Improving Community: Intense Ingame Moderation?

[Nagawithlegs]

Many complaints I've been reading on almost every WoW forum is that the current ingame community is really rude, mean and overall (as much as I hate the word) "toxic".

Now, I don't think you can force people to be nice, so should WoW employ active moderation ingame and hand out harder bans to encourage people to act more cordial and friendly?

[Varitok]

If you just Permaban the blatant racists and sexists you'd have a much better game.

[Aurabolt]

Many complaints I've been reading on almost every WoW forum is that the current ingame community is really rude, mean and overall (as much as I hate the word) "toxic".

Now, I don't think you can force people to be nice, so should WoW employ active moderation ingame and hand out harder bans to encourage people to act more cordial and friendly?

Can you be a lot more specific as well as provide some examples of how that might look?

if you're talking about GMs, Blizzard would probably have to hire or subcontract teams of people for that specific purpose. They'd also need to be adequately trained as well.

Let's go with the hypothetical number of 60 GMs for the moderation team per sever, 30 per faction. You would have to strategically station them in zones throughout the game so when a Ticket is opened, they can respond as quickly as possible. Faction Capitals and Expansion Quest Hubs make the most sense obviously. After that, expansion starting areas such as Hellfire Penninsula and Jade Forest. Even a trial run would cost a LOT of time and money to set up and...yeah. In short, it might not be worth the investment to implement.

[valax]

No , I'd rather not have my account jeopardized by some easily offended janitor going through mood swings .

[Pozz]

Many complaints I've been reading on almost every WoW forum is that the current ingame community is really rude, mean and overall (as much as I hate the word) "toxic".

Now, I don't think you can force people to be nice, so should WoW employ active moderation ingame and hand out harder bans to encourage people to act more cordial and friendly?

I don't think the amount of people being 'toxic' is significantly higher than it used to be, there is just a significantly lower reason to play together and thus a significantly lower experience of positive encounters making toxicity feel that much more domineering.

[derpkitteh]

how about use your goddamned ignore button and call it a day.

fuck's sake, everyone's such a whining bitch, always running to the teacher to handle their problem.

[Luxeley]

This would be like trying to define and enforce hate speech, it can't be done. Add in the fact there is no proof of anything outside of typed words (and less and less players use chat) and even if someone is offensive, there is no context. Someone could be responding to an instigator who committed a greater injustice. Besides all that, not everyone finds the same things offensive. All in the fact such a policy could be used against people who are completely innocent. Bottom line, it's a dumb idea because it can't properly or even effectively be enforced.

[callipygoustp]

Turn off trade.
Turn off general.
Problem solved.

[Liftbrul]

You'll save yourself a lot of headache if you just get a handle on your own emotions and don't let some random dweeb get to you. Calling an authority figure to step in and whip the guy who called you a faggot is such a bitch move when you could've just ignored it and moved on.

[tripleh]

Alot of the hardcore players, but not all are the reason why the game has gotten toxic. It would be funny to watch as said players get banned. Doubt blizz is gonna do much about it though. Blizz probably already knows what players/guilds are toxic. But if there in the top raiding guilds, probably makes them untouchable. Special treatment for the snowflakes.

[Thelyron]

how about use your goddamned ignore button and call it a day.

fuck's sake, everyone's such a whining bitch, always running to the teacher to handle their problem.

I agree. But they would need to improve the ignore system a bit. For example, ignores should be account wide; when i ignore one of your chars on one of my chars, all of your chars should be ignored for all of mine. I don't want to be grouped with the same idiots again just because both of us logged on to a different character. Also, the ignore list shouldn't have a cap.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Having human's do actual moderation is something you won't find in 2019. No company that is traded on the stock market will have that kind of customer support.

- - - Updated - - -

No , I'd rather not have my account jeopardized by some easily offended janitor going through mood swings .

Also this.

[Kokolums]

Many complaints I've been reading on almost every WoW forum is that the current ingame community is really rude, mean and overall (as much as I hate the word) "toxic".

Now, I don't think you can force people to be nice, so should WoW employ active moderation ingame and hand out harder bans to encourage people to act more cordial and friendly?

That would not encourage people to be more friendly. It would encourage people to not use public chat at all. The game would get more antisocial. The best way to fix your problem is to have server play such that your reputation on the server matters as to if you get invited to groups or not. Unfortunately, everyone is anonymous and autoqueues, so there's no reason to be nice.

[derpkitteh]

I agree. But they would need to improve the ignore system a bit. For example, ignores should be account wide; when i ignore one of your chars on one of my chars, all of your chars should be ignored for all of mine. I don't want to be grouped with the same idiots again just because both of us logged on to a different character. Also, the ignore list shouldn't have a cap.

yes, they should really remove the cap.

i thought ignores were account wide, but i guess i thought wrong. would be another good change though.

i'd do these things, and then dial back chat moderation in general. should be all about personal responsibilities for keeping your sensitive eyes safe.

[Shalaator]

No , I'd rather not have my account jeopardized by some easily offended janitor going through mood swings .

This.

I don't even know what I got perma banned for on WoW forums. At least you can contest infractions here (there is no contesting on official WoW forums, Blizzard admits no wrong).

[Varitok]

No , I'd rather not have my account jeopardized by some easily offended janitor going through mood swings .

I always love these posts. Just don't be a racist sexist or asshole. It's really not hard.

[Trend]

how about use your goddamned ignore button and call it a day.

fuck's sake, everyone's such a whining bitch, always running to the teacher to handle their problem.

This right here is all that needs to be said.

/thread

[MoanaLisa]

Don't know you afford to do that with millions of players.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to moderate even 200 people at all hours of the day or night over the stretch of a single website, much less several million over several hundred separate realms in multiple languages? Any notion at all how many moderators that would take?

[Sevyvia]

Many complaints I've been reading on almost every WoW forum is that the current ingame community is really rude, mean and overall (as much as I hate the word) "toxic".

Now, I don't think you can force people to be nice, so should WoW employ active moderation ingame and hand out harder bans to encourage people to act more cordial and friendly?

No.

Instead, they should make the game an environment where people, broadly, are self-policing. Everyone is anonymous in current-day WoW, which means there are no consequences. Which means everyone can act however they like. And, shocker, we aren't all so great in the metaphorical dark.

Or, of course, they could go with your idea, and mix in some of the other comments, somehow interpreting all of this as a sudden epidemic of racists, sexists, and loads of other isms. I'm sure that'll work out well, when they treat the symptoms all the way into a ghost town of a game.

[Mister Cheese]

If you just Permaban the blatant racists and sexists you'd have a much better game.

They fired half their fucking CMs and you expect there to be proper moderation? Hell fucking no. I'm not getting banned because I offended some baby in Mythic+ or LFR that I called bad.