Guild Wars 2

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the friends/followers system. If someone’s added you as a friend, it’s almost always because you’ve helped them in some way in Guild Wars 2. Nothing to do with stalking or anything.

If someone has added you as a friend, you’ve got three choices at the moment: Add them in return, ignore it but don’t block them, or block them.

To have a pop-up and only having ‘Add as friend or block?’ is too extreme in my opinion. If someone were to add me as a friend, for example, I take it as a compliment, and also return the compliment by adding them too, even if I don’t know why. I have around 350 people on my mutual friends list. Most of who have added me don’t bother me from day to day, and at least 1/3 of whom I don’t know why they added me. But they are not a danger to me.

In other words, your solution to followers list is a solution to something that isn’t really a problem.

The block list however, I agree could do with improving. ArenaNet themselves have admitted it’s not perfect. I think if you block someone, you should always remain ‘Offline’ to the person you have blocked, for example, so if it is the rare case someone’s added you for stalking reasons, they cannot find which map you are in to follow your character around.

I like the fact the block list shows where such a player is. Recently I blocked a player for being extremely unpleasant (which happens far more often than it should) in PvP and after just quitting my 3rd match with him before it even started (which I really don’t like to do) I just stopped queuing when he showed up in Heart of the Mists, queuing only when he was already in a game.

Now as to stalking, isn’t that banable?

I’m not particularly fond of the follow list, but that’s just because it mildly annoys me to have a list half of which is probably people who don’t play anymore.

And if someone on your friend list is bothering you, maybe he shouldn’t be on that list anyway.

Etienne.3049:

I like the fact the block list shows where such a player is. Recently I blocked a player for being extremely unpleasant (which happens far more often than it should) in PvP and after just quitting my 3rd match with him before it even started (which I really don’t like to do) I just stopped queuing when he showed up in Heart of the Mists, queuing only when he was already in a game.

Now as to stalking, isn’t that banable?

I’m not particularly fond of the follow list, but that’s just because it mildly annoys me to have a list half of which is probably people who don’t play anymore.

And if someone on your friend list is bothering you, maybe he shouldn’t be on that list anyway.

There’s two sides to a block, and they don’t have to be equal in what they do.

If you block them, then you may have good reason to want to know where they are and if they are logged in, so that can stay. However the opposite isn’t true. If you block them then they have no reason to know where you are and if you are logged in, so blocking them should block information to them if they have you friended. If blocks are mutual then neither side should be able to see the others login and map.

Bablz.6875:

Pop up to accept a friend request is not at all extreme, I’d love to know when someone wants to be my friend instantly, instead of checking my follower list 3 days later and thinking “who is this person again?” cause it happened multiple times already.

Maybe you personally never had to deal with annoying people on your follower list, but that doesn’t mean that others didn’t and that it’s “nothing to do with stalking”.
I had my fair share of weirdos that I wanted nothing to do with, but guess what, even after blocking them they still found a way to contact me cause they “followed” me from a friends account and kept their eye on me like that, eventually messaging me, so I blocked that other account as well. Luckily they took a hint, but some people just don’t.

That’s what this is about, if this was a Carebear world where everyone wants to be friends and hold hands, I wouldn’t have issues with it, but some people DO have bad intentions, and do harass people.

You’re lucky that you never had to deal with it, but I’m not making up a problem because I’m bored, it IS a problem, I experienced it first hand and so have many others.

I’m not saying the pop up itself is extreme. What I am saying is extreme is there being a need for two polar opposites and nothing in-between. As a made up example – I just help someone who is a stranger by showing them how to get to a vista. They then add me as a friend. Your suggestion is either ‘Add as a friend also?’ or ‘Block and delete them?’ – this is a bit extreme and there is no need for it. 99% of people in Guild Wars 2 will add someone due to social interaction, roleplay, being in a guild or simply for showing them a vista or providing a portal at a jumping puzzle.

The other 1% will be idiots, weirdos and possibly gold sellers. There’s a second solution for these, which is the block feature already in place. Like I said, if you get a wierdo, block them, don’t have a ‘Add or Block’ for everyone, because there is no need. The block part is what needs improving, I agree. But to have a block on randoms who add you for or out of kindness is not necessary. If you don’t like people following you, that’s your prerogative, block them. But to take away the choice from other players who might want to have a state of in-between and have only one or the other will do nothing for your own cause if you already block weirdoes in the first place.

‘Carebears’ and ‘holding hands’ – why you choose to use this tone I don’t know. There’s nothing wrong with having friends, there’s nothing wrong with a friendly, social aspect to an MMO that is you know, ‘online’. But people who use words like this tend to play games in a negative tone towards other players, and it’s not healthy.

I want to remove people on my follower list so that I am also removed from their list. There’s someone who randomly added me during the first beta weekend event and has never played since.

As for updates for contacts list – I’d prefer if there was an invite system so I could deny those who decide to add people they just randomly see. If I have never talked to a person I don’t think I need to be in their contacts.

I agree with the OP.

• I should be able to choose whether someone has access to more info about me/my status/etc. than is available simply by seeing my avatar in game.
• Followers/friends requests should require my approval.
• If this is too bothersome for GW2 stream personalities with large followings, then they should ask for an option to turn that privacy protection off — but the default should be privacy.
• Blocked status should offer no information to the blocker other than the name of the blocked.

I’ve always been of the opinion that friends and followers should be mutual. That is if someone wishes to follow me I should have to approve. I think IndigoSundown makes a good point in that it could be a privacy option. That way people that don’t care could turn it off. At the very least I should be able to remove followers.