SOE Will Ban Players For Out-of-Game Offenses

[StewShearerOld]

SOE Will Ban Players For Out-of-Game Offenses

Sony Online Entertainment's Linda Carlson says the company takes harassment "seriously" whether in-game or over Twitter.

We've all heard the stories. A studio or game developer does or says something gamers don't like and things go bonkers. In July, for instance, Treyarch design director David Vonderhaar found himself and his family the subject of <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126301-Call-of-Duty-Developer-Gets-Death-Threats-After-New-Patch>violent threats following tweaks to the gameplay of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. As ridiculous as the situation was, it's something some could easily see happening again. That in mind, some companies take a hard line with gamers who cross the lines of common decency.

Sony Online Entertainment, the publisher behind games like Everquest Next and PlanetSide 2, for instance, has recently affirmed its willingness to ban players not just for in-game abuses, but also for actions they take out of character. "If we know who you are and you're abusing somebody on Twitter, we will ban your game account and we will not accept you as a customer ever again," said Linda Carlson, director of global community relations at SOE. "It's not always possible to identify people [in that way], but we take that seriously." According to Carlson, "We do not need those individuals as customers."

Far from just trying to protect staff members from abuse, Carlson believes this firm stance is necessary to try and maintain a fun and positive experience for players as well. "99.5 percent plus of the player base are tremendous individuals," she said. In turn, she sees it as the job of game makers to do what they can to defend against the often vitriolic noise of the other .5 percent and maintain the good atmosphere that most gamers and developers are looking for. "I don't believe anybody needs to put up with that stuff," she said.

Source: <a href=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-09-19-sony-online-entertainment-trolls-and-tribulations>GamesIndustry International


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[Alfredo Jones]

Good on ya Sony, I say. Just be prepared to make sure your banning the right people and that you fix any mistaken bannings.

 

[lacktheknack]

inb4 OMG INVASION OF PRIVACY ;_____;!!!!

I don't approve, but I don't disapprove either. I anticipate the launch so we can find out if it works out.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

99.5 percent plus of the player base are tremendous individuals," she said. In turn, she sees it as the job of game makers to do what they can to defend against the often vitriolic noise of the other .05 percent and maintain the good atmosphere that most gamers and developers are looking for.

So what about the last 0.45%, are they just mediocre?

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

Good on ya Sony, I say. Just be prepared to make sure your banning the right people and that you fix any mistaken bannings.

That was my thought. They're sure to butthurt a few people, but the biggest problem I see is IRL griefing. The internet being what it is, it's certain that people like Lulzsec will start framing people.

 

[Lunar Templar]

>.>

<.<

I'm ok with this. God knows the gaming community needs to be cleaned up anyway, better late then never to start dumping the bleach into the pool

 

[RicoADF]

And once again we have Sony trying to be some sort of international police force. Just like they tried to do when they prosecuted people who had modified their PS3s.

I, for one, would be much happier playing MMOs without all the douche canoes. But Sony really has no legal or moral responsibility to track down and ban in-game customers based on threats from non-corporate sources.

Prosecuting people who make online threats is a job for local, state, national and ACTUAL international law enforcement agencies.

If someone is threatening their employees and/or other players then yes Sony has the right to ban their account and tell them to piss off. Part of the EULA says that they can ban you for abusive behaviour and doing it on twitter if caught would fall under this clause, esp if they update it.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I don't see any issues at all with doing this. Real world repercussions are what's needed to quell this sort of behaviour.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

On one hand, I'm entirely in favor of this sort of thing. It's the lack of repercussions for being a jackhole that's the underlying cause for it being so prevalent in the Internet.

On the other hand, I would hope there's some sort of appeals system just so you don't lose a lot of paid-for stuff due to some moderator's bad day.

 

[Whoracle]

I approve of this, but I don't think it'll work. I give it one class action suit from pissed off teens with too much money and one hacked twitter account, and the policy'll be gone. Nice try, though.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

As long as you can apply to a reconsideration or cry foul if your account got hacked or something, I'm okay with this. Send a hard message to people that if you want to abuse the developers, no more game you paid good money for and spent good time on for you. Keep it constructive if you're unhappy, or GTFO.

 

[evilneko]

And once again we have Sony trying to be some sort of international police force. Just like they tried to do when they prosecuted people who had modified their PS3s.

I, for one, would be much happier playing MMOs without all the douche canoes. But Sony really has no legal or moral responsibility to track down and ban in-game customers based on threats from non-corporate sources.

Prosecuting people who make online threats is a job for local, state, national and ACTUAL international law enforcement agencies.

Perhaps you should read the article. No one said anything about prosecution.

Sony has every right to fire their customers for any reason or no reason at all. I think threatening tweets are a fair enough reason to fire a customer.

 

[Genocidicles]

It just means people won't be linking their twitter accounts to their PSN accounts any more. Nothing will change.

 

[CriticalMiss]

So all people need to do to abuse Sony employees is make a new email account and set up a new twitter account? Personally I don't think they should ban people, they should just modify their account so that they have a huge handicap whilst playing. Like having them show up on radar/maps constantly or give them weapons that fire pretty sparkles instead of bullets. Or subtle things like increasing their hitbox and lowering the accuracy of their weapons. If they complain then ask if they want to publically apologise for being a twat, or whether they would rather be banned permanently.

 

[JarinArenos]

I am hesitantly okay with this. As always, everything depends on implementation of the policy, though, not the policy itself.

 

[Callate]

I was ready to be outraged, but reading over the article itself, the basis sounds pretty reasonable. I do wonder how effective it will be against anyone who takes even the most basic preventative measures to keep their online personae separate from one another, and I hope that there's a reasonable appeal system in place (I don't want to see anyone banned for writing non-approved fan-fiction of game universes, for example.) But all in all, I approve of there being consequences for extreme antisocial behavior.