With this forum being so heavily moderated, I don't see why the studio doesn't add some type of in game reporting function as well. We currently have to rely on the Xbox reporting system when someone is hacking or spamming the N word in game chat and just hope enough other people report them on Xbox too. An in game report that is sent straight to the studio/admins would probably be much more effective and allow them to be able to actually look in the server/game logs after just a single report then take action right away.
Feature Request: In game report system
Because the issue is how easy it would be to report players for common non issues.
Like being sunk too many times by a random crew.
Having loot stolen after spending hours on the sea.
Let not forget some words are not harmful yet people are raised different. (Calling someone a codfish is not slang for something else)So imagine the amount of reports of players just playing the role of a pirate vs actual problem players.
(Personally if someone calls me a rude name, I’ll just mute them. Not gonna bother reporting someone I won’t meet again)@marinemike Forums are not 'heavily Moderated', they are moderated to the rules that everyone that uses the Forums have already agreed to!
Basic manners and common sense go a long way!
@triheadedmonkey That's your opinion, but I would think the game should be moderated at least as much as the games forum is, doesn't really make sense otherwise, there is also a pirate code in the game but it's pretty pointless if it's not enforced. Also your rules link doesn't work, it just throws the 404 Treasure Not Found error message so maybe that page needs some updating too. @BurnBacon They can make as many reports as they want, because any decent admin/moderator would be able to tell the difference between a racist/hacker and a salty noob throwing 'yo momma' insults and like I said the studio could also easily check chat/game logs for verification. Yes you can mute them but that doesn't fix the issue with the next crew he joins, or the next crew. Also muting has nothing to do with reporting a hacker, like I said I would think the studio would be able to check/handle that a lot better than Xbox could. @WolfManbush How would they not last long? Today one of my open crew mates was a pirate legend with an arena title and he was spamming the N word simply with two i's while shooting cannons at our ship from the outpost when we spawned in, and I'm sure it wasn't his first time lol.
@marinemike said in Feature Request: In game report system:
@WolfManbush How would they not last long? Today one of my open crew mates was a pirate legend with an arena title and he was spamming the N word simply with two i's while shooting cannons at our ship from the outpost when we spawned in, and I'm sure it wasn't his first time lol.
In my experience the slur stuff are the people that hop in and out of the game, they might take months off at a time or even years, this applies to both pve and pvp
I won't claim that everyone is pleasant when they are lifers like me that focus on one game and spend a significant amount of consistent time in the game but in my experience in the organic adventure environment the slurs are pretty close to non existent from the daily pvers and the daily pvpers that have been around a long time
unfortunately there are times where I notice more of it happening but it's mainly coming from people that take those long breaks from the game or people that are newer to the game.
and the forums are really only moderated leniently
imo it's a combo of quality moderation and a majority of contributors that keep things quite civil
the reality on the seas is that we are all going to see things and hear things sometimes that are not pleasant to hear, the extreme participants don't last because it's a heavily recorded game in one way or another, if they regularly engage with other players and talk that way they are gonna get clipped and it's not gonna end in their favor.
@wolfmanbush lol just because it doesn't happen every time you play doesn't mean there is no need for the report system overall, it would definitely help more than hurt, especially when we are talking about reporting hackers. If the game Fortnite and even small games on Roblox can make their own reporting systems outside of Xbox I think Rare can handle it.
@marinemike It is not an opinion, it is a fact. Forums vs an Online game with random interactions are completely separate beasts.
If you believe a player has been toxic in the game or suspect foul play, you can report them to Xbox Live here. You can also submit a support ticket via Rare Player Support.
Forum Rules can be found here (Apologies for the 'mis-link')
@triheadedmonkey Just because they are separate beasts doesn't mean they shouldn't be moderated at the same level, even the rules link you sent states "we wanted to put together a Code of Conduct that covers our expectations for community behaviour – not just in-game, but across all our official channels and community spaces" so either the game needs more moderation or the forums need less. In game chat logs can easily be checked by an admin after a report is filed, like how you check the forums here after a report. Like I said, many online games have in game reporting systems that go to the developers, because if Xbox live is handling thousands of other games reports it's going to take a very long time for them to get to yours. As a programmer myself I'm not even sure how they would be able to check if a player is hacking/spamming better than the games own developers can, unless Xbox just forwards the reports to Rare anyways which I doubt because Xbox doesn't even ask what game the player was in when you are reporting. Also if an Xbox player doesn't have access to a PC or smart phone (like many children for example which is who we are trying to protect) then they can't submit a support ticket, the game doesn't even state anything about tickets so kids wouldn't even know it's an option. It would be nice to at the very least have an in game pause menu button that simply sends one of those Rare Player Support Tickets.
@marinemike I would not disagree against an in-game report function but I don't Moderate in-game actions!
