question: in online games with the “report player” function (I.E. Fortnite, Overwatch, etc) how do the developers avoid spamming/ griefing?
comment: Clarification question: Do you mean how do they decide if a player was spamming/griefing? Or how do they prevent spamming/ griefing of the actual report system? In the first case: lots of systems like that sort users based on how many reports they have, and slowly work down the list, prioritizing users with more reports. In the second case: if a user's reports are often of people that end up not being found to be not guilty of the actions they are reported for, the user that is spamming the report system may be punished.
passages: Many subscription-based games actively oppose griefers, since their behavior can drive away business. It is common for developers to release server-side upgrades and patches to annul griefing methods. Many online games employ gamemasters that reprimand offenders. Some use a crowdsourcing approach, where players can report griefing. Malicious players are then red-flagged, and are then dealt with at a gamemaster's discretion. As many as 25% of customer support calls to companies operating online games deal specifically with griefing.
   Blizzard Entertainment has enacted software components to combat griefing. To prevent non-consensual attacks between players, some games such as "Ultima Online" have created separate realms for those who wish to be able to attack anyone at any time, and for those who do not. Others implemented separate servers.
  
  When "EverQuest" was released, Sony included a PvP switch where people could fight each other only if they had enabled that option. This was done in order to prevent the player-killing that was driving people away from "Ultima Online", which at that time had no protection on any of its servers.
   Space sims like "Eve Online" and "" have incorporated activities typically considered griefing as part of the gameplay mechanism. Corporate spying, theft, scams, gate-camping, and PvP on non-PvP players are all part of their gaming experience.
   Many "Minecraft" servers have rules against griefing. In "Minecraft" freebuild servers, griefing is often the destruction of another player's build, and in other servers the definition ranges, but almost all servers recognize harassment as griefing. Most servers use temporary bans for minor and/or first time incidents, and indefinite bans from the server for more serious and/or repeat offences.
  
  Section::::Popular culture.
  
  In the "South Park" episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft", the children attempt to vanquish a griefer in "World of Warcraft".
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Cyberbullying
  
  BULLET::::- Internet troll
  
  BULLET::::- Kill stealing
  
  BULLET::::- Online harassment
  
  Section::::External links.
   Shooters such as "" have implemented peer review systems, where if a player is reported too many times, multiple higher ranked players get to review the Suspect and determine if the reports are valid, and apply a temporary ban to the players account if necessary. The Suspect's name is omitted during the replay, as well as those of the other 9 players in the game. In October 2016, Valve implemented a change that will permanent ban a player if he/she receives two penalties for griefing.
   BULLET::::- Luring many monsters or a big one to chase the griefer, before moving to where other players are. The line of monsters in pursuit looks like a train, and hence this is sometimes called "training" or "aggroing".
  
  BULLET::::- Blocking other players' way so they cannot move to or from a particular area, or access an in-game resource (such as a non-player character). The game The Division was found to have a serious problem with this at launch, where griefers could stand in the doorway out of the starting area, preventing players entering the game. 
   While players more frequently exploit issues to gain advantage for themselves, sometimes they may use them instead to irritate other players, known as griefing. One team of gamers in "Team Fortress 2" produced popular online videos demonstrating their griefing and also several exploits present in the game, most of them being of little use for personal gain. Another famous incident during the "Ultima Online" beta test saw a player kill Lord British when that character was supposed to be invincible; the tester was later banned for exploiting rather than reporting the bugs he found.
  
  Section::::Common types.
   BULLET::::- Impersonating a monster to trick someone into attacking other players so that player is flagged as a murderer and the town guards kill the player. This was done early on in Ultima Online where players had a scroll that could change their appearance to that of a monster, the only way to tell the difference between them and a real one was to click on them and read the name that appeared.
   In the culture of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) in Taiwan, such as "Lineage", griefers are known as "white-eyed"—a metaphor meaning that their eyes have no pupils and so they look without seeing. Behaviors other than griefing which can cause players to be stigmatized as "white-eyed" include cursing, cheating, stealing, and unreasonable or team killing.
  
  Section::::Methods.
  
  Methods of griefing differ from game to game. What might be considered griefing in one area of a game may even be an intended function or mechanic in another area. Common methods may include but are not limited to:
   One design issue that arises from rewinding is whether to stop rewinding a dead player's lagged commands as soon as they die on the server, or to continue running them until they "catch up" to the time of death. Cutting compensation off immediately prevents victims from posthumously attacking their killers, which meets expectations, but preserves the natural advantage of moving players who round a corner, acquire a target and kill them in less time than a round trip to the stationary victim's client.
   Even within those games where death is possible, the frequency of permadeath varies greatly, based on the desires of the Gamemaster and the play group as a whole. Similarly, because of the freedom of the Gamemaster to modify rules, some Gamemasters choose to add it to games that normally lack it. Others may subtract it from games where it is normally present.
   Griefer
  
  A griefer or bad faith player is a player in a multiplayer video game who deliberately irritates and harasses other players within the game (trolling), using aspects of the game in unintended ways. A griefer derives pleasure primarily or exclusively from the act of annoying other users, and as such is a particular nuisance in online gaming communities, since griefers often cannot be deterred by penalties related to in-game goals. This creates a strong division between griefing and cheating, since cheating is done with intent of winning the game and thus is discouraged by in-game penalties.
  
