Guild Wars 2

anet destroyed my life

I’d like to add that I agree the 72hr ban for first infractions seems very harsh.
I was banned sometime early yesterday(?) for a mesmer I’d named with a phrase that discribes a party with too many men. I can accept that AreaNet’s deemed this inappropriate and is forcing me to change it, but a 72 hour ban for a first offense on something that’s frankly pretty tame seems extreme.
I’ve been digging through a lot of other users’ and forums’ posts about naming suspensions and found several mentions that users aren’t always being suspended for the naming offense. I don’t see why suspension for 72hrs on this first offense is justified.

Morian.2031:

shochinhwa.1648:

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

shochinhwa.1648:

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

Synforce.7351:

You obviously didn’t read that some people got suspended for a simple ‘no’ or ‘yes’ which has nothing to do with Anet’s policy being strict or fair. It’s just silly.

I did not read that anywhere, and would not believe it for a minute even if I did. For one thing, you are not told what it was you said that got you the suspension, so anyone saying it was because they said yes or no is either taking a wild guess or “making it up”. For another reason, do you REALLY expect anyone to believe that a support tech would suspend an account for typing either yes or no in to the chat filter?
In your own words, “it’s just silly”.

Go dig up reddit. There was a player who was wrongfully banned because he quoted the offensive phrase and said ‘reported’. You would think that every report is ‘heavily reviewed and considered by more than one person. Yeah right. When they made a mistake ’oops, sorry my bad’. Yeah right.

Reddit? seriously?
As far as using that site to gauage support in any game, you would be better off asking some stranger on the street. People on the internet lie. When they are upset with a company because they did something wrong and got caught, they lie even more.
A post by some nameless person on a website is not proof of anything other then the person making the post knows how to use a computer. As to your example, a player quoated a phrase he was reporting? so he KNEW it was offensive, and he reposted it AGAIN? Rightful ban! He should have known better. Reposting the phrase and then saying reported was stupid beyond belief. Why would anyone even do that? What purpose does it serve? Even posting the word reported is just trying to get start something with the person reported. You report them, then move on. Simple as that.

You are one of those clueless people. Anet created an account in reddit to answer allegation that players were wrongfully suspended. It’s an official Anet support team responding on Reddit to players who ask them to check why they were suspended/banned for. Those phrases were posted by official Anet. I suppose when you say “People on the internet lie” that includes especially you and the responses we get from Anet most of the time. It must be all lies, like you so rightfully put it.

Care to share the link, in that case?

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/yxx3m/suspensions_for_offensive_names_and_inappropriate/

This thread makes me think of the Gestapo! Next they’ll ban us for using Assault Great Swords!! lmfao

Can we report NPC for being offensive and inappropriate, like with how all the racial slur is being thrown at the sylvari – salad, house plant and etc. Why are such languages considered humor and acceptable so does it mean it’s ok for me as a player to go around and insult another sylvari player as salad? You better not ban me for that.

shochinhwa.1648:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/yxx3m/suspensions_for_offensive_names_and_inappropriate/

I was hoping that’s the one you meant. Lots of people complaining about “unfair” banning, lots of lulz as the Anet person outed what it is they actually said to be banned. Yeah, it’s bad.

Edited to add: Bad for the people complaining, that is. Because what they did was bad and they should feel bad.

Morian.2031:

shochinhwa.1648:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/yxx3m/suspensions_for_offensive_names_and_inappropriate/

I was hoping that’s the one you meant. Lots of people complaining about “unfair” banning, lots of lulz as the Anet person outed what it is they actually said to be banned. Yeah, it’s bad.

I like the one ‘shut the kitten up with non-English geez >.<’ that got banned. I can so see myself typing some incoherent language in a public space (oops my keyboard is faulty) and getting people to swear and getting them suspended. Trolling is so easy in this game.

shochinhwa.1648:

Morian.2031:

shochinhwa.1648:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/yxx3m/suspensions_for_offensive_names_and_inappropriate/

I was hoping that’s the one you meant. Lots of people complaining about “unfair” banning, lots of lulz as the Anet person outed what it is they actually said to be banned. Yeah, it’s bad.

I like the one ‘shut the kitten up with non-English geez >.<’ that got banned. I can so see myself typing some incoherent language in a public space (oops my keyboard is faulty) and getting people to swear and getting them suspended. Trolling is so easy in this game.

Trolling is easy in any game. Difference is, here it’ll get you banned. You can’t make people do anything, including swear. If they choose to swear at you, they have to bear the consequences, and when the staff reviews the logs that you reported, they’ll see that you were trolling and suspend you too.

shochinhwa.1648:

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

shochinhwa.1648:

Morian.2031:

shochinhwa.1648:

Morian.2031:

shochinhwa.1648:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/yxx3m/suspensions_for_offensive_names_and_inappropriate/

I was hoping that’s the one you meant. Lots of people complaining about “unfair” banning, lots of lulz as the Anet person outed what it is they actually said to be banned. Yeah, it’s bad.

I like the one ‘shut the kitten up with non-English geez >.<’ that got banned. I can so see myself typing some incoherent language in a public space (oops my keyboard is faulty) and getting people to swear and getting them suspended. Trolling is so easy in this game.

Trolling is easy in any game. Difference is, here it’ll get you banned. You can’t make people do anything, including swear. If they choose to swear at you, they have to bear the consequences, and when the staff reviews the logs that you reported, they’ll see that you were trolling and suspend you too.

No. The one trolling won’t get banned. it’s the one who respond to the troll without reading the code of conduct will get ban. There are many ways of trolling without registering it on a chat log. The other day I went to every map and ask people ‘anyone know the ori node location, even when that map clearly doesn’t have any’ and as usual some people took the bait and responded, reported them, not sure whether they were banned or not. But it’s just a very simple example of how easy it is.

