Curse

Gaile Gray · May 16, 2007, 06:26 AM // 06:26

I wanted to let you know that we will be discussing this issue during an international conference call tomorrow morning. We want players to know what to expect, and we don't intentionally change our practices for matters like this.

If someone was blocked in error, we will amend it. If he was not blocked in error but for some reason we're handling certain matters a bit differently, then we will consider ways to amend our documentation--for instance, expand the Conduct Breaches and Outcomes document--so that the player better understands why he was blocked.

I do wish that we could have had an answer today, but given the time zone differences, we need to wait until tomorrow morning (US West Coast time) to chat about this. Thanks for your patience.

Amy Awien · May 16, 2007, 06:51 AM // 06:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oofus

Yes, W T S is bad. I mean how are naked cage dancing necros supposed to get tips in LA Am D1 if you interrupt their spam? And how can you get a really good Warrior sinc dance going in Kamadan Am D1 if all the |v|10 warriors can't see your spam?

For those who missed it, that was sarcasm.

Normally I am opposed to banning, but for people like you I don't mind making an exception. This game is not centered around your needs alone, use the trade channel and party search if you wan to sell something.

Quote:

Seriously people, LA Am D1, Kamadan Am D1 and Ascalon Int ARE TRADE CENTERS, it's an accepted FACT of GW.

Only in your mind, it's selfish to claim the general all-chat for your trade. Seriously, it's not heroes that killed cooperative play, it's trade spamming that destroyed the use of all-chat to form parties.

=HT=Ingram · May 16, 2007, 07:57 AM // 07:57

Hate to say it but...

EULA section 4(j)
Rules of Conduct rule 5

Both of which you agree to before installing your game client. Its not their fault you do not read them as you should before blindly agreeing to it...

So its not a surprise, Everyone knows its done too much and that it is not allowed, but you happened upon a lucky chance of being temp banned for it as is the normal practice if caught. be thankful thats all it was. I think this is proof positive that Anet does want this to STOP. As does MOST of the community. Not saying you were overtly targeted, I think it was just happenstance, but it should not have been a "SURPRISE".

Divinus Stella · May 16, 2007, 08:05 AM // 08:05

Less spam is good, if everyone spammed less then people would be able to see whats actually being sold but 72hrs is still too long.

DarkLight OCA · May 16, 2007, 08:21 AM // 08:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

I wanted to let you know that we will be discussing this issue during an international conference call tomorrow morning. We want players to know what to expect, and we don't intentionally change our practices for matters like this.

If someone was blocked in error, we will amend it. If he was not blocked in error but for some reason we're handling certain matters a bit differently, then we will consider ways to amend our documentation--for instance, expand the Conduct Breaches and Outcomes document--so that the player better understands why he was blocked.

I do wish that we could have had an answer today, but given the time zone differences, we need to wait until tomorrow morning (US West Coast time) to chat about this. Thanks for your patience.

Hi Gaile
Thank you for your reply to this situation, Please can you also discuss at your conference the ideas that have emerged from the threads here for a ship accessed town that caters for trading only.

Some points that were made.

1.Make this the only place in GW where you can access the Trade window.
2.All NPC's close together and storage boxes scattered throughout.
3.All three campaigns should be able to access the trading town.
4.No Local Chat in the Trade town.

SniperF0x · May 16, 2007, 10:17 AM // 10:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

I wanted to let you know that we will be discussing this issue during an international conference call tomorrow morning. We want players to know what to expect, and we don't intentionally change our practices for matters like this.

If someone was blocked in error, we will amend it. If he was not blocked in error but for some reason we're handling certain matters a bit differently, then we will consider ways to amend our documentation--for instance, expand the Conduct Breaches and Outcomes document--so that the player better understands why he was blocked.

I do wish that we could have had an answer today, but given the time zone differences, we need to wait until tomorrow morning (US West Coast time) to chat about this. Thanks for your patience.

