I’ve been coming across this player for a few days and I’ve reported him numerous times for this same racist attitude and still no punishment has come, and even having reported it and received feedback from the system that of “player blocked”, he appears in my games unblocked and saying these atrocities, honestly, it’s frustrating and I’m not happy to have to see this type of attitude go unpunished as if it were normal for this to happen, I’m aware of the 30 denunciation system, but that ends up generating the misfortune of having to read racism go unpunished because it only made it in a game or two.
I am sharing my unhappiness with the reporting system, and how it is ineffective for the good maintenance of the code of conduct and ends up favoring the occasional racist who exudes his hate speech every now and then but never enough to be caught by the system
Flippantly I’d suggest you get this person to tell someone to “Git Good” or get them to ask players to “Play Safe” as I’ve seen that kind of chat punished faster and more often than the racists and those wishing cancer and death on other players.
The problem is players can just make new accounts if banned, you won’t even know when that specific player is banned as the new account they make can have the same B-Tag as their old account. The other problem with the report system is if not enough people report a player, then that player will not be punished regardless of how vile their chat conduct is.
Considering Blizzard touted they were using “machine learning” to automatically pick up on abusive chat, you would think those who spew racist and other kinds of blatant nonsense would be automatically silenced, reports or no, but from what I can tell reports (in sufficiently high numbers) are still needed to trigger any kind of account action/review.
You used to be able to. I’d receive emails that my reports led to actions against another player’s accounts. I don’t get those anymore though. Felt good reading those emails.
The desire to police speech never ends, it always leads to the desire for ever increasing penalties for ever diminishing perceived offenses, when the party on the receiving end has the choice on whether to be offended or not. The more speech people want punished, the more the speaker is incentivized to exercise their natural right to free speech and the quicker the punishment system is exposed for its absurdity. Hence, force must be applied to keep the unnatural system in place.
A discussion can be had around this issue. However, when it comes to intentionally choosing to use racist language I have no tolerance for it. It is absolutely easy to simply choose not to say anything racist. I haven’t said anything racist in chat and I’ve been playing Hots since 2015.
The vast majority of those players who type racist garbage in chat know exactly what they are doing and understand the possible repercussions of their actions. I say possible, considering players who choose to do this might receive a silence, or at the very worst case a ban (after 2 previous infractions) so the punishment is very mild.
Factor in a banned player can easily create a new account without even spending a cent, I’d say there really is no significant punishment for the offense made.
If we’re honest, eventually the side opposite my position will appeal to authority and see to it that I am not allowed free speech, even here in this very forum for an abandoned game. The irony is typically lost though, ah well. Your virtue signaling about not saying anything racist isn’t something that matters. I didn’t steal from an old lady today, no one cares.
Tolerance is indeed an appropriate word of modernity. It only works the direction the user declares. Your very last line seems true, but an overzealous reporting system punishes the person who reports. It further cements their blind obeisance to authority.
That’s not virtue signalling, it’s just having basic human respect. Again, it’s very easy not to do a racism, it literally costs you nothing.
There is no “free speech” to be had on a forum or game that is not governed by the pubic rule of law, it is governed by a private company Blizzard and in so, they set the rules.
I have been consistent in my criticisms of the report system, where it fails, where it punishes those who don’t deserve it. Again though, just don’t say racist things and you won’t be punished. Think of it as basic manners and common sense, rather than as a “virtue.”
There is free speech to be had, even inside a private company’s domain, if they are educated and ethical enough to not restrict it.
Virtue signalling is when a person goes beyond inaction or action and shares with the world their thoughts/deeds they require observance of. It has little to do with basic manners or common sense.
I would dispute that and remind you that goes both ways, much like you defending the right to say racist stuff in games. I guess you could say that’s you signaling your lack of virtue or ethics.
Easiest way to deal with it is just ignore it and move on with your day. It’s pretty easy to do when you realize it’s just text on a screen.
