Transformice Petition |
Mathdebate « Citoyen » 1393075320000
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https://www.change.org/petitions/transformice-empose-stricter-new-stricter-policies-for-bullying The issue of bullying has always been a case on any virtual game.. the question is, is it dealt with properly? On many virtual games I've played bullying is a very serious case, and if you're reported for bullying you will be banned very quickly 100% no doubt. However on transformice many people are bullied 24/7, insulted, banned, because of one reason or the other. When they report it to mods they are told to ignore them, 7/10 its hard to ignore what people say to you, as its just too hurtful, and you want it to be dealt with. If all these insults were bombarded at a member of the staff team they would surely ban the person, but we as normal users are FORCED to ignore them. This is not the only case.. when you do ignore, some users are SAD enough to make new accounts JUST to insult you AGAIN, because you ignored their other accounts. When this happens what will mods tell you? Ignore. It's gone way to far this has been on ongoing issue, so many of my friends have been insulted times without number including me,weconstantly report, moderators NEVER EVER answer our calls, and I'm sure we're not the only ones experiencing this. Because of Transformice lack of control/priority for issues such as cyber bullying, NOTHING ever gets done about it. Its like they don't even care! The amount of insulting/trolling has increased because of this, bullies think they can get away with anything, and they are right, why? because of the lack of enforcement of rules in the system!!! This needs to change, and the change needs to start now before issues start to escalate and people begin to self harm and such or even contemplate terrible things like suicide! |
Annefromva « Citoyen » 1393076700000
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I agree that the harassment in this game has gone way too far. Some people are more sensitive than others and not everyone can deal with the shit that people say, in a healthy way. Some are going through severe depression. Some have a mental disorder(s). Some people are suicidal/have suicidal thoughts. Some things that people say can replay over and over in your head. Some people can't just shrug it off like other people. Sometimes ignoring isn't enough because they can harass via CFM. But unfortunately, bullying is everywhere. Even if the TFM Admins did add a rule to not harass, there will still be harassing because that's just how some people are. But thanks for making a thread like this. It's very considerate and kind imo. =) |
Tailtong « Citoyen » 1393076700000
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An actually good point there, but.. ..an enormous amount of content is being reported to mods every second, through all the contact ways there are, for example, IRC, whisper and so on. a dit : I kind of agree with mods on this place. Insults, most of the time, are pointless, stupid and random words that are just damn lame. And if you don't want to see those pointless words with no meaning flowing in your face, use the ignore feature. a dit : I think there actually was a case like this last year in FR, and I have heard nothing else except that the thread was locked and people were banned. Which means, it was terribly dealt with. Conclusion: you're right. PS: I am not that good at English, sorry. |
Musicaholic « Citoyen » 1393077480000
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I completely agree with the OP. This is exactly why I avoid playing in crowded rooms. I've been insulted and bullied so many times that it's just ridiculous, and it's not only myself. I encounter a lot of other people being bullied and it's just as disturbing. Like Anne said, some people are more sensitive than others, and even if one does ignore a bully, they can't really erase the insults from their heads, now can they? People are different, some find it easy to look over these things but some don't. It's so very rare for me to come across a room without someone who'll rage or bully the people around them for absolutely no reason what-so-ever. As much as I wish this would stop, I'm not sure what, or if anything can be done. The moderators already seem to have a lot of work on their hands. |
Taeyeonrawr « Citoyen » 1393078500000
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I agree with the staff team topic 100% if someone insults a staff member it's an instant ban but if it's towards some normal/neutral player you get spammed that there's an ignore button and you should use it even though it's obvious it's not helping (on most cases) |
Xanthefleur « Citoyen » 1393078500000
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Sorry to seem insensitive but cyber bullying is so easy to avoid. If someone keeps harrassing you, you've obviously done something to make them do it. If you' just happen to be a random target, use the ignore feature. If they make another account, ignore it. Take a break from the game and experience real life for a while if you need to. Annefromva, I understand what you're saying but if people can't take the harrassment due to their depression/mental disorders/suicidal thoughts, I'm pretty sure they shouldn't be on the internet. The internet is not going to change. There will always be keyboard warriors hiding behind their screens. |
Rutabega « Censeur » 1393080300000
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I can understand where you're coming from but I haven't seen any hardcore bullying on this game at all. Sure there's a lot of trolling and rage-filled comments, but it's provoked by the game. I don't ever see anyone insulting one another just do bully someone. I don't mean to sound insensitive (like Xanthefleur said) but I don't see any problem with what you're talking about. |
Whiskypickle « Citoyen » 1393084140000
