Author Topic: The Psychology of Trolls (Read 5178 times)

VirtueTT · « **on:** February 28, 2012, 07:19:44 PM »

Why i didn't post this in the Internet Video thread is because i didn't want it to get lost in the pages. It seems very interesting and i would love to read more about such studies. The details given in the video, though not much, still seem to explain quite a bit. I know a few guys around here who are interested in psychology and matters of the human mind and social development.

Now i know we here at GATT have had quite a few run ins with some A-Class trolls (and i dont mean that A in a good way), some recently and others in past lives, but their occurrence is seldom.

Yes tho some times we a lot of us derail some threads, that's just part of the community we have here, at least i think so. I'd hardly call it trolling, at least not classed in the realm of some other local forums and Facebook groups. Heck, facebook in general is the cesspit of social networking just like MOBA games, where it seems all the trolls in the world dwell.

Carigamers · « **on:** February 28, 2012, 07:19:44 PM »

Arcmanov · « **Reply #1 on:** February 28, 2012, 07:34:11 PM »

TriniLink · « **Reply #2 on:** February 28, 2012, 08:24:41 PM »

It should also be considered how we speak here locally, persons looking in from other countries wonder if we are being abusive in how we speak to one another weather llive or on chats/forums like this. It all comes down to life in general, how we heckle one another and poke fun yet we have an understanding that fun is fun and not overstepping boundaries.

Reminds me of the movie Remember the Titans, when the white and the black students formed a team and learned about one another's way of life and learned to adapt to it and play as a team.

TriniXaeno · « **Reply #3 on:** February 29, 2012, 01:03:26 AM »

very interesting indeed

+1

not quite sure why they appear to be proliferating though. Since trolls are regarded as the scourge of the internet of old.

nowadays it seems like they are almost glorified and everyone's trying to get in on the action (see arc's response above, lol)

Berzerk · « **Reply #4 on:** February 29, 2012, 07:28:24 AM »

I think trolling would have a different application here in Trinidad. Our culture has a lot of 'kix talk' and insulting others with no real harm being done. Id hate to think we Trinidadians fall into the umbrella of such small mindedness. And is trolling only bullying? I thought it was generally associated with looking for attention, and in that aspect, derailing a thread and carrying it way off course. That video informative as it might be seems a bit lop sided.

Otherwise cool vid, but not sure of the local application. (if so I hope its still severely limited.)

Carigamers · « **Reply #4 on:** February 29, 2012, 07:28:24 AM »

Arcmanov · « **Reply #5 on:** February 29, 2012, 07:37:30 AM »

What is considered 'trolling' in other societies is just good ole 'picong' for us Trinis. Par for the course really.
Just take a look at the comments on The Express, or take a gander at the 'Ole Talk' forum on that 'automotive'
site and you'll see what I mean.

I think most of us are cognisant enough of the mood of a particular discussion to know when outright trolling starts.

Thankfully, on this forum it's mostly done in jest. Mostly

Q · « **Reply #6 on:** February 29, 2012, 08:52:11 AM »

I can honestly say that I troll for teh lulz. I was the guy who would see you dying in an arcade and say something like "Press START, boi... Yuh go get powers." Then I'd die laughing inside as they frantically hit the start button but I have to stay looking serious. After all... A coin is at stake here.

Poor Sap: "It not workin."
Me: :Try it again."
Poor Sap:

Me:

I'm the guy who started that sh!t, lol. I miss the arcade days.

Berzerk · « **Reply #7 on:** February 29, 2012, 09:12:53 AM »

OMG...that was u...

TriniXaeno · « **Reply #8 on:** February 29, 2012, 09:55:15 AM »

lol

I think picong amongst friends in real life is very different than trolling on the internet amongst strangers and to an unlimited audience.

And that is a distinction some people are not consciously making.

On the plus side, all this mainstreaming of trolling could turn it into an innocuous activity. Taking the very sting out of it by making it so commonplace.

VirtueTT · « **Reply #9 on:** February 29, 2012, 11:16:06 AM »

@Berserk + Arcman - Trolling was essentially what you described it to be. Key word is WAS. It continues to evolve (devolve in my mind).

There are some local facebook groups that many of you are not part of and the sort of trolling done in those groups is mind boggling. Imagine men stop playing games or associating themselves with people because of one misread or misinformed comment, one bad night in a game. Within not days, not hours, but seconds, screen shots up. Man gettin "picong" gang bang left, right and center. It transcends picong in my mind. Again, as the video highlights, the "troller" becomes less and less sensitive to the fact that its actual human beings they are interacting with.