Wow, so your admitting here that you where purposly engaging in griefing of other players by attampting to get thier accounts banned? This is a perfect example of the worst kind of player and the reason there are so many problems in online games. We all know you have been advising others to make support’s job as difficult as possible with as many reports as possible, but this just takes the cake. Did you ever once think it might be better to be part of the solution instead of being the problem incarnate?
Just remember, filing false reports can lead to your account being banned as well, which after this, may be the best thing for all the other players in the game.

don’t blame me, blame Anet for having such a kitten system that allows trolls to abuse other players who didn’t read code of conduct. and besides there is nothing wrong about asking for help on map chat, even if its a deliberate attempt to troll and i’m not that stupid to report player who don’t insult, i just need to get someone to insult, i can also just type something as innocent as ‘is that the best u can do?’ and wait for the insults to come, see the things i type is perfectly fine, it didn’t have offensive language, it wasn’t inappropriate. just blame yourself if u can’t control ur emotions to swear and insult.

That’s actually 100% true. I agree that you can’t make other players behave badly, they chose to do so for themselves. That said, admitting that you do this sort of thing just to get random people you don’t know into some kind of trouble for some nebulous reason (which, I suppose, involves your battle against Anet and their policies) in some way, is still in no way OK.

Morian.2031:

shochinhwa.1648:

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

shochinhwa.1648:

Morian.2031:

shochinhwa.1648:

Morian.2031:

shochinhwa.1648:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/yxx3m/suspensions_for_offensive_names_and_inappropriate/

I was hoping that’s the one you meant. Lots of people complaining about “unfair” banning, lots of lulz as the Anet person outed what it is they actually said to be banned. Yeah, it’s bad.

I like the one ‘shut the kitten up with non-English geez >.<’ that got banned. I can so see myself typing some incoherent language in a public space (oops my keyboard is faulty) and getting people to swear and getting them suspended. Trolling is so easy in this game.

Trolling is easy in any game. Difference is, here it’ll get you banned. You can’t make people do anything, including swear. If they choose to swear at you, they have to bear the consequences, and when the staff reviews the logs that you reported, they’ll see that you were trolling and suspend you too.

No. The one trolling won’t get banned. it’s the one who respond to the troll without reading the code of conduct will get ban. There are many ways of trolling without registering it on a chat log. The other day I went to every map and ask people ‘anyone know the ori node location, even when that map clearly doesn’t have any’ and as usual some people took the bait and responded, reported them, not sure whether they were banned or not. But it’s just a very simple example of how easy it is.

Wow, so your admitting here that you where purposly engaging in griefing of other players by attampting to get thier accounts banned? This is a perfect example of the worst kind of player and the reason there are so many problems in online games. We all know you have been advising others to make support’s job as difficult as possible with as many reports as possible, but this just takes the cake. Did you ever once think it might be better to be part of the solution instead of being the problem incarnate?
Just remember, filing false reports can lead to your account being banned as well, which after this, may be the best thing for all the other players in the game.

don’t blame me, blame Anet for having such a kitten system that allows trolls to abuse other players who didn’t read code of conduct. and besides there is nothing wrong about asking for help on map chat, even if its a deliberate attempt to troll and i’m not that stupid to report player who don’t insult, i just need to get someone to insult, i can also just type something as innocent as ‘is that the best u can do?’ and wait for the insults to come, see the things i type is perfectly fine, it didn’t have offensive language, it wasn’t inappropriate. just blame yourself if u can’t control ur emotions to swear and insult.

That’s actually 100% true. I agree that you can’t make other players behave badly, they chose to do so for themselves. That said, admitting that you do this sort of thing just to get random people you don’t know into some kind of trouble for some nebulous reason (which, I suppose, involves your battle against Anet and their policies) in some way, is still in no way OK.

nope, in terms of black and white, I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m playing the game the way I want it. Feel free to send me a message in-game to debate about this so we can have it on chat log. wink wink

Morian, you have said it all..agree completely.

I was really surprised in the difference between the chat in this game and other big games. I am glad that I don’t have to listen to immature idiots thinking they are ‘cool’ for using abusive language in chat just to try and impress their friends.

Well done Anet, I think you are doing a great job.

Morian.2031:

The mods have explained repeatedly, just in the little while I’ve browsed this particular forum
a.) Why they don’t give warnings
b.) Why the profanity filter is not an excuse to use foul and inappropriate language (and not all abuse involve cursing/swearing, so it won’t necessarily be caught by the profanity filter)
c.) Where the boundary is and how important it is to obey said boundary.

The fact that some people don’t agree with where the boundary is or how it is enforced is not the moderation/support team’s battle.

a) quote this please
b) they give a reason, not a good reason though. there is no point in having it in this game based upon Gailes reason. I don’t run around LA cussing but I don’t mind letting a word slip here and there, profanity filter is useless based on how harsh the bans are.
c) Let’s be fair here, everyone has different boundaries, I personally don’t care watching map chat filled with mindless cussing (and if I did I would use a chat filter), I do care when it is directed at a person. (ranting about trahearne is fine in my book, saying stfu to a player who asks a question is not) Boundaries are relative.

Also, taking apart several posts and replying to each piece just takes things out of context and you didn’t actually offer any sort of discussion, as far as I can make out all you are really saying is stfu to players with an opinion. If they want to complain, let them, if they want to raise a question, let them, if they want to QQ then let them, but don’t come here telling people how wrong they are just because they don’t have 110% trust in Anet any more because I certainly don’t blame them.

P.S. “The warning is in the CoC?” – Disgraceful IMO.

Turial.1293:

a) quote this please

Here it is https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/account/Patone-SoS-EB-Commander-ban/first#post1091429

Seems like a cop out to me.

