verbal abuse reports

[Gaile Gray.6029]

> @"Shirlias.8104" said:

> > @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> > I checked on the use of in-game reports recently, and I was assured that reports were being reviewed and acted upon. I know it's frustrating to see the same people being abusive, so if you are inclined to do so -- no obligation, of course, just an option -- you could send a ticket with the names and the times of the incidents. I imagine during a PvP match that could prove challenging, but maybe it would be something you'd consider doing for those you feel are the worst, repeat offenders?

> >

> > Here's how I would formulate a report:

> >

> > * PvP Match: Date and Time

> > * World Name

> > * Names of characters (with exact spelling)

> > * Your own character name (so the team can see where you were and match chat around you -- contextual reference)

> >

>

> Sorry Gaile, but if I report using the report function in the specific chat ( with the incriminating word ) isn't the support able to read the phrease i chose to report?

> If not, why don't you implement something like this?

>

> Reporting a player is currently a waste of time ( not because no action would be taken, but just because you lose 5/10 secons to make the report ), but thinking to add everything you said is kinda ridiculous ( 1 min per report more or less ).

>

> Knowing this, i will stop report anybody from now on, until a proper report system will be introduced ( right click > end ).

 

I have mentioned this previously, but am happy to say it again: When a report is submitted, a Customer Service agent is sent the reported comment *and the comments that are made around it.* This allows that agent to see context. They do not get the full chat logs -- that would sometimes take hours to review! -- but they do see a "snippet" around the actual chat string that is reported.

 

My suggestion was about submitting **tickets** and not about submitting in-game reports. In-game reports do not allow any of the input that I described, but that option is an alternative for those who care to use it.

[Hobie Kytty.1425]

My guess is that there are more people who need to be banned because of what they put in chats as well as there being players who need to get a thicker skin about some of the random annoying chats in a video game.

 

Picking those people out around the edges is subjective and context can make a world of difference.

[saerni.2584]

Here’s a simple policy:

 

Profanity not aimed at a player won’t get you banned (we have filters for a reason).

 

Profanity or speech that is abusive towards a player or consists of hate speech will result in either a warning, a temporary ban or a permanent ban. The severity depends on the violation and prior disciplinary history. An account with three warnings is a mandatory temporary ban on the next violation. An account with three temporary bans is an automatic permanent ban.

 

Permanent bans may be appealed after three months. An appeal denial triggers another three month waiting period. If the player can demonstrate good cause for reinstatement then they will be provisionally reinstated subject to the understanding that additional violations will result in another permanent ban.

 

Anet could also publish the percentages of warnings, temporary bans and permanent banks given out. As in, “compared to average monthly users we warned 5%, temp banned 1% and perma banned 0.1% for infractions of the code of conduct.” That way we know the system is working rather than anecdotally thinking it doesn’t. Many people don’t understand the code of conduct and expect Anet to act even where there is no violation of the rules.

[Vaughn.8172]

Would be nice to have the option/ability to have yourself anonymous while in PvP, also hiding the players tag from other players. While still being able to report verbal abuse. Like in WvW when you can't see the other servers characters names.

[ProverbsofHell.2307]

Ideally, we wouldn't even think about banning people who are verbally abusive until the far more urgent problem of cheating and hacking has been addressed. That is where all attention should go.

[Rufo.3716]

There is an amazing amount of homophobic and racial slurs being used in chat lately. Even when I've submitted tickets I've been encouraged to submit in-game reports rather than actually submitting tickets. Although I must say between hackers, win traders, and abusive players, I would be spending more time writing tickets than I would actually be playing in game. Everything has just gotten out of control, if they banned all the offenders I don't think there would be a game left to play, it's that bad.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> > @"Shirlias.8104" said:

> > > @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> > > I checked on the use of in-game reports recently, and I was assured that reports were being reviewed and acted upon. I know it's frustrating to see the same people being abusive, so if you are inclined to do so -- no obligation, of course, just an option -- you could send a ticket with the names and the times of the incidents. I imagine during a PvP match that could prove challenging, but maybe it would be something you'd consider doing for those you feel are the worst, repeat offenders?

> > >

> > > Here's how I would formulate a report:

> > >

> > > * PvP Match: Date and Time

> > > * World Name

> > > * Names of characters (with exact spelling)

> > > * Your own character name (so the team can see where you were and match chat around you -- contextual reference)

> > >

> >

> > Sorry Gaile, but if I report using the report function in the specific chat ( with the incriminating word ) isn't the support able to read the phrease i chose to report?

