From: Klytemnestra TPal-Dinnak Hippocrates, Rear Admiral, SFC, UFP, SF41 Black Aces, USS Agamemnon DSSV
To: Star Trek Game Masters
Topic: Customer Service at Cryptic Studio in reference to Star Trek Online is awful and unacceptable.
Problem 1: My account was falsely accused of violating the Rules of Conduct, and the account was silenced for a twenty-four hour period.
Problem 2: When I made an attempt to inquire about the pathology of the remedy, I was ignored.
Problem 3: No attempt was made on Cryptic Studios part to offer explanation, nor solution.
The relationship of player to gamemaster is a business relationship; it is not a personal relationship. Simply letting a computer generate a form letter to give to a paying customer is not customer service. This behavior only demonstrates a fundamental flaw in the business practice of Cryptic Studios.
If you suspect a player has violated a policy of the Rules of Conduct, then you must go to the person and investigate their side of the issue. Just simply sitting by and letting a computer click a checkbox to silence a player is not enough. This is actually rude. It shows a person or business that is devoid of any sense of courtesy.
Your company is providing a game service or game product that involves human beings who are willing to provide you money for the exchange of a cathartic experience. In this situation the catharsis is the experience of being immersed in the Star Trek Universe. In reality the environment is no different then an amusement park.
By silencing my account for a twenty-four hour period you have failed to meet this obligation.
It is not an accident that my account was specifically silenced. By choosing to hide behind a computer server and send out a pre-generated form in response is not enough. You have in essence accused me of misconduct, applied a punishment, and failed to show just cause as to why.
So, in response to this stubborn system you call customer service, I filed a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
Problem 4: Today when I logged in, it was made quite clear to me that the game masters solution was to let the twenty-four hour silence run its course. This is unacceptable. This is not customer service.
It is only my love for Star Trek which compels me to play this game. I have been waiting 30 years to play this game. I have study for the character roles that I want to play. This is how I choose to spend my $12.99 a month plus $18.00 a month for Ventrilo.
Now, what do we do from here?
As a paying customer, I am obligated to write you a letter and express my view so that you can learn from the experience. I do not believe for one minute that the management at Cryptic Studios is out to have bad customer service policy.
This whole situation could have been resolved if a game master [customer service representative] just took 5 minutes out-of-the-day to apologize to me and offer an explanation as to the matter of why. If I was out-of-line and in violation of any game policy then they should have said this is the case. I do not recall any situation prior to the silence that would be a validation of this action. Perhaps, I am biased. I do not think so.
This action ruined my whole day of play. I waited all week to play Star Trek Online, and not being able to communicate with my social cohorts in the game was frustrating. I was not able to send email to my other characters. One of my characters is new. It would have been nice to mail Mk I devices to this character. Instead, I had to waste 24 hours of unnecessary grinding to work around this situation. I fail to understand why silencing a person will prevent them from contacting members of their own fleet and other close quarter social network.
If I did offend someone and a solution was rendered, then that person and a game master have to give me the courtesy to apologize and take steps to not offend someone. I need to learn from the situation too. However, we are playing a role playing game. I have filtered down my chat tabs so that I only receive messages from role-players and communicate in local chat and the channels set up for role play.
It is my understanding that the proper protocol from chatting as a role player in this game is to use Roleplayers RP and Local channels for communications. Also it is my understanding that on these channels the use of demarcation symbols are brackets (such as {} and []) to denote out-of-character statements. My current primary character is a Vulcan female who has lived a long time on Vulcan and Earth.
She is a psychologist, and is starting to explore her inner psyche.
Although she follows the teachings and philosophies of conservative Vulcan polity, she as an individual person is coming to terms with her inner personal desires and practical behaviors in dealing with the community. Many role players I have met so far understand this.
There are times when adults in this game will act on a situation with adult themes. These include love, tension, and war. I understand if one finds the statements of others intolerable, there is a profanity mechanism to prevent this. However, I do not use profanity when I am in a state of sanity. Also, I never use belligerence to express my views in or out of role play. I am sure there is a possibility I annoy some people. I believe this occurs because the party who is offended is still caught up in their own ethnocentric views and practices. The young mind and undeveloped mind is incapable of formal operation in their use of cognitive learning. So when they come across people exploring these concepts in a role playing game, they run-away or hide or try to prevent others from enjoying role play at its best.
This game has such a rich and wonderful role playing community. On the role playing end, a commander at any level of play just has to send out a priority 1 distress call, and all role playing commanders will respond to the call. This is a beautiful thing to witness in this game. You do not really see people doing this on the non-role player community. This is okay. However, silencing an individual makes it impossible to come to the aid of others in the game. I would hate to see this element destroyed or discouraged because of bad customer service.
