Policing

[Modoc]

When I started playing 15 yrs ago there was very little Foul language or harassment in game and this is for 1 reason and 1 reason alone, GM Policing. Dirt Bag smack talkers didn't last long and/or cleaned up they're act. Cheats and Scripter were always in fear of being Banned.
Todays UO is an utter disgrace in the fact that Dirt Bags speak in such a manner that would make most Truck Drivers blush. Scripter/Cheats laugh at the TOS and run rampant over the Game. Bonnie and the Gang say there is little that can be done but that is absolute BS in its purist form, and they know it. Until a REAL effort is made to Policing the game again no expansion pack will help revive the game to some semblance of what is was and what it was intended to be.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

I have been playing for 17 years and I am pretty sure that the smack talk and foul language were just as bad back then as they are now so not sure what you mean?
Back then though there was no universal chat so you were ofc subject to less.
The old name filters allowed a lot more offensive names so imo some things were in fact worse back then.
I am not a fan of excessive trashtalk or foul and abusive language myself but I never understand why people get so worked up and righteous about it.
It's an adult rated explicit game that involves killing and looting.
If a tender person is so offended why wouldn't they just remove themselves from the situation? Rcall out or turn off genchat temporarily.
Or is it something different?
Some people have specific principles while playing their explicit games and because of those principles they don't feel they should be made to leave a certain section of pixels?

 

[Kael]

When I started playing 15 yrs ago there was very little Foul language or harassment in game and this is for 1 reason and 1 reason alone, GM Policing. Dirt Bag smack talkers didn't last long and/or cleaned up they're act. Cheats and Scripter were always in fear of being Banned.
Todays UO is an utter disgrace in the fact that Dirt Bags speak in such a manner that would make most Truck Drivers blush. Scripter/Cheats laugh at the TOS and run rampant over the Game. Bonnie and the Gang say there is little that can be done but that is absolute BS in its purist form, and they know it. Until a REAL effort is made to Policing the game again no expansion pack will help revive the game to some semblance of what is was and what it was intended to be.

I'm ok with some of the trash talk. I would obviously like to see an end to any racist or vulgar name and actually have repercutions. I don't understand how they can't cut down on scripting for resources though. It is a pain for players but automatic anti scripting gumps can be coded to pop up each time a resource making skill is used. Sucks for being a miner but if they adjusted it to collect more ore per successfull try then i'm sure people could would get used to it.

 

[The Zog historian]

When I started playing 15 yrs ago there was very little Foul language or harassment in game and this is for 1 reason and 1 reason alone, GM Policing. Dirt Bag smack talkers didn't last long and/or cleaned up they're act. Cheats and Scripter were always in fear of being Banned.
Todays UO is an utter disgrace in the fact that Dirt Bags speak in such a manner that would make most Truck Drivers blush. Scripter/Cheats laugh at the TOS and run rampant over the Game. Bonnie and the Gang say there is little that can be done but that is absolute BS in its purist form, and they know it. Until a REAL effort is made to Policing the game again no expansion pack will help revive the game to some semblance of what is was and what it was intended to be.

There's almost no policing now, thus there's a lot more earthiness in general chat than a couple of years ago. If there is any policing, there's the excuse that the target must remove himself from the situation (e.g. putting the person on ignore). I think, though, that the language was still worse when the game was new, up until around 2004 when the "R-word" garnered an immediate 72-hour ban, and then around 2005 when GMs would jail people for profanity.

Sometime in 2000 or 2001, I saw someone's pack animal named "a whippable" with a variant of an infamous racial slur. Racial slurs were surprisingly not immediately bannable offenses at the time, but a GM still replied to my page that he'd take care of it.

 

[Smoot]

if you read the tos, profanity is permitted is overhead chat but not in any global chat channels.

i agree, its not even policed in chat channels anymore. but thats the overall game now.

think of it as the wild west?

 

[MalagAste]

There's almost no policing now, thus there's a lot more earthiness in general chat than a couple of years ago. If there is any policing, there's the excuse that the target must remove himself from the situation (e.g. putting the person on ignore). I think, though, that the language was still worse when the game was new, up until around 2004 when the "R-word" garnered an immediate 72-hour ban, and then around 2005 when GMs would jail people for profanity.

