Public Penalties Would Work

In a recent post on the US forums that had someone complaining about the logic of blizzards system a blue made a response.  As normal for me there is something I can pull out of this response and complain about and I am going to do exactly that.  The first point is not really my main reason for this post but I felt it was something I needed to complain about, because I am grumpy like that.  The second part I quote is where the meat is, where I believe that public penalties would work. 

I am guessing this particular blue responder was no different than the others I have seen spewing the same line of bull crap dribble that all blues seem to dish out that says a lot but means absolutely nothing, so it must be blizzard policy to talk a lot and say nothing of use.

First off, the blue in question is Vrakthris, which being I have never had anything to complain about them must mean they are either rarely active or newer and as such I don't see anything much from them to complain about or they might actually be one of the smarter blues which in turn would give me much less to complain about.  What really got me to post this however is one word, doubtful, that you will see in the second quote and solidified, for me at least, that this is something I worthy of complaining about.

Before I start being my grumpy self I should note I have no clue who the poster is or what they are talking about.  In fact there could be a lot to the story he did not say, and there probably is, but I am only making my points based on what he said and what was replied to him. 

Now to pick apart one wrong within the blizzard policies that the blue mentions.

Poster: This doesn't seem to correct the behavior of the violating player, given the fact that if one of us were to go off so to speak on said player in trade we would receive a ban for language.

Blue: If your violation was reported in the appropriate manner and the other parties was not? Yes, that is entirely possible.

The important thing to remember is to not engage, if you are mutually combative then it limits our options. Report inappropriate language/subject matter when you witness it and do so every time.

I agree with mr blue poster here.  Use the report system every time you see inappropriate language or something you deem worthy of reporting.  I completely agree with mr blue here.  I follow a strict non-engagement policy when I run into people like that.  I stress that on my guild mates.  Report and move on.  So this blue is not completely clueless, not in the slightest, he offered solid advice.

However, and this is the big part, this advice only works when something is done about it.  If you report and move on and others in the guild report and move on and this continues over and over with multiple people reporting and moving on and nothing happens sooner or later there will be a confrontation.

Most people are willing to play by the rules, report and move on.  But when they see nothing being done about it they could or will eventually fall victim of their own frustration about the situation, which is completely 100% blizzards fault for not taking action to begin with, and then and only then they might clash with said person.

This blue is saying that if that moment happens you could be banned for defending yourself?  WTF?  No way that should ever happen.  If the first interaction between the two is mutually combative then yes I could see some actions being taken on both parties.  But when one party has repeatedly used the report function and many people in his guild have repeatedly used the report function and nothing is done about it you should never blame the person for becoming combative when the only recourse they have left is to handle it themselves because blizzard won't do a damn thing about it.

If the GMs did their job and took care of the person that was repeatedly reported there would have never been a confrontation.  The confrontation is because of the lack of moderation on the part of the people that are supposed to be enforcing the rules but apparently they are too busy siting on the couch eating bon bons watching housewives of atlanta on tv instead of doing their job and banning, or at least warning, the person that was reported multiple times.

Do not even for a moment suggest that the person being harassed could have action taken against them for defending themselves.  The only reason they would ever be put in the situation where they feel they have to defend themselves is because they know the report feature will do nothing.  The GMs will ignore it, they will pretend like it didn't happen, and the person will go on doing whatever it was they were reported for.

My main point here is that if a person shows restraint and follows the rules of the game using the report system and continues to get attacked by said person and blizzard does nothing then blizzard is in the wrong, not the player.  And if they get pushed to the point where they do reply it is absolutely wrong to threaten them with a suspension when if blizzard had done their job to begin with and warned or auctioned the person it would have never went that far.  Threatening the victim is wrong but it seems to be blizzard modus operandi.

Now to the comment that made me want to write this post.

Poster : Not to mention if it were made known in global chat that "Player X was banned for X amount of days for cheating/Harassment...whatever really"

Blue:  Doubtful, such information tends only to encourage additional harassment, usually of the person being called out. We don't provide information about another player's account. An action taken on an account is between us and the registered user on the account.

