Please give us better tools to combat general chat toxicity

[DWho]

With the increase in population as a result of the server merges a dark undercurrent has started to develop in general chat. The vulgarity and other EULA violations were always there but they have gone up a notch since the mergers. It is to the point where I am embarrassed to let my children play this game during prime time. Can we get a right click interface that has a longer range to report inappropriate chat or at least a better way in game to capture what has been said to place in reports.

 

The chat that goes on now is a huge negative for this game and undermines the effort to keep people in the game and bring in new players. A new player arriving on the fleet for the first time is confronted by racist, sexist, and other vulgar chat that often pushes the limit of an R rating much less a T rating. That player is likely to look at that and say, why do I want to play with these people. Fleet is the first large social area where players congregate and it is putting a very bad face forward for this game.

 

A lot of people say "It's the internet" or "it's an MMO" or "MMO X has the same problem" but that does not mean that SWTOR has to be the same. We need to make it better than those other MMOs.

 

Thanks for anything you can do to help the game community police behavior that is detrimental to the game.

[aerockyul]

It's definitely a weak argument to do nothing--"Other games allow it, so we'll do nothing as well. There's no way normal people would come to us if they knew trolls found it nearly impossible to get their kicks in our game"

[fushnchips]

With the increase in population as a result of the server merges a dark undercurrent has started to develop in general chat. The vulgarity and other EULA violations were always there but they have gone up a notch since the mergers. It is to the point where I am embarrassed to let my children play this game during prime time. Can we get a right click interface that has a longer range to report inappropriate chat or at least a better way in game to capture what has been said to place in reports.

 

The chat that goes on now is a huge negative for this game and undermines the effort to keep people in the game and bring in new players. A new player arriving on the fleet for the first time is confronted by racist, sexist, and other vulgar chat that often pushes the limit of an R rating much less a T rating. That player is likely to look at that and say, why do I want to play with these people. Fleet is the first large social area where players congregate and it is putting a very bad face forward for this game.

 

A lot of people say "It's the internet" or "it's an MMO" or "MMO X has the same problem" but that does not mean that SWTOR has to be the same. We need to make it better than those other MMOs.

 

Thanks for anything you can do to help the game community police behavior that is detrimental to the game.

 

Yeah I use addons in ESO, Wildstar, WoW but in FFXIV the community is great and they come down hard on it but in SWTOR Bioware doesn't care by what I have seen with the fleet and in game toxic behavior if they did it wouldn't happen as often as it does in SWTOR so it's time for them to prove they do care about players within the game.

[xmarcusprimex]

I could be misremembering, but I could have sworn you used to be able to click on a person in chat and report their behavior or inappropriate speech directly. Now I only see a report spam option. Edited November 19, 2017 by xmarcusprimex

[aerockyul]

I could be remembering, but I could have sworn you used to be able to click on a person in chat and report their behavior or inappropriate speech directly. Now I only see a report spam option.

 

If you're within 30 meters of them you get the expanded report options. Outside of that only spam. Would love to hear the justification for that little rule.

[Eshvara]

I hope at least that your kids are the appropriate age! If they are, well. Profanity filter is all you can do. Yes I know it's not a fix But that's all you can do! Or just don't let your kids play swtor as sad as that may seem!

[Vercundus]

I generally do not use general chat, apart from when looking for a group, and that has diminished with move to a new guild.

[IoNonSoEVero]

IMHO it's not unreasonable to expect them to enforce their own EULA/Rules of Conduct in the Gen Chat. But in the meantime there have been several tools mentioned that could help players manage things on their own:

 

- Legacy/Account-wide Ignore

- Either raising or eliminating the limit on the people you can add to Ignore (especially important since we don't have that Legacy ignore function right now).

- A better way to report players who are engaged in gross violations of the EULA/RoC.

[LordFell]

It's definitely a weak argument to do nothing--"Other games allow it, so we'll do nothing as well. There's no way normal people would come to us if they knew trolls found it nearly impossible to get their kicks in our game"

But other games do, actually, do something about this. I know you can easily report people in WoW for being gross. I know League of Legends had a terrible reputation for toxicity, but having an Honour System and a report system that makes it pretty easy to flag players for their conduct too.

...and I know that they check reports, and sometimes act on reports, because they'll send you a notice when one of your reports has lead to someone being punished. I don't think their standards are too high, because I also know that I've gotten triggered and WENT OFF on someone a time or three... but I've never actually gotten a reprisal for baby-raging.

[Kaedusz]

I prefer it being toxic. It's nice having something fun to read while waiting for queue. Honestly you people are too sensitive or don't know how the internet works.

