Dogberry Posted March 18, 2010 Share #1 Posted March 18, 2010 I do have some concerns over how this United Nations of role-play is going to handle disputes between groups should the worst come to pass. I certainly hope this would never be the case' date=' but we all know that it is a looming possibility.[/quote'] It will probably handle disputes about as well as the real United Nations handles disputes between countries. The internet being what it is, I predict copious amounts of wank. If you want to stop fights on the internet you may as well attempt to teach Kafka to dolphins for all the good it will do you. I think the real success of a project like this will be more along the lines of a registry for role players to get information about events, guilds, and general in-game goings on. If the purpose of this project is to get all of the RPer ducks in a row and walking happily in step, I just don't see it working out. Ducks tend to fly away. Link to comment
Kylin Posted March 18, 2010 Share #2 Posted March 18, 2010 It will probably handle disputes about as well as the real United Nations handles disputes between countries. The internet being what it is, I predict copious amounts of wank. If you want to stop fights on the internet you may as well attempt to teach Kafka to dolphins for all the good it will do you. I think the real success of a project like this will be more along the lines of a registry for role players to get information about events, guilds, and general in-game goings on. If the purpose of this project is to get all of the RPer ducks in a row and walking happily in step, I just don't see it working out. Ducks tend to fly away. Event organization is definately one of our primary concerns, since that's what will make a vibrant community in the long run. However, political disputes could actually be handled quite well if we handle it properly. For instance, let's say one particular guild is causing other guilds unnecessary OOC drama. It wouldn't be too hard to come together and hold a vote about removing said guild from the RPC. By doing so, they will no longer be advertised on these forums or the main site nor will they be invited to any major cross-guild events. As a result, recruitment for the problem guild would become increasingly difficult. After all, if you're a new RPer looking to join a RP group, would you join a "rogue" guild that doesn't have the support of the rest of the community? It's unlikely. You'd be more inclined to join a group that's actively involved with the greater community. As such, the problem guild will eventually dwindle away more than likely unless they clean up their act. Unlike the real UN, RP groups are much smaller than countries and rely heavily on an active member base to survive. Thus, I suspect the RPC could be very effective in handling this kind of thing. Now if it's more of a guild vs. guild dispute where there's clearly no group in the "wrong," that's a different story. That's something to discuss later I suppose. This would probably be the more likely scenario sadly. While we can hope for it to never happen, we've also got to remain realistic since it very well could happen. Link to comment
Dogberry Posted March 18, 2010 Author Share #3 Posted March 18, 2010 Honestly, yes, I believe people will still join "rogue" RP groups if they like the people and storyline. Now, if people in a guild act like jerkfaces, then yes, that guild will probably die out. But if it's a guild that just doesn't jive with the rest of the RPC, but still has good people and good role play? You can bet people are going to join. Guilds can still recruit on forums or in game. In game recruitment is a powerful method. I actually jumped ship from one group to another because I met them in game and found that their style was more to my liking. From the perspective of my first group, Canta Per Me was the "rogue" group for not accepting their storylines, and yet I don't regret joining CPM at all. It was honestly one of the best decisions I made in my time in FFXI. The RPC is ancillary to the enjoyment of the game. We need to realize this. Since Final Fantasy 14 is SE's sandbox and we need to be very careful about not behaving like the bullies of that sandbox. We can't rightfully weild any kind of authority, so we should focus on the benefits that our organization should offer and not even try to get involved in the individual squabbles of guilds and players. We have to be as inclusionary as possible, even when wank abounds. Link to comment
Eva Posted March 18, 2010 Share #4 Posted March 18, 2010 I can foresee both good and bad stemming from something like this Castiel (it's still gonna take awhile for me to get used to not calling you Zarik ). Recognizing this in advance is the first step in avoiding a major clash when push comes to shove. It's foolish to assume that no conflict will ever arise within a large group of people marked by their flair for the dramatic. Different RP Guilds are likely to have different views on acceptable policy, rule-making, and structure. This is part of how they will draw like-minded members. Some groups will be much more free with their rules - possibly having a much more relaxed view with regard to things like godmode or content rating for example. Others will be much more rigid in such policies. I'll give an example: AlphaGuild has strict rules set in place that prevent its members from anything even remotely godmodish. Characters portraying demons, growing wings, glowing eyes, half-breeds, and being direct descendants of royalty have been either turned away from this group or asked to change their style to fit in. BetaGuild is much more free in their policies and allows character types that AlphaGuild does not. BetaGuild however