I think we are all aware of how this breaks many of the gamemode decisions that anet has set in stone when designing new content (wvsw chat between bl etc). I think we are also aware of how this allows you to effectively stalk and troll/harass other players.
The intention of the block list is to have an easy way to go back and unblock players if you mistakenly blocked them or changed your mind about it.
Anyone who uses the block option responsibly though should NEVERRRRR unblock someone to begin with. 95% chance they will warrant blocking again. So 5% of the time this list serves a menial purpose where you can go back and have an easy way to unblock someone. Typically you wouldn’t unblock them unless you had communicated with someone else who told you to unblock them for whatever reason. In which case it’s a matter of convenience since they could otherwise give you the name to manually unblock.
It makes no sense to have this list, especially given the negative effects it has on the community. It potentially makes sense that you can spy on where blocked players are, since the lfg is flawed and allows them to join your parties and all that…..but that’s a case of 2 wrongs making a right and is hardly a valid reason.
It’s hypocritical, at best, that we have something like this in the game. And to boot it’s right under your friend/contacts tabs which you often use and it’s just as big and important as those tabs….it just screams at people that you allow trolling.
I kill you in one gunflame, or I kill you in two.
The Tiny Yuno Sniper of Ebay [EBAY]
In a perfect world where everyone gets along, this might make sense. But it isn’t. And Anet doesn’t “allow” trolling. It’s just literally impossible to prevent it.
And sometimes people just don’t like each other.
But aside from all that, I can almost guarantee that at least half the people in GW have an ignore list FULL of bots that love to go into crowded areas and spam gold selling advertisements. Usually these accounts only exist for a day or two before getting banned, but for that day it is insufferable. And it has friends. tons of them. Occasionally it’s a good idea to look back at your ignore tab and clear out the list of bots that likely don’t exist anymore.
Leader and sole member of the “Bring Penguins to Tyria” movement.
I clear out my block list every New Years Day, with the exception to the one or two people whom I actually remember why I blocked them. I think people deserve a second chance, but they can wait for up to a year in my books. >:P
I go in and unblock dead gold seller accounts periodically. I also go back and unblock the people that were only mildly annoying. In a game of this size I may never see or hear from them again. The ones I really don’t want unblocked I’ll put a note on their name and they’ll never get unblocked.
In other words, you might never unblock because you only block the most serious offenders but I use it as a temporary “shut up with your drivel, will you” for the mildly annoying who aren’t necessarily always like that.
Be careful what you ask for
ANet may give it to you.
Anyone who uses the block option responsibly though should NEVERRRRR unblock someone to begin with. 95% chance they will warrant blocking again.
It makes no sense to have this list, especially given the negative effects it has on the community. It potentially makes sense that you can spy on where blocked players are, since the lfg is flawed and allows them to join your parties and all that…..but that’s a case of 2 wrongs making a right and is hardly a valid reason.
It is easy to block someone in the heat of an argument, without the block list it would be difficult to unblock them if you change your mind.
Almost all of the ones on my block list are bots. The rest are people who ended up on there I simply blocked because they were being annoying at the time – there is no need for me to permanently ban them. My blocking them has no negative effects on the community.
As with everything, it has to be used responsibly, and not everyone acts that way 100% of the time. As far as I can see the block list has far more benefits for the community than negative ones.
Would be nice if a gold seller account, once it is permanently banned, was removed from my block list.
Because giving players more options to deal with the games block system is a good thing.
I just don’t see the problem. Maybe I’m to old to care about people who I’ve blocked, but if you use your bock list for anything else than unblocking that is up to the player.
Not sure what you actually do on your block list, but I’ve been on it probably 3-4 times, in over 3 years of playing the game. That’s what a responsible player does.
Then again, people who enjoy on/off blocking and making life hard on themselves or are overly attached to people they’ve blocked, well there is people who will obsess over just about anything isn’t there?