The way its done bothers me.
There where loads of people spamming regular chat selling items, and i got banned for trying to sell my item in trade chat.
Ban the people who are realy abusive and spam in regular chat, not just people whom try to sell their items, which is not posible regulary with the serve spam already ongoing.

The best way to handle this is to first give a serverwide warning, then weed out the remaining regular-chat spammers.

Big_Iron · May 16, 2007, 10:23 AM // 10:23

The randomness and inconsistencies that we're seeing makes me think that maybe this isn't automated, but perhaps the work of some overzealous moderators. Gaile's statement above sounds like she was as surprised as anyone and isn't sure what's going on, which shouldn't be the case if this was a planned update.

Anarion Silverhand · May 16, 2007, 12:01 PM // 12:01

Aww, so you were banned for deliberately spamming in local chat? Tough.
It was about time action was made to prevent Kaineng, LA and Kamadan being so full of spam that if I get a whisper while afk, it ends up being so far up the chat window I can't read it before it dissapears.

Hengis · May 16, 2007, 12:23 PM // 12:23

I was in Kamadan Euro Dis 1 last night trying to buy a few Four Leaf Clovers.

I did notice that the excessive spamming seems to be at least a little less than usual, and it was fun to watch those who were still spamming way way too much suddenly disappear ^^

Anyway, I did notice an annoying side effect. While I was there I got way more random trades than I have experienced in the past. It looks like at least some of the spammers have changed their tactics to randomly trading people instead.

Theus · May 16, 2007, 01:29 PM // 13:29

Or they can simply increase the character limit of the Party Search so that it can actually be used for trading.

But that of course is the most logical way to fix this but Anet won't do it.

They really have a knack for being stupid don't they.

Patrick Smit · May 16, 2007, 01:38 PM // 13:38

A traders district could be an option, having several filters that would be able to allow customers to focus on what they want to buy. an automated messaging system could spam the line for u a number of times, until the item is removed from the trade box for show or sale. in that way advertising will stop when the item is being sold, and its regulated in a timely fashion, no floodspamming possible.

master of cookies · May 16, 2007, 02:53 PM // 14:53

Well to clear up a few things, there are moderators that are banning people, not new scripting. I know this because ive been unbanned (and before u lot that think i deserved it start flaming every other word i say from now on, i was trading in trade channel). I think this is silly because some moderators will be more strict than others.

What about implementing a new 'trade box' that is like the chat box but with different channels all specifically for trade, for example, weapon, rune & tome channels etc so you can either open this new window and spam to your hearts content or try to trade in local chat and get a deserved ban but not 72 hours because thats ridiculous!

EDIT: thanks Gaile for your response, glad you are aware of this

Patrick Smit · May 16, 2007, 03:01 PM // 15:01

They can prove that you clicked "I accept" as you are playing the game, they have u logged, and most likely can show in a lawsuit that the commands were coming from the computer at your address. Some part of EULA's may not even be legal, but as it comes to language or communication protocols I think they will win the case easily.

It's only in the case that companies will trial you for some deliberate violation of the EULA. But I think that EULAs are there to protect the provider from lawsuits, not to use them as a basis to start em up. They will just shut down your account, thats good enough for them.

However it is not them who have to start the lawsuit, its the one being banned, and you would have to find a lawyer too. I think not many will start a suit in such a case, good luck.

It was quite clearly stated that spamming is considered inappropriate behavior and that it can result in a temporary ban. After you have been warned you would be stupid to violate the EULA again, unless you are banned with the circumstances being less clear, for example u are being banned for spamming the same line each 20-30 seconds but it is essential as the scrolling of the trade channel goes extremely fast, therefor your message will be shortlived.

aaje vhanli · May 16, 2007, 03:23 PM // 15:23

I do think that people spamming in Local Chat should be banned and I don't think 72 hours is ridiculous because people need to understand that spamming should not be tolerated. It would be nice if this were consistent.

