Having played games online: what they gain could be as stupid as "haha I inconvenienced you because you pissed me off"

The chance of meeting someone online that’s that immature and spiteful, and at the same time possesses enough knowledge to successfully execute a DDoS attack is infinitesimally small.

Umm, you don't.. Umm, do you know any teenagers?

> enough knowledge to successfully execute a DDoS attack

You are drastically overestimating a teen's abilities.

Just pinging the IP over and over again isn't really going to do much. Maybe a DoS attack depending on what the target network has in terms of IPS, but even then it's more likely they'll infect their computers with viruses before they get the chance to actually attack you.

On the contrary, you're vastly underestimating the availability of various "booting" and "IP stressing" services that sell a 30 minute 1Gbps+ DDoS attack to anyone for $5. Launching a DDoS attack is just as easy, if not easier than, signing up for Netflix. Many of them even offer cheap monthly packages for people to use at will with no marginal cost to them.

I've personally been on the receiving end of one of those for somehow pissing off a cheater in GTA 5. It definitely happens and it's not fun.

I've remember when I've played Rust, year or two ago on public server. Some kid was mad, because thought that some one was cheating. He managed to DOS that server. And globally it doesn't sound hard: google -> ddos > low orbit ion canon(as one of the most famous) -> fire in the hole! Especially if you are dumb enough to just run that tool as is, without any tries to hide your own personality.

there’s also the concern of finding where i live from my ip. i like to keep some level of privacy among my online friends.