Community Moderators

[psaltery]

The volunteer moderators will work closely with our GM staff to promote a more positive community. They will have a protocol to work from and there will be consequences for not following that protocol. Additionally, moderation will be done anonymously so we can separate the mods from any friendships or alliances.

We have access to every chat message, in game mail, and forum post that has ever been made by players and will be reviewing these before making our final choices. We are looking for moderators which are unbiased, objective, and reasonable.

Well, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you for your response. I can support this as explained. As long as there is adequate training and oversight, I can see how this could be a positive program. There are players here who care about the community and would want to help out for altruistic reasons. I hope you are able to find these people in your application process.

[Troll-Phu]

ok I opened an account on the "sandycove" server to play there too one of the "unbiased, objective, and reasonable" moderators there banned me because of my name. this name I'm sure if look at anyone's name I could find something somewhere offensive about everything. all I did was basically say hi in chat. now I'm sure it was just some personal vendetta from a "unbiased, objective, and reasonable" player here in Zeus that's a mod there and I upset. so in my opinion this is just a shady way of this company backing out of a game hoping it will cause enough distrust that players just go to other games and a few will. and with the amount of new players stating which seems to be dropping looks like a "save face" get out of dodge card you're starting with chat mods

[Geboren]

I agree with the need for moderation but not BBs proposed implementation of it.
Firstly the Chat rules need to be clarified, the Forum states that NO small talk is permitted in Trade tab, but BBs in game say that it is allowed as long as it doesnt disrupt.
We cant have 2 rules floating around causing confusion!

Secondly the idea of Anonymous moderation is bonkers imo, it holds little to no accountability for a moderators actions in game. If i was a moderator and worried more about a friendship then moderation, I really shouldnt be a moderator. They need to be as impartial as possible. And if it got to that stage where i didnt want to ban a friend, i could just ask another mod to do it for me. That way my friends still dont know! But there is an element of accountability.

I agree that we should be able to vote in/out or moderators, but what is the point in that if all their actions are annonymous we wont know who did what, who is over reacting or whatever.

As the program currently stands I think You will lose many players from this game. BB need to look at the rules and clarify any that have any contradictions. The whole CM program needs to be thought out not just thrown together to make it look like you care.

As I said, I support the need for moderation but not in its current proposed form

Geboren.

[BB_Rawren]

Secondly the idea of Anonymous moderation is bonkers imo, it holds little to no accountability for a moderators actions in game. If i was a moderator and worried more about a friendship then moderation, I really shouldnt be a moderator. They need to be as impartial as possible. And if it got to that stage where i didnt want to ban a friend, i could just ask another mod to do it for me. That way my friends still dont know! But there is an element of accountability.

I agree that we should be able to vote in/out or moderators, but what is the point in that if all their actions are annonymous we wont know who did what, who is over reacting or whatever.

A bit of explanation is in order, I think. By anonymous, we mean that the moderator will not be tied to their player account. They will moderate from a new account that must adhere a set of rules. To ensure impartiality, bans and infractions will be reviewed by one of our team members. If/when the infraction was given in error, it will be lifted and erased from the player account. We will be, in essence, moderating the moderators to ensure that they are impartial.

As for the community voting in/out moderators - this is not an option. The moderation team will be chosen based on BB support standards and must be controlled by our team. As always, players may still contact Support to discuss moderators actions or to contest a moderator action.

[Draconus2004]

A bit of explanation is in order, I think. By anonymous, we mean that the moderator will not be tied to their player account. They will moderate from a new account that must adhere a set of rules. To ensure impartiality, bans and infractions will be reviewed by one of our team members. If/when the infraction was given in error, it will be lifted and erased from the player account. We will be, in essence, moderating the moderators to ensure that they are impartial.

As for the community voting in/out moderators - this is not an option. The moderation team will be chosen based on BB support standards and must be controlled by our team. As always, players may still contact Support to discuss moderators actions or to contest a moderator action.

So - how would dual-account rules and login apply to such a player? I do believe that would make playing both accounts in the same browser impossible and would nullify the desire to moderate as much. a player might be semi-afk for hours, but would they be as likely to be semi-afk on a moderator account if their main account cannot login? Even if i had been interested in a chat moderator, this right here would of just caused me to lose all interest.

[BB_Rawren]

So - how would dual-account rules and login apply to such a player? I do believe that would make playing both accounts in the same browser impossible and would nullify the desire to moderate as much. a player might be semi-afk for hours, but would they be as likely to be semi-afk on a moderator account if their main account cannot login? Even if i had been interested in a chat moderator, this right here would of just caused me to lose all interest.

Without going into too much detail, there are separate tools that will be available to moderators.

[Troll-Phu]

it already happened once with a CL ranting when one of his guildies had an issue on a Loot Spot with a respectable player none the less. So whats to say it won't happen again and this time that person has power now too? as a company you can't go and run a background check on a player or do a psych eveal on them, how do you know what they will do when the situation presents itself?

[Pochucker]

ahh anonymous --great now they can settle their scores "anonymously" with no repercussions. Just like in the real world if someone in management wants to "get" you it is extremely easy to make it look legit. Ive been on both sides of the fence.

It really disturbs me that the "dynamics" of the chat community is not understood at all. This game is not all that exciting in plain English. Without an "enjoyable" chat community to fall back on its really going to fade away.

I have found two people in global who say they they want chat mods one has applied to be one other I dont think was serious. That leads me to believe that "lurker community" (yes it exists) is behind this. They claim they are "skeered"of big bad hostlie global. BS Well once they get there way ,they will still lurk. Exhibit A for that was when many chat regs boycotted global when first round of CLs appeared. Chat died --was hysterical watching people go "hi" Hi" "What should we talk about?" "I dont know?" etc etc topper was when we had BBs coming in telling jokes to try and get some life in it.

Oh and those seven yr olds that were mentioned in previous posts --wonder how much money is being pulled in from that group and the under 18 crowd in general.?


However couple suggestions --many chat rooms show everyone in the room whether they are speaking or not . When they enter when they leave. Basic programming. Lets give the lurkers some accountability.

Also since we have "extra" globals lets make the ability to let people start own room either password/non pass word protected and with the ability to mod there own room. Not ban but be able to kick players from room. Have seen this done before also. You list general topic in room title and name of player that started it.

[Troll-Phu]

pochucker i agree and the "lurkers" will soon have what they want....NO GAME

[Geboren]

I am not a lurker, and i am all for moderation. Just not the way the are planning to implement it currently. For us to have NO say in who becomes a CM is ludicrous when we were able to suggest and point out why we thought certain players were CLs.

If BB carry on down the route they are going I agree GFM soon there will be no game. Sad that after all this feedback BB still refuse to listen. Makes one think do they want the game to shut down?