I do agree, however, that spamming in the Trade Channel should be a lower degree of offense.

Oofus · May 16, 2007, 03:41 PM // 15:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amy Awien

Normally I am opposed to banning, but for people like you I don't mind making an exception. This game is not centered around your needs alone, use the trade channel and party search if you wan to sell something.

Only in your mind, it's selfish to claim the general all-chat for your trade. Seriously, it's not heroes that killed cooperative play, it's trade spamming that destroyed the use of all-chat to form parties.

As for your immature comments aimed towards me, well for 1st of all it is not "only in my mind" that LA Am D1 is an ACCEPTED trade center for GW, ask anyone who has played for more then 2 weeks and has sold anything more expensive then a brown dye. Don't like it, go somewhere else, don’t let the door hit you in the arse on the way out. And 2nd, thankfully it's not up to YOU as to who gets banned and who doesn't, so any "exceptions" you might make are irrelevant and do not concern me. And for the record I do not "spam", I do use All chat in LA to sell however, and could not care less about your opinion on the matter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amy Awien

it's trade spamming that destroyed the use of all-chat to form parties.

You mean you use All chat to form parties??? But there's a Party Search window for that. Using All chat to LFG is by-passing a game mechanic and you should be banned for that.

fog_of_redoubt · May 16, 2007, 03:53 PM // 15:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iuris

Have you ever considered the possibility that an auction house may not be possible to implement in the guild wars engine?

Yes that has been considered. There are many of you that are dispaying the LDoA-N title (Legendary Defenders of A-Net) that said tihs over, and over, and over, and over, and over about storage increase. Then it happened.

PyrAnkh · May 16, 2007, 04:41 PM // 16:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sofonisba

Curious, how many times did each of the banned people get the "Your message has been suppressed..." before they got booted?

I didnt get that message at all.

Sir Skullcrasher · May 16, 2007, 04:53 PM // 16:53

I wonder if A-Net is done with their conference call yet?

Oh, if I were A-Net... I would hand out tougher punishments. You know how real-life spammers get jail time! Thats right kiddies... you spam in any chat channels.. You’ll get a lawsuit from A-Net for 1 million dollars and get send to jail for 30 days... plus lifetime ban from ever using a computer. That would teach you to layoff the caffeine and not spam as much */sarcasm*

On a serious note, is this only for peoples spamming wts/wtb.. cuz being in Grotto alot, I see morons there typing weird stuffs non-stop and they don't seems to be banned for it.

ducktape · May 16, 2007, 07:00 PM // 19:00

Gaile, thanks for working to find out what's going on! If it is something that is a new way of handling things and you guys update/clarify the rules of conduct, that would be quite helpful for people who are not trying to be a spammer.

Otherwise, currently the Rules of Conduct/EULA are a bit ambiguous on chat spam or chat channel usage restrictions and something like "You were using All chat to form parties! That's what the Party Search feature is for. Using All chat to form parties is bypassing a game mechanic and is therefore against the Rules of Conduct!" is a valid a reason for someone to get a ban under those ambiguous rules.

I'm guessing that ANet wanted to temporarily ban people who were actually spamming in order to make the trade channel more usable (yay!) and set the criteria for an auto-ban as someone who is activating the excessive messaging suppression more than once. However, like the time when we were considered to be excessively messaging by typing more than one sentence in a row in any circumstance, I'm betting the auto-banner is unintentionally being a little overzealous and banning people who are not actually spamming.

master of cookies · May 16, 2007, 07:33 PM // 19:33

there is no auto-banner lol! its some mods sitting in key districts and prob only at certain times banning people for spamming in ANY CHANNEL, they dont know how many times the anti-spam code has kicked in or anything like that unless moderators are able to see that kinda thing which i doubt because if they did, they would never see anything else in kamadan dist 1 coz everyone spams but only a few get banned, its not fair to have a system inplace where only a few people get banned but they may be spamming less than others. its all human decision and we all know that it can very easily be at fault.