How to maximize good times, by Zatoichi

Happy New Year 2015 monsters!


This next text is written by Zatoichi, who is in spam patrol - like me - but on Spartan server. I paste it as it was sent to me with no edits. I find it important opening of for a conversation because we both share the idea that its a privillege to be able to play in thes virual fields.

Wind


THIS IS SPARTA - A proposal for Spartan Discipline (Dealing with the Barbarians)...in order to maximize the good times!


"The game is what the players make it" / "The Pleasure of the Many outweighs...everything else" Capt Zat, Troll Patrol Officer



I. Defining the need

Cyberbullying/Trolling/Haxing/Misc.
From Wikipeadia :
"Cyberbullying is the use of Information Technology to harm or harass other people in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner".

"In Internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,
extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion".

So how does cyberbullying/trolling/haxing/misc. behavior affect the game? The offended players are hurt, humiliated, angry, bored, scared off/disgusted...and the bottomline is that the game loses players.

First off all we are talking about a very small number of players here... habitual trolls; not noob making mistakes, not regulars talking shit or goofing around. And these trolls, of course, are the ones that complain the loudest about it (another form of trolling).

OK...so what constitutes cyberbullying/trolling/haxing/misc. behavior that should and should not be tolerated by the community? What are the community standards?

For me, it is anything that disrupts the enjoyment of the game for others. For me, the spirit of the law and not the letter of the law should be the guiding principle when one is enforcing this directive. The directive is not a cure-all - just a maintenance control. It will not stop this behavior, especially in an open community.



II. The Issues

Bad behavior - cyberbulling and trolling

This behavior happens verbally in public and private messages. It happens nonverbally by both action and inaction; purposefully doing things wrong (teamhooking, teamshooting, joining the winning team when teams are balanced/or not) or not doing the anything at all, but remaining in the game.

Haxing - When a player uses an aimbot, obviously - deciding if it is an aimbot not so obvious sometimes. Also when a player is exploiting some bug.

Misc. - should the community tolerate players that are habitually lagging exessively, regardless if it is accidental or done on purpose?

Language...players often like to bullshit each other, engage in scatologically-charged banter, give and take barbs. all of which is a byproduct of the competitive passions we all bring to the game. Fine.

But what specifically are the linguistic parameters? Should racist and sexist commentary or remarks be deemed acceptable? This is a tricky question because of the age range of players - from preteens to old folks. How about these things happening in different languages?

Another language problem - long, excessive incidents of spamming -

Another language problem - long, excessive, screen filling debates/conversations that are essentially flaming sessions about highly personal topics (for example, religion or philosophy).


THE FINAL ISSUE - Who is making the decisions to pull the trigger -

If we are overprotective, instead of just being protective, no one will come If we let anything go, then it will be a mess and we won't come


III. Proposed Levels of Community Protection


THREE LEVELS OF PLAYER CORRECTION/PUBLIC PROTECTION - flexible counter measures

1 - move to spectator (for players that are on a team but stopped playing on purpose or by accident - such behavior is rude to teammates and definitely impacts the team's potential success - also other players often cannot join a losing team because of this behavior)
- mute specific player

2 - kick (operates as an initial warning)

3 - ban (for extreme bad behavior) for default time or a specific shorter or longer times (ex. by the hour)

The Zero Level of Correction - A fucked game that few will stay around to play

There is a need to establish a procedure for quickly dealing with problems...


IV. Server changes that might help

I think some of these "accidental" misc. problem may be address by a few changes to a server.
- auto kick for anyone spectating without playing after, say, an hour, auto kick anyone in a game that is sitting without playing more than, say, 2 mins.


- fix autobalance - not allow losing team ever to have fewer players than the winning team???? at least do not allow new player to join
winning team if teams are even

- change voting as it is at Dallas(ESK) - the majority of VOTERS win, not majority of PLAYERS present (non voters do not count).

- activiate the moveto and mute commands - Not sure if using mute to silent a screamer or spammer will stop bad behavior but it seems like a softer approach. The "movto" command - ummm, not sure it exist though there is a command called "movetoteam"
but I was looking for something to move a player that stopped playing off a team into the spectator section. If there is an autokick already established, then it wouldn't be necessary probably

Thanks for sharing Wind, it's a codex that should be read by all gamers. It's always a matter of perspective (luckily) but still, it's an important chapter that has already brought long discussions, fights but also positive changes to our clan.

Cheers, Freeze