Game OverFollow

Where is the line drawn for tact? Yes it is a game. Yes, the likelihood of being tracked to a physical location is slim to none. However, what is the value of having an enjoyable experience?

Fact: is there anyone around who ENJOYS being called a(n) [insert derrogatory expletive here]? Honestly? Namecalling does not fit into any game unless you're in grade school chasing the gal you like. Would anyone PAY to go to a club just to have some guy with a microphone sitting down calling them every name under the sun? Is that money well spent? So what if a select few could go and break a few of his ribs? Is there enough satisfaction in his injury to warrant the effective ruining of the night?

opinion: I'd rather get stabbed in the face with a dirty fork than to **** my money away like that.

Lack of consideration is what it's boiled down to. Not everyone is built of brick and stone and leaves their emotions at the door when they log in to the game. Unfortunately with an environment like this, to watch over everything like big brother is a huge waste of time. When you get into the area of morals, there is nothing but gray gray gray area.

It sounds like the people involved in this incident took the steps that were available to them, and no immediate action was taken on part of the enforcers. Is it entirely fair to say "there's a whole galaxy out there that you can play in, why piddle around where the harrassers are - just go?" No. These players had just as much right to occupy that same space without having to plug their ears over comments about rape. R.a.p.e. Something like that seems funny to happen to others, but what about when it happens to you? not if; when.

I must say I do see the other side of the arguement. It's not fair that a person has to move, but does that make it fair to force someone else to shut up? No, it's not. However, the comments made do disrupt the positive flow of enjoyment - WHY it's a game in the first place. Players already have enough stuff that resembles real life (jobs. they don't call it "grinding" for no reason. death. people who just don't like you) that they don't need other players to **** all over their fun.

well, i hear a lot of good advice and, also, good points. I was not up for "naming and shaming", after all - it is the duty of sony to invoke justice rather than me but at this very second in anchorhead on the sunrunner server this same player is going into a tirade regarding "jews" "rape" and other racial, sexual, anything-offensive related subject. He has been reported and ignored. It is clear to me now that he is doing it to offend people - no one can be so ignorant. Whatever his reasons though - his actions are still the same. His name is Moateth on the sunrunner server.
The first point i wanted to put in was that my female friend did not leave because of what was said and threatened - she left because the next again night he was doing the same again. What hope is there in any community when there is no justice or feeling that it exists? She has also said to me since "i knew the game would contain adult themes, violence and other such things - at no point in time however, did i expect to have a rape-scene graphically threatened to me and for those who said it to go unpunished." She finished with "in no part of life would i expect that".
Is she maybe too emotional and reacting too strongly to this incident? Perhaps. Is she right, however? Yes.
She and her boyfriend were good people and good players - our community already misses them.
I perhaps over trivialised what my mate was going through with the speeder situation. He is a big star wars fan (i wish we all were) and sees the type of pvp behaviour now as very "un-star wars" (in fact, thats the understatement of the year). the spirit of things is long lost and i hope the developers can return it. As a struggling novice droid engineer (anyone who has taken that proffession on will know what i am saying here) who already has a mountain of resource/cash-flow/time problems, getting his speeder destroyed each and every day for near on a week became too much - it was, to coin a term, the straw that broke the camels back. On that fact though, i hear the devs are changing the tef system. I sincerely hope so due not only to its dubious levels of realism but also the heartache that it causes the new players (the ones we need to keep).
Ok, wyldewulf - a good point but totally unreasonable and unsympathetic. This behaviour does not offend me - anything that upsets my friends however is a different story. And last of all, on a personal note i live far from "care bear land" and "santa land". In fact, the real lands i have served in have seen me decorated for valour four times. It is out in the "real world" where we learn that people who act in this manner do not survive for very long - it should be the same in swg

i am a 6fott tall 250lb amateur bodybuilder.
i am also a bouncer and was born and raised in the bronx.
i now live in seattle, where men dont always act like men.
many people have said mean and horrible things to me under there breath.
i have never been approached in a dark alley by any of these people, none of them have ever tried to assault me, verbally or physically.

simply put they are cowards remind them of this and than tell them how funny they are and spend the rest of the time laughing at them and telling them they have no impact on you or anyone else so why bother.

everyone hates the truth. especially when the truth says that you are and will always be a loser.

While I may not like how CSRs treat common problems in the game (which should lend themselves to 'compenstation') - I am very confident that CSRs does ban folks for exploiting and harassment. On a few occasions where I've used /report - I've added the person to my friends list & to ignore list. Within a few days they seem to stop logging on... (friend list is great for enemies too - as even /anon doesn't hide their presence.)

I have just registered on this forum, just to reply to this thread...