And we have been over this before, *looks for Picard* what one man may take as a joke, another may take to heart.

Berzerk · « **Reply #10 on:** February 29, 2012, 11:19:55 AM »

allyuh young people and this facebook ting...

VirtueTT · « **Reply #11 on:** February 29, 2012, 11:42:18 AM »

Quote from: Berzerk on February 29, 2012, 11:19:55 AM

allyuh young people and this facebook ting...

Zerk boy, how i wish people would call each other and go skip rope and play cricket in the road. Technology has given us a lot yes, but we're slowly losing everything else. The internet is causing the loss of intimacy between human beings.

Same thing the older guys here would say about gaming:

Old gamer (28 yrs+): "Hoss, i remember the days when i jump in a car with my tower under one arm to go to a LAN party"

Young gamer (23 yrs and below) : "WTF is a LAN party? In fact, wda is a tower? Is that a PS3 or Xbox?"

Where in the days men were in the same room playing game, throwing talk and having fun, actually interacting and meeting ppl, now we all sit behind our screens in our rooms, not even sure if the men we playing game with real even who they say they are. Don't care about other person's well being and not seeing that our words or actions can affect/hurt them. It's quite unfortunate and I believe this lack of interaction is one of the greatest reasons for that lack of community we have here in Trini when it comes to gaming.

Berzerk · « **Reply #12 on:** February 29, 2012, 11:47:45 AM »

endorsed and agreed 100%

but what the jail 28+ is old now??.....old age FTL.

Arcmanov · « **Reply #13 on:** February 29, 2012, 12:40:34 PM »

I laugh at young master Virtue's comments, because they are so true. I dearly miss the LAN-party scene.

Alas, the anonymity of the 'net has in many ways given trolls a pretty high wall to hide behind.

captainchris · « **Reply #14 on:** February 29, 2012, 01:16:27 PM »

Ah this is so true. As someone who is into Psychology I must say that video is very accurate! The LAN party days where very much as mentioned hence after a while I realized that my PC was based on a LAN appearance rather than practicality based on my needs. Oh well, nothing still beats dropping a headshot on a dude across the room in a LAN Party and he stands up to make out " yuh mudda $%#@" cause he decided to header style a .50cal round...

good times good times!!

TriniXaeno · « **Reply #15 on:** February 29, 2012, 01:53:16 PM »

yeah I agree. The lan party era was the pinnacle of gaming in this country to date.

those were the glory years

still, looking forward to see what the next generation of gamers can achieve. Times and technology has changed so they would need to adapt and evolve as well.

The old formula may no longer work but maybe a newer and better one could be distilled.

As for the trolling, once more...that was ALWAYS the case, even a decade ago. People who would hide behind the internet's anonymity and have no regard for others due to the abstraction of their online persona. There were idiots on mirc, usenet, roger wilco, you name it....who mastered the art of being down right fools online but quite sheepish and sombre people in real life.

So what has changed that is allowing it to become basically a fad??

That's my question.

Is it that with more and more people coming online, the number of idiots has reached a critical mass and as a result their mannerisms (or lackthereof) is becoming mainstreamed??

answer me that someone, please

captainchris · « **Reply #16 on:** February 29, 2012, 02:03:34 PM »

To Answer your very HARD question:

I start things off by saying or mentioning again the installation of FB games, then I raise you the fact that dudes these days more into tight pants and a shirt that shows us where there man boobs are located. It is like Awesome said, if you can see a man's phone in his pocket, something is wrong.

Then there are the gamers like us who been in the gaming world for quite some time where we have grown to love and respect dear ole Mumble, Team Speak, Ventrillo, Steam Voice and the list goes on.

Berzerk · « **Reply #17 on:** February 29, 2012, 02:14:08 PM »

More people want attention I guess. And to some, bad attention is better than none. This is the only way some people could be come known. Its a component in Psychopaths as well.

Answer? More people need to get a life.

TriniXaeno · « **Reply #18 on:** February 29, 2012, 05:07:58 PM »

lol, yuh lashing them hard boy zerk

yeah, I wouldn't doubt that the wild success of facebook has something to do with it.

making online "forums" accessible to a wider range of people than ever before.

Carigamers · « **Reply #18 on:** February 29, 2012, 05:07:58 PM »

Author Topic: The Psychology of Trolls (Read 5178 times)

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