“Issuing a warning — as discovered in other games — is a huge timesink”
Hopefully they have discovered that if players don’t see the griefers getting rightfully punished, along with letting certain parts of the game go unfinished or unfixed as months of unanswered threads pile up they will learn that a little time wasted on warning players is far more efficient than letting their fan base slip away. A warning is good enough to remind certain players that there is rules and to help with first offences. That is just my opinion.

Alright, Posting on behalf of a friend. We were in the midst of an event, and all of a sudden something popped up on his screen, all he was able to read was, (Paraprhasing) “Your account has been suspended for account issues…” Before it went away. the 4 of us who were playing with him are pretty sure he did nothing wrong. Our guesses were that A. It was a mistake, B. it was a delay from sending me 1 silver yesterday, to help buy armor. Any help would be appreciated, as he feels he was “Ripped off for 60 bucks.”

@Turial: You cannot discuss somebody’s opinions! You can express your own (as you have done), but you cannot convince somebody if he does not share your opinion.
You cannot deny that a 3-day-suspension will work because anybody knows they are serious about it. And if they have some rules, they have to make do with it without any exceptions. If they do just one exception and it gets public, their complete policy would be destroyed.
I sincerely hope that anybody punished will learn their lesson and will continue as a respected community member and player.
If I will be hit by something similar, I will grief it in private and I will continue. My life will not be destroyed (there are far more serious threats on that) because I have a life outside the game.
I’m not celebrating somebody being punished. Instead I’ll try to give advice on how to get back to playing.

Turial.1293:

b) they give a reason, not a good reason though. there is no point in having it in this game based upon Gailes reason. I don’t run around LA cussing but I don’t mind letting a word slip here and there, profanity filter is useless based on how harsh the bans are.

Gaile is an employee of the company, explaining company policy to us. The game is not based upon her reasons. The harsh truth is, it doesn’t matter what you think about it, the company who hosts the game has made it clear what their rules are.

It’s the same as visiting a restaurant or a cinema. Yes, you paid for the ticket/food, but there are still behaviours that are deemed inappropriate by the hosts of the restaurant/cinema and will get you escorted out of the establishment if you do them, regardless of whether you feel that what you did was OK.

Turial.1293:

c) Let’s be fair here, everyone has different boundaries, I personally don’t care watching map chat filled with mindless cussing (and if I did I would use a chat filter), I do care when it is directed at a person. (ranting about trahearne is fine in my book, saying stfu to a player who asks a question is not) Boundaries are relative.

That is certainly very true for personal boundaries. However, we are not dealing with what you, or I, or the guy down the street thinks is/may be acceptable in our own houses or places of business. We are visiting a public establishment that belongs to someone else when we log into the game/forums. The owners of this establishment has made rules about what they will and will not tolerate in their establishment. Regardless of whether we agree with these rules or not, they are what the owners of the establishment we are visiting wants for their place of business. We can either obey these rules or be escorted out of the establishment.

The same way it works in restaurants, cinemas, malls, any other public establishment. For example I, personally, don’t see why you have to wear shoes to eat at a restaurant. I love going barefoot, I only wear shoes to work (and for that matter, why must one wear shoes to work? It doesn’t make you work better!) However, when I do go to eat at a restaurant (which is almost never), I wear shoes because if I don’t, I’ll be thrown out – the rule has been made clear, and if I break it, I’ll suffer a consequence. So I only eat at the restaurant if my desire for their food is more than my desire to not wear shoes.

Turial.1293:

Also, taking apart several posts and replying to each piece just takes things out of context and you didn’t actually offer any sort of discussion, as far as I can make out all you are really saying is stfu to players with an opinion. If they want to complain, let them, if they want to raise a question, let them, if they want to QQ then let them, but don’t come here telling people how wrong they are just because they don’t have 110% trust in Anet any more because I certainly don’t blame them.

I don’t take anything out of context – that’s why I also add the quote and the person I’m quoting, so that whoever read this can go back and check that what I’m quoting is accurate. I’m arguing against what they say and showing that there’s another side to it and arguments against what they said. Are only anti-Anets allowed to express their opinion in your opinion?

Turial.1293:

P.S. “The warning is in the CoC?” – Disgraceful IMO.

Why?

@Michael – Hopefully they change their policy because it is far from perfect Michael and it is wrong in many aspects. It is far too harsh on new players or first time offenders, why should they get 72 hour bans when they really don’t know any better. Warning should be issued, not insta-bans. I have not ever been banned from a game in all my years of playing and I don’t intend to be, I follow rules and don’t step out of line. That is to say I have not lost my temper sometimes or perhaps I done something wrong considered by the game but something I had not known due to being a newbie at the time. I have also dealt with several of these rules before, basic rules like don’t be a jerk but never before have I seen a game so strict and it certainly does not need to be. Also, yes it is a game, we all have lives, agree with you there lol.

@Morian – I was saying the reason Gaile mentioned, whether it was her or the reason from Anet does not matter, you have taken out of context again. If I hear cinema or restaurant point again I think I will scream… There is rules yes, a normal member of society of knows how to follow rules that have a purpose or rules that are understandable for having them. “Don’t dance on an escalator” hmmm, I can see why, that makes sense. “Don’t wave your arms while talking to staff” does not make sense and people will do this because they don’t understand the consequence. A normal kind of rule followed by an insane rule.

Shoes in a restaurant… yes, you know better because that is how you were raised. Talking loudly in a restaurant, sometimes a lot of people break this rule, not on purpose but yet they will get a “warning” from the staff that they are disturbing the other people. Dancing on the tables, yes get them out straight away as everyone knows you don’t do that. Talking too loudly or crass is a part of adult life, sometimes you deal with it but you start with “Excuse me, would you mind keeping it down?” a warning will tell you if it is a mistake or are they trolling per se and tell you to bugger off. I am sure you would never go to the same establishment again if they kicked you out mid-meal because you laughed too hard and someone complained. It is far more sensible and respectful to ask someone to keep it down than to kick them out. I believe in innocent until proven guilty, a mistake until proven as troll.