OMG you couldn't talk for a whole day?!?!?!?!?!?!? Relax dude it's not the end of the world. I am sure you did something wrong but since we are only hearing your side don't expect alot of sympathy.
Here's what I don't get. Why someone expects that because they did something to get chat locked for 24 hours that Cryptic should do something about it? If you violated the ROC then you deserve what you got. So far outta all the complaints about the chat issues, I can't recall one where the person didn't violate the ROC.
If you are gonna RP do it in your own channel and only invite other RPers
OMG you couldn't talk for a whole day?!?!?!?!?!?!? Relax dude it's not the end of the world. I am sure you did something wrong but since we are only hearing your side don't expect alot of sympathy.
This is not about being silenced for a day. If this is your interpretation of the letter I wrote, you then lack the ability to comprehend English. The point of the letter is to address the practice of blindly enforcing policies on people without merit, nor recourse. I can live with being silenced for a day, however, this is the second time this situation has occurred using a Cryptic Game.
The first time this happen, the customer service rep responded in 25 minutes, but could not understand why it occurred.
On a larger sense, this letter's purpose is to make people aware of the situation so as we (players and game masters) can find a solution. Simply just ranting, will not prevent the situation from happening to someone else.
There is a possibility this is a computer error that occurs at random with a limited amount of players.
If this is the reason, then by identifying the situation to all parties involved, will allow everyone to investigate a systemic problem.
Side note: I hope my response here did not come across as a rude response into your question.
way too long of a post and I do not care to read it!! Forum users can do nothing to solve your problems, so it serves no real purpose to air such grievances here unless you are just seeking some nice flamebait
This is not about being silenced for a day. If this is your interpretation of the letter I wrote, you then lack the ability to comprehend English. The point of the letter is to address the practice of blindly enforcing policies on people without merit, nor recourse. I can live with being silenced for a day, however, this is the second time this situation has occurred using a Cryptic Game.
The first time this happen, the customer service rep responded in 25 minutes, but could not understand why it occurred.
On a larger sense, this letter's purpose is to make people aware of the situation so as we (players and game masters) can find a solution. Simply just ranting, will not prevent the situation from happening to someone else.
There is a possibility this is a computer error that occurs at random with a limited amount of players.
If this is the reason, then by identifying the situation to all parties involved, will allow everyone to investigate a systemic problem.
Side note: I hope my response here did not come across as a rude response into your question.
Why would I think it was rude lol. Look dude bottom line is you are ranting. You must have have done SOMETHING to merit the silence.
Why would I think it was rude lol. Look dude bottom line is you are ranting. You must have have done SOMETHING to merit the silence.
I can't be for certain but I don't think this person is a dude. Got that impression from the thread about fashion and shoes. If I am wrong then my bad.
Here's what I don't get. Why someone expects that because they did something to get chat locked for 24 hours that Cryptic should do something about it? If you violated the ROC then you deserve what you got. So far outta all the complaints about the chat issues, I can't recall one where the person didn't violate the ROC.
If you are gonna RP do it in your own channel and only invite other RPers
A valid statement, but it is premature. At the moment no violation has been offered as a explanation. Also, no one has presented any evidence that a violation has occurred. Simply, ignoring it, will not remedy the situation. The first time this occurred, I dismissed as a random unexplainable event. Now it has occurred two times.
Also, it is not a violation of the rules of conduct to role play in the game. Some people choose to do it or not to do it. However, the protocol (which is a fancy word for community established guideline for communications) is to use the channels designated for role play.
If a violation has occurred, I want to know under what section and paragraph this has occurred. It is like having a police officer write you a ticket without any just cause to do so. This situation does not stop with the officer. A judge must agree with both parties involved, and then lawmakers will restructure the law accordingly.
To the matter of "expectation" if you are bold enough to accuse and enforce a policy on to a paying customer, then that customer has a right to question the accusation and enforcement of that action. Also, just because other people playing the game were sanctioned for a violation to game rules and policy, does not invalidate the merits of my questions, nor prevent me from arguing my case. Other cases of violation to the conduct policy is not relevant to my situation.
This is not about being silenced for a day. If this is your interpretation of the letter I wrote, you then lack the ability to comprehend English. The point of the letter is to address the practice of blindly enforcing policies on people without merit, nor recourse. I can live with being silenced for a day, however, this is the second time this situation has occurred using a Cryptic Game.
The first time this happen, the customer service rep responded in 25 minutes, but could not understand why it occurred.
On a larger sense, this letter's purpose is to make people aware of the situation so as we (players and game masters) can find a solution. Simply just ranting, will not prevent the situation from happening to someone else.
There is a possibility this is a computer error that occurs at random with a limited amount of players.
If this is the reason, then by identifying the situation to all parties involved, will allow everyone to investigate a systemic problem.
Side note: I hope my response here did not come across as a rude response into your question.