considers itself a 'family guild' and has strict policies in place regarding content rating - allowing no vulgar language or any sort of interactions that would not be seen in a PG-13 movie (a familiar example for some I'm sure). There are perhaps a few members who belong to both groups and abide both sets of rules, but many from each group frowns upon the others' rules. In the above example, endeavors at a cross-guild event might prove difficult. Members from AlphaGuild might be put off if others at the event start preening their wings or prating on about how King Destin is their Dad (to use a FFXI example since Lore for FFXIV is still sketchy at best). Conversely, members from BetaGuild may be upset by lewd or vulgar conversation being held by the others. It would seem that temporarily combining the rule sets would be the most ideal way to proceed, prohibiting everyone at the event from talking about their royal lineage, keeping the wings tucked away, and also avoiding foul language and explicit content for this particular RP. It seems to me that it is events such as this where the RPC would have a voice - particularly if any sort of conflict should arise from it. There may also be members who are left out of such gatherings - perhaps an RPer with blue skin or something blatant which could not be concealed. As far as not recognizing particular guilds that may not necessarily fall into some sort of cookie-cutter mold - I feel this is a very slippery slope, and while I know very well where you're coming from with it (I was on Sylph too and I remember), I would encourage caution. I feel that an RPC that serves as a liaison between the groups without getting too involved with their own internal matters and without looking for anything further than a very abstract qualifier as to 'What an RP guild should be' is preferable. It should probably also be acknowledged that there may be some groups that may not wish to be a part of the RPC, and members that may be attracted to such guilds for that very reason, among others. Despite all of this, I still feel that the good qualities of the RPC far outweigh the bad and I continue to applaud the effort being put into this endeavor. Now if we could just get on with Open Beta... Link to comment
Nanapariri Posted March 18, 2010 Share #5 Posted March 18, 2010 If a group is so loose they constantly god-mod etc there will be people posting threads, believe me, so the RPC will have to be involved slightly. On Starsider coalition the moderators had to be on their toes to control things so they wouldn't get out of hand. Groups who were "rougue" often did change theri members behavior since the community ignored them or complained to the guild owner. Several diciplined members because of outside complaints. There will also be freelancers though who won't join a guild but RP with everyone so they should be made welcome too. The way starsider handled cross guild events was that the organizer made the rules for the event and it was understood if you didn't follow then you would be asked to leave in a /tell. It was their right to do what decide how to run the even since it was their event. No one ever argued that it wasn't fair. I don't think people would care if they had to agree to follow the cross-guild rules to join the RPC and were kicked from holding a "RPC sponsered" event for not following them. Sure they still could hold events but they might not get as many when people hear the organizer caused a fight. Also another thing I liked on Starsider was they had a "Citizens' thread and a wiki where you could post information on your character and what you personally will and won't do for RP. EDIT: There will be some who might feel the coalition is "elitest" or "unwelcoming" if everyone doesn't embrace their AU concept cross hybird uber character but the general community will be there to support each other in general. Link to comment
Smiling River Posted March 18, 2010 Share #6 Posted March 18, 2010 I've got a few ideas from reading your posts and a few thoughts of my own to contribute. Since this is just a "site update" thread I'll wait and contribute when we have a discussion at a later time though. Perhaps we can use this as a starting zone for discussion before this site goes live as to have some conversation already started for new members to dive into. Link to comment
Kylin Posted March 18, 2010 Share #7 Posted March 18, 2010 Yeah, this is quickly getting off topic. Save some of it for the Assembly Room guys :lol: Really good points all around though. Making me more eager to open up that section myself >.>. Just hold off a tiny bit longer. Link to comment
Augustine Posted March 18, 2010 Share #8 Posted March 18, 2010 Reading through this reminds me of Wisdom's Peak (An Joint venture I created to help mend differences between two major linkshells). All I can say is good luck with this. I am assuming that this is going to be used to just get all the roleplayers onto one server not be used as a mediator. If that is the case... wow, I really don't see it happening. But overall, I know there will be different styles of RP but just as long as we are all on one server and have those options, I think this is a great idea. I am excited even with out really know the premise to the game. Link to comment
Kylin Posted March 18, 2010 Share #9 Posted March 18, 2010 Ok. I split the topic starting with Dogberry's post (hope you don't mind ). I figure maybe we should hash this out now rather than later. After all, it'll be hard to start setting up RP standards and whatnot if we don't even know our purpose. So carry on 8-) Link to comment
