In the next release (coming shortly) you will see in-game moderators in chat rooms. Moderators are regular players who have volunteered to help moderate the in-game community (much like forum moderators moderate this place). Moderators are around to help keep the game community welcoming and positive, with a particular focus on monitoring public chat. Here are the important points about moderators: Moderators can warn and ban players at their discretion. Warnings provide notice that a ban may be enacted in the future. Bans prevent players from participating in public chat or from playing multiplayer games. Bans and warnings are usually temporary, though permanent bans or even account closures can be issued. Moderators will issue warnings and bans using the same criteria that we currently employ. The only difference is that they do not rely on player submitted reports to enact them - they are empowered to use their discretion about when to apply them. Their main focus will be on appropriate chat behavior. Moderators will be visible in chat as the [mod] tag will be appended to their name whenever they chat. Moderators are empowered to speak in "mod speech" in chat. Mod speech will appear in bold purple text. Mod speech shows that a mod is speaking in their capacity as a moderator so please pay attention to it. Moderators are, in all other respects, exactly like other players. They receive no special treatment from the game, they cannot cheat, they cannot fix bugs or other game problems and they are not exempt from the same behaviorial criteria that apply to every other player. Players may report mods just as they may report any other player. Players who are warned or banned by a moderator and feel that this was unjustified, may always contact support@cardhunter.com for this to be reviewed. Moderators are volunteers who have volunteered their time to try to improve the game experience for every player. Please respect that and work with them to help build our community in a positive way. Here are the current mods by their in-game names. pengw1n Jarmo gulo gulo Inkfingers Flaxative Bandreus Scarponi Magic Elves Mr. Magnifico This list may change over time. If you see someone with the [mod] tag in game, they are a moderator. Without the tag, they are not. Moderators do not replace the existing reporting, warning and banning system. This will continue to operate as previously. The Terms of Service outlines what kinds of things may attract moderation under "Rules of User Content". If you aren't sure what might or might not be appropriate, you can ask a moderator, post in the forums or contact us via support@cardhunter.com.
Interesting decision. I'm surprised you went for this. Were the chats really that bad? I barely see anyone misbehaving.
i've seen this go horribly wrong in the past... lets keep our fingers crossed for the for a great outcome.
You mean the former? The latter would be going horribly wrong. But yeah, I too have seen in-game moderators abuse their power horribly. I just hope they only use it for the most obvious situations where there is very little "fine line" guess work involved.
Don't worry, most of us haven't been replaced by malicious robots that want to surgically remove fun from chat. We're still the same people you knew before. Of course, if someone DOES start to be an abuselord... ...we've got oversight, so there's nothing to worry about.
We expect moderators to approach situations carefully - starting with feedback and using warnings and bans only as a last resort. Heavy-handed banning is the last thing any of us want. On the other hand, we do sometimes get new players flooding chat with a bunch of spam or objectionable content and it's nice to be able to have someone around to shut that down quickly rather than relying on the slower report system. We'll monitor this system to see how it goes. If you don't feel that it's performing well, let us know.
Oversight is relative and doesn't always solve abuse. I doubt it will be problematic or that they will really need to use it much. At least let's hope it stays that way.
yes what you said, sorry been having issues sleeping due to my broken legs. functioning on 2-3 hours a day for the last week is um zombie status...
I don't see any control freaks or loose cannons on the list, so I expect it to work well. I'll be surprised if things aren't still a bit on the relaxed side.
I agree with Sir Veza but i also think that this list should be added to and reduced depending on how the moderators use their power as Stexe pointed out that it can go horribly wrong if new mods are added or if one or two mods misuse their power.
<Marvin> This will all end in tears. I just know it. </Marvin> On a more serious note, two of the names worry me if only because of the way they picked up the torch of "Use co-op chat" and made themselves more annoying than what prompted the need for co-op chat in the process. Now imagine that thinking it has power.
Names need not be posted, watch and see if the behavior shows up. I can understand a lot of messages about co-op chat when it was new, just to let people know the page existed. It should have been the ideal board for finding PvE co-op partners. I didn't expect it to turn out as dead as it seems to be.
Aye, no need to post names. I spoke with one of them at the source of said activity and it stopped, but I'll paraphrase what I told 'em here because it's gone from a suggestion to pretty much a requirement at this point. Do things with a desire to better the game. Your personal values and furthering the game itself may not align. Hell, Blue Manchu's values and the game itself may not align. In the former, the game wins. In the latter, rule in favor of Blue Manchu in public, but, in private, don't let them get away with it because you just found a problem.
So mods won't rely on player submitted reports, I see that. Will they have any access to player reports? The majority of problematic activity I've ran into over my time playing has been in-match behavior, not world chat. Unless a mod is spectating I don't see this doing much to help those types of incidents. I understand if moderating matches isn't the goal here, just checking since that's where I encounter the most problems...
I have not seen a player report in the time I have been moderating. That being said, if anyone is having an issue within a match, and wants me to check in on it, let me know, and I am happy to pop into the match to see what's going on; I realize the mere fact of a moderator entering a match is likely going to quell the behavior, but I'm open to anything to help take care of concerns and issues. Also, and I post this in hopes of putting some people at ease, but moderation has already been occurring for about a month now, but not in public as it is now. I can state for a fact that I have been taking this process very seriously, and have communicated my concerns and discussed various issues before taking any action, or any action at all. I believe I have issued about 4 warnings, along with 2 bans, both to blatant chat spammers who where posting line after line after line after line after line....you get the idea. Other than that, I've been very lenient when it comes to what people have been saying or doing, but I also won't put up with ridiculous, hateful, or harmful behavior. I'm in this to make the community one that is enjoyable, plain and simple. I won't speak for any other mod; I assume they feel the same way, but I leave that to them to state. Again, if there's anything I can do to help anyone have a better playing experience, let me know.
Fwiw, BM has given some pretty good guidelines of what they would like to see and what they wouldn't, we're trying to follow those, not personal preferences or vendedats. (And they have noted that it is more appropriate for co-op group forming to happen in the specific chat they designed for that and asked us to encourage such use. This may be why you have seen some people on this list request such action.) It's targeted only at chat atm, though invariably some of these players will be matched with mods...
I highly doubt any of these moderators are going to abuse their power in the slightest. I would trust these 9 any day.