Um, without merit? You obviously did do something, otherwise they wouldn't have done it. Now, while filing a complaint with BBB is all fine and dandy, they are still going by the ROC and can back their decision based on what you did to deserve such a punishment.
I find it takes a lot to get silenced. I see many people posting here and can't figure out for the life of me why they don't get silenced - the fact that you were silenced, leaves me to believe it had to be awefully serious.
That, and by raeding your post, it seems you know exactly why you were punished.
Also, not entirely sure why you are making this entire thing public either.
There is the possibility that what you perceive to be text suitable for roleplay is not a perception shared by others. Roleplay is not a license to impose any or all of your characterizations on a helpless listening audience. In my opinion, the actions taken by those who chose to report spam/ignore are just as valid as your carefully thought out rationalizations.
There are times when adults in this game will act on a situation with adult themes. These include love, tension, and war. I understand if one finds the statements of others intolerable, there is a profanity mechanism to prevent this. However, I do not use profanity when I am in a state of sanity. Also, I never use belligerence to express my views in or out of role play. I am sure there is a possibility I annoy some people. I believe this occurs because the party who is offended is still caught up in their own ethnocentric views and practices.
This paragraph in particular leads me to believe you have some inkling of why you may have incurred the retribution of report spam. My suggestion for you (and this is only a suggestion not an obligation) is to roleplay however you wish but suffer the consequences in silence. The least of your worries is Cryptic customer service. There is a large disconnect between what you think is appropriate in roleplay and what those who heard you and ignored you think.
Here's what I don't get. Why someone expects that because they did something to get chat locked for 24 hours that Cryptic should do something about it? If you violated the ROC then you deserve what you got. So far outta all the complaints about the chat issues, I can't recall one where the person didn't violate the ROC.
If you are gonna RP do it in your own channel and only invite other RPers
So explain to me how being offline for 24-36 hours is grounds for silencing me? When I logged on a few days ago I had 14 hours of silencing left, but I wasn't online 10 hours prior.... So how did i violate anything? Oh and I have zone chat off, I only communicate through fleet channels and team, and since my fleet has quit this game I no longer communicate...
OMG you couldn't talk for a whole day?!?!?!?!?!?!? Relax dude it's not the end of the world. I am sure you did something wrong but since we are only hearing your side don't expect alot of sympathy.
Dont knock it...he has a valid point as far as Cryptic is concerned, and he is willing to admit fault if it is his to take responsibility for.
That seems reasonable.......and has a valid inquiry.
It takes a lot of people to actually get someone auto muted for 24 hours.
You must have annoyed a lot of people with whatever it is that you did.
True, but I had not and was not communicating to people outside of the "roleplayers" "RP" "Fleet" "Local" chat channels. I can only recall getting into a heated discussion about the Chief Medical Officers authority to issue alcoholic beverages on board a ship. One gentlemen was under the belief that alcohol consumption is not permitted aboard ship. I responded with "It is the Chief Medical Officers authority to allow alcohol consumption aboard a ship." The gentlemen disagreed.
I then responded [OOC] that it is a regulation in starfleet, and that in the original series, all the Saurian Brandy was kept under lock and key in sickbay behind Dr McCoy's Desk.
I do not see how any of this will facilitate annoyance to the level of being silenced from a whole community. Nor do I see any of it a violation of any game policy. And for that matter, I do not see why it would get me silenced from my own Fleet chat or ability to send my other characters email.
A valid statement, but it is premature. At the moment no violation has been offered as a explanation. Also, no one has presented any evidence that a violation has occurred. Simply, ignoring it, will not remedy the situation. The first time this occurred, I dismissed as a random unexplainable event. Now it has occurred two times.
Also, it is not a violation of the rules of conduct to role play in the game. Some people choose to do it or not to do it. However, the protocol (which is a fancy word for community established guideline for communications) is to use the channels designated for role play.
If a violation has occurred, I want to know under what section and paragraph this has occurred. It is like having a police officer write you a ticket without any just cause to do so. This situation does not stop with the officer. A judge must agree with both parties involved, and then lawmakers will restructure the law accordingly.
To the matter of "expectation" if you are bold enough to accuse and enforce a policy on to a paying customer, then that customer has a right to question the accusation and enforcement of that action. Also, just because other people playing the game were sanctioned for a violation to game rules and policy, does not invalidate the merits of my questions, nor prevent me from arguing my case. Other cases of violation to the conduct policy is not relevant to my situation.
In principle you might be right. However, given that this is a private company. (Not state owned) The can pretty much do things as they wish. Sounds harsh but it is no less true. There is no overriding rule that says they have to treat you like a judge would in a ticket situation. Unfair? Sure, but realistically the don't have to do anything.
Oh on a side note, you will notice the BBB rating of Cryptic. They don't care much about the BBB.