 

Not to mention that it's not exactly toxic, there are just a few trolls from time to time.

[IoNonSoEVero]

It actually doesn't matter if you enjoy it or not. By downloading and playing the game you're agreeing to abide by their EULA/RoC, which prohibits it.

[ALaggyGrunt]

I hope at least that your kids are the appropriate age! If they are, well. Profanity filter is all you can do. Yes I know it's not a fix But that's all you can do! Or just don't let your kids play swtor as sad as that may seem!

 

The profanity filter does quotes very badly.

 

Darth Mickey might care what goes on in Harb fleet and Dromund Kaas general because Darth Mickey cares about all his IPs' images as family-friendly. Err, Satele, right. Look what happened to that other Star Wars game when Darth Mickey's name got dragged into EA's business as usual.

 

If you don't want chat to be dominated by trolls, you have to hit them hard, fast, and constantly with the banhammer. Otherwise everyone will just ignore general because it's full of lewd drivel.

[Eshvara]

The profanity filter does quotes very badly.

 

Darth Mickey might care what goes on in Harb fleet and Dromund Kaas general because Darth Mickey cares about all his IPs' images as family-friendly. Err, Satele, right. Look what happened to that other Star Wars game when Darth Mickey's name got dragged into EA's business as usual.

 

If you don't want chat to be dominated by trolls, you have to hit them hard, fast, and constantly with the banhammer. Otherwise everyone will just ignore general because it's full of lewd drivel.

 

There are too many people being rude occasionally. Where do you draw the line? Some people have a dark sense of humour, should they get banned for making an adult joke? Might as well close the game.

[Suzsi]

There are too many people being rude occasionally. Where do you draw the line? Some people have a dark sense of humour, should they get banned for making an adult joke? Might as well close the game.

 

The game is rated PG-13 imo the rating of the game should be enforced in public chats. People can post all the crude and vulgar jokes they wish in private or in their own guilds. Those are the areas that are player policed.

Edited November 17, 2017 by Suzsi

[MuriaBR]

Put on your big boy pants on and ignore it or block them. EAware doesn't have the financial resources to constantly monitor chat or go through the reports to punish people you deem broke the rules.

 

Oh and if you are worried that your children will be exposed to the raunchy chat, you are failing them by even allowing them on the internet in the first place.

 

Have to agree with this, you don't have the right to censor people for stuff that you don't like or think it's inapropriate for your children, if you feel this way, it might be better for you to not allow them to play the game in the first place.

[IoNonSoEVero]

There are too many people being rude occasionally. Where do you draw the line? Some people have a dark sense of humour, should they get banned for making an adult joke? Might as well close the game.

 

The EULA and Rules of Conduct are actually pretty clear on what is and is not allowed, and there's stuff on Gen Chat that is clearly violating it. It's a pretty run of the mill conduct code for public Internet spaces. It's not a matter of wanting to do something new; just enforce the rules EA/BW supposedly already have and players supposedly agree to.

 

If you've downloaded, installed and signed into the game, you're actually agreeing to abide by those standards and moderate what you post. EA/BW's house, their rules, and everyone knows in advance.

Edited November 17, 2017 by IoNonSoEVero

[exfell]

I generally do not use general chat, apart from when looking for a group, and that has diminished with move to a new guild.

 

lol this reminds me that the server merge has made it more difficult as general chat is spammed full of rp guild adverts now.

[Eshvara]

The EULA and Rules of Conduct are actually pretty clear on what is and is not allowed, and there's stuff on Gen Chat that is clearly violating it. It's a pretty run of the mill conduct code for public Internet spaces. It's not a matter of wanting to do something new; just enforce the rules EA/BW supposedly already have and players supposedly agree to.

 

If you've downloaded, installed and signed into the game, you're actually agreeing to abide by those standards and moderate what you post. EA/BW's house, their rules, and everyone knows in advance.

 

I'm aware of it, but for them to police chat every day to catch all the people who need to toss a coin in the swear jar seems like a lot of trouble. Which is why it probably doesn't happen. People can ignore and report, they'll probably get a 3hour-3day ban and continue what they're doing.

[DieAlteHexe]

I prefer it being toxic. It's nice having something fun to read while waiting for queue. Honestly you people are too sensitive or don't know how the internet works.

 

Not to mention that it's not exactly toxic, there are just a few trolls from time to time.

 

The denizens of the world don't always match you in their level of sensitivity or desire to put up with ridiculously juvenile behaviour. I well know how the 'Net works having been on it 20+ years. The excuse that "it's the Internet" is a justification for people to behave in ways they wouldn't dare in RL.