Sometime in 2000 or 2001, I saw someone's pack animal named "a whippable" with a variant of an infamous racial slur. Racial slurs were surprisingly not immediately bannable offenses at the time, but a GM still replied to my page that he'd take care of it.

Actually the "R" Word or "N" word gave you an INSTANT PERMA Ban not just 72 hours back in the day. That was something you could NOT say for any reason what-so-ever. Which is something that is really a good thing.

As for naming of characters it was extremely lax back in the day I should know having been "gifted" a few accounts over the years as folk have left and moved on I've seen some doozies. I've seen folk name pets things I wouldn't say around my Mother and anyone who knows me knows that I can curse in vent enough to make a sailor blush when I get ticked.

The language is pretty bad and excessive I've seen in Gen Chat. I honestly thought they had someone who was supposedly monitoring that. However if they are I think they are asleep at the wheel. I've seen folk brag about using this cheat and that cheat... talk about what they are going to do to folk IRL... or insult ones upbringing, throw racial slurs that should warrant a perma ban... but mostly they just sound like a bunch of Kindergarten bullies trying to sound "tough".... or I think of it as a couple of peacocks trying to strut their stuff... Mostly all show and no real talent. I figure if they have to go to the trouble of all that strutting about in Gen Chat then they aren't anything they think they are. And generally their spelling is so atrocious that its a wonder anyone can make out what they are going on about anyway. Again like a bunch of Kindergarteners. The "worst" of them go on my ignore list. The rest I school in spelling and grammar from time to time .... or merely point out the flaws in their logic... tell them to grow up and quit acting like a bunch of little kiddies and ask them if it's not past their bedtime yet? Or remind them of the most important thing... that NO ONE cares what is going on in Fel and they should take their Felli conversations back to the dark ages and leave the rest of us out of their cock fight as most of us old hens just don't want to hear it.

I've found that generally if you keep flipping their dung back at them they generally get the idea and shut up. Of course I still believe that we should have some way of reporting the worst offenders and that the DEV's ought to have some way of seeing who gets reported on the most and be able to look at their logs of what's going on in chat and decide what to do about the worst of the offenders. By either sending them a reminder with a 72 hour vacation from UO..... or blocking their account from using Chat..... up to Perma Banning the offending account. I'm sure after a few are made example of the problem would resolve quick enough.

 

[Scribbles]

Rules for easy going play style

1. Turn off Gen chat
2. ignore players
3. dont let words hurt you
4. dont feed the trolls
5. Kill people with kindness
6. Dont worry about what other people are doing

If all the above fails go kill some monsters and imagine its the particular players you hate.

 

[Shady Ghost]

Rules for easy going play style

1. Turn off Gen chat
2. ignore players
3. dont let words hurt you
4. dont feed the trolls
5. Kill people with kindness
6. Dont worry about what other people are doing

If all the above fails go kill some monsters and imagine its the particular players you hate.

Or come to my pub and get your UO drunk on!

[don't mind the ghosts and cobwebs]

 

[NuSair]

Removing yourself from the situation is not the answer, was not the answer and never will be the answer.

All that does is reinforce to the person doing the offensive behavior that it is ok and that they will get what they want.

Ultima Online has allowed online bullying to run rampant for years, and you can even make a case that they support it. In this day and age when there are so many anti-bullying messages out there (even on other games, where players are banned for such behavior). Ultima Online has become a safe haven for those who wish to bully others, without the fear of anything happening to them.

 

[Scribbles]

Removing yourself from the situation is not the answer, was not the answer and never will be the answer.

All that does is reinforce to the person doing the offensive behavior that it is ok and that they will get what they want.

Ultima Online has allowed online bullying to run rampant for years, and you can even make a case that they support it. In this day and age when there are so many anti-bullying messages out there (even on other games, where players are banned for such behavior). Ultima Online has become a safe haven for those who wish to bully others, without the fear of anything happening to them.

if they cant talk to you, they cant bully you. The game has put in plenty of measure to make sure that you can safely play the game with out listening to any of these bullys.
The ignore feature is my favorite, also avoiding gen chat is great way to avoid all negative comments.

The problem with UO is that people feed the trolls by trying to rebut them. This is not the answer. Ignore them and they will go away.

Personally i think most people that have a problem with the bullys/trolls of UO have a problem with being able to back down and "let them win" Be the bigger person and ignore the stupid stuff.