Who said I am anti-Anet? Because I disagree with their strict policy? Or is it because I disagree with you?

And why? Well let us put it this way; In work you are given a contract that says you get more work hours and more money, chances are you jump at that but you read the contract and find out hidden in there is a clause where they may fire you any day they want and you were about to sign it. Chances are you won’t. If you have read the ToC/CoC of every game you have played well then you would be a liar, nobody reads more than one of them, if even that.
To add their warning inside an item nobody reads, and they know this, is just slimy. I would expect it from lawyers and bosses but not from a game. They can’t justify it by saying, “well you signed it” it is very slimy indeed.

Hello,

I was banned a day ago (4 hours from now) for “inappropriate language” when I believe I never directly attacked anyone specifically (72 hour ban total)

I am one of the many commanders in world vs world for stormbluff isle and the only thing I can think of that got me banned was “motivational cursing” while leading the charge into battle, you know I never thought I’d actually get banned for motivating people, sorry if that’s a crime, our server saw a severe decline in world vs world and my motivation worked a lot, we ended up wiping the enemy a ton of times because of it, I just find this plain right outrageous that I would be banned for something like that in all seriousness.

I contacted customer support and all I got back was an auto-response…as expected, no help whatsoever so now im trying my luck here I suppose, please respond.

Shift Focus.9083:

Hello,

I was banned a day ago (4 hours from now) for “inappropriate language” when I believe I never directly attacked anyone specifically (72 hour ban total)

I am one of the many commanders in world vs world for stormbluff isle and the only thing I can think of that got me banned was “motivational cursing” while leading the charge into battle, you know I never thought I’d actually get banned for motivating people, sorry if that’s a crime, our server saw a severe decline in world vs world and my motivation worked a lot, we ended up wiping the enemy a ton of times because of it, I just find this plain right outrageous that I would be banned for something like that in all seriousness.

I contacted customer support and all I got back was an auto-response…as expected, no help whatsoever so now im trying my luck here I suppose, please respond.

There is no such thing as “motivational cursing”, cursing is cursiong and will get you suspended if another player reports it.

Turial.1293:

To add their warning inside an item nobody reads, and they know this, is just slimy. I would expect it from lawyers and bosses but not from a game. They can’t justify it by saying, “well you signed it” it is very slimy indeed.

It’s not slimy. I guess it is what their lawyers or law department ask them to do because of how the law works. If you don’t do it, you will be loosing hardearned money soon after.
After all it is a game company trying to make a living for the owners and workers. They simply follow the rules (laws). You cannot blame them for doing so.

I believe that they want to make money and that they want us to have fun. If we have fun, we spend money on the game. Any player whose penalty (suspension, ban, infraction) is not really justified, is bad “public relations”, is not having fun, is reducing the money they earn from us. I think that I am right to guess that nobody at Anet wants this to happen. It is just as simple as that and that is why I have confidence that their opinions on this thread and in others are sincere. I believe that they will work hard on giving us a good time and to repair any damage done by not justified penalties.

Hi. I am currently suspended for what, I dont know. Maybe an F word or something. I am usually polite while playing with others, at least I think I am. I know I told someone to F off while be was begging in /m for people to give him dyes. I would really like to know the specifics, I dont like beeing shut out and not knowing why. So could someone please send me the report or screenshot or whatever, would be nice to know for future reference.

Sometimes one swears while chatting, not always ment as an offense. If a GM would contact me and said : Hey, watch your language or there will be consequenses I would…

Gonna go play GW1 in the meantime.

I agree with your point Michael, I just find it absurd that they are so strict about it. I have never heard of a game with so many banned players over something so trivial. Yes bad language is bad language but there needs to be a little bit of common sense about it too, sometimes people lose their cool, sometimes they are goaded into it, other times they are not directing at anyone but get reported anyway. I find it silly that even mentioning a bad word is a 72 hour ban, it is far, far, far too long of a ban for language, especially considering what some people are sensitive to and others are not.

I recently started to play LoL again and was pleased at how much there is in that game, for instance there is at least 10 different items to report a player for and yet GW2 still only has basic reports like scamming, spamming, etc. There is no report option for players that troll, that includes goading other players into arguments, nor is there an option for reporting players for leaving parties to wreck dungeon runs. Trolling should come with a 72 hour ban, not bad language. I would find that many players would be glad if it was reduced to a simple 2 hour ban, that will teach them to cool off and they would be nicer in the future. I am sure Anet is taking info on the repeat offenders anyway so why not just reduce it for the sake of keeping a solid player base; I don’t curse often and especially not at players and I do use my ignore option, but I can still feel the sting of a 72 our ban for all those other players out there.

Do you not think, even a little, that players could learn their lesson from a shorter punishment?

Maybe, but we are not the people who have made the rules. Back when my parents made my rules, I didn’t like them either. We all have the ability to know the rules by
1. accepting them before we started playing or by
2. visiting them later because you can read the legal stuff on the website or by
3. reading discussions here.
Rules are rules and laws are laws. You can ask them to change it and sometimes they will do it. But if they don’t do it you will have to stick with it.

Everybody has the right to ask for a review and anybody should ask for one, if he thinks he deserves one. Because of the time to work it via support 72-hour suspensions might be ended before the review might work. Nevertheless everybody should try to do it. You can ask and is up to them to say yes or no. But if you don’t ask, you won’t get a chance for a yes.

