I personally think addon whisper channels should be disabled for trials. They can’t communicate with other players through /say nor prompt others with whispers, so why should they be allowed to use addons to get around this restriction?
If they blocked off whisper channels, they would be unable to send or receive any TRP info
When I reported such an ERP account a week ago, both following TRP instruction and making another by following Blizzards guidance.
What I discovered was that they… for some reason, don’t have an option worded such as "Inappropriate behavior including minors " or " Inappropriate Se-… behavior "
It baffled me, because this is a 12+ game first of all, and second after all that shabang earlier this years about their horrendous work environment one might think they would add at least that. 
I strongly believe this is the most efficient way to deal with it.
Over switching out pictures of women, in the game… with fruit…
I had to list it under some sort of harassments who -
seemed random for it’s context.
Edit: It’s not the first time I have done this.
While I do understand the main direction of this suggestion but would also add that there are legitimate roleplayers who use trials. Of course, it is a long-lasting problem that people with unwanted behavior are trying to hide in plain sight using this as one of their tools to hide from their main account while they permit themselves for some questionable entertainment.
We obviously, well, some of us, know that we cannot win through the forum as one of the methods would be bringing up the names which will just cause the poster more trouble than the perpetrator. We cannot do more than a report with Blizzard’s system, as well as through the method suggested by the TRP team. If you cannot find the right category for such behavior, then have it reported through their support page as a chat violation or harassment in addon text (though, they will scowl at you for making a “false” report), it is the only way we can do until they add the ability to flag it directly on the name for inappropriate behavior (or the likes).
The most optimal method would be if Blizzard actually made a presence as they used to back in the day and did a few randomized check-ups on various locations with questionable behavior. They can even do this without being noticed as they can turn their characters invisible.
I, myself, report a lot of TRPs and chats, not only from trials. Anything within the inappropriate topics is flagged. Even a few where people roleplay questionable actions.
And maybe it is just me, but just like bug reports, I try to keep doing my share in hope that it’ll be noticed. Can’t do anything else.
Some people use trial accounts to look around the different realms to see what they’re like. That’s what I used my trial acc for. Eventually, I settled with AD and tried to do rp. Now, most trial accounts doing this wouldn’t partake in rp until they were sure enough about the realm to go off trial, much like I did. I’m just sharing this to state that completely barring trial accounts from rp realms, as I have seen suggested, would be pretty ridiculous.
Good point which is why Blizzard should be a bit more direct and specific in their reporting tools.
Like mentioned before;
Inappropriate behavior including minors " or " Inappropriate Se-… behavior " categories.
I would definitely not complain if they added more specific options like these.
I’ve gotten so annoyed wanting to report things more specific to rp only to see there’s no option for it. The additions they’ve made to reporting since then were very welcome.
Barring whisper channels and other “secret” chat channels would be a good idea.
Also maybe barring trials from exiting the starter zones so that they don’t even get to Goldshire, or even worse, get to the capitals (free Silvermoon!).
But even better would be, as Lorruss pointed out, that they make an actual report function related to Se… and similar behaviour.
That’s just a bad idea that makes the trial completely useless for new players. Entering a capital for the first time is one of my fondest early WoW memories. When it comes to bringing new people into the game, they should let the trials do more stuff (like leveling up to level 45 or something like that), rather than restricting them further.
Reducing access to the starting zone, for example Elwynn and Durotar wouldnt be the worst of ideas. They get to lvl 10ish or more but also get to see their racial capital
Quality content will bring new players to the game, not trialing. When WoW set records on end, there were no trial accounts, just content that drew players in.
Getting to the capital for the first time(s) is a huge experience yes, was for me too, but I didn’t need no trial account for that. I already knew from doing the Northshire quests (was alliance on Earthen Ring back then) that I wanted to play the game.
The limitations you are thinking of seriously make no sense. Yeah, they’d be nice for RPers, but not for the average Timmy who wants to try out the game before potentially spending money on it.
A lot of the trials are just people trying out the game without a single heck given about RP.
These starting zones are really dated. Exile’s Reach + zones from new expansions is a better starting experience in my opinion.
That’s exactly what I had in mind when giving the idea of restricting access to RP realms. Someone who’s just trying the game out won’t care much about those, and it deals with our issues.
James the baker who gets up at 8 and opens up his market stall in Stormwind doesn’t need to go out into the world, or become much stronger than level 20.
Few people actually do just that, sadly, but I don’t mind them personally. Level has never had much bearing on RP barring some locations you can do it at.
But the point is well made. Fortunately, TRP does show if it’s a trial account, and you can already tell if it’s some degenerate crap that you’d rather ignore, than engage with.
This for me. I’m more than able to pay for my sub, but I’m not willing to give Blizzard any more money. So I’ve sometimes logged in on a trial account just to see an RP event, despite not being able to meaningfully participate in them because I can’t use the say and raid channels.
A better solution and one I’ve not seen mentioned is perhaps… having more moderation? Keep the room clean and all that.
Every other idea seems hairbrained and silly at best. Collective punishment for a minority of cases misusing the function is draconian.
The means just isn’t there, it cannot be done.
Why Moderation on such a large scale would require some kind of big company to payroll a team of moderates, if only Blizzard wasn’t a small indie dev company.
Blizzard care about their social media appearance. Direct the energy there. Change can happen but you must be the change you wish to see in the world.
That makes one of us.
I find my mental health is marginally better without social media.
I actually really empathize with this worry. But to allow trials to feel the “vibes” they could still keep the whisper channels open for receiving messages/data, just not for sending it themselves. Kinda like how whispers work now.
That way new players can see the profiles of other RP’ers, while we get spared from raunchy trials and their lewd profiles
I don’t believe policing and restricting the trial accounts down to the very minimum is a good way to go about it.
Whilst it have been many good suggestions, such as keeping them within a zone, Blizzard should give their subscribers the tool to take care of this properly.
That is Blizzards responsibility.
Because this behavior occurs not only with trial accounts.
I claim long term over short term solutions, yes?
Of that it can be many.
Invest in long term ratter than short term.
What I mean by this is - if you as an individual player experience something most distasteful or horrid, you should have the means to report it, and when you do be taken serious.
To make them aware, is player responsibility.
Through that you give them the ability to take action.
Chain of command.
Currently, I don’t feel that I am being taken serious, when the matter is indeed serious.
That is a problem, but with every problem there is a solution,
if the will is there to take action.
Frankly, I do not believe Blizzard has the will.
It is to note that the trial is not the problem in it self, but the individual who use the tool for such a purpose.
Where there is a will, there is a way - people will find a ways around the system.
Therefor we should be given the proper means to take care of that individual, trial or not.
Over generalizing a whole section of people where you -most defiantly - will hurt those with innocent intentions.
As if saying: Oh, Dave is a mean person (apolgize to ponential Daves out there), no one at the office really like him because he yells at people.
He always wears blue shirt.
Lets make a rule that people with blue shirts are not allowed to come to cake-friday.
What then, about the people who missed the memo and wear blue shirts on cake-friday? Will you turn them away at the door even if they are nothing like Dave…?
Will Dave learn a lesson, is the problem addressed?
No.
That is not a solution, nor take responsibility, my friends