Holy crap guys! I was playing a single play through of Diablo 2 LOD to get hyped for the upcoming game on single player and for fun I decided to speak to all the npc’s about various stuff which I never really did all that much and I was talking to Natalya and I heard her Call that Sweet Old woman Hratli a freaking MAN. I googled it and checked the Diablo II wiki and everything…DUDES, I have thought Hratli was an old Woman for all these freaken years! 20+ years I thought that dude was just some old raspy voiced old woman! OMFG My mind was blown. Um…so, I have to ask. Anyone else mind blown about this because I CAN NOT be the only one who is for the first time figuring this out after all this time. It’s gonna be really mind blowing to see her…I mean his HD body and everything.
Also, anyone else hoping they will add in some more people, even if you can’t talk to them, to the towns? I always thought the towns were a bit thin on populace.
Blacksmithing has never been a “mens only” thing. Women, especially back in the middle or renaissance ages, were very much black smiths. They might not had been as common but They did exist.
Introduction dialogue:
"Welcome to Kurast, traveler. Few come willingly to this ancient city anymore. I hope you brought your wits with you, for sanity is in short supply here.
My name is Hratli. I am a sorcerer skilled in metal work. It’d be a pleasure to help you… I don’t have many customers these days."
Well, year 2000 graphics in an isometric game meant most NPCs were so heavily pixelated that unless they were outright naked or had grotesquely over-proportioned body parts (Andariel, Succubi in general, etc…) that gender was not necessarily a given by appearance alone. ‘Hratli,’ doesn’t necessarily come off as a masculine name compared to the names of other male NPCs, and the difference between robes and dresses can also be difficult to make out with early 2000 graphics. Short hair wasn’t necessarily a gender-distinguishing feature either, considering the Assassin’s hair is short.
All in all, I’m not completely shocked that there are people who thought Hratli was a woman if they never paid attention to NPC chatter. I never thought he was a woman myself, but I’ve always been the kind of nerd who loves story and listened to every NPC on each step of every quest.
I don’t disagree with that either. When I was younger I can’t say I’d ever met a woman with a voice that sounded like that. Granted now that I’m older, I’ve met a few who sounded close to that. Smokers, mostly.
Hralti was always, clearly, without a doubt a man. He calls himself a Sorcerer in his Intro…
Please report your own post and stop trying to push more gender profiling. I think the Amazon thread had enough for a lifetime here
You mean people who can’t behave in public around strangers and think they should not be reported? People who agreed to game and forum rules that limit what you can say (no swearing, hate speech, insulting folks, etc.).
D2R will have the same report system that the rest of the games on Bnet have. Right click report which captures the name, server/game, and the text logs for GM review.
The penalty is usually a Silence which removes a person from the Social aspects of the games. It can also be a suspension, or even a ban, but that is less common. Silence penalties double each time they are applied.
Keep the colorful stuff for your private friends groups/private games where people appreciate your “humor”.
The GMs review the text logs with the report. If they agree that it is against the rules, a person gets a Silence. Otherwise, you don’t even know you were reported. If somehow a mistake is made, you appeal. that is why they have those logs to take a second look.
Just like the forums, unless the Forum Mods agree with the report, nothing happens if you get reported - the most other players can do is get the post greyed out so someone has to click to read it.
The only automated part in-game is the Squelch for spamming/gold selling. If enough reports come in (no number has ever been given), the account gets squelched until a GM reviews it. It takes a lot of people to make that happen, and they can get suspended for abusing the report system if it is malicious or otherwise intentionally disruptive.
I am expecting item/website spam bots to get squelched via reports - then hopefully banned!
We shall see how effective it is in D2R on Bnet 2.0
Example:
Player complains they got Silenced and don’t know why. Tries to pretend the people were mean and ganged up on them. Confuses Squelch (spam) with Silence penalty from a GM. Forum Support Agent verifies it was very much earned Silence and explains…
Of course, some people can’t accept that spam invites/advertising a youtube site might not go over well with the player base and is against the rules. Heh.
I’ve seen people call things “hate speech” that no reasonable person would actually call hate speech.
I’ve seen people get insulted from neither hate speech, nor minor insults, but from someone’s tone… or way of expression.
Some people get insulted, from being called something they are not… who knows why…
Some people got insulted, from being called exactly what they are…
Some people get insulted by things, that are not in any way meant to offend, but they take them as offense due to their own, personal past, or due to living in a completely different circumstance… in another part of the world.
A of these can be subject to interpretation, and many people have proven to be unable to see context properly… Yes, someone’s ability to speak, write or even use a computer does not always mean, that they are intelligent enough to differentiate.
And working somewhere, as a support that investigates such reports in no way guarantees, that you’re suited for the job either, as I literally know people, who don’t have the capacity to handle such situations properly, yet occupy such jobs.
I hope the Blizzard team, who handles said reports manages…
And… although I don’t recall specifics at this moment (some fellow posters here might and I encourage them to back me up if they do), I’m pretty sure the report function has been abused. I think there were cases in WoW.
I also remember some high profile player abusing it in Overwatch… and I think he got punished for it, but then again it was quite visible, as he literally streamed it.
In the same line of thought… I used to get messages often in Overwatch, that actions have been taken based on my reports.
Later on, that stopped… whether as to the system being changed, or maybe I misjudged the people I reported later on, I don’t know…
For all I know, maybe I am wrong for reporting people and I should be punished for false reporting…
Blessed are the believers. I gotta ask you then:
How come something like D3 allows you to report via right click, but only spam, harassment and inappropriate character names and/or battle tags?
How come there’s no option to report someone for clearly being a botter?
My prediction is, that things, that should be much closer to what gaming was and should be about… such as the integrity of the game and combatting cheating… those will not be as much of a priority.
The priority will likely be cases, in which someone’s life choices will be put in to question by a stranger on the internet, likely on the other side of the globe… and people will get sad and issue reports based on that, because they are unsure of themselves…
I remember a time… say 20 years ago, when I’d be getting death threats in-game and I wouldn’t give it a minute thought.
And for all the talk of “inclusivity” in Blizzard games, on some level things seem an awful lot like “self censor, or get excluded!”
And then there is this thing, where people don’t give each other the benefit of the doubt.
I’d highly recommend people watch older movies… say Jersey Girl by Kevin Smith.
And yes, back then I’d say people weren’t such snowflakes.
I’m not picking sides here because, well I honestly don’t care that much.
BUT
I always find it funny how truly open to interpretation this stuff can be.
No swearing? Easy enough, the filter usually stops you and reminds you.
Insulting folks, I mean, sky’s the limit on that one. That’s an open can of worms that has no real definition. People feel insulted for any and all reasons. This is really a way of saying, a moderator decides if it’s insulting, not a person.
Hate speech, another can of worms. Who defines this? No one really, because hate speech is different for just about every culture and ethnic group on the planet. Of which America is saturated with. The absolute most obvious and widely accepted defintion of hate speech has long since been thrown to the wolves of post modern sensationalism. Micro aggressions now count as “acts of violence” so it’s really open season on the bounds of “Hate speech” definitions.
As I said earlier, I’m not picking sides or being political, just tossing out food for thought.
With respect to Hralti, I had decent Altec Lansing speakers in the late 90s, so I was able to pick up on some depth in his voice that may not have been available for others. The sound systems for computers were rather abysmal back in the day.