> > If not, why don't you implement something like this?

> >

> > Reporting a player is currently a waste of time ( not because no action would be taken, but just because you lose 5/10 secons to make the report ), but thinking to add everything you said is kinda ridiculous ( 1 min per report more or less ).

> >

> > Knowing this, i will stop report anybody from now on, until a proper report system will be introduced ( right click > end ).

>

> I have mentioned this previously, but am happy to say it again: When a report is submitted, a Customer Service agent is sent the reported comment *and the comments that are made around it.* This allows that agent to see context. They do not get the full chat logs -- that would sometimes take hours to review! -- but they do see a "snippet" around the actual chat string that is reported.

>

> My suggestion was about submitting **tickets** and not about submitting in-game reports. In-game reports do not allow any of the input that I described, but that option is an alternative for those who care to use it.

 

Am I missing something here.. so are you saying that in game reporting and sending a ticket to report are scrutinise/acted upon differently.. does this mean in game doesn't get the same level of scrutiny as a ticket .. if that's the case no wonder there are players like me that think in game reporting is useless and does nothing to fix the issues we take time to report on....

Every report should be scrutinised with the same level of diligence, especially as the ingame report tool is so hopelessly lacking in actual options.. but this suggests to me its just fodder material for making digital aeroplanes... I seriously hope I just misunderstood.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @"saerni.2584" said:

> Here’s a simple policy:

>

> Profanity not aimed at a player won’t get you banned (we have filters for a reason).

>

> Profanity or speech that is abusive towards a player or consists of hate speech will result in either a warning, a temporary ban or a permanent ban. The severity depends on the violation and prior disciplinary history. An account with three warnings is a mandatory temporary ban on the next violation. An account with three temporary bans is an automatic permanent ban.

>

> Permanent bans may be appealed after three months. An appeal denial triggers another three month waiting period. If the player can demonstrate good cause for reinstatement then they will be provisionally reinstated subject to the understanding that additional violations will result in another permanent ban.

>

> Anet could also publish the percentages of warnings, temporary bans and permanent banks given out. As in, “compared to average monthly users we warned 5%, temp banned 1% and perma banned 0.1% for infractions of the code of conduct.” That way we know the system is working rather than anecdotally thinking it doesn’t. Many people don’t understand the code of conduct and expect Anet to act even where there is no violation of the rules.

 

setting specific boundaries allows offenders to play those boundaries.. it should be based on the severity of the offence and prior history for sure.. but no such 3 strike rules etc should be there or at least not made public... if the person is so completely toxic, racist homophobic, sexiest etc in game and there are certain players that can be all of the above for hours just to quench their ego's then forget the 3 strikes to temp ban rubbish.. that player goes right out the back door, bruises and all with the door firmly shut behind them.

That right there makes a statement of intent to clean up the game modes - if enough of the offenders are catapulted then maybe game modes like pvp might become more than just toxicwars again.

 

I don't hold my breath on any of that happening though.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Bloodstealer.5978" said:

> > My suggestion was about submitting **tickets** and not about submitting in-game reports. In-game reports do not allow any of the input that I described, but that option is an alternative for those who care to use it.

>

> Am I missing something here.. so are you saying that in game reporting and sending a ticket to report are scrutinise/acted upon differently.. does this mean in game doesn't get the same level of scrutiny as a ticket .. if that's the case no wonder there are players like me that think in game reporting is useless and does nothing to fix the issues we take time to report on....

> Every report should be scrutinised with the same level of diligence, especially as the ingame report tool is so hopelessly lacking in actual options.. but this suggests to me its just fodder material for making digital aeroplanes... I seriously hope I just misunderstood.

 

You are missing something. Gaile posted about two ways to report, not that two different things are done when the report is received. Reports via the in-game tool only get the context of recent chat; if you submit a ticket, you're able to provide additional context.

 

For example, we can imagine a situation in which a player's name and chat suggest some roleplaying a RL drug dealer. If the player is halfway subtle, we can imagine the low-wage support person won't see that with just a snippet of chat: it's the combination of the chat, plus the guild name, plus the character name, plus their interactions with others that tells the story and that's something that wouldn't be obvious via /report.

 

Much of the time, though, the chat is egregious, without subtlety and there's no need to go to the extra effort. In which case, the in-game reporting tool works just fine.