We should start a campaign called "Dont feed the trolls"

 

[Aurelius]

Nothing is policed any more, the system for reporting anything from foul language to outright disruptive behaviour destroying events (player or EM) or obvious hacking/cheating and scamming is a poor joke, where you cannot ever get anything done.

The official response is to use the reporting and harrasment systems, but those, as we have repeatedly explained and demonstrated, are worthless - too few GMs mean they never turn up in time to actually catch anything going on, supposedly they look at the chat logs but if anything being does does not show in those (and SO many ways to trash an event need no use of chat at all) they will never act - we have actually been told that it is important that nobody is 'rude' to the people causing grief because that will be takes as a reason for no enforcement action being taken (so any antisocial little creature who wants to cause upset and distress just needs a hanger-on 'friend' on a disposable account to turn up an be nasty to them and that gives them an instant 'get away with it' from the hopeless 'rules enforcement' system).

This means we have had events and social activities, and thus the basic community building that was meant to be a valued part of the game, utterly trashed on a pretty regular basis. The rules clearly say causing distress to other players is completely out of bounds, but any time you try get that acted on you get endless made up excuses the particular method being used not quite falling in the actionable categories - which the 'support staff' seem free to make up as they go along....

1. You may not victimize, harass, threaten, or cause another player unwanted distress or discomfort, as determined by Support Staff"

The eternal getout is in that 'determined by support staff' who as far as I can tell are working under the instruction to never, ever find anything qualifies for any sort of action at all, no matter how much distress or upset is caused.

People who have been paged on many, many times for literally years of abusive activites, luring, scamming.... seem miraculously to be invisible and have no past history of anything at all when 'investigated' by our manager. I have received emails saying they are 'unaware of issues on a shard' a couple of days after abuse of an Advisor resulted in the game 'Manager' turning up on the shard to warn people that this is not acceptable - with incredible lack of any sense, the 'warning' was given to every player on the shard, whilst those who actually abused the Advisor mocked the Manager in the chat channel whilst this 'warning' was going on .... and of course, nothing happened as a result. The anti-social element regard the enforcement policies as a joke, because that is exactly what they are - a complete, if utterly unfunny, joke.

You can find images, and videos, made by the people cheating that clearly show them cheating (they are now so sure they will get away with it they don't even hide what they do!)- yet 'customer support' remains unaware of anything, even when you link them to absolutely clear proof....



But hey, we will be told how much people care, and they 'know they let us down on this', and then be referred back to processes that always fail, and pointed at the wording of rules as if in some bizarre way having a set of rules you never enforce, thanks to selective deafness and blindness to anything that they want to ignore, is any use at all. Oh, and please keep paying for this to happen to you and your friends, because you are so 'valued' - just not to the point where anything effective will be done to resolve the problem, of course, because that would awfully inconvenient ....

 

[Aurelius]

We should start a campaign called "Dont feed the trolls"

No. We should have a company running this game who keep their damn word, enforce their own rules, and stop lying to us about how 'important' we are and then ignoring us....

We lose players because of this garbage. Even if the Dev team don't care about that - and for all the verbiage they spout, the evidence from their constant inaction is very clear that they don't - some of us do.

 

[Scribbles]

Watch this move... its pretty easy to do.

*bows out* *agrees to disagree*

Have a good day folks enjoy your thread.

 

[Xelious Norwood]

It depends on the matter, if you will get a talking to or not, I made up a character back when bones first were available for Halloween with the "EM" attached in front of the name, you know, cause we could make them up then. I got a mark against my account and name changed because of it. Go figure, a "EM" tag will get you banned quicker than anything else you could possibly do in this game. I might as well use Scripts etc... just as long as I dont use the "EM" tag on that character.

 

[The Zog historian]

Actually the "R" Word or "N" word gave you an INSTANT PERMA Ban not just 72 hours back in the day. That was something you could NOT say for any reason what-so-ever. Which is something that is really a good thing.

Punishments depended on the year. In 2001 or 2002 with the badly named pet, they reappeared later. Their tower occupied the spot next to the portal to Fel Bucs, a very desirable spot, so I was disappointed they weren't banned. In 2004, after the Devs declared a formal policy against the "R-word," someone I knew received a 72-hour ban for it. In 2004 or 2005, someone called me the "N-word" and did get an instant, permanent ban. It was hilarious to see him whine on Stratics but not mention why.

