Griefing

Griefing is the act of intentionally ruining other players' experience with a game. Seen in almost all co-operative multiplayer games, it entails a variety of acts aimed at causing one's own team to lose or making the game not fun for opponents.

Griefing in the Super Smash Bros. series generally consists of:

• Self-destructing repeatedly and using share stocks to deprive others on the team of their stocks.
• Constant use of self-damaging moves such as many explosives simply to damage teammates.
• With team attack on, trying to KO teammates.
• Simply being useless, e.g. not taking any actions or doing nothing but taunting.
• Continuously using one loud or annoying taunt (Such as Captain Falcon's Down Taunt or Wario's Up Taunt) to throw off or annoy the players around them.
• Choosing an abnormally large stage such as Temple in combination with a fast moving character such as Sonic or Fox to constantly and safely run away from the opponent.
• Crouching repeatedly (teabagging).
• Repeatedly using Pokémon Change with the Pokémon Trainer in online play to lag the game (although this does not often occur in Ultimate.)
• In Ultimate, purposefully disconnecting from an online match to deny a player their GSP or bracket spot in an online tourney and force them to start over.
• Reporting a player for no legitimate reason, or for losing to that player.
• Ganging up on a player in a free for all, especially if one player specifically uses ineffective moves (such as Water Gun) to just annoy the victim and distract them from the other players.
• Spamming one move, normally a projectile, to either force the player to stay away and allow you to stall, or take blatant advantage of a player's weakness. (This is not always a form of griefing.)
• Refusing to fight an opponent when in a disadvantageous state, to stall long enough to win a match by stock or percentage lead, or to cause a disruption in the game's flow.
• Waiting for the opponent to approach and only counter-attacking after they have attempted to engage.
• In Ultimate's Battle Arenas, choosing a player's direct counter, defeating them and then kicking them from the arena unwarranted. (This is ALWAYS griefing.)
• Deliberately attacking one specific player and either acting friendly with others or making no attempt to battle with anyone else.
• Refusing to fight one particular player until they are at a significant disadvantageous state, such as in 4-8 player Smash.
• As the owner of a Battle Arena, kicking a person mid-match to force all players back to the arena.
• Causing a taunt match and enforcing it by ganging up on any player trying to have a serious match.
• Abusing tactics that cause a specific combatant to avoid taking damage, such as the Infinite Dimensional Cape with Meta Knight or shell hopping with Falco.
• Employing hacks to desynchronize online participants or play as an invincible character such as Giga Bowser or Wario-Man.
• Changing the player name tag to something insulting or otherwise offensive, and optionally proceeding to play using the new name (Wii U version only).
• Playing loud sounds or music over Ultimate's Voice Chat in Battle Arenas to annoy players or cause voice chat lag.

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 and 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.

Unlike Brawl's wi-fi mode, which was entirely unmoderated, the one in SSB4 allows the reporting of griefers, which can result in them being banned from playing online.

Ultimate's griefing has been fairly minimal due to the changes to Quickplay including the disabling of taunts and better report system, but it does persist in the game's online Battle Arena mode. Most often, a group of players will converge on one player and either kick them, or continue to bully them until they leave. Because the arena creator is the only one able to kick participants from the arena, it is possible for this situation to last for as long as either player chooses.

Some competitive players are also known for griefing; the practice is generally reviled, as it shows poor sportsmanship and contributes to an unhealthy gaming atmosphere. One such player is Manny, who has been criticized by the community for his frequent acts of griefing, including yelling at Mew2King during a set.