So explain to me how being offline for 24-36 hours is grounds for silencing me? When I logged on a few days ago I had 14 hours of silencing left, but I wasn't online 10 hours prior.... So how did i violate anything? Oh and I have zone chat off, I only communicate through fleet channels and team, and since my fleet has quit this game I no longer communicate...
You had to do something to someone. It takes more than one person reporting you to get you silenced.
In principle you might be right. However, given that this is a private company. (Not state owned) The can pretty much do things as they wish. Sounds harsh but it is no less true. There is no overriding rule that says they have to treat you like a judge would in a ticket situation. Unfair? Sure, but realistically the don't have to do anything.
Oh on a side note, you will notice the BBB rating of Cryptic. They don't care much about the BBB.
Actually that is not entirely accurate. They are not state-owned, but private companies have loads and loads of federal and state regulations that they must abide by. When you are offering a product and/or service in exchange for money or any other item of value... there are rules you have to follow. There is no company that can really just "do things as they wish".
If he was prevented from full access to the service he paid for... and did not actually violate any of the agreed-upon regulations in the EULA, then he has every right to be upset and even take action. In these instances everyone always assumes that whoever is complaining simply "MUST" have done something wrong... but I doubt it's always as clear-cut as all that. This person may have a valid complaint.
You had to do something to someone. It takes more than one person reporting you to get you silenced.
I recall a post not so long ago of a Chinese person that spoke to someone else in Chinese and immediately got reported by hundreds of people for being a gold-spammer. A dev posted in this thread with an apology... admitting that it was wrong for this person to have had any action taken against them.
What you have to remember is that while it takes more than one person reporting someone to have them silenced... people, en-masse, are generally pretty stupid.
Actually that is not entirely accurate. They are not state-owned, but private companies have loads and loads of federal and state regulations that they must abide by. When you are offering a product and/or service in exchange for money or any other item of value... there are rules you have to follow. There is no company that can really just "do things as they wish".
If he was prevented from full access to the service he paid for... and did not actually violate any of the agreed-upon regulations in the EULA, then he has every right to be upset and even take action. In these instances everyone always assumes that whoever is complaining simply "MUST" have done something wrong... but I doubt it's always as clear-cut as all that. This person may have a valid complaint.
Valid complaint or not. If you actually read the EULA you will find it is pretty much iron clad. They can auto silence with out any repercussions. You will also find that you are playing for a license not a service exactly.
Personally, I think the BBB response is unfounded and unsupportable, as it involves no breach of contract or issues of monies, which is primarily what the BBB supports. I also think it highly immature to have posted this up front without a stronger attempt at resolution, and in public. Your immediate and personal responsibility is to work with Cryptic to resolve this issue. An single interaction with a GM is not sufficient effort on your part.
As to your character and her background: So what? I appreciate what you want to do and play, but 30 years of anticipation is not a license to act like a jerk, even if it is 'in character' and in roleplay formats. The RP conventions you mentioned are not Cryptic policy and have no bearing here - the casual player has no obligation to know, understand, follow or respect them. Problematic language to them is going to be problematic language, regardless. As to adult themes, that's your responsibility to handle. The game is rated T for Teen. You may feel you are authorized to do adult themes, but the game's rating does not support it, and if you were punished for this then I think it appropriate the punishment stands.
That being said, I know a few people who have had to suffer the 24 hour "cone of silence". One was my Fleet Master, who was silenced for guild recruitment.
Cryptic actually responded in an interview or State of the Game that their silence tool wasn't working as intended and apologized for the draconic methods. The purpose of this tool was to identify and punish the RMT spammers. Funny, it works perfectly on us, but I've sat in Sol and it doesn't seem to affect them at all. The fact that people are using Report Spam for any purpose other than reporting gold spammers or actual spammers is irresponsible, and the reporters should be the ones punished. Ignore tool is what you want to use to silence someone you don't want to listen to, and should be purely internal - in other words - if I Ignore you there should be no punishments for you - the issue I found bothersome has been handled appropriately.
I think Cryptic GMs should be responding in this manner. I think that any question of doubt should ALWAYS go to the customer - if they're being a problem they will do it a second time and you can nab them then. I think that, when responding to the individual in regarding the issue, the GM should always have a "You are being silenced because of THIS SPECIFICALLY" and not just a "I've reviewed the situation and am letting it stand." I think that players that use the Report Spam against someone and it doesn't involve an RMT that is repeatedly spamming something also share, at the minimum, the exact same punishment - Ignore is the tool you use to silence someone you don't want to listen to. I think that anyone who deliberately uses the Report tool against someone for malicious means should expect even stronger methods, to include loss of gameplay or for extreme infractions loss of account.
This is a general post not directed at anyone in paticular, just mearly to prove a point on the status quo of the types of people in our neighborhood.
