Why people online are jerks, mainly League players
Whitney Phillips describes trolling as a mask, in a sense that one does it for the sake of entertainment and for the “lulz” (Phillips 2016 27). As one puts on the “mask” they set rules that are different from real life experiences (excluding friends). The trolls are fueled by emotions and actions made by their targets — they find it amusing. “We don’t have the intent to demean people, the intent is to piss them off” (Phillips 2016 36).
For this experiment, I chose 2 scenarios that I’ve encountered in the past regarding online interactions. The first example is a short visual of how trolling works and how one succumbs to the torment. The conversation is between a fake alternate Facebook account and my real one.
The second example is of a similar experience I had while playing League of Legends. The character “Teemo” is generally regarded as the troll character of the community, slowly pissing people off as the game progresses. Over my 4-year experience with League, I’ve had over twenty encounters of “Teemo” players troll in ranked matches (and casual) for the sake of lulz (feeding the enemy). Going back to reality, you wouldn’t trash talk jokingly, or intentionally piss someone off right in front of them unless they were close friends.