I don't remember the exact year, sometime around 2001 when Bucs Den was the PvP hotspot on Sonoma. Someone said the "N-word" out loud, and when someone warned him to be careful, he claimed it wasn't a bannable offense. It's true that there was no formal policy against racial slurs, but he seemed to want to tempt fate. He and a couple of others started including it nonstop in their regular conversations. After a while they suddenly disappeared, although it was just jailing and perhaps a temporary ban, because their later appearances showed it wasn't a permanent.

P.S. Are you familiar with what has been said to EM Willow in the game, on the same screen but also in chat? EA's own rules are so convoluted that Willow would have had to remove herself from the situation, meaning leave the meeting hall and turn off general chat, which in turn means that the harasser won one way or another.

 

[sibble]

Listen... I truly take a bashing from so many PVPers your mind would be blown if I had it all recorded. It got to the point where I was debating on cancelling all of my accounts and just walking away. The hostile, vulgar, profane and obscene communication that goes across General Chat is, for lack of a better word, ludicrous. Ignoring people does absolutely nothing, for a couple reasons. They will always have alternate nicknames that will have to be ignored again. There will always be overhead chat that can't be ignored (but it should be, can't we separate spell casting overhead text from speech?) Above all else, it encourages others to voice their opinions, or join along in the "bashing" of another player much like that of a hyena. The communication that goes on in General Chat is by far the worst of any game I've ever played (including WoW, and I've played from the very start till this latest expansion.)

There is only one simple solution. These people need to be reported and, in my opinion, depending on the situation, given a small penalty because of it. A very simple 24-72hr ban is sufficient. It's enough to give the person time off to "sit in their corner" and give them time to think about what they will do next time in General Chat. After enough 72hr bans, even the nastiest person will start to ease up on the "smack talking." With that being said, I don't think a person should ever be perma-banned for vulgarity (I'm not including racism, of course ban for that.) Scold a child enough times and they will eventually learn something (in most cases.)

One of the hardest things to do is keeping your mouth shut when you feel attacked. You feel a need to defend yourself, not necessarily wanting to verbally assault the other person. That's a tough thing to do and I am trying to work on that myself.

 

[Smoot]

i saw a guy go on for like 30mins saying horrible things, he said he had been trying to get his account banned for over 2 weeks and nothing. R word, N word, all other words, whole deal.

So basically its just how UO is now. if you dont like it, i dunno what to say. Its not mesanna's job to stop it according to her, EA doesnt care, if you dont like it and refuse to leave gen chat then UO just isnt the game for you anymore.

 

[sibble]

So basically its just how UO is now. if you dont like it, i dunno what to say. Its not mesanna's job to stop it according to her, EA doesnt care, if you dont like it and refuse to leave gen chat then UO just isnt the game for you anymore.

Forcing a player to leave General Chat then cuts off communication to the community. It's just not an option and shouldn't be told to players as a remedy. Also telling the player that "this isn't the game for you" is also not a remedy.

Players are responsible for reporting. They hesitate to, because they don't want to get any players banned, cutting down the population of the community.

This is why I think there should be no perma-banning for vulgarity.

 

[Smoot]

Forcing a player to leave General Chat then cuts off communication to the community. It's just not an option and shouldn't told to players as a remedy.

im not saying it should be, but its the way it is. Like so many other things, like recently when Mesanna saying third party "cheats" would not be enforced just shows the game is changing. Players have the decision to either accept what the game is now or cease playing.

 

[NuSair]

if they cant talk to you, they cant bully you. The game has put in plenty of measure to make sure that you can safely play the game with out listening to any of these bullys.
The ignore feature is my favorite, also avoiding gen chat is great way to avoid all negative comments.

The problem with UO is that people feed the trolls by trying to rebut them. This is not the answer. Ignore them and they will go away.

Personally i think most people that have a problem with the bullys/trolls of UO have a problem with being able to back down and "let them win" Be the bigger person and ignore the stupid stuff.

We should start a campaign called "Dont feed the trolls"

Bullying can go further than just speech.

 

[Wenchkin]

Honestly, if cheating or vile language bothers you and you want a game where it's really managed properly... I think you need another game. The response to cheating seems to be to patch rather than ban the offenders, and global chat has been a mess since the kids realised they could trash talk beyond their screen border. The Steam launch may encourage a change of heart but it'll need consistent policing over an extended period to turn player behaviour around. I just don't see that happening, I don't think there are enough GMs.

