Home Police Squad
by Orion_NGC1976, HSM team writer
Is harassment on Home out of control? Are the methods of controlling bad behavior, implemented by Sony, effective in combating bad behavior?
Some believe that Sony hasn’t adequately addressed this problem, citing that they never see mods and that banning doesn’t accomplish anything because the banned user can soon return online after creating a new ID.
Lacking a visible police force that steps in at a moment’s notice, some feel that they need to take it upon themselves to make Home a safe place.
I met one well-meaning individual who took it upon herself to police Home and inform others on how to report bad behavior. In Central Plaza, she began to ask people if they knew how to report. Some said they did; some were ambivalent and stated that they just don’t report people.
This all started out calmly and with good intentions, but it quickly spiraled out of control as people told her to mind her own business. She also started accusing people of reportable offenses. These accusations were in a large part unfounded, as they were misunderstandings of what was occurring and not true incidents of harassment.
On this day in Central Plaza, I was dressed in my Assassin’s Creed outfit — and it is not uncommon for random guys to come up to me and comment about the outfit. One such person came up to me and said one word that was censored. I knew from past experience that if you misspell the word “assassin,” it would be censored. I gathered that this was what the guy had done, but the self appointed police officer saw it as bad behavior and gave him a stern warning that she was going to report him. As he stood there bewildered and confused, I quickly tried to explain that it was all right and just a misunderstanding.
Part of the problem with a self-appointed police force is the assumption of guilt and that every unknown person is a perpetrator in hiding. People start looking for offenses that are not there.
Mods Where Are You?
For many, a new user that has only the default clothes is immediately judged to be a “perv.” This makes it very difficult for new people to make friends. I have, on several occasions, seen guys being accused of being “pervs” and being humiliated when just trying to make a new friend.
Even though taking a proactive, preemptive strike if you will, against harassment is not a good idea, I am not suggesting that one should stand idly by while someone is truly in need of help from harassment.
When you or someone else is on the receiving end of verbal or non-verbal harassment, what does work to curb harassment behavior? Reporting? Ignoring? Embarrassing the perpetrator? Are the monitoring and reporting systems put in place by Sony effective tools to combat bad behavior?
In some ways, Home is like a schoolyard — and just as the yard monitor cannot be everywhere in the schoolyard, watching every person, so it is with the mods; and they rely on people to help by reporting inappropriate behavior when it occurs.
Some people balk at reporting, claiming that it is “tattling” or “snitching.” Of course there is a wide range of infractions, from minor ones like spamming “I have no keyboard”, to very serious infractions such as abusive behavior or sending explicit pictures. It all depends on the offense. I would agree that there should be tolerance for minor annoyances, but serious offenses should never go unreported or be considered “snitching.”
Many people may not be aware of the Sony FAQ on “Moderation in Home.” MercuryValentine’s FAQ is an excellent place to find answers to questions concerning moderation, harassment, reporting, and suspension/banning.
- Home Moderator (Mod) – From MercuryValentine’s FAQ
We can determine from this quote that there is a distinct difference between a suspension and a ban. Many people confuse these two. As the words imply, a suspension is for a varying period of time and a ban is permanent. The severity of the infraction and the number of occurrences are factored in when determining the length of the suspension or whether the ID is banned from PSN.
Here is a quote from the FAQ in answer to a question concerning the consequences of breaking the agreed upon users rules:
“The consequences vary depending on the offense and the account’s history of prior offenses (if any). The most minor punishment is a warning and a note on your PSN account that this has been issued. For more serious or repeated offenses, your account may be suspended for a certain amount of time or even permanently banned.”
One will argue that even a permanent ban from PSN doesn’t really stop the person, because they can create another ID and get back on Home to harass people again. This is certainly true and isn’t a good reason to let bad behavior go unreported.
Although there is no mention of the possibility of banning an entire PS3 console in MercuryValentine’s FAQ, I have heard people speak of consoles being banned. One person claimed to have been told this by a Mod. This would be very easy for Sony to accomplish, by refusing connections to PSN based on a blacklist of PS3s.
This would be a much more serious form of banning as it would not only block them from getting onto Home with any ID, but they would also be locked out from online gaming.
How should one go about handling harassers? For non-serious infractions or for harassers who seem to be green at the art of trolling, I have seen that calmly pointing out the offense would often result in an apology.
For hardcore harassers, who are hell-bent on getting under your skin, I have found that depriving them of what they crave most — attention — works best. At first you may think that this is giving in to them and letting them win. In reality, they only win when they get what they want; to get a rise out of you. There is a saying among Home users, “Don’t feed the trolls.” This is absolutely true and produces results, even moreso then reporting.
