Awful chat channels

[Halaek]

We seriously need some sort of moderation on the chat channels, things are getting out of hand. General Chat on Fleet, and the capitals cities is abusive, racist, bigoted and just plain horrible really. Surely you guys have a way to monitor channels at peak times and ban or remove the offenders. Sadly reporting people seems to do little as it can take 4 or 5 days for a ticket to be answered!

[lightSaberAddiCt]

Yeah cause we needed ANOTHER thread about this, because it is soooo important.

[Eshvara]

Yeah cause we needed ANOTHER thread about this, because it is soooo important.

 

Apparently so!

[DWho]

That they keep popping up seems to indicate a problem. In the past people on these forums have used the number of posts on a particular topic to justify the need for changes. It seems that this is something people care about and want changed.

[DuchessKristania]

I think it actually is a fairly important topic. The kind of rampant trash conversation in gen chat has the potential to cause a lot of damage and loss of revenue, something this game cannot afford. It does need to be addressed in some fashion. I personally ignore the majority of it but it's pretty vile stuff.

[DWho]

Maybe what we need is a new public channel where this kind of behavior is forbidden (and the rules of that channel enforced) and anyone posting these vulgar topics receives a 48 hour suspension (second offense is 1 month suspension, 3rd a 6 month suspension, and fourth is permanent ban of all accounts of the offender). Since no one is forced to use that channel, the trolls can't say you are stifling their "creativity". When you join the game you decide if you want the "vulgar channel" or the "nice people channel" as your default chat. This channel would be policed by Bioware from time to time in addition to standard reporting practices.

[twinkiefatsack]

If the chat channels were moderated and people were suspended / banned the game would be empty and dead. Theres a reason no action is ever taken from that kind of stuff.

[JLazarillo]

If the chat channels were moderated and people were suspended / banned the game would be empty and dead. Theres a reason no action is ever taken from that kind of stuff.

Would it, though? If people can use Ignore liberally, and yet still find teams through group finder/etc, then it would seem the ones ruining chat are ultimately just a very vocal minority.

 

Although, frankly, a lonely game would be better than what we have now, community-wise.

[DWho]

If the chat channels were moderated and people were suspended / banned the game would be empty and dead. Theres a reason no action is ever taken from that kind of stuff.

 

According to posts in these forums, most people are turning off chat or using ignore. So if those offensive people were banned, almost no one would notice.

[Djake]

According to posts in these forums, most people are turning off chat or using ignore. So if those offensive people were banned, almost no one would notice.

 

No, because many times the offenders have multiple alts, and you have to ignore every alt of theirs on every alt of yours to finally not see them all the time. And then do it again for all the other toxic players. I like being able to read and type into general chat, and to try and answer others questions and generally goof around. But there's a difference between goofing around and the vile stuff some of the players post.

[DWho]

No, because many times the offenders have multiple alts, and you have to ignore every alt of theirs on every alt of yours to finally not see them all the time. And then do it again for all the other toxic players. I like being able to read and type into general chat, and to try and answer others questions and generally goof around. But there's a difference between goofing around and the vile stuff some of the players post.

 

I agree with you. My point was if those posters were banned it would have little or no effect on the game as a whole unlike what the poster I quoted implied (that the game would be dead without the toxic trolls). Other than chat being more civil, I see no impact from suspending/banning the worst ones which are pretty clear to anyone looking at gen chat at all.

[Keta]

According to posts in these forums, most people are turning off chat or using ignore. So if those offensive people were banned, almost no one would notice.

 

I haven't looked at general chat on fleet since about a week after launch. And rarely look at it elsewhere.

 

If they added the missing flashpoints and such to a group finder it might help a bit. But odds are ....

[Halaek]

The problem is with just ignoring players is that you can only do this so many times. Its really not acceptable to log into a game and see players behaving like this, just because its the internet and a game does not excuse it. Last night for instance we had one fella just basically trolling, slagging of someones Religion, Colour and even sex. Its totally unacceptable, sure you can report them (which i did) but tickets take what 6+days to answer at present? Something needs to be done.

[Mournblood]

For those who haven't actually read the ToS, the specific areas regarding this issue with chat trolling are bolded below, and can be found here: http://www.swtor.com/legalnotices/rulesofconduct

 

Harass, threaten, embarrass, or do anything to another player that is unwanted. This includes posting insulting, offensive, or abusive comments about players, repeatedly sending unwanted messages, attacking a player based on race, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, etc. Hate speech is not tolerated. (See also “Harassment Policy” below.)

 

Create character names or otherwise transmit or facilitate distribution of Content that is harmful, abusive, racially or ethnically offensive, vulgar, sexually explicit, defamatory, infringing, invasive of personal privacy or publicity rights, or objectionable in a reasonable person's view. (Also see “Naming Policy” below.)

 

“Trolling,” which we define as posts or threads that knowingly lead to overly strong, negative, and emotional responses for mere shock value, is not allowed on the Service. Accounts created with the sole intent to “troll” will be immediately and permanently suspended. Constant personal attacks are also considered trolling. (See also “Forum Guidelines” below.)

Edited January 9, 2018 by Mournblood

[Halaek]

Problem is with internet anonymity, players feel its okay to act like this. Couple that with a total disregard by people running the server, we end up with the situation we have now. Players deliberately acting poorly for kicks, it has to stop!

