Return of the Revenge of the Community Policing and Naming Policy Argument: The Addon
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Apr 9th 2008 at 9:00AM
You might recall, if you've followed WoW Insider in the past few months, that I've been a relatively strong advocate of the making sure naming and RP server policies are enforced and have felt that if the community's going to be made to it, we should get better tools for the job. While I even got in a very productive conversation with Belfaire about it, I'm not holding my breath on a lot of my proposed tools and reforms seeing the light of day. After all, I work for WoW Insider, not Blizzard itself, and hey, not everyone agrees with me on how this stuff should work. Which is cool. Variety is the spice of life and all.
That said, for policy reporting curmudgeons like myself, Wachunga of the Maelstrom server has created a pretty good tool: the NameViolation addon.
Essentially, it creates an easy right click interface for reporting naming violations, which was pretty much exactly what I've always wanted, or at least as close as you can get to it in a player-made addon. When you right click your target or a name in the chat window or a who list, one of your options will be "Name Violation." Clicking on this will further allow you to choose the type of naming violation from a list.
Once you have a good list of names built up, or feel like it's time for you to file your report, you go to the ticket interface and copy and paste the information in the box, which is a nicely formatted list of the names you chose and the reason they violate the policy, as well as a note informing the GM that you don't need to be contacted. Tweak it a bit if you need to, then file the ticket. It's the type of system I'd like to actually see in game, myself. Like I've said before, if you're going to make me carry a nightstick and a badge and be a deputy police officer to see that your server policies are enforced, at least make it a bit easier on me!
Thanks, Wachunga, for making something like this. I hope you don't mind me saying that I hope Blizzard puts you out of a job by putting something like this in the base UI some day. It's actually a compliment, I swear!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Add-Ons, RP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Christian Stricker Apr 9th 2008 9:11AM
What bothers me in the RP community, is how some roleplayers are so obssessed with RP on their realm, that they frequently attack and flame people who are semi/not interested in roleplaying. There are many "RP elitists" on my realm, that make a huge deal out of targeting individuals and guilds, that might not exactly be adhering 100% to (both official and unofficial) RP policies. The amount of bitching and whining from these "RP elitists" is so often, I am constantly reminded why so many "anti-RP" people make fun of/attack roleplaying elements. I swear, some people play this game only to lash out at others.
And reporting for bad names is something I frequently observe in the RP communities I interact with. Their common sense is usually shrouded by their need to reach "RP-Nirvana", they will report anyone with a name that might just resemble a word.
/rant off
Milktub Apr 9th 2008 10:16AM
What's the point of playing on a RP server if you aren't going to go all out RP?
Lohrr Apr 9th 2008 11:09AM
In WoW US, there are around 200 non-RP realms, and 22 RP realms...
It annoys me to always hear about people complaining about roleplayers trying to preserve the RP atmosphere on their realms. (With Blizzard unwilling to actively enforce the RP rules, it falls to the RPers ourselves to do it.)
If you don't RP, go roll on any of the non-RP servers! Just don't jump around an RP realm with a silly name trying to spoil other people's fun and then whine about "you're a bunch of elitist jerks :("
PeeWee Apr 9th 2008 11:23AM
"What bothers me in the RP community, is how some roleplayers are so obssessed with RP on their realm, that they frequently attack and flame people who are semi/not interested in roleplaying."
If it bothers you so much, Normal servers are that way --->
Join Happymeal, Crazyfrog and Donkeykong there.
The RP-realms are the only Haven for the RP:ers. They don't try and infest the Normal or PvP servers with their RP. All they ask is that the lollertrons from the Normal and PvP realms not to infest their realms in return. If you don't want to PvP, stay away from the PvP servers. If you don't want to RP, stay away from the RP realms. Easy.
And it's not to much to ask.
Questions? http://wow-europe.com/en/policy/roleplaying.html
Christian Stricker Apr 9th 2008 11:25AM
Milktub:
Some people enjoy playing the game as well, you know.
Lohrr:
You honestly believe that many people are interested in replaying the entire game, just because their *server* isn't the best suited for their style of play? Get real.
I haven't heard of any people wanting to ruin any RP atmosphere on my server, so I have no idea where that came from.
I am a role player as well, so your rude comments don't serve any purpose. My rant goes specifically at some people that seem to care so much about roleplaying, that they feel the need to attack those that don't.
kenney Apr 9th 2008 12:43PM
I've never rped in WoW. HI had a lot of fun for a little while in Ultima Online roleplaying, but my experience with THAT rp community was that there were tons of factions arguing over what the "proper" way to rp was (Can pirates wear chain mail? That bartender isn't a real rper because he uses a heavy crossbow when hunting!!)
In the end, it was the rp nazis that used roleplaying as some kind of status game that drove me away- not because I had fallen victim to their fire, but because I felt like I was hanging out with a bunch of spiteful jerks that refused to cut well-intentioned newbies any slack.
Maybe things have changed, but this addon makes me think they haven't.
Glad to be on a pve server =).
ThorinII Apr 9th 2008 9:16AM
Very nice. But, it will do little good until Blizz adds one little step to their process. When someone is reported for violating the naming policy, nothing is done to prevent someone else from using the reported name.
For example, I had a toon named Jeesus on Nazjatar and someone reported me. (rightfully so) But, if one goes to he armory they will find hundreds of players with the same name and hundreds more with variations of the same name. Also, now that my toon no longer has Jeesus reserved on Nazjatar, someone else is free to use it for a new toon. And will be free to use that name as long as no one reports them for it.
What should happen is, when a name is reported Blizz should send everyone on every realm with that name a message that their name violates policy and they must change their toon's name. Then they should take 5 seconds and add the name to the name generation filter making it an invalid name so no one else can use it in the future.
