[Inquiry] Blacklisting Thieves

[MorseGod]

As the GM of a relatively new guild, I wanted to give members generous access to the guild bank. Because players cannot preview items directly from the guild bank, it was necessary to allow multiple withdrawals for the purpose of comparisons. Unfortunately, there are always a few bad apples that ruin nice opportunities for everyone, so a generous guild bank policy was short-lived for us.

 

The only real consequence for bad behavior in an MMORPG is to be publicly shamed and ostracized by any decent people that play. To that end, I have a few questions:

 

Is it permissible to start a thread in the server-specific forum to name and shame thieves by their character or legacy names?

 

If so, how many would be interested in participating in such a thread?

 

If not, would anyone be interested in a public resource being available at a third-party site?

[MissilyMilcasia]

First of all I'm pretty sure a blacklist isn't allowed on the forums although how enforced it is these days is anyone's guess.

 

Second off it is a terrible idea. If you didn't personally see it, you're taking someone's word for what happened. There are some people in this game who are trustworthy and there are others who I wouldn't trust to tell me the time. This is true as well for officers and guild leaders. Who people trust differs from person to person as well. Placing a ton of trust in peoples word, on an online game where people can maintain a high degree of anonymity if they choose, is not a good idea.

 

And who would be responsible for maintaining this list? Exactly who is allowed to motion for someone to be on this list? What circumstances lead to getting on the list? Can people have a right to publicly defend themselves fairly, if they so choose? Who has access to such a list? These are questions that are very, VERY difficult to answer in a way that everyone will think is just. And if it's not just, it basically has all of the significance of a high school in-crowd/out-crowd. Or even worse, it becomes the Salem Witch Trials, and people become more insular and afraid to branch out into guilds or group content. Plus, I don't believe people- who have a vested self-interest in this game- have a right to be arbiters. People can be really biased. Like what if I was the arbiter of a case, and my best friend was the one who reported it, and I got to decide if the offender is guilty and/or deserves the list? There are too many problems a system like this would cause.

 

Imagine how people might feel if I kept a public blacklist for raiding? It would be unnecessary, humiliating, and cause a lot more drama than it deserves. Which is why when there are bad apples I learn, I /ignore if necessary, and move on and alert my friends whom I have had negative encounters with and leave groups/alert leaders when I see past problems. The point is, there are methods that offer a similar level of protection and far less problems than a list.

 

The best method is and has always been to be careful with guild banks, and new members in general, and to pass the word along to guilds you are friendly with when something bad has happened, and having as good of a guild rep as possible, so that when you do say something, people respect you and believe you and have their guard up. That has, is and should be the preferred method for dealing with low character people. But a public blacklist sounds too Cold War-era Hoover-ish to me.

Edited August 7, 2017 by MissilyMilcasia

[NikSunrider]

+1 to the above. Public blacklists cause unnecessary drama and give the "bad guys" a list of compromised identities to not use. Say you blacklisted "Average Joe" - he sees his name on the list, and realizes that he needs to change aliases.

 

I am the CFO of a small but financially-successful guild. Our guild bank policy is to only allow withdraws for expendable stuff we don't mind losing, or deliberately want stolen .

 

My advice for the OP is to stop inviting unknown quantities from general chat.

Edited August 9, 2017 by NikSunrider

[Aeneas_Falco]

I sympathize and had a similar thing happen in a guild one of my characters is in, but naming & shaming probably wouldn't curb it. The people responsible would just jump on other toons to continue their guild bank robbing ways or use a character rename.

 

The only true solution is to limit guild bank access to new recruits. Make them prove themselves first before they get access to your good stuff. If someone joins just with the intent of plundering your guild bank, they're probably not going to be that patient. They'll /gquit and move on to an easier target.