Guild Wars 2

I have some serious issues with the way offensive language bans are currently being handled.

My primary concerns are as follows:

We are not told what it is we are being suspended for. Saying “you know what you did” not only isn’t always true, it doesn’t help us improve our language because the players of this game are not mind readers. To quote Gaile Gray from another thread on this subject:

GaileGray

If I had to take a guess, I’d say that fewer than 5 people out of 100 really don’t know why they got a suspension for language.

Am I to interpret this such that one in twenty people will not only not know why they have been banned, but be unable to receive that information? This is not a good statistic. If the point of the ban is to deter future behavior of that type, the player needs to be informed of what it is that they have been banned for. Saying “you know what you did” clearly does not work for the entire set of people who have been banned, nor will it likely work for the 95% of players who might have some idea of why they have been banned. There is likely a very small number of people who unquestionably know why they were banned, but I have been in that position before and I can honestly say I’m not in it now.

Granted this “5 people out of 100” is a guess, but so what if it’s lower? Is it better if four people out of one hundred don’t know why they were banned? Is it better if it’s only one? The only truly just system of banning should leave no question as to why a ban is handed down. Zero out of one hundred people should be left questioning exactly what it is they have been reported for. Anything less than this is simply tyranny which should not be the policy of a fair set of rules.

This policy also creates an Us vs. Them mentality between those in support of it and those who believe its unfair. The problem with this is that those in support of it would like to argue that they have a moral high ground, but as far as I can tell they’re as subject to condescending, snide and sarcastic behavior as any other person would be. Probably more so because they believe they have a moral high ground. Does this policy affect them fairly? I personally doubt it. Why would it? As long as they don’t swear they can act as antagonistically as they want, so it would seem. In this case how does this policy actually make the community better? It’s simply a source of argumentation which is going to lead to more bans and negative community response.
If people are banned for participating in, but not instigating an argument, then the ban is demonstrably treating a symptom of a bad community and not the cause. A person who supports this policy is more likely to report than a person who does not, even if both are at fault for toxic behavior but the ban itself will not reflect this.

In short I believe that this kind of system does not fulfill the purpose of creating a better community because it does not accurately target or isolate problematic elements of a community. Reformation, not punishment, should be the way to create a better community and this policy does not help reform. It is arguable that it even punishes on a fair basis because of who will be getting reported, and for what. I may have more to say about this at a future time but I have been drinking since before I began typing this and I no longer trust my ability to write with clarity.

Bumping is indeed not allowed but I think its more because people usually do it because it annoys others.

About your issues though, I agree with this. But as of this moment with all the trouble they are going through right now, its not strange that they don’t tell you exactly because it would take away from time used to fix the problems that they currently have

Further every case of someone screaming, or just plain saying they did nothing are asked for their character names and then Gaile himself would post what was said, this has been offered in several threads, but not once has someone actually said their character name (Correct me if I am wrong, I might have missed one saying it)

I do hope that in the future you recieve in an email explainging “hey you were just banned/suspended for doing THIS, at this time.” You know, so that people know what they did and the forums stay cleaner, but they have to start somewhere and the banned accounts have priority as they are security breaches

I was typing this when the last thread I started was locked.

The game is rated T for Teen. It also contains tools for blocking users and language. I think the solution is to put more power into the hands of the player. Give the player to tools to customize thier own level of censorship.

If someone is offended by something, they allow them to filter those words or phrases. Eventually, people will begin to realize that if you’re rude, abusive, and offensive, your game world will be a very quiet place. If you’re sensitive about language, then shut yourself off and leave others to heir own game experience.

This idea that banning people is going to create a better game community is outdated and short sighted. It does nothing but force people to find other ways of communicating, and deters people from getting involved in the community.

I’ve already decided not to bother getting into conversations in game, and my desire to role-play is still up in the air. Until the environment becomes less volatile, I simply can’t risk getting banned due to some other players interpretation or attitude.

I’m pretty sure just about every single person who is suspended for inappropriate language knows exactly why. People just don’t WANT to be suspended. They claim they didn’t say anything wrong, hoping ArenaNet will release the suspension. Sometimes they will admit they said something they shouldn’t have said, and they still beg to be let back into the game.

It’s 100% common sense, nothing more, nothing less. Don’t ridicule other players, harass anyone, use profanity, make real-life racial comments, etc. It’s really not difficult to comprehend assuming people have been taught manners at any point in their lives. But a certain percentage of players want the freedom to say whatever they want, so they come to the forum saying suspensions shouldn’t exist, that players should just block, etc etc etc.

It’s ArenaNet’s playground. If people don’t want to abide by the rules, they can go find another playground where there are no teachers watching. Personally, after years of seeing excessive immaturity in chat, I’m thrilled with the suspensions and hope they continue.