[Tsillah]

Yeah cause we needed ANOTHER thread about this, because it is soooo important.

This is a great irony really.

 

If you do not like seeing these threads about these topics pop up here all the time, you understand exactly how important this topic is for him/her. It was important enough to show your annoyance apparently...

[Decidion]

A year or so ago Eric Musco posted that a "Legacy Ignore" feature was going to be implemented and then it just completely got dropped. Had they actually put that into the game, I bet a significant part of the problem would vanish.

 

Too bad we can just chalk this up to another BioFail.

[cyrusramsey]

I've always kept general chat active, because I feel it's important to the health of the game to see new players' questions answered when they ask them, even if I generally don't care for talking with people I don't know. A little while ago, though, I'd disabled general chat on my characters to avoid TLJ spoilers, and have been utterly unable to get myself to turn it back on again. The experience is so much better now.

 

So, is it more important to keep fleet trolls around than to create a useful environment for new players? I know which ones I appreciate more.

 

That said, if BW had the resources, desire and inclination to moderate chat, they would've been doing so already.

Edited January 9, 2018 by cyrusramsey

[merovejec]

Well people wanted server merges so there you go

[LordFell]

That they keep popping up seems to indicate a problem. In the past people on these forums have used the number of posts on a particular topic to justify the need for changes. It seems that this is something people care about and want changed.

^^^ This

 

If the chat channels were moderated and people were suspended / banned the game would be empty and dead. Theres a reason no action is ever taken from that kind of stuff.

There are plenty of places where people can go and say whatever stupid old thing comes into their head without any sort of repercussions. I'm thinking /4chan specifically... but something specifically keeps these people on SWTOR. Not being able to troll with impunity MIGHT cause them to unsub and look for a different place to be antisocial... but then again, it might not.

 

Of course, if we accept your argument, and say "yes, we must subject ourselves to trolling for the good of the game" (please pause to consider how completely ridiculous that argument is) then, we also have to concede that EA/Bioware's business model is tied to selling chat trolls an audience of people to offend. If that really is all that's keeping SWTOR afloat, then it's time... time for SWTOR to die.

 

One thing people keep forgetting about the End User License Agreement... is an agreement takes TWO. Us, and EA/Bioware. The relevant part of this agreement is that we agree not to be jerks in public or open channels... and they agree to enforce that clause. Some players aren't living up to their agreement, and neither is EA/Bioware.

[Aeneas_Falco]

Well people wanted server merges so there you go

 

Chat was fairly toxic everywhere before the merger, or at least was Imp side. The only difference now is that instead of say five regular edgelords / trolls / morons, you now have ten or fifteen since the merger brought with it every village idiot from the other servers.

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

I had no idea there were so many Amish people who are Star Wars fans. I could have sworn Amish people didn't use technology like computers to play Video games on.

 

I'm truly dumbfounded.

 

I can see expanded ignore so you don't run of of space to ignore more people, that's perfectly reasonable. Anyone for whom that would still not be sufficient, they are doomed in this world. Please do your fellow man the respect not to propagate and weaken the human species. Spare the gene pool, as such frailty and weakness can only lead mankind closer to extinction.

 

Pure weakness.

[DWho]

I had no idea there were so many Amish people who are Star Wars fans. I could have sworn Amish people didn't use technology like computers to play Video games on.

 

I'm truly dumbfounded.

 

I can see expanded ignore so you don't run of of space to ignore more people, that's perfectly reasonable. Anyone for whom that would still not be sufficient, they are doomed in this world. Please do your fellow man the respect not to propagate and weaken the human species. Spare the gene pool, as such frailty and weakness can only lead mankind closer to extinction.

 

Pure weakness.

 

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

Edmund Burke (maybe - has been attributed to others as well)

[anesvik]

So, I usually dont post in chat unless I am selling something.

And I have noticed that people never really had an issue with chat until the merge. IMO, I dont think people from different servers have got used to other people. Most of the time chat is pretty calm and maybe...twice a week...you will get some troll that spends a good 4 hours typing in all caps dropping N bombs, F bombs and just plain raging. I ignore them. As for sex and politics, SWTOR is fairly relaxed lol. Politics are in every game, I dont think we should start banning people (as if BW would ever do that lol)

They wont moderate chat.

They wont add interns to moderate reports.

They wont add special chat channels (anytime soon at least).

Best you can do is JUST ignore. Save reports for real issues, spammer (credit spammers), Real Life Threats, Bots. Reporting people for saying "yea trump" or " f this f that" wont do anything.

That being said, the one thing that I think would help is account ignore. When you hit ignore you can block all their toons and your legacy shares your ignore list.

Edited January 10, 2018 by anesvik

[DWho]

That being said, the one thing that I think would help is account ignore. When you hit ignore you can block all their toons and your legacy shares your ignore list.

 

That would be a start but doesn't solve the overall problem that in order to use ignore you have to encounter the troll and be exposed to the vulgarity first. It presents a very poor image of the game to new players just getting to the fleet or Drommund Kaas. I think it is time for it to be made clear to the trolls that acting like children trying to look cool by being offensive is not acceptable in a public forum.