Greetings,
I have been playing WoW since I got back from Iraq in 2005. I am a service connected disabled veteran. I love playing WoW. Often my struggle in game just comes down to finding players who enjoy playing the game and can deal with feedback around what just happened without creating drama. I am in a guild with a good group of people, and we clear some content together that way, but I still seek community engagement where I can feel helpful, and this brings me to my point. The pro-WoW streaming community.
I have a few players I have found over the last few years that have made me feel better about the state of WoW (aside from the company drama,) then I have felt in a long time. A situation where a community has formed on and off platform. We meet to play the game, but get to know a little bit about each-other and connect in more ways then JUST in game chat. I can not be the only person whom this has caused a continued engagement in game despite the company Blizzards current reputation.
There is still something GOOD left in the game. From a viewer raid where a community forms a mix of geared regulars interested in helping out, combined with under-geared new comers to the game or raiding. That so long as they show some ability to learn from their mistakes and not be a toxic jerk, are welcome to stay. Even if they under-perform, are not cookie cutter meta, or do not have experience in the fight.
Similar to keys. The barrier to entry is often high for a new comer. Or you find yourself in a group where the first wipe, or even sometimes the first death, a key member of the group just insta-bails. I have found much less stress and more enjoyment by finding some streamers who’s stream has interactions that make it feel like you are watching a game show. They do not have to be flawless runs, and seldom does a member bail on the group. You can watch and learn routes, throw your hat in when you feel you are ready, and call your shot if you win.
Both of these situations are free of sales, promote the game, are fun to watch or be part of if you enjoy the game, and keep from advertising anything other then “this is what we are doing right now, let us know if you want a shot”
In the past few days, many players, people I know, people I respect, and people I know to be good to the game, both in their treatment of individual players, the respect they show to the player, and the game, their attempt to comply with whatever blizzard wants, and willingness to take the people who have run into a barrier, and get more fresh blood into content we all enjoy, have received violations. I believe much of this to be retaliation or troll reporting. If not selling communities themself attempting to take out the competition, people who remove the barriers for free, when the sellers figure out work a rounds quickly and just make new accounts so they can keep selling.
What I am requesting of Blizzard is to consider how easily it is to get a moment of fame by reporting a good person, and having the big win as a troll, getting a streamer to melt in front of you as they are forced to deal with having their community and in-game interactions handicapped, with no recourse or protection. Blizzard has done much to clarify boosting communities and sales, but I have seen those tools as well as language reports being used against people doing no such thing.
Maybe its time for blizzard to make a code of conduct for streaming. Something a person could opt into if they wish to stream. Not that blizzard needs to sign off on the content, but that the person choosing to stream agrees to not use sales or aggressive advertising, and also to not be toxic to a member of the game. Not that they can not point out a mechanical problem, but that they will not haze a player, i.e. will follow the in game code of conduct while representing the game in the streaming community for the game.
Some layer of protection that so long as the account is in good standing, a review would come before the account action and support ticket to restore after proving innocence from violation. Often by sharing the VoD replay from where the supposed violation happened in the first place.
Sorry this is so long winded, I hope the perspective could help Blizzard with understanding the benefits of free advertising and positive community interactions that are being seemingly hamstrung by Blizzards own attempt to keep the community going.
I think Blizzard is approaching this with the best of intentions, but I can also see where bad actors are exploiting this, either for some twisted version of emotional enjoyment, or to keep their out of TOS money machine going.
Blizzard will engage with streamers of high enough count, on the assumption this reaches the largest audience, but I challenge them to consider the army of players that both stream, and keep the wheels of WoW turning, even in a content drought. They reach a very large % of active players, and active players is what keeps the game alive.
Regards
-Just a player who likes the game
If you want anyone to even try and read your post you may want to consider reformating.
Im not sure why people use those scroll boxes…but it makes long posts like yours unreadable on phones
I didn’t add that, perhaps its the length itself. TLDR is a problem in society that limits thought and action imho
Yup, don’t know what you’re on about OP, but not fighting the scroll boss to find out.
…what? How on earth do you get “fame” by reporting someone?
Secondly, if you aren’t breaking the rules, reports won’t do anything - if you’re being actioned, it means you were breaking the rules. If it was an accidental action, you can appeal it.
Maybe its time for blizzard to make a code of conduct for streaming. Something a person could opt into if they wish to stream. Not that blizzard needs to sign off on the content, but that the person choosing to stream agrees to not use sales or aggressive advertising, and also to not be toxic to a member of the game. Not that they can not point out a mechanical problem, but that they will not haze a player, i.e. will follow the in game code of conduct while representing the game in the streaming community for the game.
Some layer of protection that so long as the account is in good standing, a review would come before the account action and support ticket to restore after proving innocence from violation. Often by sharing the VoD replay from where the supposed violation happened in the first place.
this seems to be the important part for anyone else with short attention spans. tldr; some streamers got (potentially) false reported and OP wants them protected somehow
OR, the players can realize these guys are in it for the money (number of viewers) and the things they say should be taken with a grain of salt.
Don’t believe me? Check out why the neck beard gold just became the most watched streamer. Spoiler alert, he was covering the Depp Heard trial.
