Topic

The fine line between Offensive and Reportable

I think the problem staff will run into (and really this goes for any game, not just Glitch), is that when you start making exceptions for everyone that feels offended, what are you left with?  I mean, if an attack is personal, I can certainly understand reporting it.  But we're mostly grown adults here (I think).  We don't have a group of GM's in the real world to run to when we find a note laying on the ground that we think is offensive.  How do we deal with such an issue in real life?  We have the tools to deal with it the same way in Glitch.  If you don't like what was written, you can choose to ignore it and walk away, or pick it up and vendor/donate it.  Reporting a note that you find laying on the ground because it goes against your moralistic views is a poor use of staff time (in my most humble opinion, mind you) in having to review the report, and it sets a bad precedent.

That's my two cents.

Posted 14 months ago by Joojoo Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • +1...Exactly
    Posted 14 months ago by Poppy of Detwoit Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank you. Very well said.
    Posted 14 months ago by Jhennauchan Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So I would ask all of you to make sure you've read the Community Guidelines, as that will go a long way towards determining what is reportable and what is best left alone. However, there is a lot of gray area, and a good rule is *how* uncomfortable it makes you. Specifically, if it's bothering you enough to dissuade you from playing as you normally would - report it. We won't be able to share the outcome with you, but in order to help make sure everything is running smoothly in the game without having to watching every single location and chat, we need help from you to let us know.
    Posted 14 months ago by Blanky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I could use fewer Chickens Named FAGGOT.

    I could also use a "report this object" from the info page.
    Posted 14 months ago by Snlenff Flurghle Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Snlenff, you can just report the name (also rename it). If I understand correctly (and I am no expert), they can search and then check all the animals named by the person who named that animal.

    (Also, rename things, if you can. Take control.)
    Posted 14 months ago by Lord Bacon-o Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I came back to my housing block the other night to find that my dear sweet Henrietta had been renamed 'FAGGOT'.  Rather than fret over actions of a clearly immature glitchen (which is precisely the reaction they want), I renamed her Henrietta again and forgot all about it until I was just reminded about it.  As Lord Bacon-o says, Take control.  You have tools available to you in this game to change something you don't like.  Reporting should not be your first option, when there are clearly ways to take care of these things yourself.
    Posted 14 months ago by Joojoo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If someone is going around naming pigs with slurs, then it should be reported.  That's against the TOS, and if staff doesn't hear about it, there's nothing they can do to caution the person about the behavior. 

    I'd much rather play in an environment where people knew that naming pigs with hateful slurs is not allowed, than in an environment where people knew they could get away with it because people didn't care enough to let staff know. 
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Lol, someone's naming all the chickens FAGGOT?  I find that hilarious ^_^
    Posted 14 months ago by Btaylor Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I guess I dont get why that is so funny, Btaylor.  Mind sharing why you think it is "hilarious"?
    Posted 14 months ago by Innie✿, Obviously Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Btaylor, I'm curious why that seems funny to you?  I don't get the joke. 
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • WindBorn, I guess the point I'm making is that derogatory terminology will always exist.  We can't stop people from using it around us in our everyday lives.  It's even harder to prevent people from using it anonymously in a video game.  Would you rather spend the time you allocate to Glitch filing report after report on individuals you don't care to associate with?  Or would you rather spend it actually doing fun things with your friends?  Would you rather staff spend their limited resources investigating these reports and then putting the offenders in a "time-out" or would you rather they dedicated the time to improving/adding features to the game?  I choose not to empower the offenders by ignoring their silly pranks.  It costs me nothing to rename the neighborhood chicken.
    Posted 14 months ago by Joojoo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I have never reported any person on any website for any reason since the beginning of my online life.
    And I never will.

    I have much better things to do with my life.

    If someone is going to go around acting a fool, they will do themselves in eventually.

    EDIT:
    I don't mean to imply that it's bad to report people, that is your choice.  I'm just stating how I feel about it for myself.  Nobody should take offense to what I wrote, as I am not judging you for reporting people...as it does not affect me in the least.
    Posted 14 months ago by Poppy of Detwoit Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "It's even harder to prevent people from using it anonymously in a video game."

    It actually should be easier to prevent than in RL since anything anyone says (or enters when renaming an animal) is data and could be automatically censored on the fly, i.e. at the moment they enter the offending word (it's not uncommon for various bulletin board/forums to do with comments/posts for example). It does tend to lead to people complaining about "OMG CENSORSHIP!1!" and occasionally a false-positive and of course you have to update your offensive word list as people resort to 1337 or similar obfuscation to get around your filter, and there'll be some performance hit on running the filter on each text entry, so it may cause more work than is deemed worth the effort, but it's not impossible (which in RL, it generally is).
    Posted 14 months ago by juv3nal Subscriber! | Permalink
  • From what I've gathered, when an animal is renamed, the id of the person renaming it is attached to that animal.  It is also possible for staff to see all the animals that id has named/renamed. 

    So, if you report just one pig/chicken/butterfly, when staff investigate, they will be able to see if this was a single event, or whether that person has engaged in a pattern of entering slurs/hate speech to rename animals.

    Yes, it is worth my game time to report even a single pig, since this allows staff to investigate and see whether the person who did it is really a person who should be allowed to play the game.
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm a homo, and I'd think it was hilarious if I kept finding chickens named "Faggot" too. In fact, I laughed when I read that.
    Posted 14 months ago by Darius Atrepes Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'd just like to know who gave the piggie/chicken/butterfly the horrible name so that I know who I'd rather not play with.