Call me old school, but as as far as the PC police goes........people are stupid, Im sorry, we wouldnt be having this convo 15 years ago. "awwww he hurt my feelings..........imma get back at him by hittin the silencer" Gimme a break. So many people want to feel special for no reason....this is the sociaty we live in. Everyone is self entitled by random acts of dillusion to feel more so than the guy next to em. When did we become a country of insecure little girls? (sorry ladies its an example)
Human ignorance is why we will fall to the way side as a species. I don't care if anyone reports me, because I know anything I say is something that I mean. Thus warrenting no apology on my part. If I mean what I say....its my opinion...take it for what you want. If it hurts your feeling...so what? If thats the case you need to call security....cause your kinda insecure.
On a personal note ask yourself one question:
What exactly is inappropriate? And why must sociaty feel that they have to make a general criteria for said definitions? You idea of right and wrong are far from mine. My idea of tolerable behavior is no doubt any where near your thresh hold for the same behavior. Whats more, whos to say his behavior needed silencing? What if the individual doing the reporting was just being an A**hat?
Either way most of the people in this country at least have the IQ of gerbils and are primarily victems of the hip hop culture. I figure at this rate we'll all be too stupid to care in about a decade. All you'll need to get into college is a eraser.
As far as the game goes.....and Ive said this before (on the subject). There is no balance when one is reported for fraudulant reasons or issues of personal spite. He can take responsibility for his actions, but he can't find out what those actions were to correct the problem if it was in fact valid. This is the issue, not whether or not he deserved it.
Um, without merit? You obviously did do something, otherwise they wouldn't have done it. Now, while filing a complaint with BBB is all fine and dandy, they are still going by the ROC and can back their decision based on what you did to deserve such a punishment.
I find it takes a lot to get silenced. I see many people posting here and can't figure out for the life of me why they don't get silenced - the fact that you were silenced, leaves me to believe it had to be awefully serious.
That, and by raeding your post, it seems you know exactly why you were punished.
Also, not entirely sure why you are making this entire thing public either.
My point is to understand why. No one has stated any reason. I wasn't on the zone chat. I have not used zone chat in probably a month. I was not on any channel where there was a large population. In fleet, I chat through Ventrilo, and no one in the fleet said they have been annoyed by me (In my fleet, I am the one who owns the Ventrilo server, and we do not enforce a "everyone must have" policy). This is the second time this occurred to.
The first time, the game master could not find any reason for the silence and reset my chat and told me if it happens again to inform a game master. So the ideal that only people who make a large population mad, only gets "silenced" is not valid. There are instances of people who have been silenced without violation of any policy. Perhaps this is tied to the problem with the third uniform slot showing up as being locked.
Even if what you write is 100 percent true. Then Cryptic Studios has to inform me as to "why" and they must produce evidence and documentation.
The reason to make it public is because the games nature is a public environment. Simply keeping the information to myself solves nothing. By filing a complaint with the BBB is so the CEO of this company is made aware of there customer service practices. It is approaching the problem from all sides. If I do not light fires to middle management, then nothing will ever be done. It will simply just get bottlenecked.
By writing a letter, this demonstrates to an competent adult that I have sat down and carefully considered many options and willing to seek there cooperation to resolve the problem for everyone else.
I can overlook technical problems such as patches, but I cannot sit by and let people treat others without any regard to courtesy.
If I obviously did do something, then they can certainly can take 5 minutes to write me a letter as to why. By writing all these letters will defeat any argument as to there is not enough time to write a letter to me.
Also, this forums sole purpose is to address these types of situations in a constructive way, which I believe I am attempting to do. I think the game in large would benefit by the customer service reps remembering at the end of the day the people playing the game is the business. I did notice that the GM"s have been posting regular messages for technical issues today for an attempt to demonstrate community relations. I think this is occurring because the letter I wrote yesterday.
This is a general post not directed at anyone in paticular, just mearly to prove a point on the status quo of the types of people in our neighborhood.
Call me old school, but as as far as the PC police goes........people are stupid, Im sorry, we wouldnt be having this convo 15 years ago. "awwww he hurt my feelings..........imma get back at him by hittin the silencer" Gimme a break. So many people want to feel special for no reason....this is the sociaty we live in. Everyone is self entitled by random acts of dillusion to feel more so than the guy next to em. When did we become a country of insecure little girls? (sorry ladies its an example)
Human ignorance is why we will fall to the way side as a species. I don't care if anyone reports me, because I know anything I say is something that I mean. Thus warrenting no apology on my part. If I mean what I say....its my opinion...take it for what you want. If it hurts your feeling...so what? If thats the case you need to call security....cause your kinda insecure.
