#0 - Oct. 20, 2010, 11:23 p.m.
There is, on another forum, yet another thread decrying that any recognizable name on Argent Dawn secretly supports ERP and must do so themselves in private. The thread suggested to me that not everyone may know what to actually do when they stumble across ERP, or for that matter what counts as reportable.
Here's the relevant section from the Terms of Use that we all agree to each major patch:
Q u o t e:
Transmit or post any content or language which, in the sole and absolute discretion of Blizzard, is deemed to be offensive, including without limitation content or language that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, sexually explicit, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable
As you can see, the key is the "sexually explicit" content or language. If you read sexually explicit content in any channel - whether spatial channels such as /emote or /say, or whether non-spatial channels such as /raid or even /trade - it is reportable. If reported and actually true, it will result in as little as a warning against the account, and as much as a ban.
It does not matter if that sexually explicit content is part of a character concept, or part of character development, or "willing" on the part of both characters/players. It remains against the terms of use [as long as Blizzard agrees that it was sexually explicit].
If you do NOT read sexually explicit content, and merely see two players sitting near each other, it isn't quite against the Terms of Use, and your reporting may be less than successful.
Even if the characters are in their skivvies, or even the Mageweave set.
Worse, if you regularly report "on suspicion" [that is to say, "I did not read anything but I know they must be cyboring"], you may make it so that you instead flag YOUR account, making it less likely for the GMs to heed your further reporting on this issue.
So what can we do?
Well, the first thing is that if you actually read sexually explicit chat ["ERP"] in any channel, report it.
Yes, if you have the time and the inclination, you might wish to pass along to their guild leader [of that character - don't assume you know everyone's alts], but most likely any responsible guild leader should respond with "report it to the GMs please." After all, they didn't read it, and so cannot operate on hearsay; they cannot access your chatlogs directly [unlike the GMs]; and they can do little to enforce the ToU themselves beyond guild demotion or /gkick, and that only if they actually read it themselves.
When you report, do be sure to include the name of the character(s) involved; and the time [server time] and sub-zone [for example, "in Goldshire's Inn"]; and cite the section of the ToU referred to above.
There are servers, I am told on good authority, where the "ERP hub" of Goldshire eventually shut down, and those players moved their activity to other servers [one might suspect, perhaps Argent Dawn]. So, report report report.
