Let’s be real here,
there is an issue with the amount of pedophilia and creepy underage nonsense that happens on this server because the ERP scene here is the biggest on WoW. It’s like every other day there is new drama about a GM or prominent players inappropriately interacting with minors.
I have some personal experience on this issue, as someone who started playing on this server around 11 years old and now an adult looking back with horror about what I’ve gone through and the amount of grooming I was exposed to as a child.
Can’t there be anything to be done with this? An age limit to the server? Even a warning?
I just wanted to discuss this a little bit since I’ve talked about this in-game with some people and wanted to know more general thoughts from people who play here.
So, knee jerk reaction I would say make 18+ Rp servers. But honestly, no Pedo is going to sign up to that server, you’d almost need a 17 and under server, if you could somehow ‘card’ players before they made a toon.
ERP is already against TOS. Why not just enforce that rather than change the age?
Creepy underage shenanigans and pedophilia and whatever else are not, and will never be, exclusive to roleplay servers or roleplay focused interactions. Perhaps they are more aired now, given the fact there’s fictional interactions going on alongside the player to player interactions and we’re in 2020 with much more going on than the days of old. Especially since Moon Guard is massive in population and a known hub for the cough cough and cough activities.
I remember a handful of situations as far back as 1999 in Ashron’s Call and DAoC in definitely not roleplay areas/situations where they were total red flags when I was old enough (and aware enough) to see them as such. In Classic WoW I only played on PVE servers, and in BC I had some periods where I mained on purely PVP servers such as Warsong and Dentarg and found myself encountering the exact same things there as in DAOC.
Back then it was much easier to shoot someone down and keep them down due to the inability to get away from blacklisting yourself across the entire server, and then became increasingly harder the more Blizzard added the quality of life changes with server hops and name changes and whatnot. Age limits are not going to stop anyone unless Blizzard actively enforces them… and even then, the age limit to access the game is 14. In addition, I know I’m not the only one out there who lied at least once in their childhood about something in order to get around restrictions. Hell, there’s kids out there today with the same type of parents I had back then that really didn’t give a poodoo what I did online.
Specifically, there is nothing in the Terms of Service that shoots down Erotic Roleplay. Same with the Code of Conduct. Can it fall under their wording for any type of behavior that detracts from another’s enjoyment of the game? Yes. It can fall under harassment. Especially if it’s public, since this isn’t a pronz game and nobody consented to being present for such things by making an account, or if it involves abusive language or clear non-consent or other matters. But that requires people to report, and you’re not going to do much as a third party unless you’ve got access to that chat log or can convince the offended party to report it when it’s happening.
It took Blizzard until BFA apparently to even add a way for addons to supply them with the much needed information for proof in reports of people being abusive through their addons (such as doxxing in a profile). Which, again, you need to have people actually going and reporting that content to make it have an effect.
One thing that I want to mention is that the use of Telegram and Discord make getting around Blizzard easier, which seems to be the hopping thing now – do shady things over one of those services rather than ingame and get off scott free because that screenshot holds barely any weight compared to what they could look through ingame. And honestly? How do you police that? They have their own terms of service and stuff, yes, but again… people lie, skirt around things, etc. I’ve come across handfuls of people who are more than willing to let people scuttle on by as long as they’re not dragging them personally into their bullhonkery. “Oh, they’re only like 12 but we’re friends so it’s cool.” and whatever else.
And from what I know about Blizzard’s auto silence, it’s not really that hard to abuse if one has enough people smashing it on someone going after them in chat. Which of course, without chat evidence, can backfire on people calling others out when they end up getting an actual report for harrassment, or if the one responding to their request to have the silence removed decides they’ve borked up somewhere. … That said I’ve also been out of the game for a decent amount of time and have no idea of the ups and down of the auto-silence feature most recently.
what’s with the guild name op
wrathion is still a kid
if people contact blizzard and present their case/proof of what’s happening and no action is taken/perp skirts the action you get riots in busy rp hubs which is a huge affront to the community
/s
daddy blizz isn’t going to take anymore action than reminding everyone the game is rated t and all that jazz so parents need to be involved - this is why individuals on the server take action in busy hubs to inform and try to warn/protect
Blizz refuses to take action against vile TRP profiles. I’m not talking about witch hunting ERPers, but when you have a full f-list, descriptive and disturbing ERP, AND real life pictures of yourself (or someone else) naked-- that’s a huge problem. I have reported these profiles, but Blizz says since it’s an add-on they can’t police it. They’ve also removed all ways to report people except right click > spamming / language, meaning they are only police chat logs.
And Lifestyle Guilds… why are they a thing? They’re a hotbed for pedos and predators of all types. They are openly advertised in Trade and I’ve been reporting the same ones for years.
We have to face it-- Blizzard doesn’t care about anything except subscriber count.
I’ve actually had pretty good luck reporting trp profiles. You have to click the report button in the addon itself, copy the link, paste the link in your browser, then click on the button that says “Contact us.” It will ask you to describe harassment in an addon, but you can put inappropriate content in there too.
Sadly, it only really seems to result in temporary bands the same as if you’re reporting someone for language.
Honestly, it’s an uphill battle on WoW considering Blizzard’s lackluster customer service to issues suck as this and the aforementioned third party chat room services people use out of the game.
