Guild Wars 2

I know for sure that “ignore” (block) does not ignore guild chat. We had a quite obnoxious guild member for a short time. Until he was kicked, he infested the guild chat with his childish remarks, which were mostly regarding human procreation, physical interaction and all its variants.

I wasn’t personally attacked or insulted but it was simply annoying. Guild chat, in fact, every chat, should be included when I ignore (block) a person.

For me it is not a very important issue but it would be nice-to-have. As I now know there are people for whom it is even more important. Please change it.

Some constructive feedback. I don’t think homophobia is the only issue here: you could have people who are insulted by, say, blasphemy, antisemitism, patriarchy, matriarchy or elitism.

Why not add a user-editable words list to the game (a censor.ini file in the GW2 My Documents directory or something), for example:

 # Turn just the word(s) in to kitten.
[kitten]
jesus
god
holy mary
idiot

# Censor the entire message. Either never display it (probably best) or turn the entire thing into "kitten".
[message]
gay
jew
noob
kitten

This would be a list of words that are ALWAYS censored (despite what you select on the UI, some people might find words they use in their lists as offensive while they don’t have a problem with the usual swear words that ANet have provided). Leave the power in our hands to censor what we don’t like to see, if you fix the issue that Zaoda has (by censoring homosexual synonyms in the universal censor list) you might still have threads from others with their own issues – and those would probably erupt into pointless “get over it/grow up” conversations like this one has.

One, that phrase isn’t in the filter. Whether the filter is on or off, it’ll be shown uncensored.
Two, the ignore feature does not function on all chat channels.

As a woman, I feel the same way when I see players use the term “R@pe”. It makes me cringe. Whenever I see “R@pe” used lightly in chat, I report the person. To me, r@pe represents a horrifying act that I have learned to be wary of all my life. So seeing people use that term flippantly is disturbing.
So while I can’t claim to understand your frustration entirely, I have felt similar things. And you are right, the derogatory use of the term “gay” needs to change.

On the topic of the ignore function not working properly. It would be nice if having someone on your blocklist prevented them from joining your parties in the lfg tool. Whats the point in blocking griefers if they can still join and grief.

I have two questions.

One: A mod has stepped in to say that we can and should report instances of homophobia. Good. But does this apply to all forms of bigotry? For instance, the casual use of a certain ableist slur is at least as common as “that’s gay”, and yet the vast majority of websites I’ve been to don’t consider it even worthy of putting on the filter. If I report people who use that, will I be the one to get in trouble? I’m all for fighting slurs, but not being banned is a bit more important to me at the moment, so I want to know exactly where the rules fall.

Two: I reported the fact that blocking doesn’t work for guild chat more than four months ago. In the time since I did so, my once active and fun guild has become a lifeless well of bitterness, all thanks to drama that could very easily have been avoided — if only the parties involved had been able to block each other. Why is it that in all this time, not one staff member has acknowledged the existence of that thread or the tickets I sent? Why is it that this thread seems to be the first time they have seen any feedback on the issue?

StinVec.3621:

Ignoring/Blocking a person should prevent…

• …this person’s chat comments from being visible to you in all chat forms:
  • Guild
  • Say
  • Local
  • Map
  • Yell
  • Shout
  • Party
  • Squad
  • Team
  • Tell
  • Whisper
• …this person’s emotes from being displayed to you in the chat box.
  • Including (especially?) blocking custom emotes (/emote blahblahblah) as blocked players currently use that as means around the block feature (exploiting).
• …this person’s ability to see or join your LFG through the LFG Tool.
• …this person from being able to join your party.
  • Could even have a warning message pointing out to you that “The person attempting to join your party is currently blocked” and then offer a “Permit this person to temporarily join the party anyway” option.

Block should actually block the person and restrict all possible contact with this person until the block is removed. Or have it as an option to where you can select to only block chat related activities made by this player, or choose the full block that prevents all possible contact (LFG, etc).

100% right. What is the possible reason for not including absolutely everything on the “ignore” function? What does that help? Why wouldn’t it have worked this way originally?

