Restrict forum access to active accounts?

#1 - Oct. 22, 2014, 5:57 p.m.

After all the critique which quite often involves people that have outright claimed that they haven’t played for months or even have the game installed I was thinking about the question in the title.

Would it be possible to only allow active accounts (such as having been logged on the last x days/week) to write on the forums? Everyone would still be able to read of course, but I have a feeling it might create a better environment for everyone here if you actually had to actively play the game in order to join in on the discussions.

As seen with the NPE change there were massive amounts of hatred posted, quite much of it from people that didn’t even try it before (either due to not wanting to start over or due to not actually playing anymore).

Any thoughts about this?

(Oh I know people will hate this thread, if only on principle because I created it, but thought it was worth a shot to see what people thought about it.)

Mark Katzbach

#16 - Oct. 22, 2014, 6:39 p.m.

This is something that we had considered in the past, but opted against because it unfairly works against lapsed players who want to ask what’s changed since they last played and players like Pixelpumpkin who may, for personal reasons, be unable to log into the game, but still want to interact with the forums and stay up to date on the game.

It’s also worth pointing out that some people use claims of quitting the game as an attention-getting tactic, when in fact they are still quite active. Putting in this type of restriction would just push those people to claim they only log in to keep their forum privileges active.

Mark Katzbach

#31 - Oct. 22, 2014, 7 p.m.

Zaklex.6308:
Bertrand.3057:
Mark Katzbach.9084:
This is something that we had considered in the past, but opted against because it unfairly works against lapsed players who want to ask what’s changed since they last played and players like Pixelpumpkin who may, for personal reasons, be unable to log into the game, but still want to interact with the forums and stay up to date on the game.

It’s also worth pointing out that some people use claims of quitting the game as an attention-getting tactic, when in fact they are still quite active. Putting in this type of restriction would just push those people to claim they only log in to keep their forum privileges active.

This is really your attitude towards your customers?

Thanks for being honest, at least.

I think you have a personal axe to grind, I see no problem with them wanting to allow anyone that has purchased the game and had an active account to continue to post on the forums. Also, as Pixelpumpkin pointed out above, they were unable to log into the game for 2 months due to personal reasons…just what exactly do you see as their attitude towards their customers anyways…other than being accommodating.

We would rather be accommodating towards lapsed players than punish those who have quit the game and decide to post maliciously (not saying that everybody who quits the game does so). No technology can determine one from the other, and it’s not fair to punish the good with the bad.

The reason it was ever under consideration was because subscription-based MMOs typically revoke forum access if you do not have a current (paid) subscription. We investigated how we could achieve the same type of access restriction and, as I said above, determined that it was unfair to lapsed players who may return to the forums for information or answers regarding the current state of the game.

Mark Katzbach

#40 - Oct. 22, 2014, 7:25 p.m.

I’m not trying to discredit anybody here. However, as some have mentioned, they have seen players making posts about having quit the game, yet see those same players on their friends list logging in daily. If you’re posting about how long ago you quit the game, yet log in daily, that’s attention-seeking.

The point I’m getting at here is that while there are people who behave in that manner, there are at least as many, if not more, players who legitimately come and go for whatever reasons and should not be punished for that simple fact. I don’t assume somebody is using those tactics just because they say that they quit the game, and anybody (yes anybody) who is leaving constructive and respectful feedback has a right to leave said feedback, regardless of their last login date.

I should also add that the considerations for this feature were over two years ago when we were launching the forums and determining what type of restrictions to put in place.

Mark Katzbach

#123 - Oct. 23, 2014, 12:54 p.m.

Okay everybody, I think this discussion has run its course. I appreciate all the feedback, and as I said earlier, this isn’t something we’re looking to implement anymore. I think the thing everybody should take away from this is that you can’t unilaterally judge the validity of a person’s opinion on factors external to the content of their comments.