SolanaVernon Posted March 18, 2010 Share #10 Posted March 18, 2010 What I believe needs to be avoided at all cost are the fact that there will be people with biased opinions and behavior. People tend to have a shorter patience with member A or B that they've had previous issues with and I'm sure that if they have a big enough circle of person A or B hating members (despite not knowing what's happening--just being told one-sided stories), they will be removed, temporarily suspended, etc. etc. Most of what I'm reading is many people will be on a leash and this'll be treated like a dictatorship. Representatives acting on their own, lying, cheating, etc. Best make your representatives based on integrity and not just because they're "friends". Link to comment
Smiling River Posted March 18, 2010 Share #11 Posted March 18, 2010 I think the RPC should be a central gathering spot for RP'ers and guilds. Before the game launches out number one objective should be to pick one server for all of us. After FFXIV launches though, RPC could be a server-wide RP hub used for sharing ideas and stories, promoting guilds, getting to know fellow RP'ers who might not be in your guild etc.. As for server-wide RP events, well the question in my mind is, who would be setting those up? The option in my mind are 1) There is an RPC staff, might be composed of one person from every group, that schedules events. 2) Guilds themselves use the RPC to advertise events which are open to other groups. 3) Both? That still needs to be decided... but regardless of our choice this gave me an idea: Also another thing I liked on Starsider was they had a "Citizens' thread and a wiki where you could post information on your character and what you personally will and won't do for RP. An event template for all characters that wish to participate in cross guild events. For example we can have people grouped up by what RP they are willing to partake in rather than what Guild they're in (since that wont matter for server-wide events). That way if people want to invite only a certain bunch that will tolerate their story, they can just go to that list and contact them. Or if people don't want the aforementioned winged/blue skinned characters at their event, they can invite only those that are against that. This would work similar to closed or open events on Facebook. This way the RPC itself isn't being punitive or dictatorial about which RP goes on, but rather the people who set up specific events can chose if they want to include everyone or not. This is a natural way to weed out people whose RP style doesn't mesh with your own. Link to comment
Dogberry Posted March 18, 2010 Author Share #12 Posted March 18, 2010 No problem, brotato. I guess my main proposal is that the RPC consider itself "neutral" and try not to meddle in the affairs of the individual guilds. This includes getting involved in inter-guild disputes. Maybe I was misreading your posts, Castiel, but it sounded to me like part of the RPC's intent would be to act as an intermediary, which I think is doomed to fail. Link to comment
Smiling River Posted March 18, 2010 Share #13 Posted March 18, 2010 As far as drama between shells goes... everyone is biased and has their point of view, and all parties involved will always present themselves in better light than those who they are arguing with. While I do believe there is only one right/truth to the matter, it's extremely difficult to get to (esp online) because of the things I mentioned and ego on top of that. Best thing for the Coalition to do IMO is try to be a friendly place for any RP'er. If it's not then after the first couple of destructive dramas, bans, anger, misunderstandings etc. this place will be a ghost town. Neither group will feel comfortable here, and as more dramas hit the community will drift further away from each other. To counter this I think the best thing to do would be to listen and understand each side, and make each side understand why the other is upset, while keeping things positive so that neither group hates the RPC itself for anything (like choosing sides for example). Link to comment
Kylin Posted March 18, 2010 Share #14 Posted March 18, 2010 Ok, here's my wall of text for now. I do not ever foresee the RPC telling a guild how to operate in their own setting. That would end up causing more drama instead of lessening it. If a guild wants to put in a 1-"linkshell" rule, that's not for anyone else to say otherwise. If they want to say it's okay to RP being an alien or royal heir, that's again their choice. That being said, we have to take into consideration that many of us are going to be interacting with guilds other than our own on some level or another. And how do we do that if cultures clash so wildly? Some of us are very strict in our ways while others are very loose and open to just about anything. Neither is right or wrong. I think we're all pretty united in getting us all on the same server. That's why we're all here after all. However, I don't think it's as simple as just tossing us there and just going our own ways. Maybe another MMO or two could do that. Most of us are coming from FFXI though, and we all know how the RP community was there. It was small, competitive, and dramatic. We have a different mentality as a result when it comes to the RP atmosphere. A lot of the communities trickling in now had the luxury of being the dominant RP group on their server forever. Sure, a shell may have died out and got replaced by another. But there was still always a dominant shell at all times. Some servers did not have this luxury. Sylph, for instance, had a total of about 15 RP linkshells over a span of 6 years. At one point, we had about 4 powerful groups clashing at the same time. Suffice to say, it got really ugly really fast. Drama leaked out onto our forums and even onto other sites like Alla. I think Asura may have had some