Abusing the in game reporting system

ph33rm3 · November 2021

I logged into the game and idled for a few minutes. No one was talking until finally another player said:

[19:28][Zone]XXXXX@XXXXX:everyone must of got silenced, you think?

I replied:

[19:31][Zone]Undefined@ph33rm3:shhh no talking in the library

I said this in Protectors Enclave... I never said another word because:

[19:37][System Notify]You have been silenced. You may chat again in 23 hours, 54 minutes, and 44 seconds.

One innocent remark intended to illicit a smile and now I cant do anything but queue with K for 24 hours. No wonder this game is bleeding players. This is a terrible example of how others abuse the reporting system.

Please punish the players who did this and lift my silence.

arazith07 · November 2021

Players don't have the power to put a chat ban on others. The only thing players can do is block them so only they can't see. Seems like you were banned by a GM for something you said in a previous play session and it started when you logged in (hence the 5 minutes already gone from your 24 hour ban.

sagakaiyume · November 2021

Hard to say what happened, but there it looks like he got silenced immediately (6 mins after the posting, so it wasn't previous, 19:31-19:37). If it was due to mass reporting, it can work like it does in many games (24 hr ban/can't type, until reviewed). We saw it with Avernus leaderboards, see it with pvp and so on. Chris Whiteside when here even admitted that they outsource their reports to Galactic when he was banned for a few days, said they would work to improve it. I don't doubt there are still plenty of ways to abuse the system.

arazith07 · November 2021

I do admit that I missed the timestamps posted, but my point stands, that not a single player can impose a ban.

rockster · November 2021

Apparently you're not allowed to talk about 'punishment' handed-out in the game, and this thread will probably be deleted. I recently tried to talk about a 72hour one of my own for nothing in particular and the thread was sent to somewhere to 'the depths'.

plasticbat · November 2021

If there are enough players reported you through "Report spam", you will be auto ban for a while.

greywynd · November 2021

Like 24 hours.

armadeonx · November 2021

They should have a built in script that analyses whether or not the majority of reporters are in the same guild or on each others friends list - it should auto-flag for human review and impose a penalty on all who reported if they are found to be reporting without merit.

greywynd · November 2021

That would require manpower that seems to be lacking.

indigesto · November 2021

People have to get an education.
GMs are too kind, I always got free harm from toxic people.
As for me, everyone has been silent for a long time now, the few times I can't do it in time, I regularly meet toxic people so the report is mandatory, always, even for a simple joke.

greywynd · November 2021

Or some need to be more tolerant.

indigesto · November 2021

or someone should learn to respect the feelings of others.

greywynd · November 2021

Other people need to respect your feelings?

What about you respecting other people's feelings?

There's a lot that goes through zone chat. The vast majority are people interacting, joking, and having fun. If any of that offends you, there is an option to turn off chat channels.

armadeonx · November 2021

People demanding respect without giving any is why the world is in the state it is.

tchefi · November 2021

indigesto#9671 said:
so the report is mandatory, always, even for a simple joke.

greywynd · November 2021

If they're that bad a cooking, either get them out of the kitchen or make them eat it themselves.

blargskull · November 2021

I never got a chat ban yet but my good friend @hotfrostworm did last month. The man is practically clergy for Christ sake! I am always spouting off in chat about some crazy sheet. Meh, no big deal, if I get a chat ban. There are games that ban you and penalty increases with more offenses. Some are so bad they give you a 3 strike rule and you never talk again.

To this day, I still can't say anything in My Little Pony Online.

Did you ever ask support why you got a chat ban? I don't think "shhh no talking in the library" is the worst thing I read in chat. I have read some pretty filthy stuff in PE chat. I get my best material in there. Hey @kreatyve am I allowed to say that in here? Shhh no talking in the library!

