It does stop them if Blizzard breaks the process those addons use for trial accounts
I’m pretty sure all RP flag addons work via the same means (ie. an in-game channel I think)
Considering Blizzard just did a massive ban-wave for cheaters, maybe we can hope for them to do another one aimed at people abusing the game in another way
Moot point because there’s no way to hide your armoury and an armoury profile shows you people’s alts by way of their (for example) pets
There are a lot good ideas in this thread but the sad truth is that no amount of pop-ups and reminders will make OOCers behave if there’s no action to punish rolebreakers. People on this realm who react to roleplayers with baseless hostility (with seems to be a depressingly common theme among OOCers) won’t think twice because of a little window saying “please behave”
No solution is going to work if the first step isn’t Blizzard taking action
that’s what I meant! We need Blizz to break it for us or they will get around it.
Hi, the thread was sent to me as it mentioned us addon devs and I thought I would chime in again, even though my previous reply last time around was already quoted above.
Restricting trial accounts is not a viable option development-wise. The API doesn’t let us know whether another player has a trial account, only if the current player has one. This means we rely on the other player’s addon retrieving the trial status and sending it to us to determine whether to show the trial flag at the bottom of the tooltip.
Blocking trial profiles would only work in one of two ways: preventing them from sending the info on their side (which would be trivial to bypass), or blocking reception if the trial flag is present (which again would be trivial to cheat from their side). Either way, I’m sure the code modifications to have it work again for trial accounts would be shared all around and it would only end up being a minor annoyance to deal with after each update.
Besides the technical part, as I said before, I don’t personally like the idea of blocking all trial players because I believe there are still some decent trial players doing RP that would be unfairly punished, but given the technical point, I did not look into data to back up my belief or contradict it. Additionally, since I’ve seen it mentioned, Blizzard preventing trial accounts from sending addon data would break more than RP addons for them.
Now to circle back to the issue, two things. First, since our work on reporting harassment through addon profiles, Blizzard has logs on all the profile data exchanged between two players. They can act on them if they so desire. We don’t know whether they do or not, and if they don’t, we don’t know why.
Even if we successfully blocked all trial players from sharing profiles, paying customers would still be able to share their own, so the issue would still be there.
Second, assuming ERP profiles become bannable… This wouldn’t stop it. FFXIV has no addons to speak of, and there are still talks about ERP there. In WoW’s case, they could just make their own private version that doesn’t communicate with the rest of us and doesn’t go through the logged functions. You would just end up with the same scantily-clothed characters, without seeing their profiles, which is just the current situation assuming you keep the mature filter on (with slightly better accuracy, I guess).
I hope this was comprehensive enough of an answer on the matter. I’ll try to check back on the thread later if I need to provide additional answers.
For the record regarding other RP addons, in addition to working on TRP3, I’m in charge on maintaining XRP, and we work closely with MRP’s current developer. Making common changes is not as difficult as it might have been in the past.
This is where we should focus in real. Make public when Blizzard fails to uphold their own rules. It is well known already how a certain abhorent person of this server has seen his account unblocked already and is once more in the server, free to do what he did in the past.
I am not one for naming and shaming, and I am mostly on the /ignore use than to make a war when things go a way I find disturbing. I believe most of the extreme in your face OOC and ERP are done to call on attention and the more attention you give them the more that spreads. But I agree something should be done.
Mass Reports, mass ignores and so on should quel some of those. And hopefully flood the queue so badly someone may think its worth to actually look into it.
And in cases where blizzard clearly fails to uphold their part and keep the server safe, then if you have the views yourselves on other media post it.
“We have heard you” -Blizzard, multiple times across 2019 and 2020.
Mass reports are happening and so are ignores.
A rather infamous individual is running a rather infamous guild based in a rather infamous place for multiple years now doing both Griefing and ERP with piles of proof of which some is even made by said group themselves and uploaded to youtube that serves as a good monument to the state of rule enforcement.
And ignoring won’t always help, i posted some items that might band aid a few problems but there is a plethora of toys and items that you can’t ignore (such as the brewfest cup)
Yes it is true the items, mounts and such will not be avoidable. My point was mostly by removing the attention those people get, the non reaction to it has in the past worked to drive some annoying oocers for example from where I was. Sure it does not always work, but it can in a measure work for some cases.
However unless we all end up not paying for the game time in protest… I see little we can do to force blizzard to do something.
I agree that this should absolutely be done on Blizzard’s end rather than on yours because in many ways it isn’t your problem - you’re not being paid to moderate their game and so on
I still think that if you’re being a real good samaritan any barrier you could put up is good - even if it’s trivial to bypass, even if it moves off a small handful of these trial account cyberers this server would be better for it
I think the ratio between normal guy who for some reason wants to use a trial account to RP / cyberer is very skewed - and recently I think the profiles you see from the latter have gone from weird to grim to downright sinister. I’d say take a look around Goldshire but I think most people know what kind of thing I mean
Yes, but paying customers can be actioned by Blizzard - ie. if you’re reported on an actual account, there is a reprecussion if that report goes through. If you’re muted on a free account with a burner e-mail it literally doesn’t matter. You can be up and running in about twenty minutes flat
That’s the crux of the issue when it comes to TRP - it is being used as a means for a class of players to use it in bad faith to avoid trial limitations + do things in this game that I think everyone can agree shouldn’t be happening
They are in the exact same way ERP is - ie. if you use reportable language
Yeah, of course not - but in terms of TRP etc it will remove a subsection of the playerbase that can’t be policed in any way by Blizzard
That is preferable to the situation right now, really - the less public it can be the better
I will say that I have never understood the mature function on TRP. Why is it there? This game doesn’t allow any “mature” content - so a filter is entirely arbitrary and I’ve seen people with the most heinous profiles use that filter’s existence as a justification for what they’re doing - ie. “oh, I have been flagged as mature so now I can just write whatever”
It’s a bit of a mistake to have that there IMO - addon functions don’t supercede the ToS
Thanks for the post, though - it’s useful info even if there are some parts I have to disagree with. Great addon, shame it’s used like a venue by dodgy people for dodgy stuff (though that’s something only Blizzard can control fully)
Hey,
Me and some of the Copper Street Solutions have been thinking about hosting server-wide gladiator / circus / arena type event’s around the many places around Azeroth where such could be viable, such as Dire Maul and Gurubashi Arena.