If you can’t be civil, don’t use chat. This solves the problem for everyone.

Was that quote from my thread last night? Yeah, I messaged Gaile about that but haven’t heard a reply. Singling out the supposed 5 out of 100 “honest” players and telling them “tough luck” is kind of ridiculous.

Edit: Finished reading the post, and I agree 110% with you bud. Well, 49 hours left on my ban, and I bought the game 3 days ago. This really blows, I know it sounds pathetic but I’m dying over here not being able to play. When I do finally get unbanned, I feel as if I’m never gonna want to talk in /m chat ever again because of this annoyingly strict policy. 3 days for a language violation does way more than teach a lesson, it puts fear into people. I’m afraid to even chat on the game now! The way I speak to other people may seem unorthodox to some at times, but that’s me and I’m not changing for a game, so I’ll shut up instead if that’s what they want.

Kevhoran.1780:

Bumping is indeed not allowed but I think its more because people usually do it because it annoys others.

About your issues though, I agree with this. But as of this moment with all the trouble they are going through right now, its not strange that they don’t tell you exactly because it would take away from time used to fix the problems that they currently have

Further every case of someone screaming, or just plain saying they did nothing are asked for their character names and then Gaile himself would post what was said, this has been offered in several threads, but not once has someone actually said their character name (Correct me if I am wrong, I might have missed one saying it)

I do hope that in the future you recieve in an email explainging “hey you were just banned/suspended for doing THIS, at this time.” You know, so that people know what they did and the forums stay cleaner, but they have to start somewhere and the banned accounts have priority as they are security breaches

There was a thread on Reddit where they addressed some individual cases regarding the bans people had received, and while it was clear that some bans are going to those who need a suspension, this is not a policy that isolates these people or prevents abuse of the report system.

It’s true they probably have a lot on their plates right now with the account security problems many are having, but if they had a better language policy in the first place this would alleviate some of the tickets they get on the support site and many of the threads here. I never really supported their language policy but it wasn’t until I got banned that I suddenly had three days to complain about it and make their job harder.

anonymouse.9053

I’m pretty sure just about every single person who is suspended for inappropriate language knows exactly why. People just don’t WANT to be suspended. They claim they didn’t say anything wrong, hoping ArenaNet will release the suspension. Sometimes they will admit they said something they shouldn’t have said, and they still beg to be let back into the game.

It’s 100% common sense, nothing more, nothing less. Don’t ridicule other players, harass anyone, use profanity, make real-life racial comments, etc. It’s really not difficult to comprehend assuming people have been taught manners at any point in their lives. But a certain percentage of players want the freedom to say whatever they want, so they come to the forum saying suspensions shouldn’t exist, that players should just block, etc etc etc.

It’s ArenaNet’s playground. If people don’t want to abide by the rules, they can go find another playground where there are no teachers watching. Personally, after years of seeing excessive immaturity in chat, I’m thrilled with the suspensions and hope they continue.

If you can’t be civil, don’t use chat. This solves the problem for everyone.

Five words into this post and I can tell you did not comprehend the first post I made. It does not matter if “just about” everyone knows why they were banned. This is a tyranny of the majority, and if you support that then you have lost the moral authority to tell me that you know how to make this community better.

The rest of your first paragraph is some general straw-manning of “Them” (because you have clearly bought into an Us vs. Them mentality) followed by an incredibly condescending post about how people should just act more like you if they don’t want to get banned. Thank you for proving me correct.

They do have an yes tools for filter and block other players, by defeaut that more “mad words” are blocked and the ones who want can disable the filter.

I don’t know why some language isn’t allowed since there is options for who don’t want to see that kind of language, block it. Instead we are in an flame war between reports and Bans.

Max Lexandre.6279:

They do have an yes tools for filter and block other players, by defeaut that more “mad words” are blocked and the ones who want can disable the filter.

I don’t know why some language isn’t allowed since there is options for who don’t want to see that kind of language, block it. Instead we are in an flame war between reports and Bans.

Exactly this!! There are filters if you don’t want to see this stuff! People only report someone if they don’t like them.

The filter is another big reason a lot of people feel this policy is arbitrary. If you get banned for saying words that can be filtered, why is the point of the filter? If you get banned for saying things that are not filtered, why not filter them?

I’m going to do my best to keep this thread alive because I really think this is an important issue. If I’m wrong and this policy does improve the community someone should be able to prove this. If I’m right and it doesn’t, there should be a change.

My account was just banned for 72 hours and I got the game yesterday. Is there something wrong with that? I think arena net is a little to sensitive. I’m leaving the game thanks arena net.