 

If chat cannot be monitored (and that would be rather resource intensive) then beefing up options for those for whom the behaviour is anathema seems the best route to go. Reasonable suggestions have been made, repeatedly. I guess BW just can't be arsed. Pity.

[IoNonSoEVero]

I'm aware of it, but for them to police chat every day to catch all the people who need to toss a coin in the swear jar seems like a lot of trouble. Which is why it probably doesn't happen. People can ignore and report, they'll probably get a 3hour-3day ban and continue what they're doing.

 

The trouble is that it's rendering the chat unusable for people who might actually like to ask or answer questions, ask for or volunteer assistance to other players, form groups, etc. In another thread they're mentioning that the Satele Shan gen chat is being blanked whenever people try to ask questions. It's not about people wringing their hands about naughty words.

 

One of the things people are asking for in this thread is a better set of tools to ignore and report, like the Legacy ignore and a better way to report violations, as well as more proactive action from BW/EA. Most news publications/celebrity Facebook pages/etc. now do have babysitters, and unfortunately in a game like this they're needed as well.

[Eshvara]

The trouble is that it's rendering the chat unusable for people who might actually like to ask or answer questions, ask for or volunteer assistance to other players, form groups, etc. In another thread they're mentioning that the Satele Shan gen chat is being blanked whenever people try to ask questions. It's not about people wringing their hands about naughty words.

 

One of the things people are asking for in this thread is a better set of tools to ignore and report, like the Legacy ignore and a better way to report violations, as well as more proactive action from BW/EA. Most news publications/celebrity Facebook pages/etc. now do have babysitters, and unfortunately in a game like this they're needed as well.

 

I'm for legacy ignore and better options to filter out distasteful people, but I don't think policing chat by Devs is going to be the way.

I heard about the blanking issue on SS. I don't know how they do it but they could allow only so many blanks consecutively in a sentence or whatever.

[rantboi]

Have to agree with this, you don't have the right to censor people for stuff that you don't like or think it's inapropriate for your children, if you feel this way, it might be better for you to not allow them to play the game in the first place.

 

or just turn off general chat for them

[DWho]

Put on your big boy pants on and ignore it or block them. EAware doesn't have the financial resources to constantly monitor chat or go through the reports to punish people you deem broke the rules.

 

Oh and if you are worried that your children will be exposed to the raunchy chat, you are failing them by even allowing them on the internet in the first place.

 

For starters, this is a Disney/Star Wars product not a pornographic magazine, R-rated movie, erotic novel, or adult chat room. It is not unreasonable to expect somewhat family friendly content from a game rated T for Teen. In addition, there is plenty that is a clear violation of the agreement you signed to play this game in the first place. I teach my children respect for others and responsibility for what they say and do. Two things that are woefully lacking from general chat.

 

As far as ignore goes, that only works if you have encountered the particular troll previously. Otherwise, you get to experience it fresh and new. If the EULA was enforced (and the reporting tools were more user friendly), the first person coming across that behavior would have reported them and they would have been banned for the EULA violation and then you would not need to use ignore.

 

Raunchy chat is not the norm in public spaces, even on the internet. It is normally confined to very specific places (and outside those places is punished or at least frowned upon). What you say in private is one thing, but general chat is a public place like where you work. A lot of what is said in general chat would get you fired from your job. Do you have "freedom of speech" there?

[DWho]

Have to agree with this, you don't have the right to censor people for stuff that you don't like or think it's inapropriate for your children, if you feel this way, it might be better for you to not allow them to play the game in the first place.

 

Enforcing the agreement you signed to play the game is not censorship.

[IoNonSoEVero]

I'm for legacy ignore and better options to filter out distasteful people, but I don't think policing chat by Devs is going to be the way.

I heard about the blanking issue on SS. I don't know how they do it but they could allow only so many blanks consecutively in a sentence or whatever.

 

The question becomes, do they want the trolls to monopolize the chat, or do they want to have that channel available as a tool for players to communicate about the game. If BW/EA has any interest in the latter, they have to do something. It could be parking an intern in chat during prime use times to keep an eye on things, or giving more tools to report, and more appropriate responses to reports/complaints.

 

Just ignoring things doesn't solve it, though. And players miss out with that, too. I'm sure a lot of us have answered random questions from players needing help on the gen chat, or lent assistance to players who needed to get datacrons, or something else of that nature. One can't do that when one can't even use the gen chat to communicate.

Edited November 17, 2017 by IoNonSoEVero