I know some folk think it's wrong to say "you should quit UO" but honestly, if a problem is unlikely to be fixed and it makes you miserable, why pay to play something that isn't fun? Better to take a break and play other games a bit than keep logging in to the UO kindergarten. Then when you miss UO you can return and you'll have enthusiasm for it.

Wenchy

 

[MalagAste]

Forcing a player to leave General Chat then cuts off communication to the community. It's just not an option and shouldn't be told to players as a remedy. Also telling the player that "this isn't the game for you" is also not a remedy.

Players are responsible for reporting. They hesitate to, because they don't want to get any players banned, cutting down the population of the community.

This is why I think there should be no perma-banning for vulgarity.

I don't hesitate. Trust me. I've probably gotten more than one person banned over the years. There are some things I won't tolerate. Sexual Harassment is one of them. Listening to some of the vulgar sex language in Gen Chat is something I do report on quite frequently. Nothing ever comes of it though.

It is like a kid trying to blow out the candles on his cake and blowing his bangs up instead... Just fans the flame and nothing gets done. So what is left? To complain here? Write to Mesanna... oh been there done that... file a complaint when they send you the email saying they got your complaint and are "looking into it", but they can't say what they are doing about it.

At any rate most of this stuff makes UO like the laughing stock of the gaming community. It's pathetic we have to put up with what we do just to play.... and sadly we pay for the privilege of being subjected to much of what we are... That's the kicker.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

Forcing a player to leave General Chat then cuts off communication to the community. It's just not an option and shouldn't be told to players as a remedy. Also telling the player that "this isn't the game for you" is also not a remedy.

Players are responsible for reporting. They hesitate to, because they don't want to get any players banned, cutting down the population of the community.

This is why I think there should be no perma-banning for vulgarity.

Suggesting an easily offended player temporarily leave gen chat if they don't like what they hear is a very good remedy imo.
I play Atlantic all the time and there def is too much nonsense said in gen chat but it is still nowhere near the norm. 75% of what you hear in gen chat is still of the good and productive nature.
I believe community is more about grouping up and actually playing together. And anyone that wants to do that on a regular basis can find multiple other channels to do so along with gen chat.
Nobody is taking anyone's community away

 

[The Zog historian]

i saw a guy go on for like 30mins saying horrible things, he said he had been trying to get his account banned for over 2 weeks and nothing. R word, N word, all other words, whole deal.

His claimed motive sounds illogical. It sounds like he got a hold of someone's account but couldn't get it banned. If he wanted to quit, he could already cancel the account. If he were afraid he'd come back, he could give everything away and delete characters.

 

[Dot_Warner]

While it is true that someone can leave gen chat, or "leave the area," these requirements in the harassment policy are asinine. They put all the power in the hands of the victimizer and essentially tell the victim that the desires and goals for their play time are irrelevant.

Placing someone on ignore is a good option, but has some issues as well. Mainly being the small size of the ignore list relative to the disproportionally large contingent of offenders.

I still think its cowardice on the part of EA & Broadsword that the ToS/RoC aren't upheld.

 

[Modoc]

Suggesting an easily offended player temporarily leave gen chat if they don't like what they hear is a very good remedy imo.
I play Atlantic all the time and there def is too much nonsense said in gen chat but it is still nowhere near the norm. 75% of what you hear in gen chat is still of the good and productive nature.
I believe community is more about grouping up and actually playing together. And anyone that wants to do that on a regular basis can find multiple other channels to do so along with gen chat.
Nobody is taking anyone's community away

85% of ALL statistics are made up on the spot.

 

[Tjalle]

I have no problem paging on people and when I do it´s for the ban...

 

[grimiz]

This is a huge problem and I agree it is ruining the game for most people. Ignore it is not the solution - these people are ruining 'our' game because they are the minority, albeit a very vocal minority.

I'm going to start a little project to record general chat on Atlantic and see what percentage of the chat is just unexcusable. Player Id's will be recorded and the compiled list will be sent to broadsword to see if anything can be done. If you can't behave yourself in a public chat channel then you don't belong there. In most other MMO's masking your words to try and get around a profanity filter is bannable - people think they are being clever when they do this, it's about to be a lot less funny.

