Asheron's Call Homepage

[Frelorn]

Hello there everyone. I hope we all had a great weekend. I know it was nice for those of us who still enjoy a good snowstorm, though it did make getting to work on Monday a bit interesting. Let’s get on with this week’s update.

The February event A Change in Tactics is going live this week. As always, we are very excited about this event, and we hope you are as well. All worlds will be down today, Wednesday the 15th, from 9am EST to 3pm EST. That downtime will be a bit longer for the Darktide server so that we can get the promised Hardwar upgrade done for them. Darktide will be down until 5pm EST. We may not need it to be down for that long, but we want to be sure of things before we bring the world back up.

I wanted to take this opportunity to address the recent concerns with language and other CoC violations that have been brought up a lot recently. We have heard you, and we share your concern with the situation. We will be working together with customer service in the coming weeks and months to help improve the way some situations are handled. One of the things we are working on that is related to this is a language filter. This is the first step to help our players as well as helping our support staff with the amount of language calls we receive. The language filter will help in making it so that players who don’t want to read the language, won’t have to. The language filter is not a replacement for enforcement, but it will help allow players who don’t want to be exposed to bad language in the interim. We still want to stop the offending players, and will continue to try and do so, but in the meantime the language filter will certainly help. As always we will be continuing to enforce the CoC and trying to remove those players who feel they are above the rules of the game.

The last thing I will talk about in this post is what we are doing this week, other than shoveling snow. During this week, the final version of the February event is given the ok to be pushed out. QA and Crowley give the OK, and the event is sent to our Ops team so they can prepare the event to get out to everyone. Along with this work, the team is already heavily into the content for March. Finishing up designs and ideas, as well as making sure that the goals we have set for ourselves are met.

That is it for this update. We hope you all have a great week.

[Gyes]

Originally Posted by Frelorn

I wanted to take this opportunity to address the recent concerns with language and other CoC violations that have been brought up a lot recently. We have heard you, and we share your concern with the situation. We will be working together with customer service in the coming weeks and months to help improve the way some situations are handled. One of the things we are working on that is related to this is a language filter. This is the first step to help our players as well as helping our support staff with the amount of language calls we receive. The language filter will help in making it so that players who don’t want to read the language, won’t have to. The language filter is not a replacement for enforcement, but it will help allow players who don’t want to be exposed to bad language in the interim. We still want to stop the offending players, and will continue to try and do so, but in the meantime the language filter will certainly help. As always we will be continuing to enforce the CoC and trying to remove those players who feel they are above the rules of the game.

Band-aid fix. Maybe. A great deal of the language that bothers me most on /cg doesn't require profanity. It's pretty easy to inform the rest of the server that you think that minorities and women are subhuman or that you are currently using illegal drugs or that you are engaging in acts of extreme perversion without using a single profane word - look, I just did it myself.

Furthermore, when have you ever "remove[d] those players who feel they are above the rules of the game" when it comes to language? The most extensive ban I've heard an envoy issue for language violations was a 5 minute mute. The solution here isn't a filter, it's enforcement, which your current envoy staff is incapable of doing. I've said it before and I'll say it again - either hire on more envoys or reinstate the volunteer moderators. Your legal department might go nuts on you, but perhaps you should remind them that some of the trash that goes on in /cg is a violation of US federal law. Would you rather run the risk of a lawsuit from disgruntled volunteers or face prosecution for aiding and abetting scumbags who are threatening to rape and murder people in real life?

[Mestivious]

It's gotten REALLY bad lately. I've not seen a single response from an envoy in weeks for UCM reporting. They don't even bother to come and check the person. I've stood and waited for an hour and no envoy shows up.

Plus this weekend we had a guy who was quitting that went on for hours in general chat droping the F bomb and racial slurs. He logged and relogged later to start the same thing up again!!!

[Whiskyjack]

Originally Posted by Gyes

Band-aid fix. Maybe. A great deal of the language that bothers me most on /cg doesn't require profanity. It's pretty easy to inform the rest of the server that you think that minorities and women are subhuman or that you are currently using illegal drugs or that you are engaging in acts of extreme perversion without using a single profane word - look, I just did it myself.

Furthermore, when have you ever "remove[d] those players who feel they are above the rules of the game" when it comes to language? The most extensive ban I've heard an envoy issue for language violations was a 5 minute mute. The solution here isn't a filter, it's enforcement, which your current envoy staff is incapable of doing. I've said it before and I'll say it again - either hire on more envoys or reinstate the volunteer moderators. Your legal department might go nuts on you, but perhaps you should remind them that some of the trash that goes on in /cg is a violation of US federal law. Would you rather run the risk of a lawsuit from disgruntled volunteers or face prosecution for aiding and abetting scumbags who are threatening to rape and murder people in real life?

