Ive been arguing for an hour or two now with someone regarding the merits of this thread.
I personally feel that personal attacks in a public media should be banned. As a budding web dev I feel that as much as people need as much info as possible, wording a thread as “A mistake that no one should ever repeat” and then publicly naming any particular player is wrong. For me, if I do or don’t like the person no matter what this constitutes bullying.
For me despite the raw emotions, this is the sort of thing that should be banned from game forums and should be actively discouraged.
With further discussions beyond this, I’m genuinely worried that bullying not being actively discouraged within IC which really upsets me, esecially since I genuinely cooperate with and like far more members of the community than most.
Based on this I’m considering quitting the IC community completely!
Yes, a thread like this is definitely extremely problematic. I definitely don’t like the idea of encouraging players to actively shun another player but on the other hand there has to be the freedom to objectively list the actions of a player who behaves in a matter completely contradictory to his/her own family.
I agree that bullying needs to be actively discouraged and this is by no means the only instance of it. However, there needs to be some way to do this other than to give players free reign to act however immaturely they want ingame with official rules preventing any repercussions or spread of information in forums.
This isnt about free reign. A person can easily make a mistake or constantly fuck up as may be the case. But when you start a thread targeting a player and then advertise it with I will name x at the end and then do so. That is no longer flagging mistakes but victimization. Once we start addressing victimization it starts to become bullying.
This is hat strike home and causes me major concerns. Based on my discussions the concerns are, well not concerns.
As a member of the public who has had numerous responsibilities to the individuals, this really worries me. It makes me consider my involvement were this is just collateral
Yeah I definitely would have preferred if the original post didn’t name any names, but in my opinion that post was far less problematic than the replies before they were edited (not that that makes anything not bullying)
I didnt realise you had retained your position as fmod @TBO
On the slim case thats not the case well your over stepping your boundaries to support what is currently being debated as an inappropriate response the problem!!
Subsequent replies were bullying, as mentioned, and were edited and/or removed because personal attacks are in fact against the rules and we do take that seriously.
Where the line gets fuzzy for some is when specific players are targeted for discussion at all. Some people think that any negativity amounts to bullying, which to me is not a reasonable point of view.
IC grants players a lot of freedom to play how they wish, but this is a double-edged sword. If players conduct their empires in ways that others find disagreeable, the affected parties should be free to discuss this openly. It’s not our job to shield players from criticism.
We are actively discouraging bullying by enforcing “personal attack” rule violations where we see them, and the recent expansion of the moderation team is helping us do this more effectively than ever.
What we are not doing however is censoring opinion. Players are free to call out other players by name so long as their statements don’t devolve into personal attacks. In-game actions have consequences within the community, and this is very important to preserve as it allows the players a means to define their own standards within the context of the game itself.
If we take this away, we are removing a community-driven incentive to play nicely with others.
Players who earn a bad reputation due to their actions are not victims for being called out; they are being held accountable.
Suici I am confused with your stance on bullying when you did nothing personally to stop Vicious from attacking Acrids wife and children in our family chat… I also remember you referring to a female player in our fam as a “wench”. Personally I think the bleeding heart theatrics are a little much.
Pickle, the “wench” comment was a joke me and the other person involved had from a prior round. It was made because I knew it wouldn’t be taken wrongly.
On the vicious attacking Acrid, I think if you go back through the chats I spend a good hour or two trying to tell vicious he had to stop and shut up. And for the record, Vicious was extremely lucky I didn’t report him that night to @I_like_pie as I’m sure everyone in that room that night felt Vicious was right out of order.
So in fact, I am consistent when I see bullying. If your going to essentially call someone out as a hypocrite you might want to have a lot more information than you do, or if you have it perhaps be a little less selective in how much you decide to use to support having a dig at someone.
I think there is a major difference in game trash talk and what normaly goes on around ic.
I’ve witnessed a lot of bullying,insults,rl talk and trolling and had a lot of it done to me.
I admit I use to do all of this. For the last year or so I have tried very hard to not do this unless it’s been done to me. I do not think it needs to be apart of ic and I know a lot of player who have left the game because of it.
Ingame trash talk is fine and always will be but there is a fine line between trash talk and bullying and I feel the line in ic is more of a scribble atm.
Trash talk should be about the game and the game alone and not personal insults or trolling.
I have never minded being called a name or told off but I know I take great offense when somone suggests I have a low IQ or somthing about my real life and the list goes on. It has no relavense to the game and only hurts it by pushing the player count down
I think accountability is a key thing. New players that come to this game need to know who to avoid and who to learn off. I am more then happy to be told when i play badly or i make a mistake. I am sure i have annoyed people posting now with silly ideas or attempts at things lol. We have to also remember their is personal responsibility for what we say and do and we cant expect mods to waste time dealing with every argument. I do sometimes wonder if a player rater system would be a good idea. This could help new people know who to speak to for advice as there is a lot of good players who have invested their time and effort in players like me and they deserve some recognition.
I just worry sometimes the line between bullying and having a opinion can get faded and people are quick to cry bullying when really some home truths can help a player improve and adapt.
Hope that all made sense but please let me know if not insult me to improve me
insult me to improve me 