Honestly, I think the system is getting too automated. The cobwebs must be getting thick by now at 980 University Avenue... anyone want to buy or lease a building ???

indigesto · November 2021

I quote myself "everyone has been silent for a long time now", evidently when I use the appropriate chat function it is too late. Is there no way to predict when someone is going to be toxic so that you can shut them up before you need to hear? What a fool I am, I forgot, at the beginning I already silenced everyone in advance and I am calm, too bad you can not do the same in the forum. There are people who can never understand each other, even if they say the same thing, never. Therefore it is better to ignore yourself for the sake of peace.
I ignore anyone now.
But even being deaf, if I see you on the ground I help you get up, I'm not a monster.
We all ignore each other, every day, especially who really could change things.
I'm tired of hearing myself, I'm silent myself.
Never again.

greywynd · November 2021

There are times that I really don't want to talk to anyone, have no interest in running group content, and I will turn off any and all applicable channels. I will note in my status as such, so that if any friends try to contact me they know why I might not answer.

wintersmoke · November 2021

blargskull said:
I never got a chat ban yet but my good friend @hotfrostworm did last month. The man is practically clergy for Christ sake! I am always spouting off in chat about some crazy sheet. Meh, no big deal, if I get a chat ban. There are games that ban you and penalty increases with more offenses. Some are so bad they give you a 3 strike rule and you never talk again.

To this day, I still can't say anything in My Little Pony Online.

Did you ever ask support why you got a chat ban? I don't think "shhh no talking in the library" is the worst thing I read in chat. I have read some pretty filthy stuff in PE chat. I get my best material in there. Hey @kreatyve am I allowed to say that in here? Shhh no talking in the library!

Honestly, I think the system is getting too automated. The cobwebs must be getting thick by now at 980 University Avenue... anyone want to buy or lease a building ???

Free @hotfrostworm!

porporina · November 2021

When you exaggerate it is right to understand it, if I can't do it by myself someone could help me understand it. Everything has to be done in a balanced way, but to me those who deliberately choose to hurt others, after having pointed this out to them a couple of times, do not want to hang out with him. While those who enjoy humiliating and offending others who continue as well. Where I live, two martial arts experts kicked and punched a slender boy who was guilty of trying to help a friend. Year done well I guess, he should not have interfered, on the other hand those who are unable to defend themselves deserve to succumb.

armadeonx · November 2021

Rules, like laws, are supposed to be judged objectively not subjectively.

Reporting someone when they haven't committed an objective offence is similar to someone who goes into a store and buys an item for $10 then decides it's only worth $5 and calls the police to report being robbed. They may FEEL robbed (subjective) but this doesn't meet the standard applied by the law (objective). Making such a report is often viewed as anywhere between pathetic and malicious.

In the case of the OP where they were targeted by a group for an obviously inoffensive comment should rightly be considered malicious.

ascetiko · November 2021

What elements do we have to establish the innocence of the gentleman in question? Why does he say they framed him?
Apart from the fact that such a ban makes you laugh, I can neither punish it nor excuse it, I just plain don't have the necessary elements.
Indeed, to be honest, it also annoys me a little because he comes here to cry, maliciously.
If he has received a punishment, as some say "TO ME" may seem unfair or a conspiracy, but "THE LAW" has punished him.
If we want to think that the system is corrupt it is another thing.
In addition, it could come to light that the cheese had that price only because a lobby had decided it while its value was different, this has happened many times, heavy fines have been given for it.
I am amazed at myself for having fallen into it, I will not say anything more, it is a useless waste of time, goodbye.

armadeonx · November 2021

ascetiko#7859 said:
What elements do we have to establish the innocence of the gentleman in question? Why does he say they framed him?
Apart from the fact that such a ban makes you laugh, I can neither punish it nor excuse it, I just plain don't have the necessary elements.
Indeed, to be honest, it also annoys me a little because he comes here to cry, maliciously.
If he has received a punishment, as some say "TO ME" may seem unfair or a conspiracy, but "THE LAW" has punished him.
If we want to think that the system is corrupt it is another thing.
In addition, it could come to light that the cheese had that price only because a lobby had decided it while its value was different, this has happened many times, heavy fines have been given for it.
I am amazed at myself for having fallen into it, I will not say anything more, it is a useless waste of time, goodbye.

