Reporting Getting Out of Hand

Hi I’m Toastani, and I view myself as a fairly helpful person. The same way I view people in the game. People who spend precious hours creating ways to help new players navigate the game.

My draw to the game aside from the addicting qualities of actual play was the overwhelming sense of community. The first day I stepped into AR Chat I was greeted by one of the greats. Then they helped place me in an alliance. While that alliance didn’t end up working for me. I was able to then return to AR and the same person plus many others helped me create my Alliance. They helped me recruit and get to know players who eventually helped grow the alliance. It was amazing and it kept me from leaving the game. I have been known to play games for months and abandon it because the community has been nonexistent or weird.

I have worked hard, as have others, to create helpful ads to direct people to the correct locations to have their questions answered. Some ads that have been created is finding out how to navigate the chat buttons, do you have game questions head over to peer support, do you need an alliance head over to alliance recruitments. All meant to help the community at large.

So why am I posting this novel? Because while there have been very generous people willing to help the community they have been issued warnings. Warnings for posting tips on how to arrange your hero’s, warnings on how to create barracks, warnings on directing people to alliances because heaven forbid you don’t post an actual ad. But how about that awkard and uncomfortable role play in General Chat? No, that’s cool because general chat is for general chat. Oh snap, unless you post a recruitment ad that has no place there. Here have a warning. It’s okay that the role playing is talking about death, killing, and murder in a child friendly 12+ game. That’s chill as all get out. (Please note the sarcasm)

Okay, wrapping up the rant. Is there no one reading through to see that people are reporting things that are helpful? Someone explain to me the process in which a citation is sent. Are we saying that people who genuinely care about helping the community are more bothersome then those who troll? Is the point of the citation to shut down the community? Because all these well meaning people will start being silent… or worse stop playing. Already I no longer see the people who helped me most when I started playing though they still play daily. Something for people to chew on.

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Are you talking about warnings from Small Giant or requests from other players? Are the “citations” coming from SG customer service?

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I totally agree! I’ve seen an increase in needless reporting lately. People who are being helpful and answering questions are being reported for being “off topic”. This community has a lot of experienced, helpful members who are being driven away by the pettiness. I’ve had so much help when I’ve had to recruit. My alliance wouldn’t have some of it’s members if not for the help. I’ve had my game play questions answered, and I’ve made some good game friends. Please don’t allow the trolls and the petty players to ruin the community that we’ve worked so hard to build!

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The warnings issued have been signed by Empires and Puzzles, and they appear in the message center in the game. In most warnings it reveals what you are being cited for and states if someone sent the information to the developers or if they themselves have also witnessed it.

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I guess when a question or subject is brought up in an unrelated channel SG wants us to redirect the poster to the appropriate channel? Just take the convo where it’s intended?

That’s the thing, I guess the fact that we have been doing that in ad form is far different then just saying hey that question can be answered here. To me there really isn’t a difference. It’s a public service announcement versus a “hey so and so, check out peer support for that question”

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I can kinda see it both ways (as some newbies have complained to me that:

  • “There’s too much chat in AR, and not enough recruiting”
  • “There’s too much spam” (prolly referring to the public service announcements)

I dunno; I see it both ways. The PSA help those who have those questions, while they obviously haven’t helped the reporters.

I don’t think SG is trying to stifle creativity and helpfulness. But they do have to respond when they receive complaints.

I guess this thread is mainly, “Why are unspecified persons complaining so much when we are trying to help the community?” :disappointed:

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I hang out in peer support a lot where we don’t really like to see ads spammed all over the place. I have never reported an ad as spam, if it bothers me that much I just simply block the person and move on…reporting for posting ads is dumb, just use the block button if things bother you that much

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Chuck you and Rook make up a good point. The button may be being misused. It should come with the question did you mean to block or do you think this post is a hinderance to the community?

I know there are places like Peer Support, but if somebody asks and I am able to reply I do reply, not looking on chat name I am actually switched. I know I should avoid General Chat, but places like Alliance recruitment chat I found as save to answer all question placed. Sorry to hear that it is not safe anymore. Will try to find another place to recruit new members as I do not want to be reported when I start a discussion with them.

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There are two easy solutions in my mind.

  1. I would love for those who review the reports to be more selective on what gets upgraded to an official warning.

  2. We simply need more chat rooms. General Chat is a nightmare. So, general topics spill out into the AR and PS chat rooms. Give us more spaces to break out so AR can be about recruiting and PS can be about support.

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You make a good point @None. When I recruit I like to chat the person up to gauge their personality and fit. I realize that this adds to the noise in the room, but it’s part and parcel of recruiting. I would hate to be reported for recruiting in the recruitment room, but it seems this is the way things are headed. Maybe the solution is for S&G to employ chat moderators.

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I’m one of the long time players that love to help folks out. But due to being reported for being helpful and actually receiving a warning. I will not be in the chat rooms much anymore. I no longer will answer questions or direct noobs to alliances that they can learn and grow in.
The thing that truly bothers me is that it’s rather obvious that the comments that were reported were not read by E&P but the warning was issued nonetheless. I have witnessed players intentionally abusing other players and it’s taken weeks and weeks for anything to happen even though multiple people reported them over and over.

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No, Alliance Recruitment is exactly where you should advertise for new members.

The issue is folks were being reported for doing non-recruitment related work in AR, or doing Recruitment in places like Peer Support, Off-Topic, etc.

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I would contact Game Support and appeal my warning if it were frivolous, or clearly someone reporting me without cause.

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Then you run into the problem of this…you go into AR to post ads for recruiting. You post your ad but because of all the non recruitment chatter going on, your ad disappears quickly, so you place another ad, again within a minute or two it is gone so you place your ad again…next thing you know, you get reported for spamming when the only reason you had to keep placing your ad was cause all the non recruitment chat ran it off the page. I have no desire to and will never recruit again. It is a miserable experience and honestly, not sure what the solution to the problem is, if there even is one.

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I repeat ads every 3-5 minutes. I know it will disappear, but I’m in there to see if someone new appears.

I wonder what a better solution for auto recruiting might be?

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Not sure Rook but I know people have been reported for spamming ads for just trying to get them seen amongst the sea of chatter. Honestly don’t think there is an answer. Creating more rooms will just mean that there will be more of the same just in more places…aside from having chat moderators not sure what the answer is

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I keep an eye on the timing of my ad and only repost every 5 minutes no matter how much chatter there is. Even though it’s inconvenient I try to adhere to the rules of the chat.

Yeah, that was suggested a while back. I’m not sure how feasible it is at this time; I would think it would be a full-time job with over time… :confused:

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