 

[Smoot]

His claimed motive sounds illogical. It sounds like he got a hold of someone's account but couldn't get it banned. If he wanted to quit, he could already cancel the account. If he were afraid he'd come back, he could give everything away and delete characters.

thats like saying to quit heroin just dont buy it. i think it was a very good way to try to cut UO for good. unfortuantly he wasnt very successfull

 

[Warpig Inc]

The better smack talkers do it without the cussing. Use the ignore for the swearing idiots. Now your chat becomes a fine tuned laugh machine with the one sided conversations. I always like to throw in " Oh ya, your Bod filler has termite infested tools" or "Your locksmith would die of blueballs before he could get a chasity belt off" Some good trammy smack talk always wins the day. "Look at those legging's inseam! They couldn't protect someone let alone keep their junk from falling out."

Ignore is your friend. I like that ignore also keeps me from buying or selling with idiots.

 

[CovenantX]

Simple solution- auto-switch to "Fel chat" when entering felucca. upon entering Any trammel rule-set facet, you'd auto-switch to the general chat in question here.

It wouldn't completely stop all trash talking in general chat, but it would significantly reduce it to those who do not participate in pvp.

A person in fel, would be able to still join tram-gen-chat by doing so manually, however most pvpers wouldn't bother with doing that ( I know I wouldn't), but then again I don't talk very much in gen-chat anyway.

 

[Lythos-]

I never understood how or why people let words get to them that badly. So what if someone calls someone a name? What are we all in elementary school again?

I've been called every name in the book in game except for a nozzle. I've always been the bag for some reason. Big deal.

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

In response to MalagAste:

I know exactly what you mean! I personally had a player in general chat SEVERAL TIMES insinuate that he would hack my account information, get my credit card information, and purchase items. It was even commented on by another player who saw it in chat. I paged a GM and waited over 3 hours. No response. While It most likely couldn't happen, I did take steps to insure that if it did, measures were in place to make sure that the situation was resolved appropriately. In my opinion the person is a disgrace to UO and should have been banned. This same person has several times ridiculed, insulted and used foul language to an EM in general chat. In addition, it's my understanding that he was banned once because of scripting on a different shard. But supposedly the account was reactivated because it was his "Aunt's" account. Very sad, but I guess if you know the "right" people you can get away with a lot! Just my opinion.

 

[sibble]

I never understood how or why people let words get to them that badly. So what if someone calls someone a name? What are we all in elementary school again?

I've been called every name in the book in game except for a nozzle. I've always been the bag for some reason. Big deal.

Yea.... no... YOU NOZZLE!

I'm going to chime into this thread for a second time. Call me egotistical, tell me I'm full of myself, fine... No one, NOT ONE PERSON in this thread has ANY idea of the amount of 'tosh' thrown my way. Again, if I made a video compilation (which I've really been wanting to do) your mind would be blown. I catch it on multiple shards, as I PVP on LS, GL and of course ATL.

It is pathetic. More importantly, I'm 33yrs old (born `82) and I've been playing games online games since (most of the people on this forum) have been in diapers.

Doom I over 12 baud modem, then the lovely 28k modems where I played Duke Nukem 3d, Diablo 1.01 and then my favorite 56k modems on, of course, Ultima Online. BTW I had my comcast cable modem in `98 (flex) I never left UO to play Everquest (where's my cookies btw?) I did however play DAoC for a little but I mainly played UO until WoW came out in `04.

No other online game will you experience the amount of bullying, vulgarity, explicit content that shows up in our General Chat. It just doesn't happen in other games, why? Our community is very small, we need this General Chat to communicate with other people, that's what makes it an ONLINE GAME. Where is the line drawn?

The fix for this is NOT simple.

It requires a HUGE part on our Devs, GMs, Advisors, Ems, and anyone else participating in what is the ULTIMA ONLINE experience. We NEED police. We NEED people to hand out these simple, minor penalties to these underage, immature beings that chose to run General Chat through the garbage disposal.

CYBER BULLYING IS A CRIME, YES, IT'S AGAINST THE LAW

We are a COMMUNITY, and a SMALL one at that. We all need to RECOGNIZE THIS and start TREATING EACH OTHER EQUALLY. It's not going to start with the other person. IT'S GOING TO START WITH YOU!