Yea, that’s a kind of game I suppose…
I think the spacing causes the scroll box. Here’s the full thing without it:
I thank you for the interaction, I know my post is long winded, but the answer to how you can get fame is answered in the text itself. An angry troll gets fed when they watch the person get hurt. When the person just running their raid or key gets action-ed on stream.
There are plenty of people who treat stream like a shock jokey, and the people I know that have been action-ed lately are not these players. Hence my post here. I’m not standing up for people who I think to be anything but positive, friendly, and welcoming to the game.
In response to this, there’s nothing Blizz can really do, unless it happens in their game. You’ll have to take it up to whatever other company is hosting said stream.
Whether it’s Discord, Twitch, YouTube, etc. You have to take it up with them.
They were not action-ed in their stream however. The people in question have been silenced or temp banned by blizzard. They have had this happen before, have appealed before, and been restored before. Each of the people I am talking about have acted in good faith to navigate blizzard and respect its rules, or I would not be here asking for blizzard to consider how it is catching the good with the bad, and this is how I feel they injure their own positive community, in an attempt to regulate the bad.
These seem a bit contradictory.
There’s always a chance at human error. But reports in general will not do anything if you didn’t break the rules.
And no, streamers shouldn’t get “extra rights” than other players.
Getting a group of people to misrepresent an interaction and bandwagon report is an old problem in wow.
Community council has extra privilege and your own form, similarly forms have a “trust” level. An agreement and trust level could be leveraged to still investigate but give a “trusted” person a path other then action first question later. That’s my point, not an extra right, an agreement and a trust level.
You mean posters. Posters complaining about somebody getting actioned, specifically.
Someone complained last week about a favorite streamer who was always polite and respectful to his participants getting suspended for asking a couple of players to spell some simple word, which I could only imagine felt incredibly condescending to those players.
Access to streaming is controlled by companies like youtube and twitch. There is no reason for streamers to have to sign some sort of meaningless “contract” with Blizzard when they start streaming.
The golden rule should be that if you’re going to do things on a stream that would get you an in-game suspension, and you put a clip of this on youtube, you are advertising that you broke the rules. If you get snagged it’s your own fault.
I tend not to trust people who claim their “friend” or “some streamer” got reported and banned for no reason, because so often it turns out what they consider “not a valid reason” is indeed an offense.
Posting a videoclip of you breaking the rules is dumb. Anybody who does it deserves what they get. Streamers need to hold themselves to a higher standard because what they do and post for all to see is evidence that can be used to support their claims or prove that they violated the rules.
I’m sorry you trust so little you can not take my post at face value. Not every person is the worst of us, and the worst of us do tend to act like the well intention-ed to cover the tracks.
This is another way the trolls are winning, and how you do indeed catch the good with the bad.
The thing is, the overwhelming majority of players who are posting here claiming somebody got banned or suspended for no reason whatever are outright lying, while those who are claiming that they didn’t go over the line are shown to actually have done so, simply in their own words responding to comments. This has been shown to be the case many times over.
These people post in GD because they know that posting in Customer Service can result in a CM looking up the issue and telling them outright that what they did was heinous and they deserved what they got.
Also true is that trolls play on the emotions of gullible individuals who will try to “help” them, because trusting people don’t look deeper to find the truth of such situations.
If another player was actioned you’re asking we take you at face value after you took what someone else told you at face value.
So this is 3rd hand info about account action.
How could anyone trust that source? People always bend the truth to make themselves look good.
Key details omitted. Downplaying what they actually did. Trying to garner community support after an appeal was denied, etc…
This isn’t about someone named Dave by any chance is it? We had someone posting the other day about a streamer named Dave who was also totally innocent.
I’m guessing it was about Dave. But there have been incidents in the distant past where streamers were banned for doing things like piloting other players’ accounts. The evidence was on Youtube for all to see.
Each of the persons I am talking about have been actioned in the past, have submitted their proof of complinace, and been restored. Why would you submit a video showing your own violation? Why would they be restored if it was a violation. I know of the stories you speak about. I also know that running false flags or creating accounts to get around silence are violations as well. This is me. This is my main. This is my account. I do not stream. I do not get paid. I have PTSD, I fought in a war, I play a video game with friends. These friends have been taken out, despite making very clear attempts to remain in full compliance, out of fear of being actioned, again, and again, and again.
Accounts that get restored on appeal because the original action was in error.
Recently there was the druid carry mage tower fiasco. So many players were like “How would they KNOW I didn’t log in somewhere else.” All I could think is to those players, blizzard doesn’t need to know if you did or didn’t log in somewhere else, its easy enough to know if the same IP completed 3,000 towers for different accounts.
But so many of them claimed to have just used an VPN and how would they KNOW never considering the other side of the box.
So I get it, many claim to be the victim and were not.
Clarification, code of conduct, and agreement would help clarify intent and limit false reports for a vital part of the community and the games success.
How is that bad for the game? I am looking for no individual action to be looked at, or individual player, just a way to safeguard some of the community in the future, the ones that want to do it right, and want to promote the game along with their daily activities.