  Section::::History.
   BULLET::::- "Globe and Mail": "Frontier justice: Can virtual worlds be civilized?"
  
  BULLET::::- "Ready, set, game: Learn how to keep video gaming safe and fun."
  
  BULLET::::- Documented incident of griefing during a virtual interview, see also Anshe Chung
  
  BULLET::::- Research paper on griefing. To view this PDF paper, the host website requires a subscription to the digital library.
  
  BULLET::::- "Feature: The Griefer Within", GamePro.
  
  BULLET::::- "Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers", WIRED MAGAZINE: ISSUE 16.02
  
  BULLET::::- "Griefer Madness: Terrorizing Virtual Worlds"
  
  BULLET::::- Can you grief it? - feature article at VideoGamer.com
   A griefer repeatedly kills Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny's characters in the online game "World of Warcraft". Stan's father, Randy, becomes interested in the game, but does not survive long before being killed by the griefer, a high ranking player character who kills other player characters at will; the griefer in reality is a middle-aged obese man who represents the stereotypical comic book, PC gamer nerd.
   "Second Life" bans players for harassment (defined as being rude or threatening, making unwelcome sexual advances, or performing activities likely to annoy or alarm somebody) and assault (shooting, pushing, or shoving in a safe area, or creating scripted objects that target another user and hinder their enjoyment of the game) in its community standards. Sanctions include warnings, suspension from "Second Life", or being banned altogether.
   BULLET::::- Actions undertaken to waste other players' time. For example, when losing in a turn-based game, a player may play as slowly as possible. In other games, they may hide from an enemy when there is no tactical benefit in doing so. If a game interface element has no time limit, a griefer may simply walk away from the computer, leaving the other player(s) forced to leave the game - which may itself incur a penalty for leaving.
  
  BULLET::::- Impersonation of server administrators or other players through similar screen names.
   BULLET::::- Spamming a voice or text chat channel to inconvenience, harass or annoy other players.
  
  BULLET::::- Uploading offensive or explicit images to profile pictures, in-game sprays or to game skins.
   Section::::Development.:Clan deploy.
  
  Version 2.0 included a new addition to "MAG", clan deploy, which allows a clan to enter a queue as one group and the squads will be randomly assigned into the match.
  
  Section::::Development.:Pre-order bonuses.
   In some cases, the player may also employ artificial intelligence commanders who can be delegated duties. Each commander is tailored to a specific strategy: attack, defend, specialist and commando. By allocating resources, units and bases to a commander, the player can have him/her perform various operations with whatever is at hand.
   BULLET::::- Camping at a corpse or spawn area to repeatedly kill players as they respawn (when players have no method of recourse to prevent getting killed), preventing them from being able to play. Camping can also refer to continuously waiting in a tactically advantageous position for others to come to them; this is sometimes considered griefing because if all players do it, the game stalls, but this is now more commonly considered a game design issue.
  
  BULLET::::- Acting out-of-character in a role-play setting to disrupt the serious gameplay of others.
   4. The other game clients are also aware of the attack made by 7Turtle7, but depending on their perspective, their clients determine whether this information is displayed to them or not. A player's client on the opposing team, for example, is aware of the attack, but it would not display the changes to that player since the game sets it so that one has to discover 7Turtle7 doing such a move, only then it will be displayed on their outputs.
   Players are encouraged to contribute participatory content to the game, whether as coders, artists, plotters of events, or as special staff-directed characters, known as "Veteran Players," which are akin to cast actors in a play. Plots remain open-ended; though there are often ostensible goals for the players to achieve and long-term plot arcs, there are not pre-scripted outcomes to many interactions (known as "scenes") or to whole stories, making the social evolution of the game partly in the staff's hands, and often in the control of the players themselves.
   Since 2015, players must pay more than $50.00 for in-game currency known as gold to be able to submit a support ticket to Kixeye about in game problems without paying $50.00 you are only able to report hackers or harassment.
   BULLET::::- Intentional friendly fire or deliberately performing actions detrimental to other team members' game performance, including wasting or destroying key game elements, colluding with the opposition and giving false information. Faking extreme incompetence with the intent of hurting teammates or failing an in-game objective. Deliberately blocking shots from a player's own team or blocking a player's view by standing in front of them so they cannot damage the enemy.
   BULLET::::3. Minimizing the review phase, so that the client is only asked to briefly comment on the experience, but not to recount the details of the movie (unless the client takes the initiative to do so).
  
  BULLET::::4. The imaginal exposure movie goes all the way to the full-relief ending, even if that requires going far beyond the immediate conclusion of the most traumatic part of the memory (in CM the movie ends shortly after the most traumatic component is over).
  