My girlfriend was recently silenced from using chat and mail. She received no email regarding the offense and she submitted a ticket to ask what it was for and how long it would last.
The response contained no information about how long the silence would last. Moreover, the infractions cited by the GM (AI robot, I am assuming, at this point) were, for the most part, totally inocuous. He cited infractions of the following:
{Inappropriate acronym removed}
“LW/Skinning is bae, doe”
“Tauren get a boost to herbalism”
“It’s not too late”
“Should do it for the free loot, imo”
Now, granted, she did say the word ’ (the word for adult viewing material) while joking around in general chat, but this seems excessive. She’s been suspended for 3 days now. She’s been unable to group for dungeons, engage in the social aspect of the game or even join our guild after losing her hardcore character.
Her game time expires in 3 days and she doesn’t want to renew and play anymore if this chat ban is going to last longer than that. She’s tried to open another ticket to ask how long the ban but it seems no GMs will look at her ticket. Is there a way we can at least find out the duration so she can decide to renew her game subscription? Does anyone know how long these bans last?
It depends on her history and there isn’t a flat time frame that everyone gets every time. She should’ve gotten an email with that info. There isn’t anyway for 3rd parties that can really help in this matter.
Keep in mind, when appealing the system pulls from recent reports. That may contain examples that are just part of the reported time frame and aren’t as clearly against policy as what they may have been penalized for.
An appeal is reviewed by a Game Master though, so they do work to confirm the original action was accurate.
Now, looking at sample of chat found in public channels what you provided here doesn’t feel like an honest representation of what would have been included in that report. I went over the response the Game Master originally provided, and there are very clear examples of what language resulted in the penalty, so there have been some edits from the provided information.
While I cannot provide those samples, I’d say she may want to avoid references to bodily anatomy in her advertisements or anywhere else in public channels, commentary about ones sexual experience, or mention of what someone is too much of to be a wizard.
It generally depends on the history on the account. We tend to start out with a week initially, and they escalate from there in severity and time.
Wait, just to be clear, many items you have mentioned (commentary about ones sexual experience, or mention of what someone is too much of to be a wizard) were in private, not public chats. Those were certainly not reported. Is she being penalized for private chat material even though these personal messages were not reported?
Moreover, when did the term ‘Asian’ become something offensive worthy of penalizing? We happen to be proud of our Asian heritage…
I really appreciate your response and the estimate on the time. I’m hoping, though, you might be able to clarify these other two points for me so that I can avoid getting penalized myself. Thanks again.
This does not matter. Private tends to be less of a chance, because generally, both parties are approving of the chat. But if it’s reported, it’s treated all the same.
It’s possible. When reports come in, they look at all the chat in the entire conversation/situation. There have been times where the reporting party was penalized because their response was just as bad as the chat they reported.
It depends on how it was used. What you think in innocuous may not be to other people.
In general, regardless of intention, it’s always best to leave real world race out of the game. I truly cannot think of any real world racial commentary that would apply to WoW, even if it’s made with the best of intentions.
However, given Vrakthris’ listing of what she should avoid, race doesn’t appear to have much to do with it, nor was it the only offending line.
Yes, some of the lines provided were in guild chat, others were not. Barrens chat, for example.
Generally speaking, it wouldn’t be. However, the focus of race/ethnicity/heritage can depends much on how it is used. I just provided advice on the sampling I looked at, as conversations go to be mindful of what and where.
It should be noted that while we are mostly hands off when it comes to guild chat, that isn’t blanket protection, depending on that content.
You are welcome, but it should be mentioned I’m not a Game Master. Part of what I do is to provide some insight and clarity into our policies and procedures.
While your point is understandable, there’s a reason that they don’t respond in other forums. For discussion in most other forums, they want the conversation to flow organically. When there’s a Blue response, it typically draws more moths to the flame, and the conversation get completely de-railed. Players wanting attention, trying to push the Blues as far as they can, others wanting the Blues to check out their own suggestion, etc.
In here, Vrakthris (and a few others) provide clarity, but because they are authorized to. It’s their job, while the other forum moderators and the GM staff are not.
