Keeping retail's reporting and auto-squelch system in Classic is a terrible decision

[scata444]

I was there on day one back in 2004. One of the things that made Vanilla so great was the community, BOTH the good and bad. People didn't walk on eggshells as much back then, which means that yes there was trash-talking and general shenanigans in general chat but it was hugely entertaining while leveling. There may have even been (*gasp*) a few tranny jokes in general chat. The rivalries in-game which spilled over to the realm forums were epic. "Barrens chat" became legendary for a reason. I don't think I would have made it through the long leveling process without the entertainment in general chat. If people didn't like a player they simply put them on ignore and guess what, they survived. The only way you could get suspended was for swearing, which went far enough. I feel like this is another mistake Blizzard is making in their attempts to modernize Classic and make it as boring as retail

[Hinastorm]

Trash talking is for children (Light-hearted "trash talking" is fine, but I doubt this is what you mean). Racist and hateful jokes are for horrible people. Your take is bad and you should feel bad.

[scata444]

Trash talking is for children (Light-hearted "trash talking" is fine, but I doubt this is what you mean). Racist and hateful jokes are for horrible people. Your take is bad and you should feel bad.

It's part of online gaming. Your desire for a safe space in video games with Big Brother holding your hand the entire time is what led to retail.

[Tech614]

It's part of online gaming.

Sure, and so is getting silenced/suspended/banned when you get caught doing it.

You don't need to be a horrible human being to "trash talk". No one gets actioned for "trash talk", it happens because you where saying things you would never say in public and are only doing so with the barrier of anonymity so guess why it's policed in online games?

[Hinastorm]

It's part of online gaming. Your desire for a safe space in video games with Big Brother holding your hand the entire time is what led to retail.

This makes, literally, no sense. Back in the basket with you (I hope you get the reference).

You wanna shit on people with impunity? Go to 4chan. Also, I pray to the good lord you are aged 15 or younger, because if not, my god.

[Yoshingo]

It's part of online gaming. Your desire for a safe space in video games with Big Brother holding your hand the entire time is what led to retail.

The worst possible take.

eVeRyBoDy KnOwS hAvInG tO hEaR tRyHaRdS sCrEaM sLuRs Is PaRt Of OnLiNe GaMiNg!!!!!!!!11!!!!!



Sorry, not being able to scream horrible words at people without getting punished didn't lead to retail. You're free to continue being a 12 year old on 4chan if you want though.

[bestexe]

I'm kind of leaning towards less policing of chat, rather than more. Anything anyone can possibly put into chat will only make me either amused, indifferent, or mildly displeased. I can deal with all 3 of these emotions - I don't really need someone else to protect me from any of them.
As a general principle I think external censorship of anything is bad - I can censor stuff just fine on my own by either leaving the chat or ignoring certain people - outside interference is both a waste of time, and subject to abuse.

[Zantos]

[QUOTE=scata444;51365960]One of the things that made Vanilla so great was the community, /QUOTE]The community is still there. You're just not engaging in it.

[klaps_05]

It's part of online gaming.

I dont see how anything said that deserve a player being silenced is part of online gaming. Also, barrens chat was famous mostly because of stuff like Zherva hooves, Mankriks wife, that white tigers all hunters want (Eschmanel or whatever), Harpies farming players or alliance low level raids on xroads/taurajo and the jokes around those events. Not because of some bland slurs or whatever you imagine.

[Mosotti]

There may have even been (*gasp*) a few tranny jokes in general chat.

Q: What's the biggest crime committed by transvestites?
A: Male fraud.

Happy now?

[Ragedaug]

I was there on day one back in 2004. One of the things that made Vanilla so great was the community, BOTH the good and bad.

Definitionally, it's the good that makes something great. The bad specifically makes things not great. If the "bad" made something good or great, that would be make it actually good and not bad.


"How was your weekend?"
- "It was 'OK'...I mean, the sun was shining, we took the boat out. Hung at and played at the beach. All the things were good. It wasn't like last weekend where we got to the beach and initially had some fun, but then it started raining on us and we had to pack everything up, everything got soaked, and the rest of the weekend was wasted. There was BOTH good AND bad there, such a great weekend."



The good of the community was one of the things that made Vanilla great, despite the bad...not because of it. If the bad was gone it would just make the good and great that much better.

[Allatar]

This thread didn't quite go the way you were expecting, did it OP?

[scata444]

Definitionally, it's the good that makes something great. The bad specifically makes things not great. If the "bad" made something good or great, that would be make it actually good and not bad.