Might i suggest you work with what is given in good faith by turbine and stop complaining so much? I swear,the incessant complaints by people like you are just as bad as all the people you are complaining about.

How about play the game,squelch an account if it is necessary,report,and use the tools at hand.You will be a lot happier for it i assure you.And if you are not happy,then just quit the game and go find some game that does not have these problems.(Good luck with that)

[Sangria]

I don't know about you WhiskyJack - but when I had to check the box saying I would abide by the CoC - I was under the impression everyone had to check the same box to play.

The filter will be interesting. You have to keep in mind that the words we find offensive are not accidently typed. So they will go out of their way to trick the filters. it will be come just another game to them just like tricking the filters to use "interesting" charecter name.

But the filter will be in place and that will be that. We just have to get over it.

On the other hand, if they gave the envoys the power to ban people from public chat forums for 24 hours at a time and by the account and not just the toon - they would get the attention of those who feel they are above the CoC.

A guard dog is worthless if no one is afraid it will bite. Same thing can be said for Envoys.

[Arch Magi]

"One of the things we are working on that is related to this is a language filter."

Good Lord man, are you new to the world of online chat boards? I've seen people try to implement "language filters" on boards before (although not in game) for over 20 years and they are utter failures.

The last time that vnboards tried to implement one, the ended up pulling the plug because of all the abuse that people were doing just intentionally spamming the place to be funny with the "language filter".

Here is an idea, why don't you just pull up a persons history of in game abuse and start handing down BANS that actually work? When you ban someone for a year, don't come back in 6 months and let them back in. When you ban someone for a year for UCMing, DELETE THE TOONS on the account.

Just FOLLOW your own guildlines. If you do, and you start banning people, mainly the same FEW people who keep doing it OVER AND OVER AND OVER again, AT THE CREDIT CARD LEVEL, it won't take very long for people to catch on that you mean business. Best of all, you won't have to waste a developers time coming up with new code, and QAs time testing it, and the Decal Devs time making changes there .... Just ENFORCE your existing rules and BAN people at the credit card level.

/rant off

[Whiskyjack]

Originally Posted by Sangria

I don't know about you WhiskyJack - but when I had to check the box saying I would abide by the CoC - I was under the impression everyone had to check the same box to play.

The filter will be interesting. You have to keep in mind that the words we find offensive are not accidently typed. So they will go out of their way to trick the filters. it will be come just another game to them just like tricking the filters to use "interesting" charecter name.

But the filter will be in place and that will be that. We just have to get over it.

On the other hand, if they gave the envoys the power to ban people from public chat forums for 24 hours at a time and by the account and not just the toon - they would get the attention of those who feel they are above the CoC.

A guard dog is worthless if no one is afraid it will bite. Same thing can be said for Envoys.

I agree i signed the CoC and am assuming everybody else did as well.Since when have rules every been completly followed by anybody everywhere in rl or out of rl.You guys i think need to be realistic.When some guys goes on a rampage of racist foul mouthed crap do what i do,type @squelch -account name.Then report them.I just leave the name squelched though so that i dont need to read anything more that they spew forth in case Turbine does nothing about it.

If you took that simple step,i think you'd find you would not have to deal with it as much as you are now.

Also,might i suggest trying to build up some callouses on your skin,so that every little annoying or insulting thing does'nt bother you so much.

[Greko]

Originally Posted by Whiskyjack

I agree i signed the CoC and am assuming everybody else did as well.Since when have rules every been completly followed by anybody everywhere in rl or out of rl.You guys i think need to be realistic.When some guys goes on a rampage of racist foul mouthed crap do what i do,type @squelch -account name.Then report them.I just leave the name squelched though so that i dont need to read anything more that they spew forth in case Turbine does nothing about it.

If you took that simple step,i think you'd find you would not have to deal with it as much as you are now.

Also,might i suggest trying to build up some callouses on your skin,so that every little annoying or insulting thing does'nt bother you so much.

Although most things do not bother me personally, some of the crap is out of hand...

But building up callous is just the absolute wrong thing to do...that leads to apathy, then acceptance. some of the things being said should never be said, let alone accepted.

[MaddyFF]

Originally Posted by Frelorn

One of the things we are working on that is related to this is a language filter. This is the first step to help our players as well as helping our support staff with the amount of language calls we receive. The language filter will help in making it so that players who don’t want to read the language, won’t have to. The language filter is not a replacement for enforcement, but it will help allow players who don’t want to be exposed to bad language in the interim.

So if it isn't a replacement, does that mean if I report a language CoC violation the responding +Envoy (assumiong one responds) will not tell me to just turn on the filter?

[MaddyFF]

Originally Posted by Whiskyjack

Also,might i suggest trying to build up some callouses on your skin,so that every little annoying or insulting thing does'nt bother you so much.

