Community Policing of RP/Name policies

#0 - March 17, 2008, 6:16 a.m.

Hey, This is Daniel. I've actually already addressed this over at WoW Insider, but I thought I might as well come over here and bring up some of the same points where a Blizzard rep might be able to address them. Certainly, as a player, they're near and dear to my heart. So here's a summary of what I wrote.

So, Like I said... It looks like that even if a name is changed on one server, it's not changed on them all. A guy can get his name changed for a very legitimate violation of the naming policy, then go over to the wowarmory site and find tons of iterations of his name on multiple other servers. One guy had this happen to him (And as I said, he deserved to have his name changed). Apparently, he was told that Blizzard only deals with naming policy violations based on individual reports, and that if he found a name offensive, he needed to individually report the character. This means he would have to log on level 1 character onto each individual server, and hope the GM didn't dismiss his report as level 1 spam or decide the name was fine anyway.

Like I said, I can deal with being your police officer, I guess. I know that with 10 million customers, it's hard to police every individual account and poorly-named character, and you probably don't want to spend quite that much money. That said, if you want to hand me a nightstick and a badge and make me enforce policy during my play time, though, it'd be nice to have a little more help, so I'd like to make some observations.

Firstly, if a name is bad on one server, it's bad on all of them (the one exception to this is RP server names. RP Server names have an extra rule wherein the name must make sense within the lore and world of Warcraft. In this case, the rule is still if the name is bad one RP server, it is bad on all of them). So it seems like you could take a little more time, once a name is reported, to change all characters with that name on all servers. If a WoW armory search can find them easily, I'm thinking you could too.

The second thing is the problem with reporting. For the two things I report most, that is, naming policy violations and violation of the "No OOC in say and yell" rules on an RP Server, there's no real category. I have to get on the question mark, find the find ticket button, and from there, nothing. I've just finally started using the Verbal Harrassment category for all that stuff, but it's a little tedious and confusing for someone who wants to report but is unsure of HOW to report. What I would like to see is a right click option in the chat window and character portrait to report both OOC violations on RP Servers, and name violations in general. Once you chose the option on right click, a small window would let you choose the exact violation ("OOC in say," "disrupting an RP event," "Obscene name," "reference to a RL event," etc), and put in a small note for the GM explaining why you think the name is bad or etc.

Also, not that I don't enjoy most of my GM Interactions (I've only used the feedback address to turn in negative feedback once), but it's sort of getting rote. I know how it will go. They'll ask if I am well, apologize, tell me they'll look into it but will not be able to tell me what, if anything, they will do about it due to privacy concerns, and will give me the feedback address and wish me a good day before closing the ticket. Not that they aren't pleasant, but I know the drill already and it probably gets a little bit boring for both of us. So it would be sort of nice if I could skip the tells and just know that they know of the name and will looking into the possibility of changing it.

I also feel like your GMs need to err more on the side of bringing down the hammer. Like I said, I hate to sound like I hate GMs. For the most part, they're pleasant. I would probably totally fist pound em and offer to buy them a beer or some other beverage of their choice if I met them. That said, I am often dismayed to see what I clearly felt to be a bad name, especially an RP Violating name, unchanged. Even when I explain it very clearly, the name often remains unchanged. I'd like GMs to be a little swifter to do a name change, especially in relation to anti-RP names on RP Servers, or handing out suspensions for flagrant OOC say and yell violations. Sometimes I feel like some GMs don't quite get the difference in rules between a normal server and an RP Server. They also seem to be very slow to change Guild and Arena Team names too - those count towards the naming and RP server policies as well!

Finally, I'd like to think most people are relatively decent, and maybe just a bit too lazy to actually read the rules. So, I'd like to see the rules brought to them. The first time you make a character, you should have to read and acknowledge a screen with the naming policy. It's only about a page and a half or so on the support sight, so it's not hard to read. Same with the RP Server policy if you are rolling for the first time on an RP Server. It would at least make people think twice, and maybe make some of them decide to roll on a PvE server instead if they would prefer not to honor the RP Server rules, or pick a name that is less inflammatory.

These are just some observations of mine. If we're really supposed to police the communities ourselves, I know I'd appreciate if Blizzard would give us a few more tools, and trust our judgement on violations a bit more.

Thanks,
Daniel Whitcomb

Belfaire

#3 - March 17, 2008, 6:22 a.m.

Hey, Daniel!

I'll answer what I can of this, though it might take me a moment.