What would AD think of this, see if we could drum up an interest check?
As with everything, if enough people kick up a fuss, big brother will respond
Nothing like a good ole game of making mountains out of imaginary mole hills.
Which part of this thread do you say that in reference to? What do you suppose is being overexaggerated in this thread - the state of Goldshire on Argent Dawn or the levels of OOC griefing in RP hubs? Let me know which you disagree with
You can post your thoughts without the coolio one-liner, I think
Seconding the interest for some elaboration on your thoughts re. your post Dervial - I’d have assumed that the issues brought up in this thread would be pertinent to all roleplayers on AD?
Bizarre take to have on something that is quite clearly important to people. I mean that is the essence of how hobbies and pastimes work. Free time is generally a finite commodity for those who work or are in education. Even for someone like myself, who has absolute liberty to choose my working hours, sometimes finds ‘there just aren’t enough hours in the day’ so therefore the manner in which we pass our free time is important to us, and rightly so. To actively decrease the value of someone’s free time and fun is an incredibly petty act, especially when it takes conscious effort to do so, and so I do not see that this -is- a mountain and molehill situation. If you’re playing chess and someone comes along and tosses the chessboard over, you would be annoyed. If you’re playing football and suddenly someone is driving tractors across the pitch, you would be annoyed. Why therefore is it somehow a trivial matter when someone disrupts RP?
What in your mind Dervial makes that something that people shouldn’t get annoyed about, as opposed to any other hobby or pastime?
Genuine question.
A discussion in another thread has sparked this : I think it would be really good for the RP realm if the mods would put up some “the rules of RP realms” sticky that covers all our issues/ questions
A return of the original RP rules, posted by Blizz personally here on the forum, would give us more of a ground to stand on and make it a lot clearer what we can or can’t report.
Fully agree - it’s actually my main hope and would be a great first step. We’re a realm that is inherently different to a PvE realm, and that means we should absolutely have an extra set of clear, concise rules that leave no grey areas to make it as obvious as possible as to what isn’t permitted on a roleplaying server, because it
and if anything, that helps GM’s as well as players; it’ll stop (or at least lower the number of) things that aren’t actually reportable being reported to begin with
The first step should 10000% be a new and updated ruleset for RP realms
A stickied post by a blue that concisely explains what is / isn’t allowed on an RP server would be sick - even if it’s just a 5 man “don’t grief, don’t chat OOC in spatial channels, don’t cyber, make sure your name fits the realm type” job
I’ll be honest I never even read the thread, I saw it linked with a comment about policing say, that sounded dumb and I was expecting the thread to be a hot mess. Probably still is in parts
But your reply is fair, and the thread is calling for suggestions. Sadly I have no suggestions at this time.
I still think the policing of /say is dumb to an extent as I’ve had people who had a massive Gorshalach up their Deeprun tunnel about oocing in say even though it was with a group of friends in an obviously ooc situation.
OOCing to disrupt rp events? Bad
Goldshire? Bad, get the seaforium
But oocing in say when you’re out of rp? No real harm in it. RP is a hobby as you’ve said but I can also joke around with that hobby when with a group of friends, I’m at least courteous enough to know when to keep it 100% IC and when ooc can be posted in say.
What I’m trying to say is some moderation would be nice but also a lot of rpers have also proven to be nutcases and all the more annoying than any ooc disrupter when it comes to rp.
TL;DR MMO rp is always messy, moderation would be nice but is nearly impossible due to the differing factors of each rp case and what people see as an offence and I wouldn’t trust any of you with keeping it fair or not twisting it in a weird drama churning way. (This isn’t directed at any one person but rather all of AD you crazy, crazy people.)
Instead it would be really great to go back to:
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Roleplaying_policy
Since most of it’s relatively objective:
Does not apply.
P.S.
Help us to make this the most immersive Role Play Community in the history of the MMORPG!
So you actually agree entirely with the original premise of this thread / the OP (that is specifically written from a middle of the ground perspective)
I think reading a thread before you reply is a good shout in the future dude
Don’t agree really - obviously if you’re in the Swamp of Sorrows doing quests with a friend and OOC in passing it’s a victimless crime, but you only need to look in Stormwind to see the outcome of the “dude… no harm in it” centrist mindset
There are at times more RPers on the roofs giving their youtube political commentary on " rival " roleplayers in /say than there are people RPing in the Cathedral District. This sometimes enters /yell, too. It’s just not good and a really arbitrary thing to do when /whisper /party and the discord app all exist
Yet at the very least these players are RP nutcases for an RP realm. We don’t need additional ones from PVE realms, I think
Also yes of course there are RPers who are disruptive too but them being bad doesn’t mean OOCers griefing is good / excusable and doesn’t mean that an OOC player majority would be very good for the roleplaying prospects of this realm