"How was your weekend?"
- "It was 'OK'...I mean, the sun was shining, we took the boat out. Hung at and played at the beach. All the things were good. It wasn't like last weekend where we got to the beach and initially had some fun, but then it started raining on us and we had to pack everything up, everything got soaked, and the rest of the weekend was wasted. There was BOTH good AND bad there, such a great weekend."



The good of the community was one of the things that made Vanilla great, despite the bad...not because of it. If the bad was gone it would just make the good and great that much better.

The tension and rivalries that arose are what made communities dynamic and entertaining. This is something modern retail players don't understand. There was a much bigger sense of community in Vanilla and individuals could build their reputation on their server. All well-known people have both friends and enemies. There were epic rivalries between players and guilds that spilled over to the realm forums with many spectators. With auto-squelch and disconnect everyone is going to be walking on eggshells. People are going to be afraid to communicate in general chat. If someone hurts your feelings that's why /ignore exists.

There are more issues though. Imagine two rival groups competing for arena master. After winning there's some taunting in general chat which leads to the winning party being squelched out of frustration by the losers. That's ridiculous, especially since it doubles each time and there are cases of people being squelched for a month. Imagine two guilds competing for a world boss. Let the mass squelching commence! Imagine two rank 13s from different guilds competing for rank 14. There's nothing stopping one guild from mass reporting the other rank 13 to the point of being squelched, repeatedly disconnected and suspended. If you think players won't stoop to that level you're delusional.

[Echocho]

There are two scenarios.

Scenario A:
1. Player says or does something horrible
2. People report him and he gets a temporary chat ban
3. A GM reviews the report and determine it to be in favor of the reporters and issues a harsher permanent punishment

Scenario B:
1. Player says or does something that pisses someone else off
2. People report him on instruction by that player and a temporary chat ban is issued
3. A GM reviews the report and determine it to be bogus, everyone who has taken part in the false report gets a strike on their account and those that have previous strikes get a harsh permanent punishment

Seems like a win to me. Either way toxic players will be removed from the game.

[scata444]

There are two scenarios.

Scenario A:
1. Player says or does something horrible
2. People report him and he gets a temporary chat ban
3. A GM reviews the report and determine it to be in favor of the reporters and issues a harsher permanent punishment

Scenario B:
1. Player says or does something that pisses someone else off
2. People report him on instruction by that player and a temporary chat ban is issued
3. A GM reviews the report and determine it to be bogus, everyone who has taken part in the false report gets a strike on their account and those that have previous strikes get a harsh permanent punishment

Seems like a win to me. Either way toxic players will be removed from the game.

Scenario B doesn't happen and it's arguable that scenario A doesn't either because GM's don't investigate each report anymore.

[Echocho]

Scenario B doesn't happen and it's arguable that scenario A doesn't either because GM's don't investigate each report anymore.

Of course they do. Ythisens confirmed that it worked like that after he had been let go from Blizzard. You can ask him yourself on his stream, he's very helpful.

[scata444]

Of course they do. Ythisens confirmed that it worked like that after he had been let go from Blizzard. You can ask him yourself on his stream, he's very helpful.

The entire reason why Blizzard introduced auto-squelching was to cut costs by reducing the number of GM's because they wouldn't have to investigate each ticket. They just put that power in the hands of the mob.

[Annelie]

I like the reporting feature but not the auto mute one. I want to be able to report players that break the rules if i find them annoying enough. But then again i dont give a damn anymore. So many QoL changes going in to the game that it wont even feel like vanilla anyway.
The only things i am worried about is layering and x-realm BG's. Thats it.

[scata444]

Of course they do. Ythisens confirmed that it worked like that after he had been let go from Blizzard. You can ask him yourself on his stream, he's very helpful.

The reason why Blizzard introduced auto-squelch was to cut costs by reducing the GM's needed to investigate each ticket. They're never going to punish players who falsely report others, that would be like imprisoning rape victims accused of false claims.

I just thought of another way to abuse auto-squelch. If I'm an enchanter and I see another enchanter advertising their services in trade chat, why not just report him and ask some friends to do so as well to silence the competition? It only requires a grand total of five people to squelch another player, and that squelching period can last months since it doubles each time. We could be looking at players being squelched for a full year by some abusive players.

[Gaidax]

No thanks, I prefer an easy and quick way of reporting and eliminating assholes. Some things ARE better off changed and this is one of them.

You know so it won't be "part of online gaming".

- - - Updated - - -

Heck, this "part of online gaming" is a thing exactly because in past game developers skimped on tools like this to contain assholes, what happens now is desperately trying to catch up and fix mistakes of the past.

If these tools would be integral part of games 2 decades ago, we would not have this mess as "part of online gaming" today.