Topic

Staff Topic

New: Our Community Guidelines

Here they are...still warm from the presses, our bright, new, and shiny Community Guidelines! We’ve had questions from many of you over the past months about ethics and appropriateness in Glitch, and what they all seemed to boil down to was this: "What should I expect from others playing this game, and what’s expected of me?"

The health of the community is critical to Glitch, so we took our time trying to strike the right balance in our answers and think through some of the more subtle issues at play. But, this is a living, breathing document and will evolve to reflect what we see going on in the game. As members of the community, your feedback is welcome.

You can read the Community Guidelines here, and a link to them is now in the footer of each page on the site. There are also two new FAQ entries drawn up for the occasion: “What are the Community Guidelines” & “What happens if someone breaks the Community Guidelines?

Posted 14 months ago by Blanky Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • DoppelgängerFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, searchFor other uses, see Doppelgänger (disambiguation).In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger (German "double walker") (pronounced [ˈdɔpəlˌgɛŋɐ] ( listen)) is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune. In the vernacular, the word has come to refer to any double or look-alike of a person.The word also is used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have been a reflection. Doppelgängers often are perceived as a sinister form of bilocation and are regarded by some to be harbingers of bad luck. In some traditions, a doppelgänger seen by a person's friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death.In Norse mythology, a vardøger is a ghostly double who precedes a living person and is seen performing their actions in advance. In Finnish mythology, this is called having an etiäinen, i.e., "a firstcomer". In Ancient Egyptian mythology, a ka was a tangible "spirit double" having the same memories and feeling as the original person. In one Egyptian myth titled "The Greek Princess," an Egyptian view of the Trojan War, a ka of Helen was used to mislead Paris of Troy, helping to stop the war. In some myths, the doppelgänger is a version of the Ankou, a personification of death.
    Posted 14 months ago by Gassy Jack Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm a little bit concerned by this clause:

    Duping or deceiving other players into doing things which benefit you at their expense is not allowed.

    How do you define that, and where do you draw the line? There's an example that I can think of that I think is OK behavior, but that seems to fall afoul of that guide. When 12-sided dice were first released, they were something that was found out in the world, with no other way to get them. Consequently, they were going at a very high premium at auction. For quite a while after they were available at the Toy Vendors, people were still selling them for a huge markup at auction, and posting links to those auctions in Global chat when people were trying to get the dice.

    Staff, what's your opinion on that? Does it violate the guideline? Is posting the auctions OK, but suggesting them to people looking for the item in violation? Is the whole thing OK?
    Posted 14 months ago by duien Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank you, devs.
    Posted 14 months ago by TK-855 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Devtesla -- I suppose, lmao... but, as always, I can argue that cursing is not obscene. :P But whatevs. I don't curse excessively anyways. Only when I'm angry, and even then, I mostly throw it into the wind. xD
    Posted 14 months ago by Cerulean Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This is very simple - Be Kind!
    Posted 14 months ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank you TS team, you're all so lovely. *strokes the guidelines*
    Posted 14 months ago by Lyn Frog, Esq Subscriber! | Permalink
  • feels warm and fuzzy
    Posted 14 months ago by gimmegames Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So for clarification's sake, what does Tiny Speck consider specifically to be 'excessive obscenity/vulgarity'? Typically PG-13 language in Global Chat, i.e. the occasional S-Bomb or whathaveyou, hasn't come off as a big deal and I want to know whether or not that's changed before I go speaking like that again. If that won't fly anymore, I can appreciate why that decision was made, but I did enjoy that we could engage in open, respectable conversations about more mature topics in those public channels.
    Posted 14 months ago by Alex The Gingerlion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Huzzah!
    Posted 14 months ago by Zurin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank you, TS! :)
    Posted 14 months ago by Varaeth Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Alex - occasional use of colorful language in context is ok, but when it feels excessive, out of context, or offensive it's not.  I wish we could be black and white, but in many cases, it really depends on the context.
    Posted 14 months ago by kakul Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Duien, regarding your question about inflated auction prices:

    There's a natural economy in the game where a temporary scarcity or glut of a resource can create large differences in the prices of items, allowing some players to profit a great deal during the transition. Information can itself be a scarce resource, with some players doing well by exploiting other players who aren't in the know. While within normal bounds of play, this is an acceptable part of the Glitchen ecosystem. But when exploited for significant and unfair advantage, it can make the game a lot less fun for others. These are the kinds of things that we watch closely and address on a case by case basis.
    Posted 14 months ago by Blanky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • These are awesome! Great work, guys!
    Posted 14 months ago by Geeki Yogini Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "Griefing" is gonna cause confusion being slang with wildly varying definition.  I've noticed it being used in ways in the forums that would cause contradictions in the guidelines.
    Posted 14 months ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Gender indentity? I'm sure this just falls under gender. If you're transsexual, you dont go around saying I'm a girl but I was a boy to everyone. This is the internet. You just say I'm a girl. The end.