I clear out my block list every New Years Day, with the exception to the one or two people whom I actually remember why I blocked them. I think people deserve a second chance, but they can wait for up to a year in my books. >:P
I set nicknames to people I blockes so I acctually know why or where.
The block list tab is awesome and I like it the way it is.
When I come across a person who deserves to be added to it, I first add them as a friend. Then I give them a nickname (e.g. goldseller, portalseller, fake gm, stupid comander, zerk-farmer … etc.) – some of these categories might make no sense to you, but the blocklist is for personal use. I play gw2 to have fun and not to bother with people I don’t get along with ^^. Once the nick is saved, I change them from friendlist to blocklist.
Hours, days or weeks later I may enter a group or guild which has a person inside I blocked before. I can just look up in the list why and decide if I risk another try or walk away. The goldsellers/fake-gm people I share with friends. I also have a few of the starwars 7 spoilers listed there xD.
Blocking people not harms them, it is not like reporting. Anyone happens to know if there is a limit of people you can block?
dulfy-effect: Knowledge is power. But without fame, you are just a freak.
The intention of the block list is to eliminate some of the problems caused by players.
Sell gold = blocked.
Scream constant obscenities in map chat = blocked.
Give a large group of people intentionally wrong info = blocked.
Use harpy pheromones during an event = blocked.
Mesmer port players away from a chest = blocked.
Grief players = Friended, watched, avoided.
Anyone who uses the block option responsibly though should NEVERRRRR unblock someone to begin with. 95% chance they will warrant blocking again.
It makes no sense to have this list, especially given the negative effects it has on the community. It potentially makes sense that you can spy on where blocked players are, since the lfg is flawed and allows them to join your parties and all that…..but that’s a case of 2 wrongs making a right and is hardly a valid reason.
It is easy to block someone in the heat of an argument, without the block list it would be difficult to unblock them if you change your mind.
Almost all of the ones on my block list are bots. The rest are people who ended up on there I simply blocked because they were being annoying at the time – there is no need for me to permanently ban them. My blocking them has no negative effects on the community.
As with everything, it has to be used responsibly, and not everyone acts that way 100% of the time. As far as I can see the block list has far more benefits for the community than negative ones.
Would be nice if a gold seller account, once it is permanently banned, was removed from my block list.
/adds Cerby.1069 to block list…..
Only joking.
I gotta agree with this. Sometimes burning bridges isn’t always the best thing. Usually only spammers get on the list.
However, I certainly think you should not be able to know the location/online status of someone that is blocked or has blocked you.
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards,
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
I don’t really see the issue here. Especially since the block option is easily misclickable in the right mouse context menu it’s useful to be able to unblock people.
I agree that a person you have blocked shouldn’t be able to see your location though.
I clear out my block list every New Years Day, with the exception to the one or two people whom I actually remember why I blocked them. I think people deserve a second chance, but they can wait for up to a year in my books. >:P
I set nicknames to people I blockes so I acctually know why or where.
Oh yes, I used to do this too, until I got lazy! But I figured if I can’t remember why I block someone, then it couldn’t have been that bad so they get removed on New Year’s Day. If I remember what they did, it was bad, so I don’t need to change their nicks, just leave them to fester in my Block Bucket of Dhum
Example: I blocked a guy in wvw who was really annoying and stupid. I had to block him because he ran around with multiple alts and had I known all their names I’d never responded to him because that always led to a kittenstorm. So, a few weeks afterwards people were talking to seemingly no one in wvw mapchat and I had a look at my blocklist and found they were talking to him, otherwise I would have had to ask and probably cause another kittenstorm. So; the location of people is shown everywhere anyway, no matter what list they’re on – as long as that stays as it is I’d like to see the location on my blocklist as well.
ETA: People don’t seem to know that the exact location of wvw enemies isn’t shown if you’re up against them. I have several friends from other servers whose exact location in wvw I can see as long as we’re not enemies for the week. That is often an argument as to why the location shouldn’t be shown on the blocklist. And; I find it very hard to get on the same server like someone who’s not in my party – so it is kind of very hard to harass someone even when knowing the location.