So, since I’m not “PC” enough for this thread apparently, I’ll simply agree that yes, the ignore feature should block everything. All chat channels, all emotes, the person should not be able to see when you’re online, nor should they be able to see what map you’re in.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

All chat channels, all emotes, the person should not be able to see when you’re online, nor should they be able to see what map you’re in.

Good point – they shouldn’t be able to see when you’re online or where you are, either.

It’s almost like we’re talking about two different features: “ignore” and “block.” “Ignore” seems to be the thing that Anet thought people wanted, and that may be fine for some people in some situations. But we also need a “block” – something that completely removes that person from your playing experience. It honestly wouldn’t be going too far to replace their in-game character with one of those nice “generic” models that you use now to avoid culling.

StinVec’s post on the first page is right on target.

The suggestion the OP is making in his frustration is that the ignore function should remove the target player from your gaming experience entirely and with no exceptions.

I would like to add that, IMO, the ‘“Player X” is ignoring you.’ message is unnecessary. Just make it look like the person is offline, that way the player being ignored isn’t encouraged to try to find other avenues to harass.

@OP – I sympathize with your position, and I’ve honestly started reporting that kind of behavior far more frequently than I used to. It is truly unfortunate that the vast majority of the people using the phrase “that’s so gay” never think twice about how hurtful and insulting the implications can be, even when it is not directed at a particular person. I’ve personally had to be very intentional about not saying a similar phrase for the very same reasons, as it was far more common when I was a kid, but has the potential to be just as hurtful.

As a woman, I feel the same way when I see players use the term “R@pe”. It makes me cringe. Whenever I see “R@pe” used lightly in chat, I report the person. To me, r@pe represents a horrifying act that I have learned to be wary of all my life. So seeing people use that term flippantly is disturbing.
So while I can’t claim to understand your frustration entirely, I have felt similar things. And you are right, the derogatory use of the term “gay” needs to change.

I’d hereby like to add my virtual “yes please” to the full ignore and the personalised ignore list. After all, there are undubitably people who feel extremely offended by the fact that a female has access to internet.

I don’t believe people should be banned for language, opinions and ect even if it makes them look like a totally disgusting human being. I do however believe people should be able to totally block them out from themselves personally. So if the ignore function isn’t working, then it needs fixed. XD

Vick.6805:

The suggestion the OP is making in his frustration is that the ignore function should remove the target player from your gaming experience entirely and with no exceptions.

Honestly, I believe that you would be hard pressed to find many who disagree with this to be honest.

coglin.1867:

Vick.6805:

The suggestion the OP is making in his frustration is that the ignore function should remove the target player from your gaming experience entirely and with no exceptions.

Honestly, I believe that you would be hard pressed to find many who disagree with this to be honest.

Yep. I’m not sure there could be a good reason why certain chat channels aren’t blocked…. Doesn’t make sense.

Not only does ignore not totally ignore a player in all chat environments , the invisible setting still allows someone to see where you are and know you are actually still on line because the game shows that you are in different zones.
This allows people who you are trying to be invisible to; still keep tabs on you , and stalk or harass you in game.

Im not seeing the big deal. Anet can look over the ignore system to make sure it removes comments from being seen. Problem solved.

Hopefully this doesn’t result in mass censoring/banning. Just verify that the ignore system works and call it a day.

There is no argument whatsoever against the fact that the ignore function should work throughout the game, no matter what the reason I put the person on ignore for. I would go so far as to delete the visual of the character for me … but I guess that could end up hilarious.

We don’t have to discuss specific words, freedom of speech, or any of that.

If the thread and thread title would be altered that way it would end in the suggestion forum instead of staying in the “general discussion” about guild wars 2.

I do think to recall that I’ve seen this suggestion a few times already.

That said I’m all for people conducting themselves in a courteous manner, hopefully we can ll play along nicely in Tyria, having fun regardless if we shoot rainbow unicorns, run around with a discoball staying alive or if we are oozing black red yellow stuff looking all dangerous.

Cheers