 

[The Zog historian]

thats like saying to quit heroin just dont buy it. i think it was a very good way to try to cut UO for good. unfortuantly he wasnt very successfull

UO is not physically addictive. If someone is so weak-willed that he's afraid he'll reactivate, there are still methods I described to discourage coming back. At an extreme, the account could be stripped down, all characters deleted, the account unlinked, and then given to a game enemy. I still smell an attempt to get someone else's account banned, assuming the person was being truthful.

 

[cazador]

I'm all for anti-scripting code..but there isn't much you could implement other than a Captcha that a script can't get around..that's just fact. The only real way is by having a live GM do something. Here's a fun example of how GM's worked in a scripting scenario I saw via screenshot.

Somebody was macroing making potions and forgot he had a GM queue..the response was. I see you were busy making potions please re page if the issue persists..I mean really? Funny at the time, and harmless since he was making pots for himself.. But still.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Smoot]

UO is not physically addictive. If someone is so weak-willed that he's afraid he'll reactivate, there are still methods I described to discourage coming back. At an extreme, the account could be stripped down, all characters deleted, the account unlinked, and then given to a game enemy. I still smell an attempt to get someone else's account banned, assuming the person was being truthful.

just like gambling is not phsically addictive? sorry zog your way out there on this one.

 

[MalagAste]

In response to MalagAste:

I know exactly what you mean! I personally had a player in general chat SEVERAL TIMES insinuate that he would hack my account information, get my credit card information, and purchase items. It was even commented on by another player who saw it in chat. I paged a GM and waited over 3 hours. No response. While It most likely couldn't happen, I did take steps to insure that if it did, measures were in place to make sure that the situation was resolved appropriately. In my opinion the person is a disgrace to UO and should have been banned. This same person has several times ridiculed, insulted and used foul language to an EM in general chat. In addition, it's my understanding that he was banned once because of scripting on a different shard. But supposedly the account was reactivated because it was his "Aunt's" account. Very sad, but I guess if you know the "right" people you can get away with a lot! Just my opinion.

I hear you... I've seen it in Gen Chat on GL's again and again... RL threats... Talking about what they are going to do to someone... their mother... their sister... in EXTREMELY Vulgar language. It's harassment, it's not acceptable.

You know it's one thing to RP your a complete lowlife jerk... it's another thing to be a complete lowlife jerk. And the anonymity of the internet should not be an excuse to act like one. The more we "tolerate" the more they push... the worse the behavior becomes and the more serious the damage is to the game, to the players and to the community.

Where does it stop? When someone really does hack someones account? Well that's already happened again and again. When someone really does do something to someone IRL that happens all the time now... they call in false threats and have you raided by SWAT teams. Got an innocent man killed already. So where does it end?

 

[Modoc]

I would like to thank those that commented and worded what I was trying to say so much more eloquently than me.
I have no delusions that UO will ever be what it once was, but if nothing is done about the current state of the game it will go the way of the Dodo sooner then later.
Please Devs give this Thread some consideration. If your worried about the loss of a few accts, Myself and a great number of others can assure you that we have lost Far too many good players to your lack luster approach at Policing. You are allowing the Few to ruin the Game for the Many.

 

[Reeky Bugbutt]

I would like to thank those that commented and worded what I was trying to say so much more eloquently than me.
I have no delusions that UO will ever be what it once was, but if nothing is done about the current state of the game it will go the way of the Doo Doo sooner then later.
Please Devs give this Thread some consideration. If your worried about the loss of a few accts, Myself and a great number of others can assure you that we have lost Far to many good players to your lack luster approach at Policing. You are allowing the Few to ruin the Game for the Many.

Mees tinks UO habz already gone da way of doo-doo. Did yoos meanz Dodo?

 

[Shady Ghost]

I'm in no way trying to be apathetic, but, unless this was somehow touted I don't see how this will help.. But can you imagine the slogan they would have to put out there? I can see it now, when the new expansion comes out, "New Land Mass for more Epic Experiences in the realm of Sosaria, New Skill Masteries to expand your adventurer's abilities, New Improved Policing Methods to route out the griefing".

I think the chat channels should be Facet Specific, or maybe rule set specific. That may go a long way in curbing the people who see the grief talk and are offended by it. Player in a pvp rule set, they auto put into a pvp chat channel and cannot change to another channel but they can "LEAVE" chat like normal. Sucks for people who have houses in fel and don't want to see the trash talk, but talk with people, but it is something to consider and probably solve alot of this discussion. Just my ghostly 2 cents.

