My Ph.D thesis was on grief play in MMORPGs, and the study was conducted from September 2002, ending in January 2006. Below was the abstract for the study:

“Millions of players today participate in large Massively Multi-player Online
Role-Playing Games, or MMORPGs, spending upwards of several dozens of
hours a week in these online games. Evidence has surfaced to suggest that
there are players consciously engaging in activities to disrupt other players’
gaming experience. This behaviour is known as ‘grief play’, and affects the
player body’s expectations and play styles. Grief play also forces game
developers to implement game mechanisms to manage it.”

“This study investigates grief play, focusing on what it is, why it occurs, its
effects, and how it is managed. There has been limited scholarly work on it.
Hence, the study is explorative and intended to discover perceptions and
attitudes towards grief play. Qualitative methods of study are employed:
data collection modes included interviews with players and developers and
discussion postings from players. The general method used for data analysis
and inquiry is grounded theory.”

The operationalized objectives of the study were as follows:

1. To investigate what grief play means.
2. To investigate what motivates players to engage in grief play.
3. To investigate how grief play affects the game.
4. To investigate what players expect from grief play management.
5. To investigate grief play management.

Page updated: Jan 2010