What exactly is inappropriate? And why must sociaty feel that they have to make a general criteria for said definitions? You idea of right and wrong are far from mine. My idea of tolerable behavior is no doubt any where near your thresh hold for the same behavior. Whats more, whos to say his behavior needed silencing? What if the individual doing the reporting was just being an A**hat?
With a few exceptions I don't think any speech should be labeled inappropriate. Could the reporting person be a jerk, sure. Although it would usually take more than one jerk but nonetheless valid.
Either way most of the people in this country at least have the IQ of gerbils and are primarily victems of the hip hop culture. I figure at this rate we'll all be too stupid to care in about a decade. All you'll need to get into college is a eraser.
As far as the game goes.....and Ive said this before (on the subject). There is no balance when one is reported for fraudulant reasons or issues of personal spite. He can take responsibility for his actions, but he can't find out what those actions were to correct the problem if it was in fact valid. This is the issue, not whether or not he deserved it.
My point, right or wrong it doesn't matter. Cryptic can do how they please. I probably feel that way because quite frankly I think I am tired of the complaining bout the game lately and I haven't taken my happy pills to make me a conforming member of society.
Also, this forums sole purpose is to address these types of situations in a constructive way, which I believe I am attempting to do. I think the game in large would benefit by the customer service reps remembering at the end of the day the people playing the game is the business. I did notice that the GM"s have been posting regular messages for technical issues today for an attempt to demonstrate community relations. I think this is occurring because the letter I wrote yesterday.
I would argue that a BBB report is far from constructive. At this point you've shifted to punitive.
However, I fully support the "Tell me exactly what" at least so we have knowledge not to do so in the future, and I also, as stated earlier, think any benefit of doubt goes to the person being silenced. If you can't give me clear breach of contract or bad behavior examples then you can't let a punishment stand.
Even if what you write is 100 percent true. Then Cryptic Studios has to inform me as to "why" and they must produce evidence and documentation.
I think this is where I have the problem. They don't have to do anything. Should they? Sure. Yet, when people start saying that so and so HAS to do something it comes across as a "I am entitled" situation.
Comments
If you are gonna RP do it in your own channel and only invite other RPers
You must have annoyed a lot of people with whatever it is that you did.
This is not about being silenced for a day. If this is your interpretation of the letter I wrote, you then lack the ability to comprehend English. The point of the letter is to address the practice of blindly enforcing policies on people without merit, nor recourse. I can live with being silenced for a day, however, this is the second time this situation has occurred using a Cryptic Game.
The first time this happen, the customer service rep responded in 25 minutes, but could not understand why it occurred.
On a larger sense, this letter's purpose is to make people aware of the situation so as we (players and game masters) can find a solution. Simply just ranting, will not prevent the situation from happening to someone else.
There is a possibility this is a computer error that occurs at random with a limited amount of players.
If this is the reason, then by identifying the situation to all parties involved, will allow everyone to investigate a systemic problem.
Side note: I hope my response here did not come across as a rude response into your question.
Why would I think it was rude lol. Look dude bottom line is you are ranting. You must have have done SOMETHING to merit the silence.
I can't be for certain but I don't think this person is a dude. Got that impression from the thread about fashion and shoes. If I am wrong then my bad.
A valid statement, but it is premature. At the moment no violation has been offered as a explanation. Also, no one has presented any evidence that a violation has occurred. Simply, ignoring it, will not remedy the situation. The first time this occurred, I dismissed as a random unexplainable event. Now it has occurred two times.
Also, it is not a violation of the rules of conduct to role play in the game. Some people choose to do it or not to do it. However, the protocol (which is a fancy word for community established guideline for communications) is to use the channels designated for role play.
If a violation has occurred, I want to know under what section and paragraph this has occurred. It is like having a police officer write you a ticket without any just cause to do so. This situation does not stop with the officer. A judge must agree with both parties involved, and then lawmakers will restructure the law accordingly.
To the matter of "expectation" if you are bold enough to accuse and enforce a policy on to a paying customer, then that customer has a right to question the accusation and enforcement of that action. Also, just because other people playing the game were sanctioned for a violation to game rules and policy, does not invalidate the merits of my questions, nor prevent me from arguing my case. Other cases of violation to the conduct policy is not relevant to my situation.
Um, without merit? You obviously did do something, otherwise they wouldn't have done it. Now, while filing a complaint with BBB is all fine and dandy, they are still going by the ROC and can back their decision based on what you did to deserve such a punishment.
I find it takes a lot to get silenced. I see many people posting here and can't figure out for the life of me why they don't get silenced - the fact that you were silenced, leaves me to believe it had to be awefully serious.
That, and by raeding your post, it seems you know exactly why you were punished.
Also, not entirely sure why you are making this entire thing public either.
