Hey all :)
I am an old player who came back just recently, and the one thing I've always hated the most is leveling. I love being end-game, being able to help anybody... However, as I can't exactly skip it (donating is not possible from my country, idk why), I got into it slowly. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by how nice lowbies are to each other, but that being said, I was constantly camped by lvl 80s in every area, from lvl 5 to lvl 79. It really got me thinking...why do people do that? I'm somebody who loves psychology, so I wanted to really get into this.
1. Let's start with something simple. There are probably kids who still live in the "everything red must be dead" mentality, so when they are bored, they go searching for it. And as kids tend to be bullies more than adults, they are more likely to pick on easy targets, lowbies.
2. A guy told me today that being camped every day motivates him to level faster just so he can do the same to the opposing faction. I see this as "be mistreated=grow up to mistreat", which is quite common in real life as well. If you have bad parents, you will either grow up to become just like them, or you will grow up to be what you needed. For example, I'd say "I can't wait to level up so I can help lowbies by killing those who camp them", while he's more focused on the equal punishment.
3. Now, here is the part that campers hate the most - I'd say that those who kill lowbies, for no other reason than existence, have some actual psychological issues. For instance, there was a guy that wouldn't even kill me instantly - he would auto hit me and watch me die slowly, as if he actually enjoyed prolonging the death. Then, of course, there are those who actually camp you, and killing you once is not enough, they have to do it over and over, even though you didn't actually do anything to them. Some could say that those are mild signs of some sort of psychopathy - there are no real-life consequences, but torturing somebody who can't defend themselves...you get where I'm coming from.
It doesn't have to be psychopathy, though. It can also be depression, lack of self-esteem, perhaps being bullied in real life... my point is that they are deeply unhappy and have the need to make others unhappy too. Like 2. - for some reason, they feel like ****, so instead of making others feel the way they wish they felt, they choose to make others feel ****ty too.
4. Another possibility is the need for validation. Maybe they are bad in fair-play, they are bad in pvp in general, and maybe they are too competitive, and they need to show their dominance in any way they can. Unfortunately for them and for lowbies, the only way for them to do that is to kill those that are objectively weaker.
5. Trolls. Although, I'd argue that trolls are also mentally unstable. Their only aim is to annoy, but consciously wanting to annoy somebody, for me, is a sign of mental instability. There is no reason a mentally stable person would want to be annoying in any normal situation. A mentally stable person doesn't see a lowbie and think "let's waste his time by killing him because I'm bored".
What do you think? Any other reasons you'd add? And before all the campers say "so salty, cry more", nah, I actually became quite indifferent to it emotionally. However, I do find it fascinating from a psychological and sociological perspective, and analyzing it like this helps me, well, I wouldn't say "pity" those who kill me, but sort of understand why they feel the need to. And if you're being camped, maybe this can help you too.