Should the community or the company decide what is acceptable speech in game?

[Celement]

Kind of a what if thread since I'm bored at work. The reality of the situation is the company always decides what is and isn't allowed. I am curious though about the idea of if its better to let a community decide what it wants to allow or to have a rule book dictate it to them.

[Lochton]

Kind of a what if thread since I'm bored at work. The reality of the situation is the company always decides what is and isn't allowed. I am curious though about the idea of if its better to let a community decide what it wants to allow or to have a rule book dictate it to them.

Should be the company. It is their product, and their job to make it available for old and future customers and investors.

[MoanaLisa]

It's their game and they are liable for any incidents that occur. They are also liable for setting ratings on content, etc.

It's completely up to them. There are already enough people spewing misogyny, hate speech and worse. Yeah, let's let them set up the rules on speech. What a concept.

[Mysterymask]

That is kinda a no brainer...
Should your visitors or you decide what can and can't be said in your house?
If you charge admission to your house is it any different?

[Feitori]

The reality of the situation is the company always decides what is and isn't allowed.

I mean, yeah?? It's their platform, it's their product, it's their servers; of course they do. What a bizarre question.

[Zantera]

Yeah they are responsible because they are also the ones getting the blame when shit hits the fan.

[boyzma]

Could you imagine if the community got to choose? No....just no. It would be a way worse shit show in trade than it is now. Wow, no.

[Gaidax]

Will the "community" handle the lawsuit in case shit hits the fan?

Thought so.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Ultimately they are responsible for what happens on there. Its their space that they have control over. Plus lets be pretty honest.. you can say some pretty horrible things in Blizzard games and not have much done to you. So if you are feeling oppressed or subjected to some major injustice you probably are a pretty big piece of shit.

[Ragu4]

You know who else controls my speech?

MY MOM!

[Kokolums]

the problem is that the left wing and right wing have completely different ideas on what hate speech is. So, just the notion of delving into regulating speech in game inserts politics into everything. And that helps drive customers away. one tack is is to just remove all chat from everything, and thats even worse.

it really comes down to the fact that people often adopt the attitude the leader imprints upon them. if the leader treats everyone like little children, the people will increasingly start to act like little children. if you treat them with respect and as adults, they will increasingly act like adults. so the true option is to stop policing speech.

[BossManRoth]

Pretty sure Blizzard has section 230 protection for things said in game by users which means no lawsuits for anything, and as far as rating, online interactions are not rated by the ESRB.

But it's their game and they make the rules. They just have to be careful skirting the line between platform and publisher when it comes to the things players say in game.

[Jastall]

There's only one answer, the people who actually make the game. Same reason why the customers of a bar don't get to decide who might get kicked out or not.

[Mysterymask]

Pretty sure Blizzard has section 230 protection for things said in game by users which means no lawsuits for anything, and as far as rating, online interactions are not rated by the ESRB.

But it's their game and they make the rules. They just have to be careful skirting the line between platform and publisher when it comes to the things players say in game.

Well that is true there's also a few major liabilities that them policing to keep said liability.

For example if Blizz does nothing and people on a server publicly trade child porn over trade chat they can and absolutely will be considered liabale same with things like planning a crime or other such acts

Add in wow is international and not every country wow is in has free speech and shareholders not wanting to be a part of something that is basically 4chan but requires more computing power and that's why they get to say

[Calfredd]

the problem is that the left wing and right wing have completely different ideas on what hate speech is. So, just the notion of delving into regulating speech in game inserts politics into everything. And that helps drive customers away. one tack is is to just remove all chat from everything, and thats even worse.

it really comes down to the fact that people often adopt the attitude the leader imprints upon them. if the leader treats everyone like little children, the people will increasingly start to act like little children. if you treat them with respect and as adults, they will increasingly act like adults. so the true option is to stop policing speech.

Ah the "Let them spam slurs until they get sick of it" approach. A terrible approach but an approach nonetheless.

[Polybius]

The company. When you’re in your parent’s home you abide by their rules. Once you have your own company then you can make your rules.

[BossManRoth]

Well that is true there's also a few major liabilities that them policing to keep said liability.

For example if Blizz does nothing and people on a server publicly trade child porn over trade chat they can and absolutely will be considered liabale same with things like planning a crime or other such acts

Add in wow is international and not every country wow is in has free speech and shareholders not wanting to be a part of something that is basically 4chan but requires more computing power and that's why they get to say

i mean, yeah part of section 230 is upholding certain laws. in the case of CP, they have a duty to report and remove, but other acts like planning crimes and such they dont. att and verizon arent sued when someone plans a crime over the phone or through text. same with twitter and facebook because they are section 230 platforms. they arent responsible for the content the users produce.

like i said, they can institute policies that "bans" certain kinds of speech, but if they take it too far they move from platform to publisher, which is a lot more trouble for them.

ill also add that user have A LOT of control over the content they see. Blizzard has done a lot to improve the report and block functions. People need to remember they should block first, then report if the behavior continues. The first reaction should never be to run to mommy and daddy.

[Kokolums]

Ah the "Let them spam slurs until they get sick of it" approach. A terrible approach but an approach nonetheless.

well thats a crude way to look at it. but people who understand leadership knows it works.

[Relapses]

This community can't decide on anything much less whether we should be allowed to drop n bombs in /2. This is Blizzard's house, they have every right to set the rules.

[Calfredd]

well thats a crude way to look at it. but people who understand leadership knows it works.

Actually people who understand leadership knows spamming slurs gets you into trouble with HR.