I have long been a supporter of this idea, the calling out the banned idea.  I believe each server should have an updated list on their forums with all actions taken against people on their server for everyone to see.  I believe everything should be made public for all to see.  The blue with his "doubtful" comment shows he is about as clueless as clueless could be when it comes to this topic at least to think that showing people that they actually do get in trouble for doing this is not a deterrent.

Such information would not encourage additional harassment.  If someone just got banned for harassment anyone that would harass them because of their ban would deserve a ban of their own for doing so.  It would be known that you do not harass people because you got banned publicly and then no one would pick on you because you got banned by knowing that they too could get banned now and it too would be made public.

But all that aside, seeing that people are being banned for infractions shows people the system is working.  I have spoken to many people, read many forum posts, read many blogs, had my own experiences and over all I can say with complete certainty that the majority of the player base has absolutely no, or very little, faith in the system.  If we do not see something happening it does not happen in our minds.  That is human nature.

If people see others being banned for racist or inappropriate behavior they would know the system does work, they would be more willing to use the report system because they would see that is works.  If blizzard keeps this hush hush approach and people never notice that something is being done they lose faith in the system and will not use it.  But once they see that reporting people has actual results they would embrace the system and use it more.  Over all, in time, not over night, it would make for a better community by more people believing in the system and using it because they know it works because they can see it work.

It even works on the outer end.  I can give you at least a dozen examples where I was in random content and someone was being a complete jackass and when someone said something to them their only response was, blizzard won't do anything so quit your crying and they would continue to be a complete jackass.  I've seen it first hand many times and I am sure we all have.  People purposely trolling groups because they believe that blizzard won't do anything about it.  Public notices of bans would show them that actions do get taken.  Well, that is if blizzard actually ever decides to take any actions, but that is another topic of its own.  The key here is, people do not report because they don't think it works as they never see it work and people act like jackasses because they know they can get away with it because they too never see anyone get in trouble because of it.

Doubtful?  You doubt that people are more likely to use a system they can see works?  You doubt that the person that got in trouble will not do it again after he knows that everyone on the server knows he got in trouble because he calls everyone faggots?  You doubt that people will feel more comfortable playing a game that they believe actually has the best interests of them and their community in mind?  Well, I doubt that you have a clue.  So I guess we are both doubtful.

As I mentioned, I do not know the particulars of the case at hand.  That does not make a difference however when you see blue answers like that.  A blue threatening the victim is wrong and basically that is what he did even if not directly.  A blue telling people that taking action and letting people know that action is taken would be bad for the game because blizzard tells them to say that is wrong.

Seriously.  The system does not need to go super deep and let us know everything. People that were temp banned because they were hacked.  People that were banned for cheating or whatever.  They can hold that back if they want to.  But letting us know that the system works, by showing us that the people that are toxic to the community have had action taken against them is a good thing, a very good thing.  How blizzard can keep this hush hush policy is beyond me and how any blue, even if employed by blizzard can support this approach is beyond me.

Public penalties would work.  No matter what blizzard thinks or what that blue thinks.  It is why If people would see someone being banned for inappropriate language they might, just might, use the report system more, because they would see it is working and that would be good for the game.  Just the same as if they see people banned for calling people nigger they would be less likely to use that, an other, inappropriate terms and language in game.  Don't tell me public penalties would not work.  At least not until you try them.

Personally, I don't mind so much about the language part of it.  I wish they would start banning the jerks in the LFR that just AFK or try to wipe people on purpose.  You can say fuck all you want in my opinion, as long as you are not a jackass.  But either way, in mixed company, it is not appropriate to use such language and being children play this game as well we shouldn't use it.  I can deal with that and I can surely see public penalties helping others that are too stupid to learn that they can't act like they are hanging out on the street corner with friends in mixed company to deal with it as well.

Could you just see a line like this in all global chats?

[Holybob] has just been banned for 3 hours for calling [Jimmystabs] a faggot.

Makes me want to point and laugh like nelson on the simpsons.  ha ha!  That'll teach 'em.