There are times when adults in this game will act on a situation with adult themes. These include love, tension, and war. I understand if one finds the statements of others intolerable, there is a profanity mechanism to prevent this. However, I do not use profanity when I am in a state of sanity. Also, I never use belligerence to express my views in or out of role play. I am sure there is a possibility I annoy some people. I believe this occurs because the party who is offended is still caught up in their own ethnocentric views and practices.
This paragraph in particular leads me to believe you have some inkling of why you may have incurred the retribution of report spam. My suggestion for you (and this is only a suggestion not an obligation) is to roleplay however you wish but suffer the consequences in silence. The least of your worries is Cryptic customer service. There is a large disconnect between what you think is appropriate in roleplay and what those who heard you and ignored you think.
So explain to me how being offline for 24-36 hours is grounds for silencing me? When I logged on a few days ago I had 14 hours of silencing left, but I wasn't online 10 hours prior.... So how did i violate anything? Oh and I have zone chat off, I only communicate through fleet channels and team, and since my fleet has quit this game I no longer communicate...
Dont knock it...he has a valid point as far as Cryptic is concerned, and he is willing to admit fault if it is his to take responsibility for.
That seems reasonable.......and has a valid inquiry.
True, but I had not and was not communicating to people outside of the "roleplayers" "RP" "Fleet" "Local" chat channels. I can only recall getting into a heated discussion about the Chief Medical Officers authority to issue alcoholic beverages on board a ship. One gentlemen was under the belief that alcohol consumption is not permitted aboard ship. I responded with "It is the Chief Medical Officers authority to allow alcohol consumption aboard a ship." The gentlemen disagreed.
I then responded [OOC] that it is a regulation in starfleet, and that in the original series, all the Saurian Brandy was kept under lock and key in sickbay behind Dr McCoy's Desk.
I do not see how any of this will facilitate annoyance to the level of being silenced from a whole community. Nor do I see any of it a violation of any game policy. And for that matter, I do not see why it would get me silenced from my own Fleet chat or ability to send my other characters email.
In principle you might be right. However, given that this is a private company. (Not state owned) The can pretty much do things as they wish. Sounds harsh but it is no less true. There is no overriding rule that says they have to treat you like a judge would in a ticket situation. Unfair? Sure, but realistically the don't have to do anything.
Oh on a side note, you will notice the BBB rating of Cryptic. They don't care much about the BBB.
You had to do something to someone. It takes more than one person reporting you to get you silenced.
Actually that is not entirely accurate. They are not state-owned, but private companies have loads and loads of federal and state regulations that they must abide by. When you are offering a product and/or service in exchange for money or any other item of value... there are rules you have to follow. There is no company that can really just "do things as they wish".
If he was prevented from full access to the service he paid for... and did not actually violate any of the agreed-upon regulations in the EULA, then he has every right to be upset and even take action. In these instances everyone always assumes that whoever is complaining simply "MUST" have done something wrong... but I doubt it's always as clear-cut as all that. This person may have a valid complaint.
I recall a post not so long ago of a Chinese person that spoke to someone else in Chinese and immediately got reported by hundreds of people for being a gold-spammer. A dev posted in this thread with an apology... admitting that it was wrong for this person to have had any action taken against them.
What you have to remember is that while it takes more than one person reporting someone to have them silenced... people, en-masse, are generally pretty stupid.
Valid complaint or not. If you actually read the EULA you will find it is pretty much iron clad. They can auto silence with out any repercussions. You will also find that you are playing for a license not a service exactly.
As to your character and her background: So what? I appreciate what you want to do and play, but 30 years of anticipation is not a license to act like a jerk, even if it is 'in character' and in roleplay formats. The RP conventions you mentioned are not Cryptic policy and have no bearing here - the casual player has no obligation to know, understand, follow or respect them. Problematic language to them is going to be problematic language, regardless. As to adult themes, that's your responsibility to handle. The game is rated T for Teen. You may feel you are authorized to do adult themes, but the game's rating does not support it, and if you were punished for this then I think it appropriate the punishment stands.
That being said, I know a few people who have had to suffer the 24 hour "cone of silence". One was my Fleet Master, who was silenced for guild recruitment.
Cryptic actually responded in an interview or State of the Game that their silence tool wasn't working as intended and apologized for the draconic methods. The purpose of this tool was to identify and punish the RMT spammers. Funny, it works perfectly on us, but I've sat in Sol and it doesn't seem to affect them at all. The fact that people are using Report Spam for any purpose other than reporting gold spammers or actual spammers is irresponsible, and the reporters should be the ones punished. Ignore tool is what you want to use to silence someone you don't want to listen to, and should be purely internal - in other words - if I Ignore you there should be no punishments for you - the issue I found bothersome has been handled appropriately.
