Community Moderators

[Dirkjon]

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.

And how long will that "review" process take BB_Rawren? I don't imagine that it will be a high priority given the number of other serious game issues that need to be resolved at the current moment. Personally, I would be more comfortable if the moderators could only recommend punitive action to a BB, who could then review the alleged infraction and determine whether or not punitive action is appropriate.

[AngelBuns]

I tried to give the mods a chance but i guess if u use another word that may have another meaning its not allowed...like crap, butt etc. TBH thats not bypassing the chat filter, spacing and actually typing the bad word is. Also no offense but how do mods from one server know and understand the dynamics in the other? Never had any issues with mods until today and i tell u what, i am NOT happy with their conduct!! UBI needs to get a clue and know this isnt gonna work. Also if i cant chat reg in help tab then they shouldnt be in global asking for help. A CL from another server decided to have a 10 min help convo in global one which shouldve been taken to whisper or help tab. I mean come on UBI...all these titles are ruining the game!!

[brockb86]

Angel I am sure that you feel like you had that experience and I doubt that BB or the person moding chat wanted you to feel that way. If I review this entire thread the feeling I get is that

1) There will be plenty of training and oversite of the mod team
2) Any action taken by a moderator or CL is up for review by BB
3) Moderators are held to high standards if they have to use the tools they have

I think this is a needed change not only to protect the gamers of whatever age but also to make chat more enjoyable. I have yet to see anyone get in trouble without reason and I think they are doing their best to make this game work for all ages. The settlers will never grow if we dont move forward. I think a lot of the technical questions have been answered and they are working on them.

I would suggest giving this new thing a chance before you pass judgement already. Its a new program.

And @ Dirkjon- if someone is modding and someone is breaking the rules there may not be time to bump it to a BB when action is needed immediately.

[Sidereal]

The one thing I don't like is the MODs threatening people with their ability to ban. I think banning should be used as a last resort, not thrown around like a random joke. I've heard of two instances in which the MODs have threatened to ban people... the BBs have never done this (at least from what I have seen). They give someone a warning but they never out right tell them that they are going to be banned....

[psaltery]

Guys, lets give them a little time. These are rookie mistakes, they'll learn. Modding isn't easy, it's a fine line to know when to intervene and when not to, and they are volunteers still in training. If we give them a chance, and gently point out the issues instead of harassing them (as I've already seen some players do) it will go easier for everyone. I'm sure they'll chill out once they're more comfortable in their positions and with the rules.

[Aqua-Dog]

Angel I am sure that you feel like you had that experience and I doubt that BB or the person moding chat wanted you to feel that way. If I review this entire thread the feeling I get is that.

1) We don't want it
2) We totally agree
3) We have no say

GL mods.. hope you don't catch to much grief over your new powers

[Troll-Phu]

it's going to come back to "vendetta banning" one of these "secret" players will have an itchy trigger finger when it comes to someone that they don't like. its goin to happen its human nature. my question is why not just pull the plug on a dying game and not try to justify its death by adding mods and blaming them. but whatever i spent the last real money on this game not because of the addition of mods but the lack of new "real" content like things promised 2 years ago. and if i get a perma ban them i guess its better for the next gaming company that gets my money. for the most part chat has been dead for a good while with little or no need for moderation and the occasional fool that opens an account will always happen but usually just another player telling said player to stop worked. i wish you guys luck in this and hope to play other games with most

[Pochucker]

I got to say this whole thing is mind boggling. People have been "chatting" a certain way for in excess of two yrs and then one day they decide to "lay the law down".(yes the law has been there) How do they do it? By using non BB employees (can you say cannon fodder or maybe "recruits) at least do the dirty work yourself BB so we at least know were not being targeted by overzealous wannabes with axes to grind.

Oh and when it comes to implementing change there are basically two ways to go --get the existing "community leaders" on board or make an example out of them. I would say its pretty obvious which way they haven chosen to go.

[Dirkjon]

And @ Dirkjon- if someone is modding and someone is breaking the rules there may not be time to bump it to a BB when action is needed immediately.

I can't imagine a mod being able to act more quickly than a player typing "/ignoreadd ***". That's truly "immediate". If someone's offending you then self moderate and don't wait for someone else to do if for you.

[scott1470]

it's going to come back to "vendetta banning" one of these "secret" players will have an itchy trigger finger when it comes to someone that they don't like. its goin to happen its human nature. my question is why not just pull the plug on a dying game and not try to justify its death by adding mods and blaming them. but whatever i spent the last real money on this game not because of the addition of mods but the lack of new "real" content like things promised 2 years ago. and if i get a perma ban them i guess its better for the next gaming company that gets my money. for the most part chat has been dead for a good while with little or no need for moderation and the occasional fool that opens an account will always happen but usually just another player telling said player to stop worked. i wish you guys luck in this and hope to play other games with most

I completely agree with you G_F_M. People spend money on this game, and one player should not have the ability to kick another player out of a game that the other player has spent money on. We have already seen several examples of BB_smurfs giving out bans that in some cases maybe should not have been given out. I would choose to assume mistakes rather than accuse any one BB of abuse, but the point is that Blue Byte employees have made mistakes, and if they can make mistakes then player CM's can be expected to make mistakes as well. If the CM who banns another player who should not have been banned is identified, then there will be war with that CM. If the CM who makes a bad decision is not identified then it will not take long before all CM's become suspect. Can you think of a better way to turn players against players? Giving banhammers to CM's will tear the community apart.


These rules that they are enforcing did not just come out of the blue, and while they may or may not have always existed, they were not always enforced. A few years ago we got some really bad trolls in global. These trolls were using software to continuously paste and send walls of spam that pushed whatever someone else wrote up the chat window faster than you could read it, and when they weren't spamming they were being rude to kids and openly discussing things that should not have been discussed on a public channel. They were also multi-accounting, so you could beat them with the iggy stick until the iggy stick broke and you'd just get the same guy back a few hours or a day later with a new name that you hadn't blocked. And when the trolls did sometimes let off for a bit, there was a whole guild full of Mormons waiting to start preaching and giving sermons to everybody, trying to browbeat other players into converting. Then there was the neo-**** in his one man guild called KKK, and a few other people who were doing and saying very objectionable and disruptive things in chat...

And that's when UBISoft implemented the parser program that censors chat. Its also about the same time when they put a 5 second cooldown on talking in global and when they got the BB_smurfy blue mods to come in and start enforcing rules against multi-accounting, against racial slurs and against religious political or *** talk. The moderators seem to have forgotten that the purpose of these rules is to prevent players from abusive or objectionable behavior that may be expected to offend another player or prevent that other player from enjoying the game. The people responsible for the objectionable conduct are mostly gone now, and by continuing to enforce these rules with chat bans against people who are just trying to have fun and have not done anything that is inappropriate or ought to offend anyone, the way these rules are being enforced has become more of a problem than a solution.

BB collects money from the gems that are sold for this game, and is therefore responsible for it. Over-moderation will kill the game just as dead as no moderation will, and to solve this is going to take a little bit more than just switching the brand of chat cop. BB has to find the happy medium where the rules can be enforced against players whose conduct may be either inappropriate or objectionable, without allowing the old solution to become a new problem for the players that aren't doing anything wrong.