Eventually, we won't have to police Blizz's game for Blizz, because Blizz's software will stop people from using the names Blizz says they aren't allowed to use in the first place.
Alchemistmerlin Apr 9th 2008 9:45AM
Except Jeezus, as a name, would be acceptable on a PvE or PvP realm, just not on an RP realm I should think. So perhaps just on all the RP realms a notice should be sent out?
ThorinII Apr 9th 2008 9:49AM
That spelling is still in violation of their policy. ANY variations of religious figures is what they told me.
Alchemistmerlin Apr 9th 2008 2:21PM
Oh, I see. Sorry to hear that then.
Reddeth Apr 9th 2008 7:47PM
@Thorin -
Just wondering if you'd have the stones to roll a toon named "Muhammed".
On the topic at hand, you won't find Blizz catching most names at character creation. For instance, once "Jeesus" is banned, someone will try "Jeeesus" or some other variation. Humans are required in the process.
Buckshot Apr 9th 2008 9:16AM
Lamest add on ever. But then again, that's why I roll on pvp servers rather than rp servers. If I didn't see toons like "assmelter", "rahkurworld", and "kittielitter" I would be bored. You would figure blizz filtering system should work, at least as well as the SWG one did. Good if you need it, I suppose.
Raaj Apr 9th 2008 9:25AM
I play on a PvP server as well, and I can assure you, if I see a name like "Vulvgina," I'll not only kill you, I'll corpse camp you while I wait for the GM to come change your name.
Buckshot Apr 9th 2008 9:29AM
Lol, have you seen that name?
Badger Apr 9th 2008 9:38AM
Yikes! That's not even subtle!
Kaylek Apr 9th 2008 11:07AM
That name is awesome, don't get it changed.
Chris Anthony Apr 9th 2008 11:30AM
Buckshot, within the last week I've run into "Luvstospuge", "Iluvvagyna", and "Coccksrus".
And yes, I reported all three.
I'm usually pretty light on the name-report button, but some names really get to me (especially on an RP server, which is where I found "Luvstospuge"). And frankly, when the TOS and naming policy give me the privilege of expecting reasonable names and explicitly deny the right of others to have unreasonable names, I'm not going to feel too guilty about reporting anyone whose name violates the rules laid out in those documents.
guesswho? Apr 9th 2008 11:41AM
you've inspired me and im creating a toon named vajayjay as soon as i get home!
Buckshot Apr 9th 2008 11:56AM
Actually luvstospooge was created by blizzard (with their blessings) for the south park episode.
I just do get how anyone could be a QQ carebear enough to report anyone in a game (waaa his name is bad, waaa he stole my kill, etc. etc.). I'm still a firm beliver that you pay your $15 and you do what you want. Hence the requirement that you are 18 to play (in the USA, your region may vary). If blizz wanted to enforce something, they should enforce that.
Cynra Apr 9th 2008 12:28PM
The issue is that you pay to play, but in doing so you promise to adhere to Blizzard's rules and their rulings when you break said rules. If you get caught manipulating the game to your favor in a way that someone somewhere in Blizzaerd with authority deems is not allowed, you suffer the consequences. Your fifteen dollars doesn't allow you to do whatever you want.
In this situation, roleplayers have specific realms on which to play the game as they want. Certain rules (though, honestly, they're treated more as guidelines these days) were established in order to maintain some sort of standard for roleplaying. These very simple rules included: selecting character names that not only adhere to basic WoW naming conventions but are also suitable roleplaying names; avoiding discussion of game mechanics in most public venues (/s and /y in particular); and conducting yourself in character in those public venues. These are extremely simple rules and shouldn't adversely affect your gameplay if you're not a roleplayer. However, failing to adhere to those rules do adversely affect roleplayers, which is why they are in place..
The problem is that in failing to enforce these rules regularily and consistently, the norm has seemed to stray from what seems to have been Blizzard's purpose for these realms. At this point, people consider rules that aren't enforced to not be rules at all. What's the point of adhering to a rule if there are few repurcussions in failing to do so?
This is why I made a number of suggestions of these that I think would help in another article on this site. First off, if there already aren't (and I don't think that there are), there should be regular GMs to roleplaying realms that have an understanding of roleplaying mechanics and basic conventions. These GMs should enforce the rules by the standards of the players on that realm: what might be acceptable on one server may be a gross faux pas on another. If rules are to be self-policed, that also means that they are probably left to the discretion of the community to determine what is an infraction. Regular assigned GMs on roleplaying servers would have the intimate knowledge required to determine what is norm and what is not based on their experience on that server in the past. It will also give the server the opportunity to build a rapport with the people servicing them. I know that from my experiences on a free Ultima Online server, there were staff members we knew of, spoke to, and communicated with on a regular basis. They were as much a part of the community as our friends: they spoke on the forums, hosted events, and made their presence known. Of course, this was a server with hundreds most of the time and maybe somewhere over a thousand unique users in its heyday, but the number of GMs would have to scale to the server population.
Secondly, I honestly believe that infractions should be publicly discussed or displayed somewhere. A lot of the work that the staff does flies under the radar and so the general feeling of the roleplaying community is that Blizzard does not care about our plight. This isn't exactly true, having taken the opportunity to speak with a couple of staff members during the course of a number of pages. However, their policy of not discussing pages involving other people leaves the community with feeling like nothing is being done. While they shouldn't release names, perhaps some sort of authority figure could post basic stats of what they've done. This would be a wonderful opportunity for a regular GM with experience with the realm to get further interaction with the community. He could, for example, point out that so many name infactions were reported and so many were changed; perhaps based on these numbers, he could further explain that many complaints were unfounded, that this is a problem on the realm and so more information should be disseminated, and so on.
Anyways, random musings from a fellow roleplayer.