    I don't think we need to get into specifics, just stay out of the haterade.
    Posted 14 months ago by Trucker Dave Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Brass tacks and no bones about it... well done  ..  :)
    Posted 14 months ago by Cryztal Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Gender identity encompasses a very, very wide array well outside the traditional bounds of just "boy" or "girl".

    Also this is the most incredible set of community guideline I've ever seen from company. Not a single line of legalese, no punches pulled, brutally honest and completely up front. I love it. You might want to clarify what you mean by mules though; in MMO terminology, a "mule" is simply a character that is created for the sole purpose of storing items that the main character has run out of space for. The mule character is not used to actually play the game- that would be termed an "alt" instead. Do you mean to say that this is not permitted?
    Posted 14 months ago by Toksyuryel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Niiice... Now I have to go read them all :)

    Until now people have been asking me to direct them to staff statements on policy - now I can direct them better.
    Posted 14 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +A bajillion, Toksyuryel. A gender dichotomy does not exist. Gender is a spectrum with no opposite ends, really, and there are far more than 2 genders. But I tire of repeating myself here. Anyone truly interested can garner more from the QUILTBAG group, haha.
    Posted 14 months ago by Cerulean Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Also, why wish we could be black or white? Gray is a beautiful thing, and variety is the spice of life.
    Posted 14 months ago by Cerulean Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Wonder if I can get a clarification.  I do have another paying account that purchased a home to grow herbs which once bloomed are spread out as gifts.  Would this be a breach of protocol?  I do open that acct under another browser while the primary browser I use is open.  She/it does not mine, does gather barnacles...did not see Rube til she finished TP2 and went to Alakol as indicated by the quest.  So, good/bad?????

    Edited to add:  This would be a doppelgänger doppe (mule) since it is my acct under my alternate email address.  Right?!
    Posted 14 months ago by AlmostSilver Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I love that it's written so clearly and jargon-free.  Thank you!
    Posted 14 months ago by Tourmaline Subscriber! | Permalink
  • <3
    Posted 14 months ago by Kaessa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I love the whole document, really great to see that, specially the Avoid assuming bad intentions in other players part.

    And I already did a topic about this guidelines at BR group, so other brazilians can get interested too :)
    Posted 14 months ago by acreditando Subscriber! | Permalink
  • lovely lovely lovely

    This part, especially, makes me happy:  "or anything else you should have the good sense not to hate on." 
    Posted 14 months ago by Feylin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The guidelines say:  "playing at the same time"

    It doesn't say  playing in the same browser.  It says playing at the same time.  If both your characters are playing Glitch at the same time, even if you're using different browsers or different computers, you'd be breaking the rules. 
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Since the op says "your feedback is welcome" I guess I should say that I don't like much of it.  I'm sure its probably all written with good intentions but it comes off as very nanny-ish.    I don't see how the guidelines are different from rules if one is required to not break the guidelines.   I would think it would be very difficult to enforce these sorts of guidelines/rules (they really seem more like values and ideals  than rules/guidelines).  With so many players you  would have to rely on people reporting each other - and assume that the ones doing the reporting weren't up to some mischief of their own.

    Its not a problem for me personally because I do so happen to choose to conform to most of those ways of behaving toward other people.   But not everyone else does choose to behave themselves.  And I feel strongly that the onus is on the individual to control their responses to behavior and words  that offend them - not on the authorities to control the "offensive" behavior.  I see it as a zen thing - control your responses because its the only thing in life you can control.  And from a practical point of view, I don't see how its possible to be fair about enforcing the guidelines.   It also doesn't seem realistic to have things like the in-game location of every player posted to their profiles and at the same time have these guidelines against stalking and harassing people.   I'd rather see the behavior of players in a game moderated through a clever design that discourages harassment than by a set of guidelines that people must follow if they don't want to face the consequences of "what happens if someone breaks the community guidelines". 

    I like this part:
    "Vigilante action against players who are, in your opinion, playing “incorrectly” can be griefing too and it is not allowed. If you see abuse in the game, you should report it. But calling out another player in the forums or public channels and organizing people to bully them is itself a kind of harassment and will be moderated as such."