Just don’t try it, if you are sure, that you are at fault. Anybody else should always try for a review.

Turial.1293:

I agree with your point Michael, I just find it absurd that they are so strict about it. I have never heard of a game with so many banned players over something so trivial. Yes bad language is bad language but there needs to be a little bit of common sense about it too, sometimes people lose their cool, sometimes they are goaded into it, other times they are not directing at anyone but get reported anyway. I find it silly that even mentioning a bad word is a 72 hour ban, it is far, far, far too long of a ban for language, especially considering what some people are sensitive to and others are not.

I recently started to play LoL again and was pleased at how much there is in that game, for instance there is at least 10 different items to report a player for and yet GW2 still only has basic reports like scamming, spamming, etc. There is no report option for players that troll, that includes goading other players into arguments, nor is there an option for reporting players for leaving parties to wreck dungeon runs. Trolling should come with a 72 hour ban, not bad language. I would find that many players would be glad if it was reduced to a simple 2 hour ban, that will teach them to cool off and they would be nicer in the future. I am sure Anet is taking info on the repeat offenders anyway so why not just reduce it for the sake of keeping a solid player base; I don’t curse often and especially not at players and I do use my ignore option, but I can still feel the sting of a 72 our ban for all those other players out there.

Do you not think, even a little, that players could learn their lesson from a shorter punishment?

They should focus more on giving players a stronger ignore function instead of banning people for language.

I’d rather be able to perm ignore someone and never have to deal with them again then have to report them for something I find offensive.

I don’t understand why a game would have a teen rating and a chat filter but then ban people for bad language that people can only see in chat by choosing to turn that filter off.

i just want an official response on whether or not i will be banned for saying “kitten” when i fall off a cliff due to a glitch and die.
(can i be banned for saying kitten? the swear filter caught it and i didn’t avoid the filter, but maybe some people will be offended anyway?)

The current policy that governs all violations listed under the UA is a 72 hour suspension without any prior warning (they say the 72 hours suspension is your “warning”). I believe that this policy is unfair and arbitrary in many cases, and it reflects poor customer service.

I was recently suspended for having an inappropriate name. I agree, having reviewed the TOS, that my name could be construed as inappropriate and that action should have been taken. That being said, I do not think a 3-day suspension is appropriate. I posted in the account forums regarding this issue, but my concerns were largely ignored as the moderator likely thought I was another person whining about my name being taken away or being suspended, and brushed me off. This is not the case. As I said above, I understand the TOS and accept my punishment.

That does not mean my punishment is fair. Nor does it mean the current system is just.

I just want to copy the response I got from a moderator to my post.

I don’t consider your name “benign.” It’s not “probably” a violation of the UA and the Naming Policy, it is one! The name is not the worst in the world, that’s true. But it’s not a harmless name that wouldn’t be noticed by players; and clearly it was noticed because the name was reported to us.

I agreed it was a violation by your standards. I am more skeptical, personally, but that is difference in standards and I can accept that. It is “benign” in that it was a harmless, fictitious name that was never meant to harm anyone. I believe that is an important distinction to make, as there are names out there intended to hurt and insult others. This was not the case with my name. But, as will be seen, Anet does not currently make those distinctions.

Now, you seem to want to make a distinction between a poor name choice and a poor choice in in-game behavior. I don’t draw such a fine line. Because a poor name choice is undesirable in-game behavior.

Remember that display names are not filtered, no matter the filter settings chosen by a player. Display name and character names are “out there” for everyone to view. That is why we take poor choices seriously.

I can appreciate the reasons that you want to actively police player’s names. They are all good ones. But your failure to draw a line is concerning. As I mentioned above, my name was not directly meant to harm anyone. I didn’t draw attention to my name. The reason this is concerning is because you’re lumping well-meaning players who innocently made a naming mistake with people who conduct themselves in a much more negative light through their speech and actions. I can thinking of countless phrases that could be spammed in any public area that would be infinitely more offensive than my innocuous name, and would affect many more people: but the punishment for these two crimes is the same. To me that’s the difference between making a racist joke and joining the KKK. To lump those together seem clearly misguided, and it is not hard to reasonably draw a line between the two.

And don’t error in believing we don’t have the tools to take care of this issue. We could rename the character in a flash but we are showing consideration by allowing you to do it. Had you contacted Support to discuss the possibility of this being across the line prior to the action, we would have worked with you. But you did not.

I seem to be misunderstood here; I was not being clear enough in my argument that unlike in-game behavior that is always under a player’s control, you only get one chance to name your character. I named my character months ago, although I clearly did not having a full grasp of the TOS at the time. Had I realized that my name was inappropriate, what recourse am I afforded? There is no mechanic within the game, currently, that allows for a player to change their name or request a name change. I am sure that Anet has the power to change my name, but I, the player, do not. I cannot fix this violation of “in-game behavior” without severe consequences to my character’s progress. Alternatively, a player who harassed another player in chat has a number of opportunities to alter their behavior.

The “solution” provided here is lacking. This is another reason I believe that the 72 hour suspension is unreasonable.

And as a forum member said above, the “warning” to which other players have expressed an entitlement is already present: in the User Agreement and the Rules of Conduct, which every player views and accepts before playing the game. At the point they breach either of those things, then the outcome is forewarned in the Conduct Breaches and Outcomes document. All found here.

I never said I was entitled to a warning. I understand the TOS and that I will not be given a warning; however, I do believe that is misguided way at approaching these sorts of problems. It’s a heavy handed and arbitrary way to treat your customers. I was trying to suggest that we look at this policy and consider alternative forms of action in the future, namely: give an in-game warning and an opportunity for a player to change their name. Had I been aware of my violation I would have happily agreed to change my character’s name if given the opportunity, without having to suffer an abrupt 3 day suspension of my account. As was said above, Anet is kindly offering us to pick our own names: but why does a 3 day suspension have to be attached to that? That is a severe blow to the time and money a player has invested in this product. Is that fair? Is that just? I believe that in many cases the 3-day suspension is a punishment that does not fit the crime.