experience in this kind of atmosphere too. I'm not too sure about other RP groups and their history, so maybe they can chime in there. The fact is, we can't just throw ourselves onto a server and think everything will take care of itself. Sylph may have benefited in having an official RPC to set us straight long ago. Overall, I think our primary focus should be on events and that kind of stuff. But I just feel we may need a bit of structure in order to avoid future conflict. Ultimately, it'll be up to you guys though on what kind of system we adopt. Again, I don't see us having "authority" over individual groups. It's more about authority in a cross-group setting. I think Kes and Tsumi made a lot of good points about this. If we do set universal RP standards, they wouldnât be meant to be restrictive. For instance, letâs say weâre having a tavern night with 2-3 RP groups all attending. At some point, Castiel and Dogberry get drunk and get into a fist brawl. Now, letâs say Dogberryâs guild uses a /random type system for RP combat. That is, each player /randoms to see whether a punch connects or not. But thereâs a problem. Letâs say Castielâs group doesnât use that system. Instead, they say whoever has the highest level/skills will be victorious in the fight. Having nothing to fall back on, you can see that thereâs gonna be problems. It wouldnât take long before people started getting accused of godmoding and tempers start flaring. Thatâs what I envision the RPC to exist for. Weâd fall back on the rules of combat as set by the majority of Rpers. These universal standards, if adopted, would generally be broad I imagine in the sense that it wouldn't limit someone entirely. To follow Kes's example, if someone had wyvern wings, they may have to keep them "hidden" at cross-guild events but not necessarily get rid of them entirely. In regards to resolving disputes: Yeah, I agree. I donât think thatâs very feasible. I was mostly referring to guilds who caused problems for the entire community. Let me give another Sylph example and see if it helps. At one point, we had 3 RP shells: Crystalline, Legacy, and Rescue. Another one was formed which shall remain nameless. This shell was led by a couple individuals who caused quite an uproar in every other RP shell on Sylph at some point or another (they transferred servers several times so some of you may have seen them too >.>). So they made their own shell after various disagreements. Okay, no problem we thought. Weâd all just have to deal with the split community and try to persevere. So one day, this new shell makes a recruitment post on Alla. Okay, no big deal, right? Well, there was just one tiny problem. They decided in their recruitment thread to put a catchphrase: âSylphâs last hope for Rping.â Now think about that for a moment. That statement indirectly states that that group is superior to all other RP groups on Sylph. Now thereâs nothing wrong with pride in oneâs shell, but that went well beyond pride. It was a direct attack against the other RP groups. Imagine for a moment someone on your server creating a new RP guild and using that same phrase, only substituting your server name for Sylph. It would likely offend quite a few people in the other RP group/groups. Suffice to say, a huge drama fest happened on Alla as a result (which could have been handled much better). They refused to remove that phrase or apologize for the message it sent. And there was nothing anyone could do about it. Now if this were to happen in Eorzea, I think the RPC should have the right to basically isolate the group (or at least the leaders of said group). No event invites, no advertisement on the coalition site, and basically no recognition by the coalition as a valid RP group. Would people still join that group? Yeah, probably. But theyâd struggle and probably wouldnât make it long after the members realized how isolated the group was in comparison to the rest of the community. People are definately loyal, but they're not masochists either. 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Nanapariri Posted March 18, 2010 Share #15 Posted March 18, 2010 What I see being discussed is really 3 separate issues in regards to behaivor people are worried about who haven't actually experienced a coalitions and are interpreting it in the terms of a Super Guild. I'll address each so I'll put in my experience, having been in Starsider RP Community, which has been a success running for 5-6 years straight and being still in existance. 1) Behavior during cross-guild events is the prime focus of Castiel right now so I'll address this first. Starsider, when I was there, had as many as 10-15 cross guild events in one year. Each varied in size and not everyone attended all of them. Usually most people attended a few throughout the year. This inspired people to be creative and have fu with people outside of their LS. This engendered a lot of palyers freely meeting and RPing with people in different guilds. When creating guidelines its best not to make them so restrictive that it discourages these events and allows the organizier to create the event specific guidelines as needed. For instance the "New years Masquerade Ball" had very few restrictions but PVP "Galaxies Strongest" event had a lot of rules since it was a contest. Since every event will be differently themed and of different sizes you can't regulate all of it. I suggest the following rules to make it a sponsered event: 1) An organizer or organizers must be in charge of the event who are responsible for making sure everyone is having a good time and can regulate disputes that arise in the event. If these people are in control of the event then a dispute won't become a large issue and will be settled right there. For instance I was in a guild that held socials once a week and there was always one of us guildies there to obeserve. If we saw someone harrassing, god-moding etc we sent a tell. In my FFXI guild we have a monthly RP night and I'm there so I can make sure if there is an IC confrontation between members they follow the rules to prevent it becoming an OOC one. In both instances, one being larger and the other smaller, we had enough volunteers to hanlde things and no disputes have esculated. 