I Moderate the Forums according to the rules of the Forums. 🤷♂️
@burnbacon then they should have more clearly defined guidance on what they will or won't act on. I posted in a diff group recently that I reported a player for telling me to k myself. I wasn't upset by it, just don't think it's appropriate but the abuse I got for this report lol, including people telling me to k myself 😅
@hiradc said in Feature Request: In game report system:
then they should have more clearly defined guidance on what they will or won't act on. I posted in a diff group recently that I reported a player for telling me to k myself. I wasn't upset by it, just don't think it's appropriate but the abuse I got for this report lol, including people telling me to k myself 😅
huh? any platform worth participating in isn't going to tolerate people saying that to people.
I'm not sure what you're referencing but that is something that is a reasonable thing to report and it really doesn't belong anywhere in a shared environment of random people.
@marinemike "...and just hope enough other people report them..."
Not true, if you have evidence (video, foto) attached to your report, then there is just that one report needed
@wolfmanbush Facebook group, not greatly moderated and something about saying I'm principled enough to report that stuff just brings out the worst in people.
@hiradc said in Feature Request: In game report system:
@wolfmanbush Facebook group, not greatly moderated and something about saying I'm principled enough to report that stuff just brings out the worst in people.
Most importantly it's never appropriate to suggest that people harm themselves
as far as reporting goes I have long posted that I think the social part of reporting doesn't help improve the environment so to remain consistent I need to include that here as well. In my view the actual reporting of incidents serves the environment more by remaining private between reporter and those that review.
In general conversation I think it's fine to discuss behavior but for specific incidents I think it drags on the negativity and often creates more (similar to what happened to you)Imo the main goal is to keep production of the negative and hurtful things to a minimum, escalation to a minimum, and when it gets dragged out it creates more.
Moving forward and on from the situation while not feeding into it or feeding into a "got 'em" social thing imo helps maintain the environment more productively and with more positive results.
Energy into being supportive and positive rather than the negative that is always going to exist to some degree.
Making an "easy report button" could look as simple as this.
Have a menu button right below scuttle ship that snags a video clip and submits it to the team automatically and collects the "recent players" list to go along with it.
The downside to this - and it's a HUGE downside - is that players will be submitting things that are just a part of the core gameplay all the time.
What constitutes something that is truly against the rules is a much MUCH finer window than what this forum and others would lead you to believe. I get it, that's for the moderators to decide what is or isn't toxic...but seeing what some people consider "toxic" on this forum and on other social media platforms leads me to believe they would need to invest in a VERY large multi-lingual team of people to review what I imagine would be a substantial number of submissions on a daily basis.
"i WaS jUsT dOiNg A tAlL tAlE aNd ThEy CaMe OvEr AnD sUnK mE sPaMmInG RoDl"
While in poor taste, reviewing that is a waste of a moderator's time. And that is what would wind up happening way more often than actual ban-worthy things being reported.
Unless they set some ground-rules for what constitutes as reportable, this would 100% be an abused function, unfortunately. I would argue there would need to be a list of reportable offenses, but also a "boy-who-cried-wolf" part of this type of functionality that punishes people for abusing it if such a tool ever came to light.
@sweetsandman said in Feature Request: In game report system:
Have a menu button right below scuttle ship that snags a video clip and submits it to the team automatically and collects the "recent players" list to go along with it.
The downside to this - and it's a HUGE downside - is that players will be submitting things that are just a part of the core gameplay all the time.
I think the bolded part is a no-go. It's a great way to run out of storage really fast when you let users submit anything at any time :)
If they could tie it into the support section on the website, nothing would stop you from uploading to youtube separately and adding it to the ticket.
@d3adst1ck said in Feature Request: In game report system:
@sweetsandman said in Feature Request: In game report system:
Have a menu button right below scuttle ship that snags a video clip and submits it to the team automatically and collects the "recent players" list to go along with it.
The downside to this - and it's a HUGE downside - is that players will be submitting things that are just a part of the core gameplay all the time.
I think the bolded part is a no-go. It's a great way to run out of storage really fast when you let users submit anything at any time :)
If they could tie it into the support section on the website, nothing would stop you from uploading to youtube separately and adding it to the ticket.
That ties into the "players will be submitting things that are just a part of the core gameplay all the time."
If people only used the function for things that were actually toxic, it would probably be a very reasonable amount of data...but we both know that would not be the case 🤣
A lot of times when games implement an in game reporting system, its just a button that says report, and quite frequently those systems become abandoned and not moderated any more because MANY people just hit the report button the second they get killed. A system that makes it easier to report often just gets abused, and ignored because of how much its abused.
On some other games that has a report button with the name of the last person who killed you above it, as a "press this only if they cheated", i have watched streams where the streamer literally would just press it and say "i might as well! they didnt do anything but its funny"... that system is good for no one.