I think Cryptic GMs should be responding in this manner. I think that any question of doubt should ALWAYS go to the customer - if they're being a problem they will do it a second time and you can nab them then. I think that, when responding to the individual in regarding the issue, the GM should always have a "You are being silenced because of THIS SPECIFICALLY" and not just a "I've reviewed the situation and am letting it stand." I think that players that use the Report Spam against someone and it doesn't involve an RMT that is repeatedly spamming something also share, at the minimum, the exact same punishment - Ignore is the tool you use to silence someone you don't want to listen to. I think that anyone who deliberately uses the Report tool against someone for malicious means should expect even stronger methods, to include loss of gameplay or for extreme infractions loss of account.
Call me old school, but as as far as the PC police goes........people are stupid, Im sorry, we wouldnt be having this convo 15 years ago. "awwww he hurt my feelings..........imma get back at him by hittin the silencer" Gimme a break. So many people want to feel special for no reason....this is the sociaty we live in. Everyone is self entitled by random acts of dillusion to feel more so than the guy next to em. When did we become a country of insecure little girls? (sorry ladies its an example)
Human ignorance is why we will fall to the way side as a species. I don't care if anyone reports me, because I know anything I say is something that I mean. Thus warrenting no apology on my part. If I mean what I say....its my opinion...take it for what you want. If it hurts your feeling...so what? If thats the case you need to call security....cause your kinda insecure.
On a personal note ask yourself one question:
What exactly is inappropriate? And why must sociaty feel that they have to make a general criteria for said definitions? You idea of right and wrong are far from mine. My idea of tolerable behavior is no doubt any where near your thresh hold for the same behavior. Whats more, whos to say his behavior needed silencing? What if the individual doing the reporting was just being an A**hat?
Either way most of the people in this country at least have the IQ of gerbils and are primarily victems of the hip hop culture. I figure at this rate we'll all be too stupid to care in about a decade. All you'll need to get into college is a eraser.
As far as the game goes.....and Ive said this before (on the subject). There is no balance when one is reported for fraudulant reasons or issues of personal spite. He can take responsibility for his actions, but he can't find out what those actions were to correct the problem if it was in fact valid. This is the issue, not whether or not he deserved it.
My point is to understand why. No one has stated any reason. I wasn't on the zone chat. I have not used zone chat in probably a month. I was not on any channel where there was a large population. In fleet, I chat through Ventrilo, and no one in the fleet said they have been annoyed by me (In my fleet, I am the one who owns the Ventrilo server, and we do not enforce a "everyone must have" policy). This is the second time this occurred to.
The first time, the game master could not find any reason for the silence and reset my chat and told me if it happens again to inform a game master. So the ideal that only people who make a large population mad, only gets "silenced" is not valid. There are instances of people who have been silenced without violation of any policy. Perhaps this is tied to the problem with the third uniform slot showing up as being locked.
Even if what you write is 100 percent true. Then Cryptic Studios has to inform me as to "why" and they must produce evidence and documentation.
The reason to make it public is because the games nature is a public environment. Simply keeping the information to myself solves nothing. By filing a complaint with the BBB is so the CEO of this company is made aware of there customer service practices. It is approaching the problem from all sides. If I do not light fires to middle management, then nothing will ever be done. It will simply just get bottlenecked.
By writing a letter, this demonstrates to an competent adult that I have sat down and carefully considered many options and willing to seek there cooperation to resolve the problem for everyone else.
I can overlook technical problems such as patches, but I cannot sit by and let people treat others without any regard to courtesy.
If I obviously did do something, then they can certainly can take 5 minutes to write me a letter as to why. By writing all these letters will defeat any argument as to there is not enough time to write a letter to me.
Also, this forums sole purpose is to address these types of situations in a constructive way, which I believe I am attempting to do. I think the game in large would benefit by the customer service reps remembering at the end of the day the people playing the game is the business. I did notice that the GM"s have been posting regular messages for technical issues today for an attempt to demonstrate community relations. I think this is occurring because the letter I wrote yesterday.
A valid and carefully constructed point-of-view.
I agree with what you said here.
With a few exceptions I don't think any speech should be labeled inappropriate. Could the reporting person be a jerk, sure. Although it would usually take more than one jerk but nonetheless valid.
My point, right or wrong it doesn't matter. Cryptic can do how they please. I probably feel that way because quite frankly I think I am tired of the complaining bout the game lately and I haven't taken my happy pills to make me a conforming member of society.
I good suggestion.
However, I was not in zone chat. I stop using zone chat and Global chat about a month ago. I only use the roleplayer chat channels now.
However, I fully support the "Tell me exactly what" at least so we have knowledge not to do so in the future, and I also, as stated earlier, think any benefit of doubt goes to the person being silenced. If you can't give me clear breach of contract or bad behavior examples then you can't let a punishment stand.
I think this is where I have the problem. They don't have to do anything. Should they? Sure. Yet, when people start saying that so and so HAS to do something it comes across as a "I am entitled" situation.