Patriotic Nigras

Patriotic Nigras
Formation2005–2011
TypeMultiple-use name/avatar;
Virtual community;
Voluntary association
PurposeInternet activism;
Internet trolling;
Internet vigilantism
Region served
Global
Membership
Decentralized affinity group
Websitewww.patrioticnigras.org[1][2][3]

The Patriotic Nigras (also known by the initialism PN) were a group of griefers in the online world of Second Life.[4]

While the PN were known mainly for the disruption of Second Life and its users, they had also established themselves on the video sharing website YouTube, where they have posted videos of their activities including server raids. Their method of attack ranges from trolling a group or individual to the manipulation of the in-game scripting engine, where they perform such activities as showering their targets with boxes covered in internet memes and shock images. These boxes then produce storms of graphical particles that block the victim's vision. They have also created avatars similar to those of the residents being harassed and destroyed them in gruesome ways to simulate a virtual death.[5] The Patriotic Nigras have also caused the crashing of several Second Life regions (or "simulators") by using self-replicating objects that overload the processing power of the computer running them.[4][6]

Properly characterizing the Patriotic Nigras has proven difficult for critics and researchers who have observed their activities from within their raids and from afar. The group has been described as a nonpolitical online terrorist group whose central motivation is described by the term "lulz".[1][7][8] Others have identified quasi-political motivations such as the effort to hinder the entry of corporations into Second Life,[9] and yet others have identified their activities as nihilistic or even agonistic online branches of the political avant-garde.[1] The DHRA has also described them as a prime example of online criminal gang culture including spillover effects into real life gang activity.[10] The group has been linked to internet group Anonymous as both a sub-group[11] and an early progenitor iteration.[12] They have been described as /b/tards (a group affiliated with 4chan), members of SomethingAwful.com,[13] and as an offspring of the W-Hats griefer group (itself an offshoot of Something Awful).[14] The PN make casual use of racist, sexist, and homophobic terminology which some researchers dismiss as a joke[6] and which others have identified as "problematic" and "troubling".[8]

Whatever the true character and affiliations of the group, it has provoked commentary by critics and internet culture writers since its formation in 2005, and it has been listed as one of the central figures in the griefer culture of Second Life.[15] Membership in the group has ranged from 35 members in 2007[9] up to a rough 200 at their peak in mid-2011.[15]

  1. ^ a b c Bäcke, Maria. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Online 3D Worlds Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine. Digital Games/TKS. Blekinge Institute of Technology.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference backe2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ McCahill, Mark P. sub nom. Pixeleen Mistral. "Nicholas Mafia Smacks PN Web Site". The Alphaville Herald. 9 January 2009.
  4. ^ a b Dibbell, Julian (2008-07-11). Sympathy for the Griefer:MOOrape, Lulz cubes, and Other Lessons from the First 2 Decades of Online Sociopathy. Madison, Wisconsin: GLS Conference. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
  5. ^ Giles, Jim (2007). "Serious Grief". New Scientist. 9 (1–7): 52–53.
  6. ^ a b Dibbell, Julian. "Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World." Wired. 18 January 2008.
  7. ^ Alemi, Farnaz. An Avatar's Day in Court: A Proposal for Obtaining Relief and Resolving Disputes in Virtual World Games. 2007 UCLA J.L. & Tech. 6. 2007
  8. ^ a b Anable, Aubrey. Bad Techno-Subjects: Griefing is Serious Business. Mediascape: UCLA's Journal of Cinema and Media Studies. 17 November 2008.
  9. ^ a b Gregson, Kimberly (2007). "Bad Avatar!: Griefing in Virtual Worlds". M/C Journal. 10 (5). doi:10.5204/mcj.2708.
  10. ^ Schechter, Olga G., Eric L. Lang, and Christina R. Keibler. Cyber Culture and Personnel Security: Report II - Ethnographic Analysis of Second Life. Defense Human Resources Activity - Defense Personnel Security Research Center. Pg.48. July 2011.
  11. ^ Vichot, Ray (2009). "Doing it for the lulz"?: online communities of practice and offline tactical media (M.Sc.). Georgia Institute of Technology.
  12. ^ Stryker, Cole. How Anonymous broke its own rules to break free. Boing Boing. 17 October 2012.
  13. ^ Webber, Nick. Grief Play, Deviance and the Practice of Culture. Inter-disciplinary.net. June 2006.
  14. ^ Fink, Eric M. "The Virtual Construction of Legality: 'Griefing' & Normative Order in Second Life." Journal of Law, Information, & Science 21.1. 2011.
  15. ^ a b Arthur, Charles. "From LulzSec to 4Chan: a hacking who's who Guide to hackers and online mischief makers". The Guardian. 22 June 2011.