Humans are social creatures, and they seek social interaction — whether they be positive or negative interactions. We see this in children, who “act up” in order to get their parents’ attention. In Home, the most devastating response to bad behavior would be to ignore the person performing the bad behavior.
Back on that day in Central Plaza in my Assassin’s Creed outfit, I struck up a conversation with a woman, who stated that she does not report people. As I inquired into why, she revealed to me that she had once been a troublemaker on Home and had even been taken in by a Mod. I asked her if this was the reason why she stopped bothering people. To my surprise, she replied that it was not. Then she told me why she changed; she got tired of being ignored.
It is true that harassers, in the short term, will just move on to another person, if they do not get the desired response, but if everyone ignored them then they would eventually give up.
Lone Troll
On another occasion at Central Plaza, I observed a “sniffer” that was crouching behind a woman. To my surprise, she did not acknowledge his presence and after a few seconds, he moved on to do the same to an adjacent woman. She also did not respond. This individual went through all the women that were present in Central Plaza and never received any sign from any of them that they even noticed he was there. Soon he was sitting alone on a bench. After I had left the area, I reflected on this and thought that I should have walked up to him and said, “Now wouldn’t you rather be talking with those women and gaining their friendships, rather than sitting here all alone?”
A good “one, two punch” is to ignore them, block/mute and report. I don’t even give them the satisfaction of knowing that I am reporting them. Give them no indication that you are in the least bothered by their behavior.
At Hudson my wife and I were sitting together waiting for the next race to begin, when a troll came up and stuck his avatar’s rear in her avatar’s face and made rude comments. We both just sat there without showing signs of being bothered. I informed him that it was not really her, but merely an avatar. After a few more seconds of no further response from us, he went away.
When my wife or I decide what is serious enough to report, we try to keep things in perspective. A violation of an avatar’s space is just that and only that. It is not a violation of any real personal space or person and there is actually very little that a person can do to anyone with an avatar. It may be annoying for a short time until they get bored and move on. I reserve reporting for the most serious offenses and I am hoping that, like the woman I spoke to in Central Plaza, they will get tired of being ignored, grow up and try to make long, lasting friendships. However, if they decide to go in the opposite direction to hone their trolling skills and commit more serious crimes, there will come a day when they will get reported.
How does one report someone? It depends on what is being reported. For Private Messages received via the XMB, one would locate the offensive message in the list and press the Triangle button on the controller. A list of options will be displayed; scroll down and select “Grief Report.” However, one must be signed out of Home in order to file a grief report in this manner.
Reporting behavior while on Home, one would press the Select button on the controller. It is important to know that data is being collected when the Select button is pressed. A snapshot of the screen is being taken and the chat log is being captured to be sent along with the report. This is another good reason to not confront the perpetrator. You may end up being suspended yourself if you lose control.
What can one do to make Home a better place? I quote the good advice of MercuryValentine.
“Set a good example: As a community, we all help set the tone for Home, whether we realize it or not. … Report Others: If you see someone being offensive or otherwise acting in an inappropriate manner, hit the Select button and Submit a Report. The more (legitimate) reports we receive from you, the users of Home, the more quickly we can take care of problems as they arise.”
If you have suggestions to improve the process, MercuryValentine suggests posting them on the Sony forums or sending a message directly to him.
The systems of moderation through Mods and reporting by Home users that Sony has in place is very effective in dealing with misconduct, but, more importantly, our response or non-response to misconduct may have a greater impact on whether they change their ways.
December 24th, 2011 by Orion_NGC1976 | 14 comments
Father, husband, dolphy racer and sometimes Home world traveler.
I agree with you Orion, reporting can get out of hand sometimes. I rarely report someone unless they have been repeatedly crude for no reason to me or another person, even after a stiff warning from me to quit or else. Basically unless they are truly asking for it.
Many times I find that the misbehavior has something to do with being new and not knowing how to interact with people. New people have a sharp learning curve in Home, and I try my very best to help them when they are floundering.”Be kind to one another” has been quoted here many times, and when it comes down to it that saying covers a multitude of sin here in Home. Guide new people, be kind to them and you will find they become better Home citizens.
The one thing that trolls do that really gets me and I always report, is when they blatantly say, “This is my other account, I don’t care if I am banned I will just go to my real account!” That to me is an offense that should be an automatic permanent ban of their ISP because they are spitting in my face and Sony’s as well. Those kinds of people we don’t need in Home at all.