The conversation text that he posted was from his log so unless he's going out of his way to falsify it I see no reason to not take it at face value. Also, he wasn't 'naming & shaming', he was pointing out how the system itself can be abused.

Abusing the temp ban function has a long history, as those of us that have been in the game for several years all know. All people need is a large enough group of friends online and someone just says "report that guy!" and it's done. It's a form of trolling.

There is no review by moderators - it's simply about getting above a certain threshold - which is easy if you have your guild/friends to help.

My previous suggestion was that the system should have a built in script that looks at those doing the reporting & sees if they are in the same guild or on each others friends list and if they are, it is passed to a human to review the reported text. They could also add a function where this only works if the suspended person hits an option to review.

You said "I can neither punish it nor excuse it, I just plain don't have the necessary elements." but then also said "he comes here to cry, maliciously" which negates your previous statement as you're applying a judgement even after you've admitted you don't have the facts.

I assume you're new to the game as this is your first post on that account - as such it's not a surprise that you've not been on the receiving end of a malicious report (yet) but if it does happen to you, I expect we'll see you back here and taking up the other side of the debate.

hotfrostworm · November 2021

wintersmoke said:

blargskull said:
I never got a chat ban yet but my good friend @hotfrostworm did last month. The man is practically clergy for Christ sake! I am always spouting off in chat about some crazy sheet. Meh, no big deal, if I get a chat ban. There are games that ban you and penalty increases with more offenses. Some are so bad they give you a 3 strike rule and you never talk again.

To this day, I still can't say anything in My Little Pony Online.

Did you ever ask support why you got a chat ban? I don't think "shhh no talking in the library" is the worst thing I read in chat. I have read some pretty filthy stuff in PE chat. I get my best material in there. Hey @kreatyve am I allowed to say that in here? Shhh no talking in the library!

Honestly, I think the system is getting too automated. The cobwebs must be getting thick by now at 980 University Avenue... anyone want to buy or lease a building ???
Free @hotfrostworm!

Last month, I was goated into a political topic in chat, it was about my home state, and I said something, when read without context, by itself, sounds awful. I should have just ignored the topic. I am not on the game 24/7 and wasn't aware of the ban at all, until I read an email 2 days later. It stated I was banned for 24 hours, I had to actually ask what I said in chat to get banned. I told them it wasn't an issue, but if I hadn't received an email about it, I never would have known.

This person dropping the ban hammer, very fast and furious, sounds like an out of control GM. To my knowledge there are no GM's in Neverwinter and as blargskull said above, seems to be poorly automated. If this was my game, I would set up the chat automation very differently. It is not my game, so Cryptic has to make the call, but it sounds like they are being very apathetic about it. I spoke to Wendy about this topic at breakfast, she rolled her eyes. She said, chat has always been a mess on this game.

This is very unfortunate, since the chat engine is the cornerstone to any social online game.

blargskull · November 2021

In my experience, most PS4 console players don't attach a USB keyboard, most PS4 games use voice or limited selection chat. Some console games will have a menu of basic phrases. Follow me, yes, no, and whatnot. It is more common to use a headset and mic, in my opinion, better communication with voice chat. Neverwinter only allows headset voice chat in parties of 5 players. It would be chaos to hear 30 people talking over the top of each other in PE.

In my opinion, the best way to deal with PC keyboard chat, is to take the gloves off. Allow them to say anything they want, no rules will mean lots of chaos at first with some toxic chat. I don't melt, words never hurt me. Then censors can be imposed by the individual user, from a keyword list, blocking users and topics they don't want to read. I never understood Cryptic's need to make the chatbox 100% visible in Neverwinter. Champions and Star Trek can minimize their chat. Neverwinter was the first to impose this forced chat in Cryptic's games.

You can set up tabs to blacklist everything except the admin chat, I am guessing they wanted to spam those prizes no matter how much you ignored them.

kreatyve · November 2021

Discussing in-game disciplinary actions is forbidden on these forums. If you have an issue, please take it up with Customer Service by filing a ticket via the website. Thank you.

Abusing the in game reporting system

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