Editing Griefing

'''Griefing''' is the act of intentionally ruining other players' experience with a game, essentially trying to cause them grief. Seen in essentially all multiplayer games, especially those playable [[online]], it entails a variety of acts aimed to deliberately agitate, make the game not fun, or make the game outright unplayable, for opponents and teammates alike. This includes the ''{{b|Super Smash Bros.|series}}'' series.

What exactly is considered griefing can vary from player to player, as a method of play that someone genuinely finds fun can be agitating for someone else, thus "griefing" them regardless of intent. Conversely, a player may intentionally try griefing, but their opponent is unbothered, emboldened to play harder, or may even find the act of griefing amusing, rendering the griefing ineffectual.

 

That being said, common methods of griefing are as follows:

 

*[[Self-destruct]]ing repeatedly and using [[share stock]]s to deprive others on the team of their [[stock]]s.

*Constant use of team-damaging moves, such as many [[explosive]]s, simply to damage teammates instead of the opponent.

*With [[Team Attack]] on, intentionally attacking teammates.

*Ganging up on another player in a free-for-all.

*Deliberately attacking one specific player and, once they're out, either acting friendly with others or making no attempt to battle with anyone else.

*Simply being useless, such as remaining idle or doing nothing but [[taunt]]ing.

*Continuously using loud taunts or taunts that get annoying with repetition (such as [[Captain Falcon]]'s down taunt or {{SSBU|Ridley}}'s up taunt) to throw off or annoy the players around them.

*[[Crouch]]ing repeatedly (commonly known as "teabagging").

*Choosing an abnormally large [[stage]], such as [[Temple]] or a large [[Stage Builder|Custom Stage]], often in combination with a fast-moving character like [[Sonic]] or [[Fox]], to constantly and safely [[Camping#Circle camping|run away from the opponent]] until the [[match timer]] reaches zero.

*Abusing tactics that make themselves very difficult or outright impossible to hit at all, such as the [[Infinite Dimensional Cape]] with {{SSBB|Meta Knight}}, [[shell hopping]] with {{SSBB|Falco}}, and other such [[stalling]] tactics.

*Employing [[hacks]] to desynchronize online participants or play as an invincible character, such as [[Giga Bowser]] or [[Wario-Man]].

*Repeatedly using [[Pokémon Change]] with the {{SSBB|Pokémon Trainer}} in online play to lag the game (although this does not work as effectively in ''[[Ultimate]]'', where the switch between Pokémon is much faster).

*In online play in {{forwiiu}}, changing their name tag to something insulting or otherwise offensive, and optionally proceeding to play using the new name.

*In ''Ultimate'', deliberately choosing a song in [[My Music]] that is considered to be obnoxiously terrible (such as [[25m BGM]]), or plays no music at all (such as [[Gamer]]'s eponymous song when played on an Omega or Battlefield form), to intentionally distract and annoy the opponent, especially if the player choosing the song cannot listen to it themselves (such as when playing online with their in-game music turned off on their end, or listening to their own music with headphones instead of the ingame audio at a tournament). This can also extend to deliberately choosing a song that the player knows will cause copyright issues on [[YouTube]] and [[Twitch]] (such as [[Ring a Ding]]) when their match is being streamed by their opponent or at a tournament.

**Purposefully disconnecting from an online match by closing the game when they're about to lose, so their opponent doesn't gain any [[Global Smash Power]] for beating them.

**Intentionally tanking one's GSP so that they can then get matched with worse and more inexperienced players who reside in much lower GSP ranges.

**Deliberately using nonsensical rules, like running three stocks with an abnormally short time limit and relying on either timing the opponent out or winning via [[Sudden Death]]. One can also run more casual-oriented rules, such as having [[item]]s enabled and all stages available, with the intention of griefing competitive players, particularly in higher GSP ranges where such players largely reside, though it's ambiguous when players are running such rules with that intention or because they legitimately want to play with those rules.