You will never stop people from making insulting remarks on the internet. Never. Ever. Ever ever. No punishment system, no chat filter, no amount of forum posts will ever stop it. EVER.
Now, you can choose to beat your head against a brick wall and stress over it, but I wouldn’t suggest burning any calories on an unsolvable “issue.”
That’s not how it works, lol. Defending all free speech is markedly different than sharing one’s supposed virtuous thoughts/deeds with the world for notice.
You hold an absolutist view on free speech, yet in the USA (and most Imperial core countries) free speech is more “protected speech” with a ton of asterisks. You should seek out a constitutional professor or lawyer to learn more.
You may not like it, but yes it works both ways. You are signaling your (the) “virtues” of being a free speech absolutist advocate. It might be inconvenient to you, but simply because you think your position is the correct one, doesn’t change the fact that you are advocating (signaling) your position regarding this issue and the virtues therein.
Let’s be technical about this. Blizzard actually doesn’t limit your speech. You aren’t censored or automatically banned if you type a racial slur in games. You can write anything and you might be reported enough to trigger an account action. That is a big might as the system is very forgiving.
You’re arguing with one of the few forum regulars who has many criticisms of the report system. I don’t however think it harms or restricts players using a public video game to face possible consequences for choosing to use racial abuse.
I would encourage you to ask yourself why you think it’s so important or necessary that racist language should be permitted in Hots and if that’s really a hill worth dying on.
You can reply to me, but I’ve said all I care to on this issue and won’t be replying back. Online arguments are essentially pointless endeavors that only serve to raise blood pressure.
Free speech is not 100 free speech when there are laws in place that punish you for breaking them.
You can walk out in the public and yell the N word. Just dont complain when a groupe of people comes and slap you in the head and call you racist.
You can say what you want but under the conditions that you have to face the punishment after. We are not living in the 1600 anymore. We live in a society with rules.
Just like how the real world works. You yell the N word in public and some people might or might not react to it just like people will ignore or report you for it.
The only time free speetch is 100% free is if you live in your own little utopian society with no laws and no goverment.
So until then you have free speech that are protected by laws that semi limit what you can do and say before police will react to it.
Same goes for this forum and other forum. There are rules on this forum and other forums aswell for what you can say before an admin takes action.
You simply don’t understand what virtue signaling is. Defending a historically sound idea is nothing like telling the world “look at me for not being a bad person”. I encourage revisiting this until it makes sense.
No such thing as free speech. Seriously. You have a right to your opinion, but that doesn’t mean you can disrespect people and verbally abuse others and then say its fine because “free speech”.
You read, or should have read, the policies regarding the game. Racism, verbal abuse, bullying, and such is against the terms of service for playing the game. Violations of the terms of service result in actions taken against your account. You essentially signed a contract to play the game when you accepted the terms and conditions and have to abide by the rules of the contract while you play the game. The only way to void the contract is to delete your account or not play the games. If you didn’t read it and don’t know this, well that’s your fault.
I’m against the report system as much as anyone else, but not because I support bullying, verbal abuse, or racism. I’m strictly against that and I think anyone participating in that, shouldn’t be punished. My issue is with the punishment, and how the report system is flawed by banning players who don’t even say anything particularly bad, or abusive, but that people got offended by it and reported.
Is it even protected though? No. Look at Kanye, Andrew Tate, Donald Trump, Alex Jones… who got attacked for speaking their mind. Couple sound bites literally canceled these individuals. Do I agree with everything these people say? No not everything, but I still feel like they should be allowed to speak their mind.
In terms of Andrew Tate specifically, all people are mad about are out of context sound bites that portray him as a woman hater, woman abuser, and what not. Funnily enough, when trying to find the full video of some sound bites, they’re nowhere to be found. So we will never even know the context. Context is very important, and sound bites take that away in order to slander someone. I understand he’s a controversial topic due to the current allegations and arrests (which I hope he’s truly innocent because I like the guy), but when you want to argue about free speech? The only thing you can say is that there is none… there are consequences for what you say… so why should a video game be different?
