Being cautious of language still applies even in this setting. There was another thread recently where someone’s character did precisely that, using a favorite F word a couple times in public chat channels. Action was taken for it.
Naturally they tried to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes in their thread and altered some of the story to make it seem like it was a general roleplay problem, but Vrak cleared that up.
I did give that thread a gander, and it did kinda raise the question. I don’t really like every second word being an F bomb, but I also am big on letting people RP how they want to RP as long as they’re not hurting anyone.
Thank you for the input, folks.
Personally I would see it better to check the start of the aruguement, try to find what caused the rudeness from the reported player, and if the reporter caused an aggression to occur, warn both players involved and only provide a punishment if its truly needed.
I have once or twice reported a couple of people and added a comment that the whole conversation was pretty gross, which I was hoping would cause a GM to look at the surrounding chat a bit. Not sure if they do in such a case.
There is no RP backstory you can use to justify breaking the rules. Imagine the chaos.
“I was RPing as a botter”
“I was RPing as a criminal who tries to get away with as much as possible”
“I was RPing as someone who hacked the world he lives in…like the Matrix”
That kind of excuse is not going to work.
The “why” isn’t relevant. There is no justification to excuse someone violating our Code of Conduct. If you believe the other person violated policy the best course of action is to report it, as you see fit. It is not a great idea to answer in kind or escalate the situation.
I get it, some times other people can be extremely crass and rude and your first instinct is to snap back. It can be hard to take the high road at times. 
An example I’ll use for this is in a community I moderate I had to recently perm ban someone that was breaking rules. I ended up on Discord sitting down with them to talk things out cause they wanted to come back. After a long discussion I managed to make them see the bigger picture. This is also why I haven’t tried to be a GM myself cause I’m way too forgiving ;w;
I get that, totally, but I think there’s a fine line between griefing and just having a character…swear a bit. Usually griefers are ignored or, if they go on to do things like use enlarged mounts to cover folks, reported.
I only ask because a week silence, in an RP context, can really mess with someone’s character and whatever stories they’re trying to build. That’s why I’m more reluctant than, say, someone going off in BG chat.
There is not. It’s a violation…even if it’s just “a bit”.
I’m not an RP’er, so I really don’t understand how a character can get ruined by an account action. But be that as it may, if that’s a possibility, then it sounds like they’d better follow the rules.
That’s your choice. Everyone has their own level of where it crosses the line into reporting someone. Just be aware that someone else’s line may be much shorter than yours, and your forgiveness for others is not taken into account when it comes to actions. A violation is a violation, and will be actioned.
And while that’s commendable, and yes everyone will react differently in that situation (like yourself, I also don’t generally report if it’s clearly in an RP setting), not everyone thinks that way. The risk for using such language is still there.
Unfortunately this is the case where people who aren’t used to RP types that go that way and end up reporting it thinking its a case of harassment. Its just bad timing for most people.
And you also have to remember that not everyone is on a roleplay server to roleplay. There are large swaths of people that don’t have that mindset at all, and I might venture that to be a majority of the realm’s population.
This is not a line you need to cross, even in an RP context, profanity is not allowed.
Unfortunately thats the thing with WoW there is no line, just saying a word thats offensive is enough for someone to report cause its against TOS. If you break the rule you break the rule, whats the saying again? Cant do the time dont do the crime right?
With RP, if someone is playing a foul mouthed salty sailor or something, they need to do it in private chat with consenting persons who won’t report them. It is usually when someone says something in the public game chats or groups that they get reported.
There is no excuse really for people who can’t seem to understand and follow the rules. Maybe role play being in school or church when in public. That would certainly be a trial for a foul mouthed, uncouth sort of character! Also funny if done right because they can’t swear or trash talk. I would totally invent a potion or scroll of “proper decorum” they have to use before being allowed out in public.
There’s no forgiveness for something being RP but out of line, but only chat that gets reported gets you an account action.
Generally roleplayers tend to not report each other for in-character statements and emotes…generally. I saw at least one person come through here who was trolling Trade chat and got reported, and in reviewing their chat history they found salty language in their RP /say and emotes and that contributed to the account action.
There are a few people who get angry at their own dings and try and take that out on everyone that they can. There are people who view IC rivals as OOC rivals and report what they can. There are people who just want to watch the world burn.
Even though it’s in-character for this character here to talk like three Goblins piloting a Draenei suit, I try to keep it PG-13 and creative when I’m out in the middle of the city and general crowded areas.
Just tossing a couple of these older threads up for folks to consume at their leisure, if they’re of a mind to.
Mind you - these are older threads, and some are and others are not locked, so please! Anyone who does choose to read up, please do not reply and necro these bad boys. THESE ARE FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!
These date back to around the time of the Social Contract’s inception, and some of the discussions that were taking place both on CS and the realm forums. There will be some cross-referencing throughout these threads, as obviously folks were concerned with how the Social Contract worked and would be enforced, potentially stymying roleplay.
(And to Auhgag and others who are getting hit with the notifications over two years later - I am sorry!)
I am also going to go ahead and also remind other folks that just because something is in an add-on such as TRP, or even how someone sets up their family/friend guild ranks that contains questionable content – these things are still reportable and people have been sanctioned for them in the past. The game content may be T for Teen, but players are held to a different standard. The whos, whens, whys and howfors? Does not matter. Context has no bearing on these things if we ourselves break a rule.
That’s what the posts are there for! I made those with the hopes of them being a good reference for navigating the CoC with RP. Happy to see it still getting use
You’re confusing 3 different roles/teams within Blizzard.
CS has nothing to do with game development, nor do GM’s (who investigate rule breaches etc).
The rules for WoW have not changed in 20 years. It is now easier to report people than it was 20 years ago, but the rules remain the same.
There are places in the world that have rules, and where you can’t just say or do what you want around strangers, or even people you know. Keep the colorful chat to private groups with friends who won’t report you. Be on your professional/best behavior in public groups/chats.
Keep in mind, the people reporting you also paid money to play. Blizzard does not go looking for violations, they enforce them though when customers report them and when the chat logs back the report.
Quoting myself from an earlier thread