 

The main reason it's hard for us to know if reporting does anything because we never get any specific feedback about whether our report resulted in ANet action, or even whether they agreed that the issue merited any response. Without that feedback, it's easy to imagine that nothing happens. ANet critics insist that's the case; some fans might insist that ANet acts appropriately.

 

Me? I go by the evidence: we can see that players sometimes protest bans publicly (and those mostly hold up under scrutiny). We can see that ANet employees who post about /reporting believe that their teams follow up regularly, that they have stats that show reports are acted upon (and appropriately). We can also see that at least some of the worst offenders disappear for days or weeks. It's possible to construct a scenario where that's all a facade, but the simpler explanation is that at least ANet believes they are doing a lot to deal with verbal abuse. And, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

 

[puriks.4561]

Just an idea for PvP toxicity. If player toxic, and lets say repeats it like 3 times, just remove her/his whole progression and league points from his account. Those people only care about "winning" and "points", so that could be helpfull, maybe meanwhile (considering they are not got banned) they can learn how to play properly

[Zedek.8932]

Since I have 7.5 years of League of Legends on my clock, verbal abuse systems could be effective and automated at the same time:

 

The game has a filter, so basically a list of swearwords. Now give every word some points. Smaller calls or even everday's life slang get 5 points, really racial slurs 25. If someone reports said player, the system will do a summary of the last, I don't know, 15 minutes, and give him a score dependent of what is being found in the chat. At, just a random number, 50 "flame points" you get a warning, or you are muted. A report for verbal abuse also asks in to block this player for you in the report box. Now keep escalating those things from warning (50 points) to chat ban (100 points) and whatnot. So saying sh.. several times would not get you anywhere.

 

When nobody is offended, e.g. in guild chat or between friends, nobody is reporting, thus the system never issues any score to your account.

 

There is nothing more clear than verbal abuse. You can grief and behave bad, all that is within a margin. Calling someone racist stuff for not resurrecting (happened to me for no reason) would pile him up with fast 50, 60 points -> a punishment of whatever tier, depending on his previous actions.

 

Excelsior.

[Gaile Gray.6029]

> @"Bloodstealer.5978" said:

> > @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> > > @"Shirlias.8104" said:

> > > > @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> > > > I checked on the use of in-game reports recently, and I was assured that reports were being reviewed and acted upon. I know it's frustrating to see the same people being abusive, so if you are inclined to do so -- no obligation, of course, just an option -- you could send a ticket with the names and the times of the incidents. I imagine during a PvP match that could prove challenging, but maybe it would be something you'd consider doing for those you feel are the worst, repeat offenders?

> > > >

> > > > Here's how I would formulate a report:

> > > >

> > > > * PvP Match: Date and Time

> > > > * World Name

> > > > * Names of characters (with exact spelling)

> > > > * Your own character name (so the team can see where you were and match chat around you -- contextual reference)

> > > >

> > >

> > > Sorry Gaile, but if I report using the report function in the specific chat ( with the incriminating word ) isn't the support able to read the phrease i chose to report?

> > > If not, why don't you implement something like this?

> > >

> > > Reporting a player is currently a waste of time ( not because no action would be taken, but just because you lose 5/10 secons to make the report ), but thinking to add everything you said is kinda ridiculous ( 1 min per report more or less ).

> > >

> > > Knowing this, i will stop report anybody from now on, until a proper report system will be introduced ( right click > end ).

> >

> > I have mentioned this previously, but am happy to say it again: When a report is submitted, a Customer Service agent is sent the reported comment *and the comments that are made around it.* This allows that agent to see context. They do not get the full chat logs -- that would sometimes take hours to review! -- but they do see a "snippet" around the actual chat string that is reported.

> >

> > My suggestion was about submitting **tickets** and not about submitting in-game reports. In-game reports do not allow any of the input that I described, but that option is an alternative for those who care to use it.

>

> Am I missing something here.. so are you saying that in game reporting and sending a ticket to report are scrutinise/acted upon differently.. does this mean in game doesn't get the same level of scrutiny as a ticket .. if that's the case no wonder there are players like me that think in game reporting is useless and does nothing to fix the issues we take time to report on....

> Every report should be scrutinised with the same level of diligence, especially as the ingame report tool is so hopelessly lacking in actual options.. but this suggests to me its just fodder material for making digital aeroplanes... I seriously hope I just misunderstood.

 

I am giving **options**. That is all. So yes, you are missing something here.