Guys, like I said any good moderator would be able to tell the difference between a B.S. report and a real one, especially with the ability to check game/chat logs, so you have no reason to start freaking out thinking everyone is going to start being shadow banned for no reason lol. Just because there may be a false report here and there doesn't mean you don't implement moderation at all, you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Rare states in their rules that they have a 3 strike policy depending on the severity of the case, and like the triheadedmonkey said there is already a Rare Support Ticket system in place so obviously it's not currently being abused, all the dev's need to do is add an in game button that sends one of those instead of having to do it from a PC. Also @schwammlgott the Xbox reporting button doesn't even allow you to attach anything to your report so that is true, and even if it did you still have to wait for Xbox to get to your report after 1,000's of their other games reports.
I agree the game needs an ingame report function, most of the toxic chat behaviour could simply be filtered by programms, and some of the not-so-clear stuff could be done by ingame mods/admins.
The game certainly would benefit from it, and tbh having that is really just todays standard of online gaming.SoT not having an Ingame report system always seemed really odd and cheap to me. The "report" option that we have: going across the forum as a steam player, needing to record my own stuff, submitting a ticket and send it to them, basically doing THEIR work, makes me really angry. Its just so leazy and cheap, ngl.
Again, its kinda really basic for any bigger online game in todays world to have a report function. Its not a "big feature", its fluffin basic service. Sorry for my harsh words, but thats how it is.Also, SoT currently is not that big of a game, with 10k-20k players. Games with 100k or millions of players can make it work, so dont act like "its too big of an issue". Cant take those comments serious, sorry.
RARE cannot/doesnt want to put the effort into it? Fine, but dont sugarcoat it.
One more thing though: I think arguing or debating with a forum moderator is not helpful here, as they are only doing their job too, and its not up to them wether or not the game itself gets any moderation.
@marinemike if you can't send videos through the ticket itself: you receive an E-Mail through it, just answer that E-Mail with the video/screenshot...the best way imo to attach (more) evidence
@schwammlgott If you read my post more thoroughly, you would see I was talking about the Xbox report button - not the Rare Player Support Ticket system, but again if a younger player does not have access to a PC/smartphone then they wouldn't be able to do that anyways - and still the game doesn't even state that submitting a ticket on their website is an option.
@parrotlord6426 sagte in Feature Request: In game report system:
I agree the game needs an ingame report function, most of the toxic chat behaviour could simply be filtered by programms, and some of the not-so-clear stuff could be done by ingame mods/admins.
The game certainly would benefit from it, and tbh having that is really just todays standard of online gaming.SoT not having an Ingame report system always seemed really odd and cheap to me. The "report" option that we have: going across the forum as a steam player, needing to record my own stuff, submitting a ticket and send it to them, basically doing THEIR work, makes me really angry. Its just so leazy and cheap, ngl.
Again, its kinda really basic for any bigger online game in todays world to have a report function. Its not a "big feature", its fluffin basic service. Sorry for my harsh words, but thats how it is.Also, SoT currently is not that big of a game, with 10k-20k players. Games with 100k or millions of players can make it work, so dont act like "its too big of an issue". Cant take those comments serious, sorry.
RARE cannot/doesnt want to put the effort into it? Fine, but dont sugarcoat it.
One more thing though: I think arguing or debating with a forum moderator is not helpful here, as they are only doing their job too, and its not up to them wether or not the game itself gets any moderation.
Are you a programmer? Not want to be insulting, but do you know how it works? Maybe the code doesn't allow this? Wouldn't it be in the game already if it would be easy? Or maybe there are other reasons, like the flood of reports from players who "only" got sunk...and you must admit, according to the forums here for example, there would be a lot
I mean, surely an ingame report system itself would be easy implemented, but without evidence (video/screenshot from other players), do you think it's easy for Rare to get the full data what happened? Is every talked or written word saved somewhere? I don't know if that would be even allowed...@schwammlgott He may not be, but I am a programmer with multiple games under my belt that have moderation, so yes a reporting system would be easy to code, same with game/chat logs for abuse verification. If the Rare Player Support Ticket system isn't currently being abused from "only got sunk" reports, then I don't see how an in game button that sends one of those tickets would be any different. It would be up to the same support mod/admin team to make the judgement call.
@marinemike sagte in Feature Request: In game report system:
@schwammlgott If you read my post more thoroughly, you would see I was talking about the Xbox report button - not the Rare Player Support Ticket system, but again if a younger player does not have access to a PC/smartphone then they wouldn't be able to do that anyways - and still the game doesn't even state that submitting a ticket on their website is an option.
A younger player without access to a smartphone? Does that even exist? 😅
Not sure about any statement ingame about the support ticket, if that's true, ok, should be a thing...but somehow every modern gamer is connected and able to search for such things, if they REALLY want to report something or someone, they find out...google "sea of thieves support"-done...Edit: sorry, can't say anything about the XBox support,except about XBox360 problems 15 years ago, that was good work! But not about the player report system there...
