SOE - Trolls and Tribulations

Couchpotato

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Sony Online Entertainment has a new interview at gamesindustry.biz with the Director of global community relations Linda Carlson. Let it be said watch what you say anywhere online because you can now be banned from their games permanently.

"Not only will we ban your forum account, but if it's serious enough we'll call up customer service and have you banned from all of our games. We do not need those individuals as customers," Carlson says of the most offensive and anti-social players. "A very influential player, high up in a huge guild - we'll still ban them... In our games, if you are an exploiter we don't care who you are, how big your guild is, how many people you threaten to take with you when you go.

"We can control anybody who's playing our games...[but] if we know who you are and you're abusing somebody on Twitter, we will ban your game account and we will not accept you as a customer ever again. It's not always possible to identify people [in that way], but we take that seriously."
I recommend reading the article before commenting as it will give you the whole picture not just the quote.

More information.
 
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I recommend reading the article before commenting as it will give you the whole picture not just the quote.

Most commenters in this discussion here will most likely NOT read the whole article, though.
At least that's what I expect.

Interesting part is this, imho (and it should've been quoted as well, imho) :

"You could implement a small change that maybe only affects a few thousand people, but for them it's huge," she says. "They can't believe that you've just done this, and that you've done it to them personally. Because you hate them, and you don't want their money, and you don't value the five years they spent playing your game."

And - by the way - who is that man pictured in that article ? I ask because he seems to have nothing to do at all with that article ... They could've used a oicture of the interviewed person as well ...
 
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It's all about protecting the brand. LoL gained a reputation for having an awful community. In response, Riot has really cracked down on unacceptable behavior, even among pro gamers, levying year long bans from competitive play. You'll still hit those poisonous players within the community that make the game look bad, but anything you can to minimize it helps. You'll never get rid of it, the anonymity of the internet is too often used as en excuse to be a troll (both in games and on forums).
 
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Most commenters in this discussion here will most likely NOT read the whole article, though.
At least that's what I expect.

Interesting part is this, imho (and it should've been quoted as well, imho) :



And - by the way - who is that man pictured in that article ? I ask because he seems to have nothing to do at all with that article … They could've used a oicture of the interviewed person as well …

Um, that's the Phil Fish and he's mentioned in the article.
 
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I'm all for banning cheaters, and anyone who threatens someone irl in a public forum. I'm not sure where that would end, but I like the idea, the old west knew what to do with cheaters as well. This may not be as extreme, but at least they won't be messing up my playground, or anyone else's that wants to play fairly. I say this as someone who's played EQ since 1998, I wouldn't know much about any other SoE products.



-Carn
 
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Um, that's the Phil Fish and he's mentioned in the article.

I never saw him before in RL.

But besides that - in the local newspapers it is common to put an subtitle under each picture telling the reader who this was - even when it is Obama shown. It's just a case of respect and of politeness, imho.

Just showing pictures of people without telling the reader who this is is to me a sign of nerd culture creeping into journalism.
Because nerds know it all.
Who needs the rest of the planet's population ?
 
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"The gaming world does attract more than its fair share of this kind of thing, though, largely because the gaming world continues to attract a core audience of young males - essentially the same people who are most likely to act as online trolls and abusers, it seems. It's Catch-22, of course - trolling and flaming makes the community less attractive to people from other groups (women, minorities, other demographics, etc.), which means we remain stuck with a core audience of young males, and so the cycle continues."
BoB Fahey Gameindustry Int.

It is striking how similar this phenomenon is to the situation in European football in late 1980s and early 1990s... During this time the game of football ceased to be entertainment for all and become dominated by crowds of "fans" to whom a match was just an excuse for the release of their pent up anger, hatred and violence. And the anonymity of the crowd played (IMO) a significant role in the growth and spread of "football hooliganism".
It took about 10 years to bring this situation under control and it costed millions. How long it will take to deal with the most obnoxious of internet trolls and griefers? And can they ever be dealt with successfully?
 
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Is it true that there is a new generation of "negativity writers" growing up - the so-called "Shock-Jocks" ?

"negativity" get you page hits these days and web-recognition. But I would say that even RPGWatch of full of negative people. It's all about the hate as opposed to just accept that game X isn't for you.
 
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"negativity" get you page hits these days and web-recognition. But I would say that even RPGWatch of full of negative people. It's all about the hate as opposed to just accept that game X isn't for you.

If you think RPGWatch is bad then whatever you do, do NOT visit any other forum on the internet. It's all downhill from here.

On Point: I don't know what a real solution to this looks like but if SOE or anyone else finds one that works and is fair I'm all for it. It's been 15 years of anonymous jerks and their potty mouths in the chat boxes and while it's old and tired those who keep doing it give every reason for the rest of us to believe they're just getting started.
 
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If you're threatening to kill people you're not a troll, but a criminal, and I actually don't want to see all gamers being lumped together with those. Arguably, some worse consequences than being banned from a game should be in store for them.

As for being negative and bitching about a game, it's debatable wether you should ban such people from the forums, but it doesn't seem acceptable to ban them from the game they bought altogether.

Speaking of which, I'm sure people who get banned will be refunded? See quote:

We do not need those individuals as customers
 
"negativity" get you page hits these days and web-recognition. But I would say that even RPGWatch of full of negative people. It's all about the hate as opposed to just accept that game X isn't for you.

And that is an excellent example of trolling.


:)
 
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My guess is, seeing as they most likely broke the rules of the EULA, anyone banned wouldn't be entitled to a refund. It's always good to keep in mind that you're only basically renting the game, SoE actually retains ownership and can terminate at will, with basic cause. Which I'm totally ok with.


-Carn
 
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My guess is, seeing as they most likely broke the rules of the EULA, anyone banned wouldn't be entitled to a refund.

I doubt that the EULA will contain a statement that you can't speak negatively about the game on twitter.
 
Oh it may not have that particular line in the EULA per se, but basically they can rescind your right to play the game for any and all violations. Much of the verbage is vague, but that alone will give them the right to boot people. And really, Twitter.....I'm sure I'm not the only person on the planet that doesn't even use that thing. I still think a tweet is a sound a bird makes!


-Carn
 
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Oh it may not have that particular line in the EULA per se, but basically they can rescind your right to play the game for any and all violations.
Violations yes. Racist, sexist and hateful rants could indeed be considered as such but I would expect quite a backlash if somebody got banned for calling a game "crap".
 
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