There are many definitions of trolling in video games as well as many different ways to do it. Urban Dictionary defines it as “the art of deliberately, cleverly, and secretly pissing people off, usually via the internet.” Though trolling is typically associated with online forums, it also seems inescapable in video games. One can troll through dialogue and online chat systems, or using the mechanics of the game being played. One way we saw trolling in this class was in a cooperative game (when we played Stardew Valley Co-op). But trolling can occur in competitive multiplayer games as well. Examples of this include friendly fire in shooter games (or using a flash grenade on a teammate in Call of Duty), taunting (i.e. taunting on your opponent when playing Smash) or other forms of disrespecting your opponent.
In Mario Kart, the mechanics encourage you to attack and pass your opponents, however there are still ways to do so in a way that is considered trolling. My personal favorite example is this clip which went viral a few years ago. Rather than just winning the race, Rosalina decides to troll Luigi by hitting him with a green shell just as he was about to cross the finish line. Doing this was unnecessary, but definitely intended to make the Luigi player upset. In this case, trolling can be its own playstyle: rather than trying to complete the main objective (winning), one can go out of their way to sabotage others as well or in substitute. For the troller, this can be really fun but for the trolled, it could ruin their game experience or make them upset at the time.
Cook et. al. found that the major motivations for trolling are personal enjoyment, revenge, and thrill-seeking. Typically trolling is seen as a bad thing for the gaming community, but if it can lead to gratification, satisfaction, and enjoyment, are there times where trolling is a net good? One example I thought of was Unfair Mario, a recreation of Super Mario Brothers in which the game trolls you by having hidden traps, false blocks, and slippery controls. Here, the player chooses to intentionally get trolled in order to have an added challenge for the game. Though players still often get very frustrated getting trolled while playing this game, they continue to play for the satisfaction of overcoming the trolling, and some even beat the game without giving up. This type of game and other unfair, challenging games, has generated its own genre of troll games, evolving from a way to play a game into the concept of the game itself.
My questions: How does trolling in video games open up to new gameplay and possibility spaces, and can trolling be a good thing (if so, when/how)?
I think trolling in video games opens up to new gameplay and possibility spaces much like how phenomena such as speedrunning does. That is, by allowing the player to project themselves (i.e. their values, culture, etc.) onto the game. Like Miguel Sicart argues in his article Against Procedurality, the player is the most important ethical, political, and creative element of the game. In this way, trolling becomes a way for players to create their own meaning for the game.
your mention of unfair mario actually reminds me of syobon action, also known by players as "cat mario from hell." it's a game from 2007 where mario has been replaced by a cat avatar, but it also suffers similarly absurd and particularly deranged punishments just for trying to play "normally" as the unfair mario you mentioned. however, while syobon action is definitely still incredibly unfair, the animations are silly enough so that you know the game is trying to make you laugh at your own failure rather than frustrating you immensely. i can't remember which version i played, but some tricks included an enemy that would just grab you and throw you off a cliff if you tried to kill…
I think your question of “How does trolling in video games open up to new gameplay and possibility spaces, and can trolling be a good thing?” can be partially answered through the application of the concept of metagames. I think it is elucidating to regard trolling in a game such as Mario Kart not merely as an action taken within an existing possibility space afforded by the game but as creating a different metagame apart from the dominant metagame (the canonical manner in which the game is played and interpreted) which facilitates new gameplay and possibility spaces. As such, trolling is one genre of metagame-creation that is organized around the subversion of traditional understandings of how to play the game…