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Don't get me wrong, I and the rest of the staff are against bullying in any form and if you come to us with a concern we will try to help you out as best as we can, however there's a few things i'd like to clear up about this subject. Firstly, it's impossible for Mods to monitor each and every room and conversation 24/7. Not only are there too many to keep track of all the time, but Mods are volunteer players that give up our time playing to help out people when needed. There are times when other reports need to take priority too (Hackers being the most prominant) and hey, just sometimes we'd like to play and enjoy this game ourselves too. There's only a limited amount that one person can do. Why not just get more staff? We're working on hiring more staff as we speak, but it's a long process that requires the team to ensure that any applicants we might consider will do a good job and not abuse their position. Secondly, Everyone has access to the /ignore command. I pretty much say it everytime a thread like this is brought up, but it's the most underestimated tool in the game. It's simple yet effective; if someone is harrassing you, you use the ignore command and they can no longer harrass you. Even if they decide to create a new account, you can still use the ignore command on them again. Infact it takes them much longer to create an account and whisper you than it does to click "ignore" Zidian a dit : I know it might seem like we can mute players at our whim if they insult or spam us via whispers, but actually we can't. Everytime someone starts whispering us spam or insults we use the ignore feature that everyone else uses. And it works, which is why I encorage everyone to use it whenever they can. Thirdly, what one person considers bullying or harrassment isn't necessarily something within the scope of what Mods have been instructed to moderate or against the rules. Transformice allows a certain degree of swearing and profanity in public rooms that mods won't ban or mute for, and tribe chat and whispers are never moderated. If someone is being unpleasant in a public room it's up to the Mod at the time to judge the situation as best they can and make a decision based on whether they think it's serious enough to mute or not. A very common thing I see when checking out reports for swearing or harrassment is either the person reported saying mild things like "OMG SHAM GET OUT YOU NOOB" or the people who have reported the original offender swearing and arguing back just as much as the person they reported. In these cases Mods are either going to leave the report alone since the person isn't being rude or offensive enough to warrent a mute/ban, or the Mod is going to mute/ban everyone taking place in the arguement including those who reported the original player. This brings me back to the /ignore command. In both situations if people just used /ingore from the beginning as well as reporting the player there wouldn't be an issue at all. My point is that Mods can only moderate and help out so much, we aren't here to take responsibility or protect you from each and every insult or ill-word in the game. Combating bullying requires a bit of effort from everyone, not just Mods. If someone is insulting you and you're starting to feel upset or angry, take a few calming breaths and use both the report and ignore command. If a Mod is available they will stalk the offender and take action if needed, but even if there are no Mods online or they aren't given a punishment, what matters most is that you remain calm and confident. After all, these are just words. Tl;dr We are here to help and we do care, there's just a limited amount we can do. What is and will always remain the best solution to anyone harrassing or bullying you is the ignore command. Prevention is always better than a cure. |
+Nublet « Citoyen » 1393086420000
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Some people here seem to be confusing bullying (i. e. purposefully harrassing a specific person) with someone randomly insulting other people around him. That's not bullying, that's just someone being a jerk. As Whiskypickle said, the best way to deal with such people is to ignore them. Sure, others can still see what this person says about you... so what? Everyone can see that he/she is a jerk. These insults mean nothing. And if someone really has suicidal thoughts because of random comments from random people on the internet, they should probably stay away from any kind of website that has a chat feature. |
Haruhitastic « Censeur » 1393086540000
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+Nublet a dit : I agree with your other points but some people CAN be triggered by things people say and it bring back old feelings, et cetera. Your remark is highly insensitive. |
+Nublet « Citoyen » 1393087080000
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Haruhitastic a dit : True, but who is supposed to know which people have which sensitive topics? You can't expect everyone in a chat room not to talk about any topic that might possibly upset someone. So my point was that someone who knows that they are triggered easily by others' comments should avoid such places. (Or maybe try to find a site with a more mature user base - it's obvious that Transformice is largely populated by children and childish people.) |
Darkarious « Citoyen » 1393087440000
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Look what, game developers. Just make a list of all innapopriate words you can think of (noob means new player, don't forget that). Then make it so every time somebody tries to post a word from that list it WILL appear, but only for him it will be the original form. For other players it will just be turned into "*" symbols. So, the swearing guy will be happy (kind of) and stop badmouthing and other players won't see what exactly he/she's saying and won't complain it too much. That's all I can suggest about the badmouthing. Also, please excuse me for my bad English, I might've used some words wrong or incorrectly spelled. Going to post that in the Suggestion Subforum too. |
Winterfell « Citoyen » 1393089900000
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I do think the OP brings up some good points. This game does attract a lot of younger players, and they should expect to feel safe on the game. I've seen situations in rooms devolve to the point where some older players, after picking on the only younger player in the room for quite some time - in a situation where the younger player was already vulnerable due to his/her age - eventually comes out with "Go kill yourself in real life," "go cut yourself," etc., which prompted quite angry and upset outbursts from the younger player. I would consider these incidents to be bullying. It's true that if someone said this to me, I'd roll my eyes and /ignore. But here's the difference, and the difference is pretty crucial when we're trying to understand bullying: the definition of bullying itself is using superior strength or influence to intimidate someone (thanks google definitions!). It's also considered a repeated action that happens over and over again. You take into account who is doing it to who, and