My personal experiences have been that most of the predators on the server operate on this level of plausible deniability, this whole ‘this person accusing me is lying, this screenshot is fake’ sort of deal that kills the momentum of revealing someone. After all, the burden of proof is on the accuser, and most people operate on ‘guilty beyond a reasonable doubt’. Given the server’s history of faking accusations and logs against people, ‘this is fake’ has turned into a legitimate excuse by the online community.
So, what is one to do? We have a GM walking around with his cult band of followers where there has been undeniable proof of him being a predator, the community has by and large rallied against him, and people tried to get Blizzard involved but no avail. There have been GMs of big guilds exposed, whether pve or rp, and while some have disappeared, others have stuck around and relied on the ignorance of people who haven’t heard about these individuals and their deeds.
Another big factor is mob mentality against the victims who speak out, which leads to other victims being bullied into silence. Some of these predators are skilled in gathering personal information and using it against their victims to make sure they stay quiet, or threatening them with blacklists and driving them off the server. This has forced a lot of witnesses and victims into silence, as it is an effective tactic. Another thing we’ve been seeing is that big name community leaders or guild masters have been getting ousted, which is a worrying trend given that they’re the ones with the most power over the narrative - after all, who would the average person believe more; some random person nobody knows about, or a supposed pillar of the community?
It’s frustrating, and being in this fight means learning how to combat it. Take every claim seriously but of course give it the proper scrutiny to make sure it can hold up. Believe that anybody could possibly be capable of such things, regardless of their age, gender, background, status, etc… Blizzard won’t help us on this front, so it’s up to us as a community to make sure to spread the information about who’s a predator as far and wide as possible. You will be facing heavy opposition, maybe even temporary bans from these people getting others to mass report you, but at the risk of sounding melodramatic, the fight against these absolute sick s***heads is worth every sacrifice made in the process. Online status is of no value in comparison to making sure predators are exposed for who they really are. Guard your personal info, always ask for people’s age and consent before engaging in 18+ activities, and learn how to take logs and store them.
Wrathion is a -DRAGON-.
I’ll get behind you on this. You can always flag a profile as “Mature” as well and not involve yourself with them.
It isn’t just “lifestyle” guilds. There is a literal cult on this realm that follows a person which is literally Voldamort- he who shalt not be named so I don’t get reported and banned.
With how BFA has gone. I agree here as well.
It isn’t Blizzard. Before Craptivision came into the scene Blizzard literally put the customers first with Customer Support. You could get stuck, ask to see a GM in-game and they would literally appear before you. I’ve had numerous interactions where they used GM/NPC abilities on me whilst we were isolated/alone and we had a good laugh. I even told the GM my favorite npc.
Heh… Well, my Favorite Scarlet Torturer is in the Brawler’s Guild. Coincidence? Perhaps. But… I don’t know… I honestly thought they wouldn’t go as far with the scarlets as they have.
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I don’t involve myself with minor RPers unless it is pre-established that no ERP is going to happen. Screw that. It better be in caps in your OOC and IC section and in bright red text at title 1 at the top of the profile. Make an adult if you want to lewd.
Very well said.
Unfortunately, this isn’t just a problem on our server. I think people vastly under appreciate just how common predators are both in the world and online. I don’t mean to sound like a late ‘90s/early 2000s Ad Council PSA "PARENTS, KEEP TRACK OF YOUR KIDS’ ONLINE ACTIVITY" but it is a massive problem.
I don’t ERP. It’s never appealed to me at any point (even when I first got this game as a 17 year old in 2004) and I have even less interest in my 30s. My B.A. is in secondary education and I’ve worked as a teacher, so I’m comfortable working with teenagers. I really don’t think the solution is to exclude minors from playing the game (many of whom are well within the ‘Teen’ rating age group). The focus needs to be on discovering and outing perpetrators. Really the best you can do is report the profiles using the TRP report function. I would hope that Blizzard would keep track of that information and pass it along to the FBI.
Well you do play a Death Knight. Jokes aside, very well said.
Lol, the DK thing doesn’t stop a lot of people, but I’d be a liar if I said that isn’t at least a small part of the reason why I’ve almost exclusively RPed as a DK since Wrath (I have maybe one other character that I actually rp with). It’s also part of the reason why I made Tarquin’s character as physically revolting as my imagination would allow while still allowing me to actually role play.
“BLOOD MAGIC”
Hmm… Hey we all have our own characters, pasts and backstories. I can’t throw stones at glass windows.
I mean, all that is a small part of it, but it is there. Ultimately the main reasons are the same reasons anyone plays their class and rps the character. I like death knight game play (especially unholy) and I like Tarquin as a character. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I laughed, because there’s a forsaken erp’r that’s been around for like a decade that’s proof that the undead are h0t. Though, to be fair, I don’t think they try to be revolting with the character. 
34 Rule: If it exists there is… /cough of it. 
LOL Someone didn’t like my wording.
How would you enforce an age limit rule even if Blizzard stepped in and made it mandatory?
How many people can honestly say that they did not go to an 18+ website when they were a teenager and click the “I am 18+” button?
You can’t.
ESRB labelled the game as rated T with online interactions (SUBJECT TO SEVERE CHANGE).