We had some neighbors that were breaking some rules, specially dealing drugs. I guess we should have sucked it up and not bothered to have kept reporting it to the police. But we did and they were finaly arrested.

Rules are meaningless if they are ignored.

[Whiskyjack]

Originally Posted by Greko

Although most things do not bother me personally, some of the crap is out of hand...

But building up callous is just the absolute wrong thing to do...that leads to apathy, then acceptance. some of the things being said should never be said, let alone accepted.

Well,i'm not so sure about that.I agree that no racist or the really foul mouthed stuff should be tollerated,but i find recently the complainers have been lumping other stuff with unacceptable behaviour.

The ability to form callouses to protect yourself against people making fun of how stupid you are for complaning about somebody saying Jesus,or to point out that some self rightous do gooder is to blind to see that not all people value the way that he/she enjoys the game and would rather play it some other way.

Recently on LC i've noticed that we have a few allegiances that just think they are better than everybody else and want to shove their play style and happy happy joy joy chat style on everybody else.These are the same people that are quitly begging Turbine to let them become chat moderators in game.I shudder to think what would happen to AC if that happened.

As for people like DT and others who log on specifcly to rant and rave in chat until hours and hours later we finaly get an admin on to ban them only to have them wait 10 minutes and log on another account to do the same thing,i still stand by my statement above.Squelch -account name report and go along your merry way.What i've been doing is squelching the account and unsquelching the last account he was on because i know that if he's switched to a new account to cause trouble,the previous account i squelched just got banned.It takes 2 seconds.It's very simple.USE THE TOOLS TURBINE GAVE YOU AND STOP COMPLAINING.

Thanks
WJ

[Lokania]

While some will say I should appreciate the effort being put in for a chat filter, I do not. I resent the dev time being taken away from content in order to put a system in place to work around the CoC. Isn't that exactly what the filter is? Something to allow a player to break the CoC?

I do appreciate the fact that our concerns are being heard, don't get me wrong. This is a problem that must be addressed and I thank you for not locking the most recent discussion of the issue.

[Greko]

Originally Posted by Whiskyjack

Well,i'm not so sure about that.I agree that no racist or the really foul mouthed stuff should be tollerated,but i find recently the complainers have been lumping other stuff with unacceptable behaviour.

The ability to form callouses to protect yourself against people making fun of how stupid you are for complaning about somebody saying Jesus,or to point out that some self rightous do gooder is to blind to see that not all people value the way that he/she enjoys the game and would rather play it some other way.

Recently on LC i've noticed that we have a few allegiances that just think they are better than everybody else and want to shove their play style and happy happy joy joy chat style on everybody else.These are the same people that are quitly begging Turbine to let them become chat moderators in game.I shudder to think what would happen to AC if that happened.

As for people like DT and others who log on specifcly to rant and rave in chat until hours and hours later we finaly get an admin on to ban them only to have them wait 10 minutes and log on another account to do the same thing,i still stand by my statement above.Squelch -account name report and go along your merry way.What i've been doing is squelching the account and unsquelching the last account he was on because i know that if he's switched to a new account to cause trouble,the previous account i squelched just got banned.It takes 2 seconds.It's very simple.USE THE TOOLS TURBINE GAVE YOU AND STOP COMPLAINING.

Thanks
WJ

Well WJ, you and I have known each other IG for a long time, and one fact is true...There will always be people who know EXACTLY how to ride that fine line between acceptable and unacceptable. It is like a rush to them. We will never see an envoy say something to the effect of....."now now boiz, your getting awfully close to the line"...these kinds of things certainly you have to sorta learn to ignore, but blatant conversations about drugs, rape, pedophiles..just to name a few of things going on....is well past the line, and no amount of acceptance should be tolerated. these people need to go, they need to go right now, and if it ruins the game, well, then I guess it does. Turbine has a much bigger reputation to worry about than whether AC folds or not.

That is what I have not understood. The reputation, especially right now with 2 releases coming out would seem to be of paramount importance. And we all know gamers talk, and they are a very well informed crowd when it comes to rep.

[Whiskyjack]

Originally Posted by MaddyFF

We had some neighbors that were breaking some rules, specially dealing drugs. I guess we should have sucked it up and not bothered to have kept reporting it to the police. But we did and they were finaly arrested.

Rules are meaningless if they are ignored.

The key there is you kept reporting until something was done.

Squelch and report.It's very simple.It does not stop the behaviour right away but it shields you from having to deal with it,because as long you are still listening to it,you are responsible for how much you let it bother you.

The reports will eventually deal with the rest.Just like your reports to the police eventually delt with the drug dealers.

[Gyes]

Thank you, moderation team, for removing my entire post instead of just the inappropriate part. Maybe you can do the same thing IN THE GAME instead of just here.

To reiterate, Whisky, you and your callouses are the definition of moral cowardice - ignore the problem and eventually you'll no longer care if things are right or wrong.