I am a female, and as such I have often been the subject of harassment, both over the internet and in real life. I have also found myself walking alone at night, near an area in Edinburgh (known as the Meadows), which I'm told has the greatest frequency of rape in the whole of the UK. As you can imagine, the short walk from the 24-hour university library to my home scared my socks off.

However, if I found myself in a situation like your female friend did, I would act in one of the following ways:

1) Assuming I was in a good mood, which I usually am, I would tell my partner about it (who plays on the other computer about 2 feet away from mine) only so we could laugh our heads off with the poor sods and say something that would probably disgrace them like "oh, you're going to rape me? Really? In real life I'm a 40-year-old bald fat gay guy who hasn't had sex in ages... you'd be doing me a favour" or simply "Is that the only way you can get laid?" (I play a Rutian Twi'lek Dancer/Commando).

2) If I was in a bad mood (say, if my computer had crashed recently or if they just took it too far for my own personal standards, which, believe me, are way too high), I would simply ignore them, either physically (through the /ignore feature) or by actually IGNORING them (not reading what they've been saying)... and if I were TOO vengeful, I would report them, which could eventually result in them being banned and having to lose money IN REAL LIFE.

As for your other friend, first of all I consider myself a Star Wars fan, so the "un-Star-Wars" comment *does* constitute a good reason for him to quit the game from my point of view, but I wouldn't agree with his course of action... maybe it's because if I can believe that the plastic lightsaber I duel with for fun is a real one, or that a pair of stockings covered in blue plastic and attached to my head can make me a Twi'lek, then I can easily believe my character is in the Star Wars Universe even when I'm surrounded by a bunch of hardcore PvPer wannabes, or 12-year-olds trying to have fun their way. But in any case, being in a faction might bring on all sorts of aggressive behaviour in-game, and anyone who can't stand the heat I believe should stay out of the kitchen... that's precisely the reason why I'm not a rebel yet (well, that and the fact it wouldn't make much sense for a twi'lek to take sides so easily, since the Empire still rules the place)

And about the 'community' issue people keep mentioning, and as others have said before me, there are all sorts of people in the real world, and the same applies in-game. One just has to choose one's friends, and interact with others only as one sees fit.

In any case, I really hope people don't abandon the game because of such incidents, it's a shame if the 'good guys' leave and the game ends up like Diablo.

I'll shut up now, over and out.

Varrus, nobody had covered me as yet, and that's what made me reply to this post... thanks for agreeing. And no, although I adore monty python both before and after they split up, I didn't get the nickname from the killer rabbit, that's a different kind of rabbit... I could go into great detail analysing my nickname, but I believe this would be way out of topic:P

Good luck to ulyssean and his friends...

Again like i said and this kinda conforms to what you are saying, in that there is a real person behind the character.

So in my assumption, there must be rapists that play, and they pay $15 a month to play how they want to play. I guess i would rather they take their hate rape anger out on a video game rather than in a shopping center parking lot, at least they are at home not harming anyone, so i guess by being raped online on a video game you are saving other women *cough* or men, from being raped that night. Good Job. Keep up the good work.

One thing i noticed in Everquest, is that none of the Female Ogre characters had this problem, was mainly the female wood elves....hmmmmmm i wonder why......

"Jezus" - WTF??????? You the son of Jesus?

For your 1st comment - I wouldn't know I am not a rapist.

For your second comment - see my above posts on how i feel about all that, we have moved past that.

And for your third comment - Yes men in prison rape jokes to me are hilarious, it keeps me from wanting to be locked up. Just ask Chris Rock he has a quality act about the "tossed salad man" in prison, and since it was live i dont think that was a laugh track playing in the back ground, so i dont think im alone on this opinion.

PAY ATTENTION KIDDIES!

/addignore <username>

If you don't like what someones saying you have the option to change that. No you would rather cry and moan about what people can and can't say. This type of **** socialist speech thought mentality makes me sick.

Anyone can say what they want...each person in this game chooses whether or not they want to hear the garbage that spews from someone. Use the command report if you're that upset but move on.

Varrus

That's odd. In the post i criticized previously you managed to make a number of assumptions and conclusions pertaining to the behavior of rapists. The implication that you need some empathic insight to respond to a purely deductive question is ridiculous to begin with, but the complete contradiction in your latter position reveals the actual case: You do know. The answer was evident, that's what a rhetorical question looks like.


Carry on.


First of all, I'm not entirely sure how you think this pertains to what I said above. Nonetheless, this is a very revealing statement. The notion of prison rape makes prison seem unappealing to you, so it's funny when it happens to someone else. Got it.


Now if consensus dictated reality you'd be getting somewhere.


The point is there, I'm sure you'll find it. Then again, if your reading comprehension is as bereft as your logic, then perhaps I should be more explicit. In a nutshell: what you said doesn't make sense. And what makes you think I was flaming your post?