2) No God-moding or harassment shall be tolerated during the event. The organizer must have a game plan and guildelines or rules in place to address how such a situation would be handled. 3) If a dispute starts the organizer and the parties involved will discuss the event in a small private group and all must abide by the decision of those in charge of the event. If a person starts a smear campaign OOCly in the community afterward then evidence (ie a screen shot or witnesses) must be given to the site administration of the community site. The person or and their guild leader will be called to discuss the event and if when asked to cease if they do not they won't be allowed to advertise in the community. This could be determined by just the site admin, a community poll or decided by vote of guild leaders. 2) How Will the RPC deal with disputes between guilds. We aren't going to be able to stop a fued but if we just have a simple rule that member guilds aren't allowed to pull the entire RPC into a dispute this will pretty much solve itself. The RPC shouldn't be involved unless its a Cross-guild event related issue. The guilds in the coalitions agree not to air disputes with other guilds on the forum or campaign against any group. If anyone posts a thread like this the asmin will immediately lock it and remeind them of the rules and if they repeatedly continue to try then the admin has the right to take action since they are controller of the board. If they have a problem with each other that disrupts other people in the community ig, like harassing another guild while they are trying to RP, then proof must be sent to the admin. A warning should be privately sent that if they receive evidence its continuing their guild won't be allowed to use the board any longer. 3) Disputes between individuals also shouldn't be drawn into the community. A Guild is responsible for the ations of their members. If a guild joins a coalition they must agree to listen to any complaints from other indviduals not in their guild. Its up to them how they handle it but unless it is allowed to escalate where it interferes with everyone in the community the RPC shouldn't be involved. Link to comment
Dogberry Posted March 18, 2010 Author Share #16 Posted March 18, 2010 Thanks for clearing that up, Castiel. I see what you're saying now. I agree that exclusion is basically the only thing we can do should we have to take action. It certainly won't be a very tough sanction, and it shouldn't be. Link to comment
Keir Posted March 18, 2010 Share #17 Posted March 18, 2010 I think your post hits upon a lot of my concerns, Castiel. Thank you. I know I have been rather quiet up until now, and I didn't wish to cause an uproar, but Leviathan is one of those servers who has had a dominant role-play linkshell for the past six years. While a few other small linkshells popped up here and there, Lost Boys, to the best of my knowledge, was the main role-play venue for those on Leviathan, and because of this, we have been somewhat isolated from dealing with other guilds. I know that I myself, and at least a few other of the Lost Boys members have been wary of sticking our feet too far into this pool. We're a sheltered bunch, I'll admit it myself, and I just wanted to make sure, that like Dogberry mentioned, that the RPC wouldn't attempt to act as a police force over the guilds. My main concern is in the creation of rules when overseeing inter-guild events, and, indeed, in the events themselves. We all have our own ways, and that's what makes us all special and intriguing. Some of the guilds will be champions of justice, while others may follow a more shady and mysterious storyline. When you attempt to draw lines between them, or even try to get them together for an event, things are likely to go awry, especially In Character, if not Out of Character. I'm very wary of the idea of these inter-guild events, but I'm open to hearing more about how they could be managed or put together in a way that would allow for all walks of characters to come together in the same setting. Link to comment
Eva Posted March 18, 2010 Share #18 Posted March 18, 2010 I can see a lot of potential for this coalition, if it's handled delicately. Castiel (or any other liaison for the RPC) could serve as a loudspeaker on all applicable guild forums, helping keep them up to date with what is going on elsewhere in the RP community. On Sylph I know Zarik often had his finger on the pulse of the RP populations from other servers and while such a thing may not have been directly helpful to our linkshell, it was reassuring at times to know where we stood on some issues. Obviously this would be different if we were all on the same server, and I can see the value of knowing what the other communities are up to - cross-guild events for instance. The following notion is premature probably (most of this is since there's really no infrastructure set up yet), but perhaps some of the guilds might grant Castiel forum rights to be able to post RPC-wide announcements - or perhaps repost a PM if uncomfortable giving a non-member posting priviliges. Others may prefer to defer to the leadership and decide if their guild wishes to participate in a cross-guild event. This may differ from guild to guild