    And I take note of this:
    "Though Glitch is a moderated community, the ideal is a community that is mostly self-regulating. But keep in mind that no one has a right to play Glitch and access to the game is at the sole discretion of the game’s administrators (the team at Tiny Speck). If you can’t abide by the guidelines above, you can’t play. "

    I can certainly abide by the guidelines but I don't think I agree with them, so maybe the game is not for me.
    Posted 14 months ago by Treesa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've got a fairly specific question- as the term "gypsy" is objectionable to many, if not most, Roma, does TS consider that to be a racial slur? I grew up with that word representing some pretty bad things and ill-will, but I've seen a few people here running around with that word (or some variation thereof) as a username, and I've had it thrown at me a couple of times in the past.

    Just wondering where TS stands on that, since other ethnic or racial slurs are verboten. 
    Posted 14 months ago by Djabriil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Very nice and clear. Though I disagree with the multiple account thing and it seems that TS's original stance was as long as it was manually controlled it was fine, but bots and other automated playing was not allowed. Also how is a mule a hack? If anything it falls under multiple accounts.
    Posted 14 months ago by Nirosu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Treesa, I'm not sure why you're concluding the game is not for you.

    What is it that you don't agree with?  The guidelines themselves, or the method for enforcing them? 

    If you want to play with a zen attitude, then how other people are disciplined probably won't be of interest to you. since it won't affect your game play.  In the main, the mechanism for enforcement is that other players use the Report Abuse and Live Help communication channels to bring someone else's behavior to the attention of staff. 

    Staff then investigates and decides whether or not the guidelines have been violated, and if they have what the appropriate penalty is.  They'll certainly notice of a small group of players who are all in the same group or neighborhood are reporting the same person.  If the investigation reveals that it was a pile-on, the reporters are going to end up in trouble, not the person they reported. 

    Your main objections seem to be: 
    other people should control themselves, and staff should not be involved in controlling offensive behavior
    staff can't be fair in enforcing these guidelines
    there seems to be a contradiction between being allowed to know where a person is and not being allowed to stalk or harass them
    you want the software to enforce behavior, not the staff

    So mainly it seems to be the enforcement rather than the rules that are problematic.
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Windborn:  I don't think the staff have time to fully investigate these sorts of reports.

    "If you want to play with a zen attitude, then how other people are disciplined probably won't be of interest to you"  Good point.

    Its early days and I guess I just don't want to get any more emotionally invested in the game if there is the possibility that random friends will have their accounts disappeared (or whatever the consequences are to be) for alleged use of bad words or apparently stalkerish behavior.  

    The way the rules  are presented as guidelines/values/ideals/goals seems to call upon users to share the same values, which is fair enough: if you don't feel comfortable with that approach then the game might not be your cuppa.  This is also true of other games and community websites.  
    Posted 14 months ago by Treesa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Excellent! Simple and to the point, basic common sense. Respect and consideration.
    Good job TS.
    Posted 14 months ago by Saba Moon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank you for clarifying what should and shouldn't be part of Glitch. I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH.
    Posted 14 months ago by DJTch7 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm a long-time user of sites with guidelines such as these.  In my experience, staff DO take the time to investigate.  I've never seen anyone barred for "allegedly" doing anything.  In every case, the evidence was clear and the staff followed the same guidelines that they expect us to: 

    Avoid assuming bad intentions in other players: .....A willingness to forgive will go a long way, especially when directed towards new players who might not yet have fully learned what effects their actions have on others.

    If anything staff of these kinds of sites give plenty of extra chances.  Usually the bad actors hang themselves by repeatedly refusing to play by the rules.  It's unlikely that you'd be friends with these sorts of people, and if you are you're likely to recognize that their behavior is out-of-synch with Glitch long before they do. 
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Common sense! Love it. Thanks Tiny Speck.
    Posted 14 months ago by Eye Wonder Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Big cuddly hug to the devs. I love it! :D
    Posted 14 months ago by Piratice Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yay devs !!!
    Posted 14 months ago by Plurp Subscriber! | Permalink
  • These guidelines are very simple: Be nice and have fun. If there is anybody not willing to do that then this game is probably not for them. That's okay. There are other games that are not for me for the opposite reasons.

    TS: Could this be made into a conditional sign up page. Such as after you sign on to Glitch then you get this page of guidelines with a button to accept or deny. Then if you accept you get to create your avatar and if you deny you get a page saying something like " Thanks for investigating what Glitch is all about. Maybe you will choose to accept our guidelines at another time but unfortunately I can't let you play this time." Short and simple and implying the game is not for them without actually saying it. Would this not cut out some of the "problem" people right from the start?
    Posted 14 months ago by Holly Waterfall Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "No griefing or harassing other players. It’s not fun, or funny. Really. If you are in the game for the purpose of pissing other people off, you can’t play."

