I’ve had a rise in spammers spamming their usual lately, and wondered about what kind of action can be taken against it. No doubt this has been discussed on many forums for many games, I did search for it on here before-hand, though didn’t find much (apologies if this is a duplicate).
Spammers, outside of map chat in busy idling areas, will always contact individuals via /whisper. I’d like to think some of the following might help to filter them out, or make it harder for them. That being said I’m sure there’d also be repercussions if successful, for now though I’d just like to post a few ideas for combating spammers on an individual level, in the case of them having yet to be considered:
1. Inbound whispers from Friends & Guildies only -
Although Gw2, as an MMO I’m sure is intended to be a social game, the more extreme solution to deal with spammers would be to allow players the option to block all whispering from people they’re not affiliated with in some way. As most players are usually first befriended via party / say chat, I don’t see that there’d be too much damage in having players adjust to such a model. Having said that, this would require both players to be on each other’s lists simultaneously, a possible barrier. I’m also currently unaware of the friend list cap, though I’m sure it could be altered if need be.
2. Incoming whispers from Friends & Guildies (anywhere),
& Randoms (from Zone / Instance / Party(?) only) -
A number of times, I’ve had party members complain of spammers bugging them mid-dungeon. Unsure of how their details came to the attention of spammers, this option could be an effective way to prevent unwanted hassle outside of idling areas / main cities?
*Edit: An idea might also be to have whispers from randoms limited by proximity to the player.
Currently, the only sure-fire way to avoid the possibility of being personally targeted by whispers from spammers is to Appear Offline, though this also behaves as a barrier between a player and his/her friends.
Both of the above choices, however effective they might be, still allow for full communication between friends.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting these be enforced, I’m suggesting they be an option. Just a toggle-box in a menu someplace ^^
One final suggestion:
Temporary player block – Whenever I receive spam, it tends to be just that. The same name will flood me 2 or 3 times with the same mini wall of capital letters.
While blocking is a great feature for staying out of the reach of the undesirable, ideally I feel there should be a differentiation between actual people I don’t want to interact with, and the many automated spammers that would see my list filled to the brim.
Since I’d hope accounts used for such activity don’t last too long before being banned, there’s no reason for them to be on a permanent block list. Admittedly I haven’t done my homework on this area, and am unknowing of whether players on lists who’ve had their accounts banned / deleted, are automatically removed from existence
My suggestion would be to implement a 24-hour block for players to use on spammers, in the hope that by the time the block runs out, they’ll no longer be around (this method also combats chat-abuse other than whispers, identical to the block ability we already have, with less of the mess).
Hope some of this leads to something! ^^ Heart of the Mists seems to be hit the hardest right now.
(edited by Danface.3671)
hopefully now less threatening overall)