how often it's happening. So when someone on the game is repeatedly making serious comments or threats to who does not have the same ability to fight back due to age or whatever reason, then it fits the definition of bullying and should be seen as such. I'm aware a lot of people are going to cry "bully" for things that may not be considered bullying - but I've seen enough on the community and spoken to enough younger players who were really bothered by something going on in a room to believe that it does exist for some people here. Bullying happens across schools, so naturally it's going to happen here, as well. That said, of course there are going to be people who maybe don't understand the definition, or make false reports of it, or think bullying is when someone calls a shaman "noob" once. There are also people who don't understand friendly teasing and will take this the wrong way, and of course may make false reports. And I do think /ignore should be used in the majority of situations, especially as trolls usually quiet down when they realize they're not being responded to. However, as in life, I believe situations do arise in which serious bullying does occur for the kids and younger players on this game, and I do understand their desire to feel that their concerns are being taken seriously. Bullying sucks and everyone has a right to feel that if they feel they are being threatened or legitimately bullied, they will be listened to and it will be dealt with. |
Secretive « Censeur » 1393091940000
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What is with this "it's an instant ban if they insult staff,"? I've been playing for about 4 years and have never seen anyone banned with the reason 'insulting staff', except maybe once when someone was flooding hate towards admins, but even then, they were flooding the screen also. I agree that there shouldn't be cyber-bullying, but the person being bullied gives that power to the bully. If you feel threatened or offended by someone you can report, ban, ignore, and change rooms. You even could log out and go onto a guest account. There are so many ways to prevent being bullied on here, if you just take the initiative. Too many people on this game are against ignoring, thinking it makes them weaker if they ignore instead of fighting back. Which leads into the next thing. When there's someone bullying, other people fight back, and become bullies themselves. There's usually fueled hate behind both parties, then on many cases, people bring in friends to help argue. There is almost never a truely innocent person when this happens. Whiskeypickle a dit : That is all you have to do, remember this is just a game. You have the power to leave when things are uncomfortable for you. |
Anythin « Consul » 1393093320000
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If you want Transformice to function in a same way as other online games do, deposit a big bag of money at the adress of Atelier801 so they can hire fully employed, paid moderators. There is no logic in comparing an understaffed, volunteer moderation team with full-time paid moderation teams elsewhere on the internet. I think many people have way too high expectations regarding the moderation team. |
Impuredeath « Citoyen » 1393098060000
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It is hard to tell when something is bullying. Also just forcing the law on someone for being a bad person will also never help bullying. Lets say you take away swearing for example. People can still call you stupid or that you are a horrible player (fat, tall, short, your sexual preference and etc). A lot of bullying is through whispers, mods/admins can't really check if its true and photos can be edited. You could technically frame someone for bullying, this in term is bullying. Also the world is a cruel and destructive place where we humans have a long history of genocide and violence. Ofcourse we aim for peace and freedom. But if you make enviroments that are completely safe children don't learn to deal with logical enviroments. We can't forever nurture a kid like a baby and keep him blind from reality. Technically you can never really get rid of bullying, you can just train people to deal with situations. One might be offended by one thing yet the other is not bothered by it at the slightest. You want to aim for that second form. Yeah stop bullying! Sorry, but that will never work. If you know someone who gets bullied, the bullied person is the one who has to change, not the bullies. Well ofcourse they need to learn to empathise, but usually they are being trained at that already. Also another alternative is try make something that people can bully or do and they think the other is bothered but they aren't. (A lot of internet discussions go like this, where people think they are awesome and make another person look like a fool, yet the other isn't bothered, yet the person still has his satisfaction of bullying) Goodluck! |
Ihumanl « Citoyen » 1393104240000
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To be honest +Nublet a dit : if your easily offended get off the internet and light your computer on fire like there was a spider on it, you cant avoid bullying aslong as you use the internet. everything is offensive in some way like Impure stated above it just depends on how the person takes it. |
Lagiacrus « Citoyen » 1393104600000
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Impuredeath a dit : You're kidding, right? You're saying that if someone is being bullied and attacked then THEY are they ones who should change? That is so wrong; if someone is homosexual and people are bullying them for it, then it's the jerks who are attacking said person to change. The homosexual person should not change their sexual orientation just because people bully him/her for it. |
Haruhitastic « Censeur » 1393104720000
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Ihumanl a dit : Oh I did not know people have the right to make jokes about something as awful as rape and telling people to kill themselves! How silly of me! |
Skinnyfatlegend « Citoyen » 1393104840000
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Whiskypickle a dit : The pen is mightier than the sword. Some words can affect others negatively, more negatively than people's actions. They aren't "just words", they are hurtful things people say to another person/people, even if they did nothing wrong. I don't mean to go off on you for that one sentence because everything you said was okay, but words can have affect on people that can even make them suicidal. |