Out of Pod Experience

I dislike bullying so I am quite interested in this topic, on a personal level.

First point I'd like to address is the notion that there is some line or separation between ingame events, actions and feelings, and the real life players behind them

When we do something we enjoy ingame, we the persons playing the game experience enjoyment. When we have a setback or some other negative experience, it is the player that feels the disappointment or loss. This is why we play games in the first place is it not? So while I agree there is some buffer effect, the emotions experienced are still experienced by actual people not by the ingame avatars

I spent a few years in an alliance that was dominated by a handful of bullies, so I am quite conversant with how cyber bullying can be justified, handwaved and tolerated by people. Sometimes it's masked as RP, ( Roleplay, or it's just my character that's being a bully... ) which only stands up if the same pattern of behaviour is not present in their dealings with others in an out of character context

I think that some bullies may not even be aware that their actions are percieved in this way, I am certain the majority of my former alliance do not see themselves as bullies, and yet the evidence of bullying is there to be seen quite clearly. My point being that sometimes bullying can be relative, motive also plays a big part in wether an action is bullying or just percieved to be such.

For instance, would pressuring ( by using threats of expulsion or passive aggressive tactics ) other players/corporations within an alliance to conform to a certain playstyle be considered bullying? I believe it would, unless there was explicit consent to such conformity beforehand; also demeaning players who do not conform by using derogatory terms to describe them might also be considered bullying

The bottom line being in my opinion, we can all engage in activities/actions that others may percieve as bullying, however the litmus test being what we do when the effect of our actions on an individual are pointed out. Do we laugh and continue or even ramp up the behaviour, or do we accept that we are now bullying someone and knock it off?