Again, I am not posting to have my suspension lifted. I want to urge Anet and other other players to take a serious look at the current policies for player punishment. Is this fair? I don’t believe it is. It’s a blanket solution to customer service, and it is unbecoming to a company that has accomplished so many great things through this product. I think it is ridiculous that a 3-day suspension is given to an account for a single naming violation, let alone a single first time violation of most things in-game short of hacking, especially when the player is not given the tools to correct their behavior. Possible solutions to this in addition to being contacted in-game and being immediately given an opportunity to rename could include: Adding another tier of punishment that could include shorter account suspension times and/or a more gradual punishment scale; giving players an opportunity to rename their characters; or not allowing certain words to be used in player names to begin with (apparently “kitten” is filtered on the forums already, which is frankly ridiculous in itself as I consider that word no worse than “fart”. Both words are something 10 year old boys giggle at, but no adult would seriously take offense to. Had I known this while making a character that included that word, we wouldn’t be here.. but I digress). I just want to help make players aware of this overbearing policy. I personally had no idea how severely Anet punished its customers for innocent potty language. I hope that in the future the policy may be reviewed and that a more humane hand may be applied to moderation.

Thank you.

You simply don’t understand.
1. Of course their rules and ways of living their rules is arbitrary. Don’t forget where you are. You are in THEIR house and thus you have to stick to THEIR rules. You would ask anybody else who is guest in your house to follow YOUR rules as well. No discussion. It’s the way things are done. And YOU want it to be that way in YOUR house too.
2. Their is no distinction to be made between beeing a bad guy intentionally or being wrong because of not knowing. First, Anet doen’t know about intentions, thus it cannot rule accordingly. Second, you are adult and you have to stand in for your actions. Third, no court will accept you to be innocent just because you didn’t know the law. Not knowing is no protection in a court of justice. Why should it count here?

And last but not least, you are breeching the rules again: no discussion about decisions from support on the forums.
You will never learn, will you?

Michael.4791:

You simply don’t understand.
1. Of course their rules and ways of living their rules is arbitrary. Don’t forget where you are. You are in THEIR house and thus you have to stick to THEIR rules. You would ask anybody else who is guest in your house to follow YOUR rules as well. No discussion. It’s the way things are done. And YOU want it to be that way in YOUR house too.

A poor example. People do not pay money to enter my house. They do not spend countless hours building my house. If they did, they would be afforded a certain amount of respect. This current policy is disrespectful to customers who otherwise have a sterling record and have cause no other disruptions in a game.

Michael.4791:

2. Their is no distinction to be made between beeing a bad guy intentionally or being wrong because of not knowing. First, Anet doen’t know about intentions, thus it cannot rule accordingly. Second, you are adult and you have to stand in for your actions. Third, no court will accept you to be innocent just because you didn’t know the law. Not knowing is no protection in a court of justice. Why should it count here?

Another poor point. Intention can clearly be divined from the name itself. In my example, the portion of my name amounted to little more than potty language. Is that illegal under the TOS? Yes. Was I using a racial slur, hateful speech, or otherwise derogatory language? No. That is where a line should be drawn.

To address your ignorance not being an defense, I will provide an example of the real world where it is such a defense. Say, that you’re driving down the road and you get pulled over by a police officer. You’re tail light is out. I’m sorry officer I didn’t know. You’re given a WARNING and asked to FIX IT IMMEDIATELY without any further incident. For Anet to say that giving warnings is a time sink, suggests poor customer service and laziness.

Michael.4791:

And last but not least, you are breeching the rules again: no discussion about decisions from support on the forums.
You will never learn, will you?

You are clearly pretty dense, as I state many times that I am not appealing my suspension through this post. Rather, I am drawing attention to a policy that is frankly draconian while using my situation as an example. That is all. I have not violated any forum rules. Moreover, we were invited to such complaints by the OP and I followed all the rules laid out in that post.

Part 1: I still doubt that your visitors are allowed to do anything they want. But if you don’t like that example, I would suggest you take a cinema, a restaurant or a public swimming pool. In each of this places you are the one to pay and you are asked to follow the rules or else to leave the property.

Part 2: If a name was against the rules, Anet does not know if it was by accident or intentional. All they see, is something against their rules. What are rules made for, if anybody can claim that his first mistake has to be taken lightly. And don’t forget it is a 72 hour suspension. No more, no less. That is not worth fighting for. Just because of our discussion here some will learn how to do better or to open a ticket to support and saying “sorry, but I choose a bad name”. Somebody who is doing that, would get a name change and NO suspension (IMHO).
I don’t rule out the fact, that I might fall victim to this trap sometime in the future myself. Because what is okay in one country or among one people, might be offending somewhere else. I don’t have all the rules of all the world in my head. If I think the name is okay and somebody is offended and Anet decides the other one is right – I will have to take it. No doubt about it, I would be angry about such a stupid thing happening to me, but this game is not only played in my hometown. Some foreign or even strange vulnerabilities have to be accepted.

Part 3. I have to admit, that this part of me was a wide shot. Maybe to far. I knew perfectly well, that we have been invited to discuss the topic here. Thus I know for sure, that the rules are at least softened a bit in this thread.
Nevertheless I can survive those rules. Anytime I join an online game, I accept the rules given. And other companies are not softening their approach to offenders too (like the reaction on cheaters of a very famous stormy publisher has shown). If Anet says, warnings are a waste of money, they have their reasons to do so. And I have no reason to doubt it.
We should not forget: they want to make money and they can do it only if most customers are satisfied.

