32 replies to this topic

[MeiSooHaityu]

I'm thinking a simple mute function will be good enough.

I wouldn't mind seeing an ignore list either. Not only could you mute them, but easily add them to a list that auto mutes and blocks chat text. I think that would be pretty good.

[Raggedyman]

Senor Cataclysmo, on 15 February 2015 - 05:11 PM, said:

Hi everyone,

With VOIP, faction chat and more ways to communicate with each other in game just around the corner, I've seen a few people raise concerns that allowing players more scope in their communications will lead to abuse and foster a toxic environment.

Trash talking and abuse are not something I personally have ever had a problem with in MWO, but I've certainly seen people complain about certain members of certain units on here and speculate that the advent of VOIP is only going to make this problem worse

I was watching a youtube video on this very topic earlier (which I've linked below) and it contained some really good ideas that might be applicable to MWO as a good way to limit the influence of abusive players without seriously restricting the functionality of player communication tools:

1. to combat abusive individual players

Take a metric on how often a player is muted by other players. If a player is muted more than say, 10% above the norm, start them in game as auto muted. This won't prevent them from talking, and won't stop people who want to from hearing them talk, but it will make it less easy for them to abuse other players. It would also attach a social stigma to bad behaviour; if you see someone spawn and they're auto muted, you'll know what to expect from them.

2. to combat abusive units and members of units.

If units had a shared, unit wide 'reputation' rating, so that bad behaviour on the part of any individual lessened the efficacy of the unit as a whole, there would be social pressure from unit mates for abusive players to change their behaviour. What the in game effects of a unit having 'negative reputation' could be are up for debate, but it would ideally foster a culture of responsibility for the units reputation among its members.

Thoughts?

The more I think about it the more I like it for the individuals, though not for groups as people can come and go from them with ease. The only things I would like to see are

1 - Big Simple Mute/Report Button. so if someone is a **** it's not a nightmare to report them
2 - Staged sanctions, so people can learn their lesson with (for example) a 1 day then a 3 day then a week before permanently having their default setting to muted
3 - Extend it to the chat system as well, so they can't spam it up or try and con people into unmuting them

[Mystere]

Kilo 40, on 16 February 2015 - 01:20 AM, said:

this will never happen. Russ is like a battered house wife when it comes to competitive units. That's why CW was catered to them.

Abusive units will not ever be dealt with by PGI. at least not anytime soon.

That's odd. Prior to CW, groups and units complained they were being neglected or worse marginalized while whiny solo players were constantly being catered to.

[Kilo 40]

Mystere, on 16 February 2015 - 09:10 AM, said:

That's odd. Prior to CW, groups and units complained they were being neglected or worse marginalized while whiny solo players were constantly being catered to.

Name a whiney solo player who got a special island cockpit "island" from Russ after months of complaining and harassment on twitter for not getting their way.

Also keeping in mind that solo players are by PGIs own numbers, 80 some percent of the player base.

Edited by Kilo 40, 16 February 2015 - 09:17 AM.

[SoMuchGin]

Paigan, on 16 February 2015 - 05:50 AM, said:

Why is ingame voice called VOIP (= "voice over IP"-address)?
For the same reason that the word "meta" is used to describe being overpowered, apparent pure retardation?

The age of idiocracy is upon us...

I suppose the correct naming would be in game multipoint voice conference using VoIP? Certainly ain't TDM.

[Senor Cataclysmo]

You know, I'm surprised how negatively most of the people in this thread have received these ideas, where are all the people from a couple of weeks ago who were whinging 'So & so from X unit called me a name and now I dont want to play CW' and "If we allow players to communicate they'll be rude to each other. BAN VOIP NOW!"

I saw that EC video and thought to myself 'now, I bet all those people in MWO who are scared of voice chat would like these ideas'. Obviously I was mistaken.

[Psydotek]

Brody319, on 15 February 2015 - 05:13 PM, said:

or just make the mute button easy to use and quick.

boom problem solved.

Indeed. Press Esc, click the "Mute Player" option, double-click name or highlight checkbox from list of players, pres Esc to return to game.

[Mudhutwarrior]

Senor Cataclysmo, on 16 February 2015 - 03:04 PM, said:

You know, I'm surprised how negatively most of the people in this thread have received these ideas, where are all the people from a couple of weeks ago who were whinging 'So & so from X unit called me a name and now I dont want to play CW' and "If we allow players to communicate they'll be rude to each other. BAN VOIP NOW!"

I saw that EC video and thought to myself 'now, I bet all those people in MWO who are scared of voice chat would like these ideas'. Obviously I was mistaken.

Its a matter of trust. After all the flak received over voip by the minority community of group guys I don't trust anything proposed now. I say just let it be for a while and see how it shakes out.

[Bobzilla]

A lot of people here can let stuff go. Which is good because a lot of people here can get worked up. So really no need for any system.

[terrycloth]

So... how do you know which player to mute? I never know/notice who's talking even using TS.

[oldradagast]

Kilo 40, on 16 February 2015 - 01:20 AM, said:

this will never happen. Russ is like a battered house wife when it comes to competitive units. That's why CW was catered to them.

Abusive units will not ever be dealt with by PGI. at least not anytime soon.

Exactly. For whatever reason, those types are considered untouchable role-models for the game, no matter how much damage they do.

Heck, I fully expect the mute button will be broken or buggy on launch, resulting in a need to fiddle with config files to turn it off (or just turn off the game's sound.) Remember the cockpit glass fiasco - did they ever add a button in the game to turn that off?

Edited by oldradagast, 16 February 2015 - 05:07 PM.

[ZippySpeedMonkey]

A "Mute Voip" option in the menu..

Since I ignore 99.9 % of you all now anyways, it would allow me to continue to play this game, without listening to your tedious whining...

[Soapmonkey]

One other thing that needs to be implemented, is that we need a pop-up showing who is speaking in the pre-drop waiting room.

Last night some jackass was spouting all kinds of nonsense and claiming to be me (using my username).

Despite my protestations and those of my unit mates, people on my team muted me in the game.

It was enough to make my blood boil!