Belfaire

#7 - March 17, 2008, 8:16 p.m.

Okay! Pardon the delay. Let's get down to business.

There are a few ideas in here that are best kept in our Suggestions Forum, where changes to the interface can be suggested to our esteemed developers. Two that come to mind are automatic ticket generation based on right-clicking a name that violates policy, and a similar function for a chat line with the category it violates. Bear in mind that we have one of these in existence for spamming, though the functionality is slightly different. The concept brings with it a lot of issues, but again, that's a discussion best left for Suggestions. The last suggestion, making someone agree to RP policy before they can create a ticket there, would make sense only for informing rather than enforcing. Especially after working here for as long as I have, I think it's safe to say that most RP violations are made out of a desire to incense rather than out of ignorance. For me it's debatable, but I'd still bring it up in Suggestions if you feel strongly about it.

Regarding the bits you brought up about petitioning:

You can actually report names en masse, should you so desire, without even using a ticket. We have a Game Master email box, [email protected], that can be utilized at any hour of the day, the same way a ticket can. They're handled in the same manner and you'll receive an email response exactly like you would if you were offline and a Game Master pulled your ticket.

The same is true for chat violations. Approximate times for this sort of thing are helpful to reduce the time it takes to search the cyclopean monument that is our log server.

Now, you're right in that at this point you probably know how a harassment/naming conversation is going to go as much as the Game Master does. If you don't want to go through the drill and/or you're simply not interested in rapping with the Game Master, you're able to note on your ticket that you don't wish to be contacted, and in most cases (unless there's more information necessary to resolve the ticket), you'll simply be sent an email or in-game mail as a response and you can go on your merry way without interruption.

If the point of contention is that you won't know whether or not the Game Master'll take your report seriously or handle it if you don't speak with them, well, that's actually something you never really have to worry about. All reports receive the same proper investigation and resolution as necessary.

So that brings us to our next bit--

You're correct in that when a name is changed, we generally don't check all realms for instances of its name. There are a number of reasons for this. The main one is simply workload.

We have over 200 realms in the US alone. If you report the name "Phelps" and we decide that it's in violation, we go through a process that results in the name being changed and the account actioned appropriately. If we checked every realm for this name, even if only half the realms had a Phelps on them, that's still 100 accounts that would need to be actioned, the proper notations made and emails sent.

For a single account, it's really not too long of a process. But now imagine every possible offensive name you can. You've barely even scratched the surface of the number of names in WoW that are likely inappropriate, as players are pretty creative when it comes to this sort of thing. To do so many changes en masse requires more time and energy than is really necessary when you think about it. There are a lot of things to consider. How long ago was this character last logged into? Has anyone even seen this character? Obviously these reasons are no excuse, but part of the reason why we request community "policing" of names is because if the name is inappropriate for the community, someone will likely point it out.

We are, at heart, a reactive body. We take action proactively in many situations, but naming is not usually one of them, and it's likely to remain this way lest we require a workforce the size if a third-world military nation.

I can say that, where RP is concerned, we have a ton of RPers on the floor (I think some of it bleeds through when they take tickets) and obviously their take on the matter is stronger than other people's. The thing is, though, that unlike the harassment or naming policies, which are fairly cut-and-dry, the RP policy on the whole is highly subjective. We require a ton of judgment calls to be made where RP policy is concerned and as such you may not always feel the same way we do about certain decisions. To say that we don't take it seriously, though, is incorrect.

To sum up this part, though, our main goal is educate people when we find them violating policies, not to punish them. You can call it a business decision if you like--I'm sure there'll be people saying BLIZZ LETS PPL GET AWAY W/ NON-RP B/C THEY WANT UR MONEY, because there always are--but really we'd prefer that someone was educated on our policies and playing than removed from the game for a simple chat violation.

I'm sure I've missed a bunch, so if there's anything I haven't addressed, I'm more than happy to do so.

Belfaire

#10 - March 17, 2008, 9:06 a.m.

Yeah, I'll definitely agree that RP servers on the whole have a large degree more self-policing than other realm types, but it's part and parcel of having so many rules. I feel for the plight of the hardcore RPer, but the type of community that those types of folks desire is, within our department and community as a whole, only sustainable and enforceable with a large amount of player policing. I'm not saying it's fair, I'm just saying that it's the way it is.

Your idea of a free transfer to PVE has its own issues in that if a player who was fairly established (read: high-level) on an RP realm suddenly decided he wanted to join his friends on a PVE realm, all he'd need to do is repeatedly violate the RP policy and there's his free ticket. I appreciate the sentiment--more of a "play nice or play elsewhere"--but I really don't see it working to the advantage of anyone but opportunists.