Michael.4791:

Part 1: I still doubt that your visitors are allowed to do anything they want. But if you don’t like that example, I would suggest you take a cinema, a restaurant or a public swimming pool. In each of this places you are the one to pay and you are asked to follow the rules or else to leave the property.

If my kid is running along the poolside, the pool attendants (as well as myself) would ask the child to stop running. I would not be thrown out. If someone complains of my party swearing at a restaurant, I would be asked to more carefully consider my language. In both situations, yes, the establishment has the right to throw me out; but, in the interest of good customer service I am given a warning and asked to correct my behavior first.

Part 2: If a name was against the rules, Anet does not know if it was by accident or intentional. All they see, is something against their rules. What are rules made for, if anybody can claim that his first mistake has to be taken lightly. And don’t forget it is a 72 hour suspension. No more, no less. That is not worth fighting for. Just because of our discussion here some will learn how to do better or to open a ticket to support and saying “sorry, but I choose a bad name”. Somebody who is doing that, would get a name change and NO suspension (IMHO).

As I suggested before, it is not unreasonable to divine the intention of someone’s offensive name. If I used the word “poop” in my name, I find it highly unlikely that I’m trying to offend someone. Rather it’s just a silly, unseemly name. Is it against the TOS? Yes. Should that person be banned for 3 days? I don’t think so, unless it was a repeat offense.

I think I can legitimately claim this is my first offense. I’ve never been banned or suspended from any game I’ve ever played. Much less in Guild Wars 2. Anet has the ability to check if this is my first offense or not. I would expect stricter punishment for repeat offenders to the tune of a 3 day suspension or more.

I do agree that this is useful discussion in regards to possible solutions. I had absolutely no idea that I could report myself to support in order to secure a name change without any consequences. I would have probably done so had I known this to be the case. I don’t personally believe that my name is truely offensive, but I will admit that a friend, who is much more active on the forums/reddit than I am, mentioned that it could be in breach of the TOS. I was worried that he might be right, but I was in no position to delete my character. I was unaware of any process where I could request to be renamed without punishment. I instead operated under the assumption that my name was okay, since I held it for a number of months with no incident.

I don’t rule out the fact, that I might fall victim to this trap sometime in the future myself. Because what is okay in one country or among one people, might be offending somewhere else. I don’t have all the rules of all the world in my head. If I think the name is okay and somebody is offended and Anet decides the other one is right – I will have to take it. No doubt about it, I would be angry about such a stupid thing happening to me, but this game is not only played in my hometown. Some foreign or even strange vulnerabilities have to be accepted.

Agreed. And I accept their judgement in this matter. I’m hoping to affect the future not the present.

Part 3. I have to admit, that this part of me was a wide shot. Maybe to far. I knew perfectly well, that we have been invited to discuss the topic here. Thus I know for sure, that the rules are at least softened a bit in this thread.
Nevertheless I can survive those rules. Anytime I join an online game, I accept the rules given. And other companies are not softening their approach to offenders too (like the reaction on cheaters of a very famous stormy publisher has shown). If Anet says, warnings are a waste of money, they have their reasons to do so. And I have no reason to doubt it.
We should not forget: they want to make money and they can do it only if most customers are satisfied.

Maybe it’s a waste of money. But it’s poor customer service, as can be seen by a number of real world examples I have given, where the right thing to do when confronted with a violation is the opposite of Anet’s policy. I will have to think long and hard about spending any more money on this game in the future if Anet chooses to treat their customers like this.

All I’m suggesting is a fair punishment system that takes into account severity of the violation as well as number of offenses. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. I doubt you can disagree with that sentiment.

Walabone.6713:

I agree, having reviewed the TOS, that my name could be construed as inappropriate and that action should have been taken. That being said, I do not think a 3-day suspension is appropriate.

Possibly offensive? Don’t use it at all or it’s a risk.

Walabone.6713:

That does not mean my punishment is fair. Nor does it mean the current system is just.

Subjective perception. Justice and fairness differs in every culture. The culture of the punishments in this game is simply not in line with what you perceive you should be punished for. Not unjust.

You’re not going to get anywhere by appealing to emotions of fairness and justice.

Walabone.6713:

it was a harmless, fictitious name that was never meant to harm anyone. I believe that is an important distinction to make, as there are names out there intended to hurt and insult others. This was not the case with my name. But, as will be seen, Anet does not currently make those distinctions.

Harmless? Not harmless enough if it warranted a change. And how exactly would anet make those distinctions? Based on their feelings? Based on what the player tells them? For all they know you could have intended to harm, and thought you could get away if it wasn’t too severe or strong. Whose word do they believe?

Blanket restriction eliminates loopholes that offenders can jump through.

Walabone.6713:

There is no mechanic within the game, currently, that allows for a player to change their name or request a name change. I am sure that Anet has the power to change my name, but I, the player, do not. I cannot fix this violation of “in-game behavior” without severe consequences to my character’s progress.

Contact support.
Could have been avoided by simply PMing a staff member on the lines of ‘Hi, I believe my name has the potential to be offensive and would like to change it. I’m not sure how to do so, could you point me in the right direction?’

Just because you were not provided with an automated solution does not mean it is not available.

Walabone.6713:

People do not pay money to enter my house. They do not spend countless hours building my house. If they did, they would be afforded a certain amount of respect. This current policy is disrespectful to customers who otherwise have a sterling record and have cause no other disruptions in a game.

People pay money to enter hotels. They can still be kicked out when in violation of expectations. They reserve the right to refuse service.

Respect is earned, not given. You have an inappropriate name – what’s there to respect about that?

