In video games, team killing or TKing refers to the act of purposely killing another player on the same team as their own. It happens mainly in First-person shooters (FPSs) and any game where players have the ability to kill either players on a different team, or Artificial intelligence. Team-kill is often abbreviated as TK, the person being "TKer".
Team-killing may simply be an episode of friendly fire, due to disorientation or being a new player. However, team-killing just as often employed by griefers (who are not actually playing the game) or by disgruntled players, perhaps in retaliation for being a victim themselves. Team killing is also employed by gamers who have also became bored of the game. It is also used by gamers to force a reaction from their teammates.
Generally, if a player is found to be team-killing often, an administrator may kick or ban the player. In addition, the game in use may employ an automatic incentive not to team-kill, such as a longer respawn time, negative points, or auto-kicking a player who accumulates many teamkills.
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Most games that support friendly fire use some method to discourage intentional friendly fire, aka "team-killing". Simply, many games allow an option to disable friendly fire, preventing most TKs from being possible. However this is not always a preferred option as the reduced realism can be undesirable. Other systems involve deducting points from players for TKs or forcibly logging them off of the server.
Removing team-killers from a game, whether accidental or otherwise, is desirable to keep all players focused on the game, and avoid having a match thrown because of undue retaliations or a mismatch in skill.
In the anti-TK system from PlanetSide:
This type of system is intended to create a chilling effect on intentional or clumsy episodes of friendly fire damage without overly punishing the occasional accident[1].
In addition to this system, usually, the one who is found to be intentionally killing his teammates will usually be kicked or banned from the game. This is a common practice of FPS games.
A more straightforward method of handling team-killing can be found in the Halo series. A player who kills a member of their own team has committed a 'Betrayal'. The player who was killed is then given the option of whether or not to immediately kick the traitor out of the game.[2]
A solution from Counter-Strike was killing TKers prior to the next round starting, however this option can be turned off.
The Battlefield series allows teamkill victims to forgive accidental occurrences and punish intentional acts with a stiffer penalty. A host can set different rules, such as automatically punishing all team-kill events, disabling team-kill penalties and/or friendly fire, and setting a threshold for teamkills.
In Call Of Duty: World At War and Black Ops, when a user teamkills the same person over 3 times on the same round, the team killer is automatically booted, however this is bypassed if the teamkiller is also the host of the game.
The Xbox Live player review system also allows players to negatively review and submit complaints on the grounds of disruptive game behaviour. Players can also set specific players to be avoided when matchmaking in online games.
Systems that allow team killers to be removed can themselves be abused. A player can "force team kill" on another player either by goading the victim into poor conduct (hurting the player without killing, obstructing a narrow path), or maneuvering themselves into fatal situations (running in front of friendly vehicles, stepping into someone's line of fire, detonating explosives that do not distinguish between friend or foe).
The "FTKer", though acting with malice, has technically been team-killed, and gains the ability to take action on the team-killer, who did not intend on harming the teammate. In the 'Halo' example, a griefer who forces team kill on another player can instantly kick the supposed "betrayer", while the griefer remains in the game to cause more trouble.
Should the game keep a running log of kills, a player suspected of FTK can be identified as being the "victim" of numerous teamkill incidents. Victims who haven't been kicked out of the game can also realize amongst themselves that the FTKer is not acting in the team's interest, and report that player to an admin or warn others of suspicious behavior.