depending on how much involvement that particular guild wishes to have with the others. Obviously this will vary depending on the type of guild it is. Like the United Nations analogy that keeps cropping up, a guild should probably go through some process in order to be recognized and represented as a part of the RPC. Maybe not necessarily a formal application, but the leaders of a guild should probably make some sort of an announcement to the RPC in order to be recognized. As others have stated, I too don't want to see the RPC overpowering any one guild or becoming involved with its internal affairs. I don't want to see a laundry list of rules that must be followed in order to be a part of the coalition. I think it would be really poor form for the RPC to come down on a guild and "tell it how to do its job" if a member of that guild has a particular complaint, for instance. Also Castiel, have you given any thought to your own role in this? Will you be an errant, splitting your time evently between all of the guilds? There may be some concerns if you belong to one guild and others do not feel adequately represented. Or do you envision the RPC consisting of multiple administrators? Not trying to ruffle any feathers or upset anyone. Just trying to address problems before they become problems. Link to comment
Smiling River Posted March 18, 2010 Share #19 Posted March 18, 2010 That's a compelling argument Castiel, BUT... a group that had problems with other Guilds to that point probably dislikes most/all of the RPC community already. For example if we had something like this back on Sylph, that LS wouldn't care about being isolated because it would already be on bad terms with every other LS listed... so just isolating them wouldn't really effect them as they probably wouldn't care to have anything to do with other shells anyway. Plus that group, in their minds, already had a reason for saying that. There wont be many instances where one group is clearly wrong. To them, they are right in saying that and perhaps that's how they felt. I fear voting on such things will partially be a popularity contest. Link to comment
Dogberry Posted March 18, 2010 Author Share #20 Posted March 18, 2010 OK, so who is going to be the first to .dat mod blue helmets for us? Link to comment
Nanapariri Posted March 18, 2010 Share #21 Posted March 18, 2010 This is Starsider Communities current policy: With every community there will be people who disagree with each other. In this community I like to encourage differing opinions, and I like open and honest discussion. Although, one thing that is not tolerated here is harassment. Unfortunately, there seems to be a bit of an outbreak of harassment in this community. I am not singling anyone out at this time, and I understand there are those here who speak plainly and bluntly. I don't want to discourage that. So what I'd like to talk about here is first what harassment is, how it is dealt with in game, and then how it relates to SSG. SOE's "Reporting Inappropriate Language / Harassment" defines Harassment as a relatively broad term, and that comes in different forms. Several examples are included here: â¢Abusive/inappropriate language/threats directed at an individual or group of players â¢Abusive/inappropriate in-game email â¢Use of house signs or city names to defame or ridicule another individual or group of players â¢Using a vehicle or pet to disrupt a player's targeting, or prevent a player from providing service for others â¢Following a player around and interfering with their hunting/questing â¢Spamming / sending repeated tips/invites to a player. Each incident is looked at on a case by case basis, and any action taken will be commensurate with the type of harassment found or witnessed. In game if you are a victim of harassing behavior (Paraphrasing Amu'lette and Lona here) the best way to deal with it is to /report and send a Community Standards ticket. The syntax is "/report " for example "/report Tziena". This captures the last few minutes of chat, group chat, guild chat and instant messages and sends it to the CS's log database. This does not actually file a report against the offender. Although, to preserve the chat information you must /report anytime you wish to report anyone for harassment. The next thing to do is to file a customer service ticket ("H" by default). Please, cite the name of the harasser and the approximate time the incident took place. There are a couple of things to note regarding SOE's definition of harassment and sexual harassment: Quote 7. You may not abuse other players, customer service representatives, or the tools provided to request support. The following is a short list of things that would be considered "abuse" in game: Hate Mongering - participation in or propagation of Hate literature, behavior, or propaganda related to real -world characteristics. Sexual Abuse or Harassment - untoward and unwelcome advances of a graphic and sexual nature. This includes virtual rape, overt sexual overtures, and stalking of a sexual nature. Attempting to Defraud a CS Representative - Petitioning with untrue information with the intention of receiving benefits as a result. This includes reporting bug deaths, item loss, or fraudulently accusing other players of wrongdoing. Impersonating a Customer Service Representative - falsely representing yourself to another player as a SOE GM or other SOE, LucasArts, or Lucasfilm employee. CS Personnel Abuse -- sending excessive unsolicited tells to a CS Representative, excessively using say or other channels to communicate to a CS Representative, making physical threats, using abusive language against a CS Representative Submitting inappropriate or spamming CS tickets Submitting tickets with abusive language