A troll is one who deliberately posts provocative messages with the intention of causing an argument, or more commonly, just to spur good ol' disruption. They appear everywhere someone can post messages – blogs, forums, and, in the case of MMOs, in region chat.

A troll should not be confused with a flamer. A flamer might initiate and continue a fight; a flamer gets involved and usually has an oversized chip on his shoulder. The troll drops his nasty, smelly droppings and walks away. He just watches, smiling, from a distance as others rage about the foul mess he's left.

You know a troll when you see one, don't you? But do you?

Sure, if you're an avid MMO gamer, you've come to recognize the more common breeds of the species.

The Obvious Troll:  A clumsy, often prepubescence, variety of the species. Sadly, one of limited intelligence, too. The obvious troll is often desperately trying to imitate the adult trolls, trying to show them he can troll, too.

The obvious troll says things like, “WoW was the first MMO.”, or “Girls don't play Aion.” It's obvious and ham-handed. Only the most inexperienced MMO gamer ever rises to the bait, and if they do, they learn so quickly the obvious troll has little impact.

Obvious trolls are sad and pathetic, and often laughable failures as trolls.

The Spamming Troll: The spamming troll often starts out as an obvious troll. When the obvious troll fails to get the reaction he wants, he'll start spamming his troll attempt in region chat. Every 10 seconds, there it is, “Girls don't play Aion”.

Again, this has little effect on experienced gamers. A spamming troll just ends up on everyone's ignore list and may be suspended by the game masters, and, once again, fails as a troll.

The Inflammatory Troll:  Though not particularly original, the inflammatory troll is slightly more accomplished than his younger cousins, the spamming troll and obvious troll.

The inflammatory troll says things that are so outrageous gamers, even gamers who should know better, rise almost instantly to the bait. The droppings of an inflammatory troll is usually filled with political or religious pieces of corn. This troll delights in saying things like, “Obama is a Muslim.” (Which is a masterful inflammatory troll –  it's both political and religious.)

The success of an inflammatory troll is often short-lived, because gamers catch on quickly and the troll is identified, tagged, and usually put on ignore.

The D-bag Troll:  Some think the d-bag troll is just an extreme breed of the inflammatory troll, but he's not. The d-bag troll always crosses the line. His trolls are blatant, but worse of all they're sexist or racist or homophobic or horribly ignorant.

Perhaps the d-bag troll thinks he's being clever or perhaps he's just a d-bag. Whatever the reason, he usually has a short MMO life:  If he doesn't get reported and banned, at the least, he ends up ignored by everyone.

If the d-bag troll's intention is truly to troll, he's a fail of epic proportions. 

The Ninja Troll:  The ninja troll is a rare breed of troll. Even when you see him, you're not entirely sure you did.  

The ninja troll is the zen-master of trolls. He strikes, creating chat havoc, and people rarely even know they've been trolled. He lurks in the shadows, patiently awaiting his moment. His attacks are fast, sharp cuts, usually no more than a sentence, often a seemingly innocent question.

The ninja troll strikes at the weak points of his victims, usually puncturing the pedantic, gas bags who often inhabit region chat. You know them, the ones who know everything about everything and are more than willing to share their vast knowledge with everyone in the game. One sentence, one question, from the ninja troll and those gas bags are on it like sharks on chum.

You've probably seen the ninja troll strike but never knew it. Perhaps the gas bags were going on and on about the which band was better, the Beatles or the Stones. All you wanted was for them to shut up, but someone asked something like, “Who's Paul McCartney?”. That's all it took, a simple, “innocent” question and chat erupted like an apoplectic senator. All the gas bags started stumbling all over themselves, trying to be the first to explain who the Beatles were. Fights probably broke out over who was the better Beatle, and all that other ancient music dribble.

If you never heard from the player who asked that question, again, it's a fair bet it was a ninja troll. While all those people were raging over how could anyone not know who Paul McCartney is, the ninja troll went about his business and had a good laugh.

The beauty of the ninja troll is it's almost believable. Asking, “Who are the Beatles?” is too unbelievable, but it's almost possible some whippersnapper might not know who Paul McCartney is. (Isn't he the guy who shot Lenin? Be sure to misspell “Lennon”; that will really get them going.)

The ninja troll can strike anywhere, almost always going after other players' need to tell you have much they know and how smart they are. It might be game mechanics - “Do you have to worry about aggro in the Fire Temple?”. Or movies - “I thought The Phantom Menace was the best Star Wars movie.” And, of course, computing is always fertile ground - “Why build your own? Just get a Dell.”

The ninja troll is still out there, still striking. Watch for him. If you know what to look for, you'll recognize him when he strikes, and you, too, can have a good chuckles as all the bloated know-it-alls go into a frenzy.