Or just follow the ToS and don’t ERP. Easy.
but goes unpunished. If brought to the attention of the GMs, they simply tell you to disable TRP3.
yeah but in real life you can at least see the person in front of you and make a usually accurate judgment based on that.
I think someone who willingly goes into a scenario where they might be having cybers*x with a minor is not far off from a groomer. This is a risk they knew and chose to ignore.
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Yeah that would get abused to no end, even more so on clannish RP servers, there wouldn’t be a community left by the first week. It would be like giving everyone nuclear weapons.
Blizzard’s main problem is they just do nothing either positive or negative surrounding the issue. It’s never officially been addressed and probably won’t ever be, even more so since the whole scandal at their office.
Square Enix, or rather Yoshi P at least, has taken the pragmatist approach and accepted its going to happen on his game and so long as its done between consenting parties in either private chats and/or private locations (ie housing) there isn’t much of a problem.
Which is probably the only sensible moderation policy SE have put out, considering how draconian their normal moderation policy is.
All we have on Blizzard is stories from former GMs and CMs who have stated that they can see everything being said, and as long as there isn’t coercion or reports from any of the players involved that they basically just turn a blind eye from it, as its basically a non-issue in the greater picture.
Been saying this for years, but they’ll never do it. Will clash with the “wholesome family values” image Blizzard has tried to project since its inception, even though it would solve a lot of the “problems” that seem to arise from the game as of late.
I rarely see it these days too. The times I do it’s not even on Alliance but on Horde, in Silvermoon and Eversong Woods mostly. I get that its a meme that Goldshire is the big bad vice city hub but there’s way more going on in the capital hubs, people just dress up their intent more.
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The problem is that there’s no way for the players to verify who is consenting to their lewd whispers. It’s sadly a common occurrence in the roleplaying community that minors get pressured into ERP because they’re gullible and eager to do anything that will help them fit in with who they believe to be genuine friends.
I suspect nothing will be done about it in any game until a sufficient number of scandals hit international news about minors getting groomed by predators through these channels at which point some overzealous legislature will be drafted and the results will not be good for anyone.
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i honestly doubt there are even enough minors playing World of Warcraft at this point for it to ever make the news, they’re presumably all being groomed in Among Us or Fortnite or whatever. it’s a game for boomers and elderly zoomers now.
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I think that overstates the relevance of WoW. Maybe 10 years ago it might have garnered attention but the game has less than 2 million subs and the attention isn’t on MMOs these days or gaming in general. It’s not the big demon as it was back in the noughties.
It is sad because there are genuine cases of minors being solicited and coerced into doing things they don’t want to do. Big issue with the indifference from higher up is twofold though, money - which blizzard will never say no to and over-reporting.
Going into Goldshire and reporting some trial account’s rp profile for having a few racey words or mentions that this big bosomed draenei lady(?) is after fun is just taking more time off the already stretched and apathetic CMs, of which former ones who were laid off in 2018 stated that they have better things to do than trawl through what is basically a player-created problem, as RP addons are fundamentally an opt-in measure.
Harassment cases with vulnerable players are being pushed down the list because of trivial quibbles which you can report people for, but really shouldn’t. “x person took loot off me.” “y person kicked me from raid.” “z person said bad word and i didn’t put them on ignore.” and the like.
It really is a sad thing to see that by outsourcing moderation and cutting the number of moderators in games Blizzard has created a problem that they can’t solve without some absurdly heavy handed measure that will harm everyone.
Banning RP addons is probably what will happen.
really hard to have an accurate judgement between 17 yo 18 yo and 19 yo.
not really, if you’re lied to about your partners age, all responsibility lays on a liar and/or their parents. you cant blame someone for not magically reading someones mind and not knowing their age.
I can agree with this. like half of goldshire is people just memeing around or socializing. and most of devious ERP related stories i know/i’ve heard of werent in goldshire but rather capital/some other “RP” guilds. one was some duskwood based rp guild cant recall the name, that one was one of the worst.
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You know that is not actually how it goes right?