and/or profanity or continual submission of CS tickets regarding any issue which Customer Service has already determined is closed. Using Threats of Retribution by GM Friends - attempting to convince another player that they have no recourse in a disagreement because favoritism is shown to one of the parties by the SOE or LucasArts staff. Please note that this list is not all inclusive and a GM and/or a Lead GM may determine that other actions are considered abuse. This will be done on a case by case review. Abuse of others will result in disciplinary action being taken against the account that may include official warnings, account suspensions, or account terminations depending on the severity of the incident which will be determined by a GM and a Lead GM. Multiple suspensions or account termination will result in the termination of all SOE game accounts. 8. "Roleplaying" does not grant license to violate these rules. Though Star Wars Galaxies is a roleplaying game set in the Star Wars universe, the claim of "roleplay" will not be accepted in defense of any of the anti-social behaviors mentioned above. As an example, you are in no case (PvP or otherwise) allowed to "train" a guard onto an enemy in protection of your homeland. By all means we want to encourage you to play your role, we just cannot allow that role-play to be done at another customer's expense. For more information please see the following links: [sWG] Rules and Policies: Rules of Conduct [sWG] Community Standards: Reporting Inappropriate Language / Harassment [sWG] Customer Service: Using the /report command What does this mean for SSG? There are two things I would like to say regarding harassment and SSG. First, we do not in anyway condone harassment on these forums. If you believe you have been harassed either in a thread or a private message, send a report to the admin. This will point the admins to the thread in question or send a copy of the PM to the Admin. (There is no way for admins to go to your private message box directly.) At that point the Admin will take action accordingly. Secondly, unfortunately, in game harassment does not affect a person's rights on SSG. SSG is not tied to SOE's customer service team. So, unfortunately, unless someone causes issues on this forum, there is no way we can perform any disciplinary action against the player's account on this site. But if the actions spread to this site, please, report it to us and citing screenshots from in game to support a chronic behavior issues is acceptable. We do -not- want anyone to feel uncomfortable about posting on this site because of a harassing stalker. In closing I'd like to mention that this admin team is here to help facilitate roleplay on Starsider. Harassment and similar behavior does not promote or in anyway perpetuate our goals with this site. If you need someone to talk to about these types of issues, please, do not hesitate to send one of us a PM. Anything you say will be held in the strictest confidence. Reporting issue like this not only helps you personally, but helps better the community over all. Thank you for taking the time to read this. An event template for all characters that wish to participate in cross guild events. For example we can have people grouped up by what RP they are willing to partake in rather than what Guild they're in (since that wont matter for server-wide events). That way if people want to invite only a certain bunch that will tolerate their story, they can just go to that list and contact them. Or if people don't want the aforementioned winged/blue skinned characters at their event, they can invite only those that are against that. The "Citizen" posts were different than the guild organization in starsider. I'll explain how they handle it with links for reference. There was a forum titled "Galactic Events". Anyone and everyone could plan and event but there were guidelines on how it would be posted like so: After a run at separating the event commentary by others from the event threads/information, we have decided to return to allowing people to add their comments to the threads in this section. This post will address the guide lines for posting in this section, and any relevant rules. When posting an event, please post all relevant information in the first post as this helps to keep all the information in one place for people to read. If any changes to the event information occurs, it is recommended to just edit the first post, and keep all details current there. The initial post should contain details such as time, place, any rules, and other related information as needed. Threads should be locked a week after the event is completed, if applicable, to help keep the section from being bloated by threads going on from events that have already ended. Please keep all comments and posts relevant to the event thread itself. Lately, there has been a trend to bump up a thread by just posting '/bump' or something to that effect. We ask that people please desist from doing that. If you want to post a reminder in the thread on the day of the event or close to it, then that is understandable. Suggested event template for posting events -- Name of Event: In-game Contact: Server: Location: Waypoint: Date: Description: People would post their events using the template in the forum and could put it on the site calendar also if they wanted. Also, my baby that I started is still being run by another person now, was a thread specifically for regularlly reoccuring events with an open invitation for the entire RP Community. For Incstance I was in a guild of hostess Twileks, sort of like Geisha concept, and we has a weekly social and it was on this thread. This is the formatt for this thread.: In an effort to make finding your events a little easier I am asking that you post them in this thread along with the Galactic Events forum. I will update this page based off the information found in this thread. Updates will occur every Friday. Name of Event: Host: Tell us who is throwing the event. Location: Where is the event going to be held? Include planet and waypiont. Time: When is the scheduled time the event will be taking place? Is this going to be a weekly, bi-monthy, monthy, yearly event? Indicate the time zone as well. Faction friendly: Is this event open to certain factions? Description: Give a brief description of what this event is about, what people can expect to do if they attend and rules if there are any. Link: To your original Reoccurring RP Event thread. Link to comment
