The Grey Lines of Griefing With Proof #WurmOnline
stargrace 
Anyone who has been reading my blog posts these past few months knows just how much I love WurmOnline, and how I’ve never had any issues in game – until these last two weeks. These last two weeks have almost completely undone everything I love about the game, and the worst part is there’s nothing that can be done about it because it’s one of those shady grey areas of griefing. Pictured above is the forest (well, it used to be the forest) just below my deed. It is right in front of and around the deed of a friend of mine, and to the side of yet another friend. There are four of us in the area, most of these trees were planted by us. We don’t technically own the woods because it’s not deeded, but we’ve been living here happily for months now. Up on a hill away from this forest lives the griefers. It started out innocently enough.
Logging started 2012-03-10
[14:14:14] <Zeno> is “cabin fever” your house?
[14:18:28] <Stargrace> Yes
[14:20:09] <Stargrace> Why do you ask?
[14:21:55] <Zeno> you should repair your fences
[14:22:07] <Stargrace> No thanks, they’re alright. =)
[14:22:07] <Zeno> wood makes terrible fencing and yours are all damaged
From there it quickly went downhill.
[14:23:42] <Zeno> you do realize its not on a deed and anyone could bash those fences down in about 10 minutes and steal your horse and whatever else is in there though right
[14:24:01] <Stargrace> I own two deeds not far from here, this is just a temporary camp I’ve set up for fun. Thank you for your concern about my fences. You know that breaking into an enclosure is against game rules and GMs will enforce that, right? :)
[14:24:17] <Zeno> I wouldnt need the horse you have
[14:24:24] <Zeno> I have about 30 named horses lol[14:59:45] <Zeno> ive had more than a few handle legitimate complaints and err on the side of “do nothing” so they could close the case and I wouldnt get proper assistance
[14:59:58] <Stargrace> Very sorry to hear that. I’m glad they help me.
[15:00:16] <Zeno> keep acting cute and they will
[15:00:40] <Stargrace> I think you’re confusing it with ‘nice’. ;)
[15:00:59] <Zeno> nice i.e: manipulative
[15:01:18] <Stargrace> Manipulative? I haven’t even done anything..
[15:01:22] <Zeno> nice so you too can be a GM/CM or to get aforementioned assistance[15:28:45] <Zeno> though, as I said, you’re providing me some interaction in lieu of trolling kingdom chat
[15:29:38] <Zeno> that would quantify as my part time job I suppose
[15:29:56] <Zeno> much to the chargin of GMs[15:36:09] <Zeno> also to be perfectly honest, I had considered smashing down your walls but your little area was cute and I’d have felt bad
[15:37:32] <Zeno> but don’t tell your GM friends that ;)[20:36:26] <Zeno> by the way when I said I was considering smashing into your place, that was before we talked lol.. i’m not THAT heartless
While these conversations were going on, my neighbours at my deed were being broken into by one of the members of their village, and their horses stolen and moved up the side of a gigantic hill. I actually watched them walk home (as I myself was walking home) with a few of the horses, but I had no idea at that time they were stolen. At the time of the conversation I had applied to be a CA, but was not yet accepted and didn’t want to jinx it, so I left it quiet.
[22:08:40] <Zeno> are you a cm/gm
[22:08:45] <Zeno> in any facet
[22:08:51] <Zeno> I ask purely out of curiosity
[22:08:57] <Arysh> Nope, I am not
[22:09:19] <Zeno> k
[22:10:59] <Zeno> this isn’t one of those chris hansen type entrapment things right
[22:11:14] <Arysh> I don’t even know what that is ><
[22:11:14] <Zeno> where you befriend the server jerk and then trap me in a cage somewhere lol
[22:11:17] <Zeno> haha
[22:11:27] <Arysh> No I’m just a nice lady, sorry
[22:11:33] <Zeno> haha
[22:11:44] <Zeno> I remain ever suspicious
The next day, I attempted to help my friends get their horses back. GMs have been trying to work on this with a LOT of logs we’ve supplied and have come to no solid resolution yet. I provided logs of me examining each of the horses when they were on the owners deed, and then also examining them when they were in the stolen deed. I also get accepted as CA and start getting random tells from various members of their villages, I put them all on ignore. Two days later, I get this message:
Logging started 2012-03-15
[17:44:48] <Zeno> fippys farm is yours?
[17:45:03] <Arysh> Nay, that is Yetian and Gotchi’s
[17:45:17] <Zeno> I see
[17:45:58] <Zeno> ahhhh fippys keep is yours
On the eve of that day my perimeter is broken into, and my cows stolen / killed / let loose in the forest around my deed. I find out the day after as I log in and notice all 25 animals missing. I work all day along with a few friends to re-build my pens on-deed so that they can not be broken into any more and hopefully prevent any more damage from happening. I’m also accused of altering logs, even though in my 6 years of writing for this blog and about various MMOs and after being incredibly involved with every single community I’ve joined, I’ve NEVER been accused of this before.
[14:55:27] <Zeno> you have every motivation for faking them
The GMs finally get involved, and the clear cutting stops, but it’s a grey area, and they (the griefers) are within their rights to cut down whatever they want. I receive more tells from random members of their village, either checking to see if I am online, or where I am, or what I am up to. I keep putting them on ignore. They put all of my characters on their KOS list, which I don’t mind because I have absolutely no intention of going to their deed, they’ve also put the neighbours on KOS, which is fine by all of them.
The best part is that I’ve played for months now without any issue until these people came along and I was made CA. I have sent in all my logs and proof that they’re trying to intimidate and causing distress, but because it’s all within the ‘rules of the game’ there’s nothing anyone can do. It’s caused me to want to just stop playing, which is a shame because I really enjoy Wurm. There are even PVP servers set up for this, which is where these players came from. My best bet (at this moment) is to hope they simply go away and get bored again in time. In the mean time, my stuff is all deeded, and secured. They can cut down the entire forest that I’ve planted, but my little tiny area of land is safe for now.
It took me approximately 8 hours on two accounts to fix up the cut down trees, but it got done. Many thanks to those who helped out. I won’t be re-planting any time soon because I know it will just get chopped down again, but it’s a start. Honestly, I just wish more could be done. It’s been a very frustrating two weeks in game.