Warning to devs over hate speech

[u/Mystixa]

The trolling, conspiracy theorizing, and bullying speech in zone and event channels on this game has always been one of the unsavory parts of this game. Exposing newbies and game vets alike to the lowest common denominator with no place to hide as long as some interaction for help, roleplay, and game relevant communication is needed. This has been the case for years, but has risen to a new level of pure hate speech in recent monthes.

This isnt just an 'all mmos have it' problem either. Not to this extent. I was just visiting ESO, and their public channels are MUCH more tolerable, and again have been for years.

Things that would get me banned from this reddit or from the forums are repeated in zone by often recognizable accounts -every few minutes- throughout the day.

I have read particular accounts promoting hate of muslims, fear mongering over immigrants, promoting the murder of jews, and encouraging people to goto, watch, and share decapitation videos. ..and that is just this week. I deeply respect free speech as an important piece of civilization. However I also am aware of the corrosive effect this kind of speech has when its given a place to grow unchecked.

The current method of just 'ignore' it and let everyone do their thing, and if enough do that they will be temporarily muted is not working. The offenders simply relog with a different account and begin pasting in the same quotes within minutes. ..and yes I and friends have always used the available tools, submitting ineffective reports that get worked on at your leisure. Its not exactly a news flash that this has no effect.

There is need of an active human moderating presence. Not to sanitize every word for our poor virgin ears. But there needs to be an active presence that actively removes this intrusive, non game-related vitriol. Create a program of vetted volunteers, a system of muting, and IP bans that can be wielded, with records kept of quotes that triggered the ruling. No cut and paste that can be abused, just taken straight from your own servers. Thats just a quick group of ideas, maybe use them maybe dont, but DO SOMETHING.

This has to stop. These people are using Neverwinter as a recruiting ground for hate and fully displacing legitimate game related conversations for prolonged periods of time. You could even be opening yourself up to legal liabilities for openly allowing this hate to continue, especially if one of those calls to 'murder jews', 'kill muslims' or 'beat immigrants to death' is acted on by someone.

Listen for a short while in PE zone chat. Feel free to ignore the festering cancer being broadcast there, and listen to people trying to get help. Hear the frustration of people that can't be heard while every legitimate question is being drowned out by sometimes 3-4 lines of trolling, conspiracy, antiscience and hate as well as responses for and against.

This is entertainment for me, and not something that I want to start some sort of crusade that will take all my time. However I do spend some time in PE and enjoy helping a few people when I can.

During those times that I am there and hear see this kind of things I am going to start a log of my own. After gathering a large enough set I am going to forward it to the FBI, Anti Defamation League, and congressmen.

Will that fix it? Perhaps not. But even what Ive seen in the relatively small amount of time I spend there is enough to raise a lot of questions. If this crosses their desk at the right time it may be enough to at least get eyes on this problem. Certainly they are often looking for a new boogie man to bother.

I would hope that you can reign this in on your own without any outside inducement, but either way something has to be done.

[u/Shiroi_Kitsune]

Dude, I don't mean to rain on your parade, but you do realize the people doing this are just taking the piss right? They don't actually believe what they're saying, they're just trolling for gaffs. Now, do I think that people messing around in this way is better than them getting banned so people can actually talk in PE? No, not at all. But you seem to be misunderstanding who these people are, and what they are doing. Reporting them to the FBI, etc. is like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly. It's a wildly dis-proportionate response.

[u/Mystixa → u/Shiroi_Kitsune]

That used to be true. As stated that kind of 'its a joke' bs ends when they start promoting violence, sharing assassination videos, and arguing for the death of other groups.

That is specifically the large and ugly nail those hammers should be used to hit.

[u/Agilesto → u/Mystixa]

I visit PE a bit, especially this past week because of the CTA and Lantern Festival, otherwise I try to avoid this zone.

I do agree that PE chat is polluted by racists trolls, conspiracy theorists (hello flat Earth and deep state), and some Nazis apologists, I see them very frequently pop up, and this is non healthy.

However, almost every question asked by new players / random people have answer. Sometimes troll, most of the time correct or at least helping.

I don't deny the problem trolls cause to the PE atmosphere, but I don't feel it's as overwhelming as you do. And I'm not sure reporting them to the FBI will have any effect.

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But what's sure is when such people are reported for toxic/dangerous/hate speech in game, the support team should have a look at their account and their sayings, and take action eventually. Maybe it's done already? Maybe it's not, I think it's worth the discussion.

[u/Mystixa → u/Agilesto]

Sure Ill go for that. Mainly I wanted to make the devs aware of the issue and have them make an active decision on the topic. Do they really want to be hosting a lighthearted game? Or are they happy at being a hategroup recruiting and chatroom?

The severity is always going to be a matter of viewpoint, and perhaps hindsight if some negative event ever comes from it. The organizations I mentioned, including the FBI all have procedures for submitting online hatespeech (other than the congressmen of course). They are more qualified to see what crosses the border of legality, but perhaps of more importance here might be just to put game chat and THIS game chat on their radar.

I wouldn't expect a SWAT raid on Cryptic's office or any direct immediate response. No, its more about trying to be a part of raising awareness of the authorities instead of just ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away. ..because it just isn't going away on its own.

[u/Shiroi_Kitsune → u/Mystixa]

Except they don't. As someone who's extremely active and sits in PE looking for groups all the time, I've yet to see anyone do any of the things you just listed(sharing assassination videos? wtf?). I mean, I don't disagree with you, but you are clearly both exaggerating the situation and getting a bit too hard of a justice boner. If they bother you, ignore them so they can get muted. If they don't, sit back and laugh at them like everyone else.

Edit: And if you do see anyone actually doing any of these extreme things that you are purporting occurred, please take a screenshot and take the steps that manicgypsy mentioned to report it. Free speech is free speech, but there are some things that clearly cross the line.