Ah. Nevermind then.

You think that threatening to gang rape someone (whether or not they could carry out the threat is irrelevent) does not fall under this category? That it could be considered "vague?"
Are you that self centered that only you matter?
I guess I shouldn't ask that, I may not like the answer, in most cases.

The only reason, I can imagine, you could suggest this falls under "freedom of speech" is because, on the net, you can do it with little chance of any come back on you and, afaik, there has been no legal precedant of anyone being charged with this sort of behavior online, yet.
If you did it in the real world, well...Just try it and see what happens. Make up some sick little gang rape rant and offer it verbally to a woman or send it via mail or email it...See what happens. There are laws against threatening behavior, especially if it includes sexual violence. Fancy putting them to the test?

We are not talking about someone's freedom to have a point of view and express it, we are talking about abusive behaviour that has no place in this game or the real world and for which there are rules and laws in both.

What is deemed Hateful and abusive is not up to the victim it is up to the CSR's to decide. In the real world it would be down to a Jury. It's not a case of "I was offended because he used the word Hell and I'm a Christian" or he called me a "moron" and so the accused is suspended or banned. Crying "CSR!" does not make you right and nothing is done without review, in this case if it was witnessed by the CSR I imagine he would have suspended them on the spot but I doubt he could ban them there an then.

I dispair that I have to share this game with people that can't see that rules apply to everyone, not just those who want to follow them.
What, you people think it's "cool" to consider yourself above all these rules because you're so "anti-establishment" or something?
Because it's a game you can do what you want "no one really gets hurt" perhaps we should apply that to all games.
Making more than one forward pass in (US) Football.
Picking the ball up and running it into goal in Soccer.
Kicking the living sh*t out of your opponent in Aussie Rules...wait that one might be in there.
That would make them all so much more fun, wouldn't it?
Maybe we should just apply it to life in general, I should be allowed to say what I like to whoever I want, with no repercussions...Wait, why stop with talking? I pay my taxes I should be able to do what I want, f*ck everyone else.

If they made a game where everyone could do or say what they like, call themselves anything. Grief anyone they wanted any amount of times. Total freedom of speech and action for all. Do you think people would play it? Not many and not for very long.
Why? Because there wouldn't be enough people there that are playing by the rules for griefers to abuse. That's all your freedom of speech rant boils down to here freedom for antisocial behavior.

Before anyone comes back with the "you take it too seriously, it's just a game"
My retort to that is, yes I take my amusement seriously. I choose to play a game that has rules that I and most other people follow. If someone wants to ruin my enjoyment then I will take it just as seriously and follow whatever actions I can to make sure they don't/can't do it again.

This not about being called a noob or a moron or someone saying Hell. It's not about someone taking out your vehicle in PvP or being killed while overt and dancing in the cantina. It's not about meeting someone called "Flashya MeGash" or having someone attempt to train you with mobs, all of these things can sour a moment but only a moment and are easily moved on from, IMO.
Saying it's not real life will never justify threats of sexual violence, whether made against a character or a player and freedom of speech is not arguement to justify any amount of abuse.

For all your comments that I so vehemently disagree with, Varrus, I do agree that people need to do something about this themselves, as and when it happens. All that has resulted in this thread is we have agreed and disagreed about whether or not their actions are excusable. From the other posts added all that has happened is (seemingly decent)people have left the game and the people that caused all the grief are still playing, unhindered by CSR or player reputation. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll do this to a player that'll "bite" back. I don't mean mouth off back I mean /report CTRL-H for CS ticket and then /addignore <idiot's name>

After writing that last paragraph I am now wondering what the point of me posting this is. It's not going to do anything to the players who decided threatening sexual violence was fun. It's not going to bring back the players that left and it's unlikely to change anyone's point of view on this subject.
But, WTF, I have been typing this (on and off) all morning I might as well hit "post message" now.

harassment is a criminal offense because you cant choke the **** out of the person who is harassing you. unless you're in the south, where 'he just needed killin' is a viable defense =)

i see people who need their asses kicked on a daily basis at work. unfortunately i cannot take it upon myself to fill the void in their life.

Thats right mr quoteeverycommentbecauseyoudontreallyhavepointjustwanttoraiseyourposttotal son of jesus they were assumptions, you are the professor on rapists, please indulge us.

I am sorry if you "taken care of" in prison and my comments offended you. I am surprised they allow you internet access in there.

And yes consensus does dictate our reality, im sorry if you are to blind or dumb to see it, just keep moving along with the rest of the herd, oh wait i forgot your in prison, so you kinda have to do that.

Since the posts were several days apart i since learned what a Flame is and actively sought out how it applied to message boards. Its called learning.

Oh and VIG you wrote your IQ backwards its 151.