[Shirlias.8104]

Btw, given the fact that I currently resumed with SPvP, I am going to make some tests, like reporting players for afking and verbal abuse, then add then to my List and do a check everyday in order to see how long it takes to do the procedure

 

* There's a new report

* The reported message contains verbal harassment

* **Account suspended**

 

or

 

* There's a new report

* The report says that player went afk

* **investigation, whatever this means, and account suspended**

 

 

[witcher.3197]

Verbal abuse? In the self-proclaimed best, friendliest community ever? No wai

[Lambros Augustus.6594]

PVP is toxic cause you want that ranked win it saves you time. Sometimes its normal to trash talk or to receive or dish abuse. You can of course say nothing but when someone cripples you from over 1600 you do start to wonder how that is possible and why its so important for people to cheat so much. If you want to sanitize pvp, please get rid of the cheating. Thats my main gripe. Just earn your victory or accept your loss without cheating please. Also if the matchup is poor and you keep dying and are down by 200 points its hard to blame a player for wanting be afk. Best thing tho is too know the prof you are playing and avoid getting tag-teamed to have a good match.

[TheGrimm.5624]

 

> @"rank eleven monk.9502" said:

> I'm sorry but permabanning for verbal abuse would be ridiculous. And obviously counter-productive to Anet's business purposes.

 

Actually, what!?

 

Why would you think an abusive personality would be more likely to support a gaming company? That makes no sense. If a player is not enjoying their gaming time its very unlikely that they would support it and decide to continue to fund it. Of course its in ANet's best interest to deal it. Its also the FIRST statement in the rules of conduct.

 

"1. While playing Guild Wars 2, you must respect the rights of others and their rights to play and enjoy the Game. To this end, you may not defraud, harass, threaten, embarrass or cause distress and/or unwanted attention to other players. This includes posting insulting, offensive, or abusive comments about players, repeatedly sending unwanted messages, reporting players maliciously, attacking a player based on race, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, etc. Hate speech is not tolerated."

 

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-rules-of-conduct/

 

Not a supporter of zero tolerance but there's is no room for hate speech in gaming. We have options to block and report but saying that there is no value in managing the game is too far off base to leave out there. Agree with much of the above, block, report and move on, but I expect ANet to manage their game, which Gaile has provided that they do. So OP, yes, they do work towards that, enjoy the game and enjoy your time and if you encounter a mouthbreather, block, report and try and go back to enjoying your time and let them waste theirs. Good gaming!

[robertthebard.8150]

"Grow a thicker skin" == "but my Free Speech", right? Here's the deal, say what you want, there is no such thing as free speech in a private venue. This is a private venue. Yep, it's open to the general public, but it is owned by a private company, and they have the final say about whether it's allowed or not. In that vein, in order to protect the privacy of accounts, I don't know of any MMO that sends someone who reported a suspected violation a message stating what, if any, disciplinary action was taken as a result of their report. It's not been done in any of the games I've played over the last 20 or so years.

 

So say what you want, just remember that it has consequences, or it can have, and if you are abusive in chat, and get disciplined, you've got no one to blame but yourself. Even with free speech, it's not free from consequences. You're free to say what you like, but if it's found to be offensive, it can be acted upon by the powers that be, whether that's here, or in a bar or restaurant. In any of those social situations, it's not the majority that has to "grow a thicker skin", it's the person that believes they are above reproach when/if something is done on an official level. So if something one says in chat gets them a warning, or a temp suspension, please do come here to complain, so that I can apply that liberally applied phrase: Grow a thicker skin, and be mature enough to accept the consequences for your actions.

[Awe.1096]

Telling people to grow a thicker skin is in the same category as telling people with depression to stop whining or telling raped women that they were dressed inappropriately. Should a random punk approach you on the street and start talking about having sex with your mother, most of you would say that some form of a consequence for that punk would be justified. So why should some lowlife be allowed to say whatever he wants over the Internet and it should be my responsibility to deal with that and grow a thicker skin? There is whole bunch of jurisdictional laws that penalizes people for offesive verbal messages. Internet is a form of communication like any other. Why do you think it should be exempt from those laws? The truth is, most of people throwing all kinds of slurs over the Internet are juvenile brats with bad parenting issues. Showing them that there is zero consequences for anything they say on-line, only furthers the detrimental effect of said bad parenting. Im not talking about knocking their teeth off or something. But even a short chat ban in a video game triggers that reward/punishment mechanism and is much better than simply allowing misguided people to remain as such.