I have played / are playing a lot of online games. Most are F2P, but it makes almost no difference. Even if you pay the TOS explain, that you simply bought the right to play it along the rules and if there is no change. Whatever change that might be. You have to take it or leave it. I have read on their forums and on public forums (because their forums will be swept clean from any complaints – Anet is much more open to that, IF you behave while doing so). Problems arise whenever they decide to act on their TOS and people believe their rights have been crossed. Believe me, if you read those TOS: players have no right whatsoever. They have not even the right to get an answer.

Now look here: we can discuss controversial topics and we have a place to ask. Sure we are not always pleased by those answers, but usually we are not concerned about anything while we are playing. And that is where anything comes together. Anet does this so that we (and all other players) can have a playtime as smooth as possible.

How do they do it? They punish bad behaviour, they punish harassment, they evict bad language and bad names, they put up rules in a way that playing is supported. I don’t think this to be bad at all.
But I know that where you brush of bad things, some other things will suffer. There are humans involved and we all do mistakes. I am not angry about a bad name, if the guy behind that name will come clean. If he is bad to the core, he will not survive long.

BTW As I am a guy, I always talk of “him” first. That’s not politically correct, but “he” could always be a “she” too. I don’t make a difference in that.

AwwGee.5628:

Possibly offensive? Don’t use it at all or it’s a risk.

I was not aware this name would result in a ban. I can see now that it is illegal under the TOS. I admitted to this error in judgement.

AwwGee.5628:

Subjective perception. Justice and fairness differs in every culture. The culture of the punishments in this game is simply not in line with what you perceive you should be punished for. Not unjust.

You’re not going to get anywhere by appealing to emotions of fairness and justice.

I suppose that whole argument is subjective. Is it not subjective for you to suggest that there is no true definition of “just” ? I would furthermore argue that you are wrong in that judgement, and would refer you to countless number of philosophers who have tackled this issue; notably: Plato’s allegory of the Just city.

Moreover, a perception that is accepted by the majority would have more force than the one accepted by a minority correct? History has proven this to be the case.

AwwGee.5628:

Harmless? Not harmless enough if it warranted a change. And how exactly would anet make those distinctions? Based on their feelings? Based on what the player tells them? For all they know you could have intended to harm, and thought you could get away if it wasn’t too severe or strong. Whose word do they believe?

Blanket restriction eliminates loopholes that offenders can jump through.

In my responses to Michael I have laid out the ways that Anet can makes these distinctions. For example: If I simply say, “Poop,” I am not intending to cause any harm. I think that is fairly clear regardless of your culture. A 3 year old may be scolded for using potty language, but beyond that you will never cause psychological harm to a person for using that word. On the other hand, racist and other derogatory terms and phrases are clearly used to harm another person’s psyche. This is a line that is clearly drawn and is reasonable to adhere to.

Blanket punishments by Anet are lazy and reflect poor customer service. In real life it would reflect the same thing. Would it be appropriate to send every person to jail for 3-days for stealing? No. What is the point of sending a 5 year old to jail for taking a pack of gum? I think we could all agree that the punishment there would be disproportionate to the crime.

AwwGee.5628:

Contact support.
Could have been avoided by simply PMing a staff member on the lines of ‘Hi, I believe my name has the potential to be offensive and would like to change it. I’m not sure how to do so, could you point me in the right direction?’

Just because you were not provided with an automated solution does not mean it is not available.

This option is not clearly stated anywhere. There are no clearly stated ways to have a name changed. To suggest that it is otherwise clear or straightforward is wrong. I think Michael agreed with me on this point. Had I been aware that this was an option I may have pursued it. I was under the impression that name changes were not allowed.

AwwGee.5628:

People pay money to enter hotels. They can still be kicked out when in violation of expectations. They reserve the right to refuse service.

Respect is earned, not given. You have an inappropriate name – what’s there to respect about that?

As I pointed out in previous posts, your hotel argument is flawed. Yes, the hotel reserves the right to remove you from the premises if you violate their rules. But generally speaking, if a tenet complains about the noise coming from your room, you are given a warning and a chance to correct your behavior without confrontation. That is good customer service. If one was abruptly thrown out for being too loud, that would be considered poor customer service and you would likely never do business with that hotel ever again. Indeed, you would likely complain about your treatment, and likely have the right to.

Within GW2, a player can earn respect by investing in the game and playing the game within the TOS without incident. I have been playing the game since BWE1. One incident should afford you a respectful warning and a request for a behavior change. Is that too much to ask? Am I wrong to believe that is the way customer service should be approached? Would you term Anet’s responses as reasonable and not heavy-handed? I cannot believe that is the case.

It depends on the level of wrongness you do in a hotel. If it seems strong enough you won’t get a chance to better yourself. So I don’t fully agree to that argument.

A word like “Poop” might be considered lame and not punishable in western culture (I’m a member of that culture too). But the world and this game is inhabited by other cultures as well and I simply don’t have the knowledge to judge this on their behalf. Their is a reason why Anet made a rule to prohibit bodily functions. So again, what is acceptable for one group of people, is an attack on local customs elsewhere.
That is the reason why I think it possible to fail sometimes in the future. I am a very tolerant person, so any presumed attack would be painful for me myself. I would never do something like that willingly.
I might use a strong word when I fall of a jumping puzzle again, but fortunately my words are not recorded.

About the support option. I did not know it existed, but I was always determined to get to the root of a problem. If I have a problem, which I cannot solve, I search the forum (which is why I try to lend a helping hand to fellow players who don’t know the things I know). If that fails, I ask support. I did it for years (more than 7 years for GW1) and it always served me well. Of course I am not satisfied with the answers all the time, but I get answers.

my name character was banned because of ?

can somebody try to find why … it was … “murgen senjak”

yeah i know, what an horrible name …. what ?

if anet ban my name because they want to use it for one of their next pnjs, it’s kittened up