    That said, I've only ever been made angry by a critter-name when it was calling out and insulting a specific Glitch by name. The others, I shall now rename HappyBubbleFuntimesAndRainbowSparkles. Because I CAN.
    Posted 14 months ago by Jennyanydots Subscriber! | Permalink
  • WindBorn, but at the end of the day, the person who committed the offense still has 0 respect for the gay community (and really, humanity in general), and will most likely continue his antics elsewhere if not in Glitch again.  So what have you really accomplished besides getting upset (which was his intention) and occupying the staff's time (that could have been spent fixing a bug or adding a new feature that a much larger percentage of the game's population would benefit from)?  Do you file a police report on anyone you hear yelling out obscenities on the street?  If you think about it, that's pretty much the same thing we're talking about here.
    Posted 14 months ago by Joojoo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Joojoo, as staff has asked, I file a report any time someone else's behavior changes the way I play the game.

    If someone on a street continues to use offensive language so that I have to leave the assets on that street and find them somewhere else to avoid that person, then it's time to report the behavior.

    So what if they go somewhere else?  The point is to make this space safe, not to police the whole internet.  If they can be educated and were truly not meaning to be offensive, then there's ways to deal with that.  But there's absolutely no reason to ignore behavior that causes me to lose interest in being on Glitch.
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well, WindBorn, we'll have to agree to disagree as I doubt we'll ever see eye to eye on this.  If you are so affected by inappropriately named animals that it would cause you to quit Glitch, you are certainly entitled to file a report.  I just happen to think that a lot more players end up being affected by the staff's time being diverted to deal with something that could have been dealt with by the individual.  But that's just me.
    Posted 14 months ago by Joojoo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ya know what I would do if someone were using a bunch of offensive language on a street?
    I'd ignore them and harvest what I wanted to anyway.

    Ya know what I would do if I found an offensive note?
    Ignore it and go about my Glitchy life.

    I love not being everyone else's nanny.  It makes my (real) life so much happier and stress-free.

    But, like I said before...it's all up to you.  What you do doesn't affect me, so have at it.  I'm just saying, it's so nice to not worry about every little thing.
    Posted 14 months ago by Poppy of Detwoit Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I have to agree with WindBorn on this issue. I don't find it funny in the least to use obscene language or discriminant slurs. @Darius you may feel ok with it and find it funny but another person might just find it offensive. I am one that I WILL report that kind of behavior as well and I have that right as any other player has. You also have the right to ignore the behavior and move on... sorry that is not my choice as I don't want to see more of this poor behavior creeping in and taking over because they consistently get away with that behavior.

    Blanky has stated in this thread "So I would ask all of you to make sure you've read the Community Guidelines, as that will go a long way towards determining what is reportable and what is best left alone. However, there is a lot of gray area, and a good rule is *how* uncomfortable it makes you. Specifically, if it's bothering you enough to dissuade you from playing as you normally would - report it."
    Posted 14 months ago by Casombra Amberrose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I want to let you know I am an equal opportunity offender, if I haven't offended you yet please wait your turn. That being said I do not seek to offend people however, no matter how nice you play people will complain.

    My gf got reported twice and she rarely offends anyone. People are just pissy *oops I said pissy, I hope I don't get reported* If someone really is a problem then by all means report them but if they are just annoying then ignore them.

    The report system was made to help ensure a safe environment but if people get reported for bogus reasons then a lot will leave. My gf was upset about the reports and if she stops playing so will I.

    Censorship won't work either unless it optional meaning you can choose to filter bad words out. I am an adult and sometimes use adult language its life deal with it.

    As for naming chickens Faggot. Simply rename the chickens and move on. People who do such things only do it to get a reaction. Don't feed the trolls.

    If I say or do something you find objectionable be an adult and come to me about it. Quit being a tattle tale and grow up.
    Posted 14 months ago by Noc Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I just want to clarify that ignoring the behavior is not the same as encouraging or even condoning it.  In fact, I'd venture to say that responding to the behavior is even more encouraging than ignoring it, because they know they got to you.  But regardless, I find this fixation on exacting punishment on the offender really troubling.  I believe you gain more by ignoring the nuisance than empowering it.  But again, that's just me.

    With regards to Blanky's quote, well yes of course staff is going to ask you report anything that's in violation of the policy and makes you feel uncomfortable, they wouldn't want to give the impression that anything goes, but what I find more important in that quote is what's implied by the second sentence (or at least what I took it to mean): really think about what it is you're reporting.  Incessant, abusive IM's even after asking the individual to stop and inappropriately named pets are not on the same level.  Not by a long shot.
    Posted 14 months ago by Joojoo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't think I'd report a note, but I certainly wouldn't leave it laying there.
    But then, I would leave it laying there if it was not offensive but simply something I disagreed with.

    I do report if I feel things warrant it. Sorry, but there you go.
    Posted 14 months ago by Lyn Frog, Esq Subscriber! | Permalink
  • People seem to be under the impression that people never change their behaviour. It is true that there are immature people who will resolutely use nasty words as slurs.

    But there are also many many people who simply use them because everyone round them has used them, no one's ever said anything to them about it and it's just never occured to them that it might be offensive.

    It's part of what's called selection bias. You tend to hang around with people that confirm your beliefs, since they are part of a similar demographic to you. But the internet is a great widener of demographics, there's a much greater spread of people you're in contact with.

    I've had plenty of success at educating people about how much bother slurs can cause people and sure there's the odd belligerant person (and more so on the net) who will not accept another persons view as, as valid as their own, but for the most part people shrug and say yeah sure.
    Posted 14 months ago by SacredBob Subscriber! | Permalink