Unpopular take but I think people should be more concerned about the likes of certain “noble” characters who take an unhealthy interest in “virgin” females and who one was caught asking “has she bled yet?” than Night Elf Hooters in Goldshire.
One is far more detrimental to community cohesion than the other, and has been passively accepted by huge swathes of the server for near 15 years now.
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it is quiet literally how it goes, by law. if you can prove that 17 yo lied to you about her age when they said they were 19, you’ll be innocent, and there’re multiple cases of that.
I agree. I mean trials are the issue, but 100% of trials log in, go to goldshire, and only do ERP after someone else engages them. and same for the most of erpers.
most of dramas I’ve heard of, were of people who “RP” normally but secretly erp. the duskwood based guild i mentioned is a good example of it, im sure some people here can tell which one im talking about, if anyone’s really interested I could go through bookmarks and find a thread about it later.
send nonce defenders to prison
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Oh yeah, its an overwhelming majority of “drama” comes from guilds/players outside of Goldshire. Funnily enough those who like to proudly proclaim there is no ERP in their guild usually have the most secret enjoyers of it in my experience.
Personally, there are many better places to get such things than on a nearly 20 year old MMO but some people are very much wrapped up with their characters that they get a stronger kick out of it here I guess.
Also not sure why OP made the thread, as they’re an alt of one of the biggest Goldshire guilds out there. False flag maybe? Guilt? Idk.
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I doubt people come home after school to play wow with their school friends, I feel the last generation were kids who grew up during like wrath/cata and are around 18-20 now. Same goes for roleplay.
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For the minor, lying about his or her age in an online dating app or most other websites is not a crime. It may violate the app or website’s Terms of Service, but that’s about it.
An adult, however, can be convicted of statutory rape even if the person genuinely believed a sexual/dating partner was older than a certain age. Not that many countries/states in the US allow a defense to statutory rape based on a reasonable mistake of age.
So idk what magical country you live in, but in most it simply doesn’t work like that. Just 2 cents
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Imagine the most random, unwelcome, thinly veiled “I’m thirsty for your character” inclined opener to a conversation that you can. Chances are that you’re not far off the mark.
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Blizzard have historically acted on ERP, Moonguard US has had Goldshire purges before. There is no reason why they couldn’t do it today.
It ultimately comes down to how WoW isn’t in the limelight a great deal any more and how other controversies are likely taking priority imo.
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That and most of the moderators ceased to be.
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Just ban RP, tbh. Stop the problem at its source.
I do agree with this. Which is why I mentioned it isn’t a World of Warcraft specific problem but something that has been plaguing online games and the internet in general. While there have been many a PSA made about groomers and their antics, the ones hiding behind the veneer of roleplay are often unaccounted for.
Most teens know what’s up when someone asks them for pictures or tries to court them with empty compliments but don’t recognize themselves as the frog getting boiled slowly when their groomer uses roleplay to cozy up to them and transition them from in-character romance and ERP to the real deal by intentionally blurring the lines between IC and OOC.
While the majority of WoW’s playerbase are adults, there are still enough teens playing to make lewd whispers a dangerous gamble. I personally believe ERP has no place anywhere because it’s always awkward and inappropriate but if one must get their jollies this way then at least stick to age-restricted adult communities. Don’t do it in a PG-13 game.
This is my worry as well. RP addons have done so much to enhance roleplay and it would be an absolute shame to lose them because some people can’t behave.
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If that’s whats gonna happen it’s gonna catapult rp functionality all the way back into the stone age and there’s no reason not to jump to things like epsilon or find other alternatives I feel.
There’s already a lack of official support so if they take away tools players created in the hopes to make up for that (at least somewhat), then I don’t see a reason to continue cause it would be obvious noone cares about rp at all at that point on blizzards side.
There is so SO much that could be done with such minimal effort. It’s not asking for much, it’s asking for a bare minimum of being seen and heard as a (overall really loyal) part of the playerbase.
If you want to throw your own ideas and thoughts into the mix or read up on other suggestions, feel free to check the index thread here:
It’s been linked on the council forums and has some council members check it and reply every now and then so your feedback should be able to get heard/be seen there.
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