Block lists are important and necessary. Not being able to view who you have blocked is a problem. You don’t always want to block someone forever. Most of the time I block a player it’s only for a few hours or until I leave the map. Enough time for them (or me) to cool down and it’s no longer a problem.
As for seeing online status? Yes this can be a problem. I understand it’s there so you can purposely avoid maps where these players are. This is largely unnecessary though because you shouldn’t be able to see their chat anyway.
Changes I’d like are:
1) Remove online status display from block list.
2) Allow emotes to be right-clicked to block. (Though I believe this would have an issue on emotes displaying awkwardly? So perhaps not.)
Half of you are commenting on the logistics of whether we need the option to block people and have a list of these names. The forum was clearly pointed at “the block list TAB”…
Reread the OP if you don’t understand.
Also If it’s so easy to accidentally block someone then simply adding an “are you sure” prompt would fix that.
I kill you in one gunflame, or I kill you in two.
The Tiny Yuno Sniper of Ebay [EBAY]
Oh, so that is what is a problem for you – sorry, I misunderstood – I thought you meant that we need no blocklist as we shouldn’t be able to spy on people and also we would never want to unblock them anyway.
I didn’t get the trolling part at all though.
ETA: I was replying to ArchonWing though – without quoting him.
I would love for the OP to point out a game with an ignore option that does not also have a list of the people that have had that option used on them. It is because it serves no purpose to remove it, and therefore even the tiniest of options to keep it outweigh the no reasons to remove it.
Half of you are commenting on the logistics of whether we need the option to block people and have a list of these names. The forum was clearly pointed at “the block list TAB”…
Reread the OP if you don’t understand.
Also If it’s so easy to accidentally block someone then simply adding an “are you sure” prompt would fix that.
I read the OP and I don’t understand how you can object to my use of the tab to manage those whom I have blocked.
If the objection is that the block list itself enables certain types of bad behavior, then let’s ask ANet to change the elements that the block list tab display. Specifically, if you are blocked, you shouldn’t be able to see the status of the person who blocked you and if you block someone, you should only be able to see if they are online, not where they are or their character names.
tl;dr there’s nothing wrong with the existence of the tab; perhaps ANet should change some of the features of blocking generally.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
Most of the people on my block list are gold sellers (which I block right after reporting to avoid being spammed by them in the few hours it takes ANet to get around to kicking them). I clear them out periodically, which, thanks to the available block list, is easy.
There are however a few non-goldsellers on the list, too. These are people who I’ve blocked after ranked pvp matches for repeatedly flaming their team instead of playing with them. Since I have no intention to ever end up on a team with these people again, I do check my block list occasionally to make sure they’re not around whenever I feel like pvping. The game, unfortunately, does team you up with people on your blocklist if it’s desperate to fill a match .
I’ve also had a case once of a former friend who (for personal, out-of-game reasons) I couldn’t stand seeing chatting on guild chat, so I had that person blocked for a couple of months until I could deal with them again. That’s another case where the availability of the block list was helpful to me, because it was easy to un-block them again once I was ready to, without having to type in complicated character names or the like.
Most of time, my blocks are in-the-moment “gawd just shut him up” blocks. I don’t have to worry about seeing that person again, it’s just an impromptu mute button.
I’d rather have some QoL items like select mass-deletion or an unlimited block list.
Many alts; handle it!
“I’m finding companies should sell access to forums,
it seems many like them better than the games they comment on.” -Horrorscope.7632
I like being able to see the block list even though 99% of mine is just gold sellers. One reason to keep the block list, the guild i’m in is made up of 6 guilds. I have seen many members accidentally block guild leaders while try to join on a map for whatever raid is going on.(and not know it) If there was no block list to see they would never be able to unblock that guild leader that i know of.
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