**In early versions of ''Ultimate'', the [[Special Flag]] was an individually toggleable item for Quickplay. This resulted in griefers running rules that had only the Special Flag enabled, often in combination with [[Stamina]], causing matches where eliminating the opponent's stocks was nigh-impossible and so guaranteeing every match going to [[time out]], while radically changing the win condition of the match to become "who can get the most Special Flags". [[List of updates (SSBU)#3.1.0|Version 3.1.0]] would remove the option to toggle Special Flags in Quickplay to prevent this.

*In ''Ultimate'', [[Battle Arena]]s are also susceptible to their own specific forms of griefing:

**Joining an Arena with a 2-player limit, and then deliberately staying in the Waiting Area or the Spectator Stands instead of entering the ring, forcing the Arena host to kick them so that someone else who will actually play can join. This can be attempted with larger Arenas to take up a spot, but as long as one other player is able to join, it doesn't completely prevent any matches from happening.

**If enabled, playing loud sounds or music over the Voice Chat in Arenas to annoy players or cause voice chat lag, known as micspamming.

*''Ultimate'''s [[Stage Builder]] can additionally be susceptible to its own forms of griefing, when posted via [[Shared Content]]:

**Creating stages that employ multiple moving parts or explosions and portals to cause a large distraction during a match.

*Reporting another player for no legitimate reason, or for simply losing to that player.

Usual competitive rules render more extreme versions of griefing unviable, if not outright impossible (such as any stage that would enable [[circle camping]] being banned, and banning any game-breaking glitches like the [[Freeze glitch]]). These same rules also tend to make an effort not to overextend, as this is a "play to win" environment where players are expected to do whatever they can within the rules to win. This results in tactics considered "[[cheap]]" but not degenerate enough to be a serious issue generally being more accepted under normal circumstances. Serious instances of griefing in competitive play can still occur, however, through actions that give the player no direct advantage in-game but can make their opponent play worse by annoying or angering them enough to mentally [https://glossary.infil.net/?t=Tilted tilt] them, or distracting them so that they drop a [[combo]] or misinput elsewhere, such as by frequently [[taunt]]ing in-game or being overtly vocal outside the game. [[Tournament organizer]]s will generally not impose any rules on more mundane forms of griefing that are entirely in-game, such as the aforementioned taunting, but may specifically prohibit forms of griefing that more clearly make the tournament experience less pleasant for everyone and that are not already covered by the existing rules. For example, it is standard for tournaments to have a rule forbidding players from attempting to vocally or physically disrupt another player (such as by screaming or pushing when in a [[chain grab]]), the most well known of which is likely the [[MikeHaze rule]], and {{trn|Supernova 2024}} implemented a [https://x.com/MrYeastmode/status/1818394976801395182 rule] in ''Ultimate'' that prohibited players from choosing certain songs that are notorious for their griefing propensity.

Outside of competitive play, griefing was especially common in [[Basic Brawl]], as the combination of anonymity, complete lack of control over the match rules, free-for-alls being mandatory, and no restriction over stage and item selection, created conditions unfavorable for serious matches that were ripe for griefers to abuse. This is one of the main criticisms players had of Basic Brawl, as many found it unenjoyable for those choosing not to resort to griefing themselves.

''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'''s griefing scene was far less rampant, but still was common in [[For Fun]] and [[For Glory]], the latter of which was intended for serious matches. Unlike ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''{{'}}s Wi-Fi mode, which was entirely unmoderated, the system in ''Smash 4'' allows the reporting of griefers, which can result in them being silently sent to [[For Glory Hell]]. Additionally, they could be blocked via the [[Wii U]]'s built-in friend system, which would indefinitely prevent the player from matching with the blocked griefer in any online game until the player unblocked them.

Griefing persists in ''Ultimate'', but its impact can be better mitigated through the improved reporting system and with players being able to block anyone they play with, which will then prevent them from being matched together on Quickplay and prevent each other from joining their Battle Arenas for the duration of the block.