 

[sibble]

I think the chat channels should be Facet Specific, or maybe rule set specific.

Aye, this would be useful I think. As soon as you enter Felucca you now goto Felucca General Chat.

 

[whiterabbit]

DILLIGAF

 

[The Zog historian]

just like gambling is not phsically addictive? sorry zog your way out there on this one.

You're the one who brought up heroin, which I pointed out is "phsically [sic] addictive" and nothing like UO. Now you have to move the goalposts? Gambling addiction is a matter of someone being too weak in the mind. And if you think UO is anything like that addiction, it's you who are "way out there" on yet another thing. If UO were as addictive as you seem to imply, there are a great many who broke the addiction quite easily over the years.

My original point stands that the person you mentioned is fishy circumstances. If someone were really trying to quit UO, it can be done without having to try getting banned, and considerably faster than a couple of weeks.

 

[Captn Norrington]

His claimed motive sounds illogical. It sounds like he got a hold of someone's account but couldn't get it banned. If he wanted to quit, he could already cancel the account. If he were afraid he'd come back, he could give everything away and delete characters.

I saw the same thing from the same person Smoot did, then asked them about it in ICQ the next day to make sure it was the real them and that they weren't hacked. It was on Atlantic with at least 10 people that I know of who reported it.

It was the real them and they were not hacked. They are also still in game, didn't even get a one day ban after saying the N word in general chat literally 7 different times, (I counted) among many more words and real life threats that should have at the very least gotten a temporary ban.

 

[Captn Norrington]

It's an adult rated explicit game that involves killing and looting.

Actually it's not adult rated anymore, it was changed to a T (13 years old and up) rating when the bounty system was removed more than 10 years ago

Look at the very bottom left corner of www.uo.com for proof. It says Rated T for blood, use of alcohol, and violence.

 

[Warpig Inc]

Aye, this would be useful I think. As soon as you enter Felucca you now goto Felucca General Chat.

That would work great. If one or both the smack talkers was not sitting at Luna bank after their epic battle. Would help if the red stuck in fel didn't have contact with the other while they restock from their tram house after a dry loot. Game doesn't need constant policing. Random drop ins where the GMs play JudgeDread. Those bannings can be confirmed and recorded. Posted to Youtube. Fear can cover a lot of hours between the JudgeDread visits. All that house burning worked for about three days. Was great not running into even one script miner or BoD runner all day. Even the PVP was better knowing you wouldn't have to fight someone with a half dozen crutches.

 

[Kael]

I'm all for anti-scripting code..but there isn't much you could implement other than a Captcha that a script can't get around..that's just fact. The only real way is by having a live GM do something. Here's a fun example of how GM's worked in a scripting scenario I saw via screenshot.

Somebody was macroing making potions and forgot he had a GM queue..the response was. I see you were busy making potions please re page if the issue persists..I mean really? Funny at the time, and harmless since he was making pots for himself.. But still.


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I think there is a difference though between the real hard core scripters and the random player trying it out because others are getting away with it. On another shard I play I haven't heard (yet that is) of issues with scripting with the anti script methods they are using.

 

[cazador]

I think there is a difference though between the real hard core scripters and the random player trying it out because others are getting away with it. On another shard I play I haven't heard (yet that is) of issues with scripting with the anti script methods they are using.

Yes I know but it's a completely different type of code. It's not as simple on production shards to implement as it is on those free shards, just like the Dev team couldn't stop the encryption/non encryption of 3rd party programs as easily. It would take a rework of the engine. The core code is more efficient on free shards."less jumbled". Production code is interweaving code over code over code..so to say. Probably partially due to laziness of past Devs imo..


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[The Zog historian]

I saw the same thing from the same person Smoot did, then asked them about it in ICQ the next day to make sure it was the real them and that they weren't hacked. It was on Atlantic with at least 10 people that I know of who reported it.

It was the real them and they were not hacked. They are also still in game, didn't even get a one day ban after saying the N word in general chat literally 7 different times, (I counted) among many more words and real life threats that should have at the very least gotten a temporary ban.

I'm still puzzled. If at first and second and third you don't succeed, maybe it's time to try something else. Granted it shows that GMs are not going to check out obvious violations, but if someone wanted to quit and ensure never coming back without starting a new account, there are ways.