@schwammlgott The point is you shouldn't have to search google for an external website to make a report when the same report can be done from an in game button easily.
@marinemike sagte in Feature Request: In game report system:
@schwammlgott The point is you shouldn't have to search google for an external website to make a report when the same report can be done from an in game button easily.
Please read my post above the last one...my question, is it really that easy?
@schwammlgott Please read my post above my last one, I said yes it is that easy, I have implemented multiple moderation systems in my own games.
@marinemike sagte in Feature Request: In game report system:
@schwammlgott Please read my post above my last one, I said yes it is that easy, I have implemented multiple moderation systems in my own games.
But what about proof? I repeat my question(s): is every talked and written word saved somewhere? Is every action made in the game saved somewhere? Is that even allowed? If it's saved, how much work does it take to recover it and see what happened without proof, and with an ingame report button there would be a lot of them...
An ingame link to the support site, yes, that should be a thing...@schwammlgott Yeah, no im no programmer, so ofc I can more or less only speculate, but i would not see how it would not be (at least in some basic sense) be possible.
And programming is not magic, its logic and clearly defined parts.Clearly the chat is being monitored alrdy, as there is a profanity filter active that searches and cnesors certain words. So the chat gets monitored by a programm anyway.
And if u want to save chat logs for referrence later: chat logs dont take up much storage space either.
So thats possible.Clearly most of what u do ingame is being monitored anyway, especially now since captaincy. So there is no magic here either.
If a certain player for example has in his file that he logged on a ship, and then started attacking crewmembers and the ship - this is definitly possible to monitor, if its not alrdy being done right now. Now, lets add one more point to this: Lets say the system also does not detect an enemy ship around the area, or, if thats not possible, lets say the system does not register any other ships or enemy players attacking the crew in this situation - all of this is clearly being monitored alrdy in some sort, the whole captaincy is all about monitoring.Now, there is a lot of information to be drawn here: U can assume the crew is not in a fight, as there would be enemy cannons or players also attacking at some point - and a crewmember attacks other crew members. Now, if said attacker even gets a report from his teammates, or is locked in the brig, then there is not much to be questioned here anymore.
This situation probably doesnt even need a human mod to look through it, if u just implement a good programm to scan/monitor that.Ofc thats a very basic 5-minute strategy. It would be more complicated then that, people would actually need to put some time and effort into creating meaningful monitor programms that can effectively detect toxic behaviour or hacks. But it is possible, thats what i want to show.
Chat in general does not need a human to monitor it 95% of the time: the language speaks a clear voice. There are probably around 5% of situations left, where the system will not detect toxic chat behaviour as it is hidden in sneaky insults, harrasment, and repetitive harrasing behaviour of some sort - so, if a report is filed and the system does not detect anything, let maybe look a human through it.
To counter the "report spam", maybe even implement that a player does not need 1 report, but lets say a multitude of some sort in a certain time frame for the report system to get active.
ofc its never perfect, in no game it ever is.But all that is possibility thats far better from what we have now.
One more thing: Keep every instance of report and punishment saved for some time (eg a month) - like this, if said attacker really tries to appeal his punishment, a human can look through the files and determine wether the punishment was justified or not.
@schwammlgott Like I already said in my response before, chat logs would be easy to save if not already being implemented. Yes of course it is allowed, it probably wouldn't be saved for long to reduce data build up, but long enough to verify a report. Combat logs would just consist of text recordings of stats/kills, cheating would be harder to verify but if enough reports come in about the same person a mod/admin would most likely be able to easily join the players server invisibly and then simply watch how they play.
I wouldn't want the game to have the same kind of moderation as the forums. I have been an upstanding and steadfast member of the community since the alpha days, and still set sail even now. Yet, I was still banned from Insiders, and from the Support site, for some alleged post I made on the forums that violated the associated NDA - yet nobody has, or likely will ever, show me exactly which post it was - leaving me baffled, in the dark, saddened, and even a bit violated.
I don't want that upon the Sea. Not by a long-shot.
@crowedhunter said in Feature Request: In game report system:
After catching up, I think making the report be kind of tedious to fill out and having consequences for a fake report would dissuade hasty, petty reporters.
It's not even hard to find a content creator playing this game that talks about reporting things that are not objectively toxic and it's being recorded for everyone to see, it definitely will lead to a mass increase in reports of things that aren't objectively toxic. Whether it ends up being reported or not is irrelevant when that messaging has been spread to dozens or hundreds of people.
letting things cool down before considering a report is far more productive in the end.
Toxicity is far too loosely used as a accusation on the seas to cater to quick and convenient reporting imo
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