    Blunt. To the point. Funny. :') (y)
    Posted 14 months ago by GravityGrip Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yay, they've officially condoned mischief!
    Posted 14 months ago by Pomegrandy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think that this new rules are too ambiguous, for example "Public areas are public, so treat them as a shared resource." what does it mean? that I can't harvest too much, can't capture lots of pigs or kill several trees? 

    and "Competition in the game does not preclude offering help and hospitality to other players." means that now we're compeled to help others, because I like to help others when I can, but not always and not everybody.

    "Duping or deceiving other players into doing things which benefit you at their expense is not allowed." In street projects people usually ask for ingredients or for food, it's to build the street but basically it's for their own benefit, so now this is not allowed? I played the races to get a better placement at the travelers leaderboards, maybe the other person thought I was doing it for fun only, so now, should I disclose my intentions before each interaction with other player?

    I'm not against the new rules, but I believe that when a company changes the ToS or add new guidelines, I should be informed the next time I use the service, not in a forum post and I should be prompt to accept the changes before proceeding. 
    Posted 14 months ago by Natalia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Natalia  "preclude" means "limit" or "stop you".   The sentence means that competition does not stop anyone from offering help.   It does not mean that you must help people.

    "duping" and "deceiving" means that you are tricking someone into doing something they wouldn't do otherwise.  It does not mean that you have to disclose  your intentions.  It means that you can't trick someone. 
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks for the update, Blanky, that was exactly how I was hoping the interoperation on that rule worked. Looks like a wonderful set of guidelines, and a really good distillation of what made the game so so fun during Beta, and sets the tone to make sure it stays wonderful going forward. 
    Posted 14 months ago by duien Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So...I'm really wondering why I can't get anybody from TS to address the (serious, non-trolling, personally-affecting) question I've posted. Having my username explanation post (which has direct bearing on my ethnicity) expunged from the Off-Topic thread on the subject isn't exactly assuaging my doubt here.
    Dunno if people think I'm kidding, or making an issue of something that I have "no right to object to", but this is starting to feel really strange to me. DEVS, if you're still checking this thread, can I get a little help here?
    Posted 14 months ago by Djabriil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Djabrill, I'd start a Help case with the devs if you need a personal response to your question.  In it, I'd ask for clarification about your missing post as well as whether the guidelines cover the case you've described.
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yeah, sounds like a good idea. Thanks, WindBorn.
    ETA- done.
    Posted 14 months ago by Djabriil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ++++1
    Posted 14 months ago by Twoodle Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Djabriil, I'm sorry I didn't see this earlier. We really take the full context into account for every breach of the CG that occurs, so it's hard to make blanket statements about particular words, especially ones where the intent to harm or insult might not be clear-cut. 
    Posted 14 months ago by Blanky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Blanky - Thanks for the response, but I have to ask, if I named myself "Savage Redskin" because I had a red-colored avatar, would that be fine because of "context", whether or not there are Native American players who might take issue? How about calling myself "Shylock" because I style myself to be a Shakespearean scholar? "Context" seems like a mighty slippery slope. I'm not trying to get anybody in trouble (believe it or not), but the fact that players can't use any other slur in-game (whether they personally find it objectionable or not, and regardless of context) to name animals, themselves, or in reference to others makes me wonder how this is any different, and why "context" is so important. I hardly think being ignorant of the full connotations of a word one throws around and why others might take issue is an excuse, either- if you're going to use a word, you need to know what it means. That's your responsibility, not anybody else's.

    I've kept pretty quiet about this and pretty much just let it go for quite awhile, but reading the CG and ToS, it would seem that my objection should carry as much weight as anybody else's when encountering what their culture regards as a slur, as "gypsy" is unquestionably "ethnically objectionable" to a great many people of Romani descent (which I am, so we're clear). There is quite literally no other origin for this word other than the original slur (won't go into the history here unless it's relevant) and the accompanying palm-reading tambourine-dancer stereotypes that it conjures up. Having an RV or being a belly-dancer doesn't make it any more okay "in context" than any other stereotype, either. 

    I'll wrap this up by saying, if you guys are cracking down on slurs and ethnically-insensitive speech, it oughtta be across the board. I'm not railing against either specific people or TS, I'm just presenting my case here.
    Posted 14 months ago by Djabriil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Djabrill: being about as far away from Europe as you kind of can be on the globe (New Zealand), I had absolutely no knowledge of the term being derogative.  Please forgive my ignorance.  On a brief google search, I didn't find it nearly as clear that the word is derogative, though.  What about groups like http://www.gypsyloresociety.org/ that identify themselves with this word, or other ethnic groups (non Romani) that wikipedia assures me are referred to by the same term?  Do you still consider these references contextually independently offensive?

    EDIT: once again, apologising in advance for my total ignorance in this matter if I have misunderstood something - I am just curious.  And sorry about being off-topic as well.
    Posted 14 months ago by Lara Subscriber! | Permalink