Ganking = attacking "helpless" targets, usually consists of making (large) group, roam the map for newbs/single/highly overwhelmed targets, and run away at anything that looks slightly capable of defending it/themselves - short - reward with 0 risk

Griefing = harrasment. What exactly is harrasment in certain game is decided by devs, can be verbal-"physical"(from ingame point of view), spawn killing where defending player cannot react before he is killed is classical form of griefing

Now there's a man who knows his gaming terminology!

[Saolite]

When in doubt, Urban Dictionary. It has a lot of terms that are " mainstream ", and a lot that are not. Rather than paste a whole bunch of links that force other people to go to other websites, I'll just briefly put Urban Dictionary's definition of the terms up and state if I agree or disagree.

FFA PvP : Free-for-All Player versus Player. Any player can be killed at any time, but this does NOT include anywhere, nor does it include if there are consequences to those actions ( such as being flagged as a Player Killer, attacked by NPC guards, and the like ). It simply means that it can be done. This is not in Urban Dictionary, but my own point of view.

Ganking : It is a word commonly used in online video games, usually used in an MMO's. Ganking is the process in which a group of characters gang up on one or more players that do not have a chance to defend themselves, or when one high level player does the same action to a player way below his or her own level. I agree with this statement from Urban Dictionary.

Griefing : 1. Purposefully shooting or otherwise sabotaging your teammates in an online game.

2. In online gaming where one repeatedly killing the same individual or individuals over and over again, or camping their corpse to prevent them from retrieving it, or otherwise performing actions in a game to prevent the player from enjoying the game.

3. In online gaming, someone who takes pleasure in creating grief for an opponent via various "cheap" tactics. All of these, I agree with, in every context. Both in an MMO setting, as well as FPS/TPS settings and Strategy game settings.

I think these days, however, griefing could also be considered a form of harassment, such as verbally in whispers or in a global chat. It's a bit of a gray area, but there's a fine line between " casual trash talking for the sport of it " and out-right being threatening or demeaning.

[Dubanka]

most of the definitions above seem to be solid.

only problem is that a fair portion population seems to equate any non-consensual pvp as 'ganking/griefing' (term is used interchangeably here).

just because you weren't ready doesn't mean it was wrong