As I understand it, development had stated (at Blizzcon, I believe) that they're interested in giving more tools to RPers; I don't know if this extends to support tools like what you're asking for, but you never know.

As far as policy is concerned--policies can change, and so can their rate and degree of enforcement. Ask our 24-hour suspensions. I can't agree that we're lax on enforcing RP policy, but I can agree that it appears that in the eye of the RP community we don't do enough of it. I'm not sure how much of the desired effect is possible.

Belfaire

#15 - March 17, 2008, 9:37 a.m.

Q u o t e:

Mmmmm...and I say this as a RPer, I'm not sure that I trust the RP community to have absolute say over what does and doesn't violate the naming policy that Blizzard set out. Because the fact is that while a name like "Mommymoo" is dumb, it doesn't actually violate the policy, and it's difficult to make a rule that in essence says "Don't be dumb." And I think that room should be left for the subjective interpretation of names that are otherwise within the realm of policy - no more than two words, no real-world or non-fantasy references, no copyright violations, no offensive terms. I RP with top-quality people whose names have been reported due to being something people might not expect to see, but actually DO have well thought out RP justifications and the names were found to be well within the naming policies. If choosing between the subjective judgment of Everyman RPer, no two of whom are going to come to the same conclusion, and the objective judgment of a GM enforcing a fairly cut and dry policy, I choose the latter.

This is precisely my--and, I believe, on the whole, the company's--take on it. Neither community self-enforcement nor Support department iron-fist enforcement will truly accomplish what the community wants (and, more importantly, needs). Only a combination of the two can, which is why we trust players to bring issues to us that they feel strongly about.

Belfaire

#17 - March 17, 2008, 10:22 a.m.

Glad I could help, Daniel. If you guys need any further clarification regarding this or other policies, bring it here!

Belfaire

#29 - March 19, 2008, 12:20 a.m.

Q u o t e:

Thanks for the feedback Belfaire. I have a couple of related questions...

1) When possible, I try to cite the specific category of the Naming Policy that is being violated for names that I report (e.g., for Jsdfdf I would mention "Pure Gibberish"). Do the GMs find this helpful, or am I wasting my time?

2) The normal Naming Policy (http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=20368) specifies what categories of violations apply to all names (characters, pets, guild, etc.) versus only character names (e.g., Titles). However, the RP version (http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=20458) does not. So does the Non-Medieval/Fantasy Character Names category equally apply to pets, guild names, etc?

Thanks in advance.

1) In general, Game Masters will be able to tell the category it violates at a glance, but if you have any doubts or feel that the violation might not be immediately noticeable, you're more than welcome to give the category or an explanation.

2) Yes, the RP naming rules extend to pets and guild names as well. I'm unsure why that's not specifically stated on the Policy page, but you're welcome to take my word here as gospel.

Belfaire

#33 - March 19, 2008, 1:31 a.m.

Q u o t e:
Thanks for the prompt reply, Belfaire.

The gibberish example I gave was pretty cut-and-dry, but there are certainly some less clear-cut cases where I think knowing the reporter's reasoning could be helpful.

Now that I think about it, I also wonder whether certain GMs normally cover RP realms, while others cover the other server types. I'm not sure how feasible this kind of system would be, but I think it would certainly help with consistency. Those GMs with more RP experience likely have a better feeling for what exactly constitutes a "non-fantasy" name than those without.

There are certainly parallels to this kind of specialization in traditional customer service...

Just wanted to be sure. Thanks for the clarification.

Well, our Game Masters cover all realms and all realm types. Part of Game Master training is learning about Role-Playing Realm policies and general behavior. While some Game Masters are obviously more "in-tune" with RP than others, the others nonetheless have to enforce the policy to the same degree that the department demands. Having "RP GMs" to me (and to the company) seems like a rather unnecessary diversion of resources.

Judgment calls have to made and I'm confident that the majority of these calls are in line with what RP policy demands.

Belfaire

#35 - March 19, 2008, 5:58 a.m.

Q u o t e:
A possible solution would be to have the character creation interface check against a dictionary (like it does for existing names) that excludes known naming violations.

Simply don't let the commonly abused names into the environment.

We have a blacklist for names; usually extreme violations.

And, of course, it's impossible to cover all variations of inappropriate names. People are pretty creative, especially when it comes to breaking rules.