[RULES]-RULE#1 : "Do not abuse other players"

[knulfine]

@ Wombat: I know for you everything is a part of the game. I changed my mind some time ago and deal with it in my way. As I said in my previous post -> I go away or afk.

I don't call GMs when I have a problem (i did once) because in this game (like in real life) I learned that noone cares about anything and players have to deal with problems.

[Vink]

OK, here is my answer.

Since I started to play this game I witnessed this rule enforced in three different ways :

• A Game Master promises to talk to the offender.

Because we shouldn't ban people without proof.

[*]A Game Master asks the offended (and eventually the offender in case of reply inside the forum) to ignore the offender (or both if replied).

If it's not serious abuse, ignoring might solve the problem. If ignoring doesn't solve the problem, it's a sign that the abuse might be serious. Also, the person reporting could be the actual offender if the accused is not guilty. To deliberately and publicly accuse someone falsely is clearly abusive. Without proof, talking to them is pretty much all we can do.

[*]The offender continues the offenses in Player Talk and the local Moderator censors the eventual replies from the upset offended.[/list]

I would guess that abusive threads or posts are removed, or that the thread gets locked if there's too much of that sort of thing in there.

[John P]

I first would like to re-emphasize that this community is pretty big and growing huge (especially as windows releases become crappier ). Then I'd like to add (as in the other discussion) that solutions should try to be preventative instead of responsive. Try to come up with ways to discourage the behavior instead of allowing it to happen, then responding. Preventative action is the most ideal in making the community safer and more welcoming of growth.

I am also sick of "don't limit my freedom" response. Soldiers don't fight for your right to swear. They fight for your right to voice your opinion, and the right for the people to decide where to draw lines, if they choose to do so. Freedom does have a limit. You are not allowed to impose on other peoples' freedoms, and that is the limit to your freedom. Hence we have rules, laws. Anarchist behaviors do not encourage growth.

We have to drop the notion that "This is an MMO. These things happen in MMO's." That is like 18th, early 19th century response to pirating, which was counter-productive for everyone except pirates. We should at least try to stop or inhibit rule breaking.

This should be done through client side or server side restrictions, such as word filtering, spam governing (5 lines of text per x seconds, not being able to repeat the exact same line twice or three times). Who cares if "people can get around those". Its a start and will weed out the more simple abuse problems.

There are other preventative solutions out there. Lets embrace them. We are trying to create user-friendly nation, not free international-water chaos-ville survival of the fittest.

[Wombat]

The ignore system is only useful against spammers and minor abuse cases. For the rest a GM is needed.

No, it is useful against every case that deals with game chat "abuse". Form a player group or join one and make this an issue that when people act a certain way you group ignore them. "Abusers" that want to be taken seriously will stop and those that don't quit playing. These problems continue to resolve themselves in very short periods of time. They'd resolve themselves faster if people were quicker to ask the community to ignore annoying people and those within earshot actually did. Make this a common social more and much more will be accomplished towards minimizing these problems.

This should be done through client side or server side restrictions, such as word filtering, spam governing (5 lines of text per x seconds, not being able to repeat the exact same line twice or three times). Who cares if "people can get around those". Its a start and will weed out the more simple abuse problems.

The auto-ban is already in place, word filtering can be gotten around and this has been discussed many many times. Check "Suggestions" for the many threads that deal with some form of word filtering.

[The Brao]

Form a player group or join one and make this an issue that when people act a certain way you group ignore them.

I've understood that. But using the ignore system is a right, not a duty. While people are using it there's no abuse, because people are accepting the fact of being insulted, and they just decide to pass over it. But as soon as somebody's being offended and doesn't want to ignore the offender, then he is concidered as "abused".
I'm only dealing with those cases.

Make this a common social more and much more will be accomplished towards minimizing these problems.

Indeed, but nobody can order everybody to think like that. World would be a very nice (or a very bad) place if humans could all think the same.

[Anna]

Ill start my collection of screenshots. Abuse is not only swearing or calling others names. (Yes Uber you can have the last word when im done).There is only one rule in this game that is enforced, (botting). the others should be erased from the list. A rule isnt any good if it isnt enforced. Its very irritating to see these global announcments, "speak english in public" .Quit the whiny bullshit and enforce the rules that are in place. If you cant enforce the rules, you may be in the wrong position, and someone else needs to take your place. If Speaking English In Public Is a Rule, Inforce It. There is no rule that says I cant say (And I quote from George Carlin) the 7 words you cant say on TV, (Chocolate Cupcake,piss....Ill spare the rest because you all know what they are). If I call someone a retard, they know why you did. If a derogatory name is DIRECTED to a certian player, then maybe it could be considered abuse. And yes I have also seen people instigated into saying something so they can be turned in with a screenshot. (Que ubers links to verbal abuse).

This game is going the way it is due to the lack of rule enforcement. end of story.

[Katze]

When you're not around to see the players talking other languages than English being banned it still doesn't mean they don't get banned. I banned two of them yesterday.

And players do get banned for abuse. I banned one of those yesterday as well. And Delasia did. I'm not continuing this list now...

Your statement obviously lacks some information. Sorry.

[trident]

Hmm... Isn't this just a game? Shouldn't the effort be put to just enjoying it and making it work?
Chil out

"argumentation that reminds us of some hollywood political thriller" does it lead us somewhere?

[CapitanAwesome]

But the only problem that needs to be solved is that a particular person finds another person offensive. That problem is completely solved by the former person ignoring the later. You can't assume that everyone is offended by the same thing, or that everyone should behave the same way. Do we really want the GMs to become some sort of morality police - and if so, whose morality will be the official, TMW approved morality?

Another big fat +1 from me on that point.

I am a very open minded person and I find very few things truly offensive, therefore, unless I am approached by a player about an issue, there isn't much I can do about it.

I will always discourage foul language and racial/religeous taunts etc, because they are the obvious things, but I still stand by the fact that if you are offended by a players actions, then it would be wise of you to ignore said person.

If one person is so offensive that people put said player on ignore, then where is the fun in being offensive anymore?

I'm sorry if you don't agree with that, but them's the breaks.

Furthermore, if you have an issue with another player and I am online (try "@wgm <message>" to message all available GM's) then I am more then happy to mediate a solution to any problem where possible.

On a side note...

... I have a bag of eyes.

[Lt. KLAG [24th.KDF]]

Well (2) ... I dig up some more : this one is way less funny, really ... it was before the "level listing" access was finally restricted ...

[noelleionscowl]

Bad manners are a part of life. I discourage them, and do my best to not practice them, however, they are a fact of life.

As the game grows, it will become harder and harder to enforce these rules.

[Lt. KLAG [24th.KDF]]

When you're not around to see the players talking other languages than English being banned it still doesn't mean they don't get banned. I banned two of them yesterday.
And players do get banned for abuse. I banned one of those yesterday as well. And Delasia did. I'm not continuing this list now...
Your statement obviously lacks some information. Sorry.

Seen from a brand new eye, those assumptions might look a bit stunning nowadays : what is the actual regulation standart ?
Ban the shooting-outs, or the unknown annoyers : can't see where this is heading, frankly ...