Nanapariri Posted March 18, 2010 Share #22 Posted March 18, 2010 The citizen introduction thread can be seen here: Starsider Citizen thread As you can see its a citizen directory then we had a wiki: Wiki In this people generally put allowances in it so others that wanted to RP with someone could check and send a PM or something. Here, for example, was mine from one of my characters: RP Preferences 'Play Along With Issued Bounty On You:' Yes, just PM me about it first RP Capture: Yes. RP Capture Maximum Time: Negociable. Assumed RP Torture (fade to black scenario): Yes RPed Out Torture: Yes only with permission via tell first. Limb Loss: On a case by case basis. Permadeath: Not unless I plan to retire the character. Preferred Combat Method: Emote primarily. Will do PVP on a case by case basis. Romantic RP: Yes, but I do not cyber. This was done in an effort so RPers could find eachother and RP across guilds and find people with a similiar RP style. Link to comment
SolanaVernon Posted March 18, 2010 Share #23 Posted March 18, 2010 I like this Tsumi guy. Making lots of sense to me. Dohoho. It's more like this. This is what I'm worried about. I'll try to be clear about what I'm explaining. I'll use fake-examples. Not saying it ever happened at any point. Say LeaderA and I butted heads. Say he "banned" me from the guild, for whatever reason. Couldn't get over the argument, etc. etc. Again, for whatever reason. Cue smear campaign within his own guild. Now there's bitterness between myself, his members, and what have you. Say there was a cross-guild event. By this time, I'm with another group who is involved with this event. People hold grudges. Let's not sugar coat any of this. Pretty sure that LeaderA's group would exclude any and all interactions that had to do with me. A reminder, this is just a hypothetical situation that does occur, has occurred, and might occur again, despite being in a group multi-guild setting. Even with an overseer, if LeaderA's group is overseeing this, they pretty much have the ball in their court and can blind-eye any problems that occur, placing blame on say--myself--who was attending the event. I love the evidence-only thing. That's awesome. This kind of thing happens in real life, too. It's stupid high school mannerisms. And on that note, don't join the Marines. It's high school all over again. With adults. LOL I'm not stating to oversee problems with individual groups, rather, how guilds as a whole handle "problem" members and how that will be handled during events where many people will be showing up. Link to comment
Nanapariri Posted March 18, 2010 Share #24 Posted March 18, 2010 I'm a girl actually lol. Anyway all I can tell you is that Starsider has managed to run 5 + years without and major incident the caused the community to self destruct. Short Answer to the hypothetical situation: The person handling an event has the absolute right to ask anyone to leave for any reason since they are hosting an event. If people see someone excluding a person or group and it was unreasonable generally other people left the event and they stopped Rping or attending any events hosted by that guild. If you read Tziana's post (who is an awesome admin) you'll see if a fight broke out and you asked them to leave and they don't or feel harassed you call a GM and let the game people handle the jerk like you would in any game. This leaves the people with the power to deal with the person disrupting the game to decide the issue. I personally only had to threaten "I'm asking you just one more time to leave peacefully or I'll be forced to report you to the GM" and they left. If people started fighting I kicked both people involved from the event no exceptions. The only way it became a colaition issue is if that guild had posted "Anyone from X guild isn't allowed" in the post advertising it then the Admin would step in and lock the thread. If someone did that usually they slit their throat with the over-all community and only rped with their clique. If they persisted Tziana would ban the individual from the forum. If their buddies took it up on the forum they were banned. This made sure people behaved. The difference with what's being purposed here is that if behavior was so bad an entire guild, as defined by rules, could be kicked from the RPC. You can't control grudges but you can control behavior. I Rped in Starsider with people who had grudges and they just avoided one another and Rped with other people at the event. It can and has been done. Those people behaved because they didn't want to be kicked from the board or events where some of thier friends were there. Link to comment
SolanaVernon Posted March 18, 2010 Share #25 Posted March 18, 2010 Sorry, I meant "guy" in a general neutral-gender way. Like "dude". Sorry. Lady. Alright. Makes complete sense. It's good to have someone who has had experience in something like this. It helps so much. :] Link to comment
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