I have run into a “Home cop” myself recently.This person reported a friend of mine for spamming awhile back for saying “Hello” a few times and told us it reported him.Sure enough he got a warning,so when I saw this person again in Singstar 1 night I asked it why it reported him for such a minor thing.Immediately I got the “Your a troll I’m reporting you” line followed by some things I’m pretty sure were profanity so I hope it really did report me because then the mods can see who the real offender was as I said nothing close to violating the TOS but merely asked a question.I usually don’t sweat the small stuff like small scale spamming or blocked words that are harmless,like the word “mickey” which used to be blocked and may still be,but when things turn really ugly it’s best to report.However I disagree somewhat with just ignoring the offender,this may work with a majority of trolls but there are a few that will continue relentlessly until you leave or you convince them that they should move on.Reporting this type of troll doesn’t do much for the immediate problem so I’ll usually try to engage them in a convo. and deflect their energies to more productive directions.Doesn’t always work but it can lead to some very entertaining conversations.
I think it is great if you can convince a hardcore troll to “move on” and change their ways and it is very admirable to take the punishment to try to convince them to do so. Each individual is different and each situation is unique and approached based on that individual, so this may work for some.
From my experience, engaging a hardcore troll in a war of words is futile and akin to banging your head against the wall. Engaging them only makes them latch onto you and feeds their need to be noticed. If everyone ignored them, they would either leave Home altogether because they are bored or try to use Home in a more constructive way.
No “war of words” are required really,more like a “war of ideas”.If you can change 1 trolls perception about what constitutes acceptable limits of fun then you’ve prevented a 1000(or more) incidents of trolling in the future.By ignoring them you are,like you said,hoping they’ll leave Home(which would hurt Sony’s profitability in Home) or hoping they’ll use Home in more constructive ways.Now if you engage them in a conversation and show them how to actually use Home in those constructive ways I think a greater service has been done for all.It’s not an easy road nor does it have any guarantee of success,but then what does really?,but IMO it’s better than shunning an entire group of people without giving them at least a chance of changing.
Your experience may have differed from mine, but from my experience someone who is insistent on harassing you is not in a position to listen to reason and will not. I have tried on several occasions. It just gives the harasser more ammunition to throw back at me. From speaking with people who used to harass people, a majority of them would not listen to reason or threats of being banned. It was entertainment for them and they would not listen to reason. It wasn’t until they were tired of being alone and ignored that they decided to change their behavior on Home. They had to discover that they wanted to change on their own. It is like a drug addict that will not listen to reason until they hit rock bottom, accept that they have a problem and really want to change.
Like I said each individual is different and there is no formula for all cases. This is just from my experience. If you have had success convincing trolls to change their ways, I would very much like to hear it. I think it would also make a very excellent article.
True,there is no 1 answer that will cover all situations.However I’ve found that if you engage some trolls in an interesting convo. and try to share some laughs with them(at no one else’s expense) they will want to be your friend as you have just become the most interesting thing they’ve found that day.Once added you only have to make it clear that if they continue to troll then you’ll delete them and they can go back to being bored or they can refrain from trolling and continue to have some fun times with you,so this only works on “boredom” trolls.I believe DarthGranny already did an article that outlined most of the key points in this type of conversion but thanks for the offer anyways.For the person that is solely bent on verbally abusing others this will not work.Then you will need to decide what works best for the situation,avoidence or confrontation.Both have drawbacks and are imperfect solutions for every situation but until we are given more options these are the best things we can do.
I agree with you that engaging bored trolls or new trolls calmly will more times than not result in apologies. I even mentioned that in the article. I have read DarthGranny’s excellent article describing her experience with a troll that became a friend. It is heartwarming to hear that there can be successes. I have not experienced that with hardcore trolls and it is the ones that are “bent on verbally abusing others” that I am solely referring to here that do not listen to reason and perhaps ignoring them does have an effect on them that we do not see.
Reporting everyone for frivolous infractions such as saying hello more than once is merely another form of trolling. Let’s call it, PA-TROLLING (c)
I like it. I see that you already have it copyrighted.
Around this time last year, when the old CP was blanketed in snow, I also had a run in with a self-styled Home-cop. She was running around the CP admonishing (and, perhaps, reporting)people for various misdeed, and I really wasnt paying close attention til she turned her gaze on me.
She struck up a discussion (in somewhat broken -- or simply bad -- english) and I responded conversationally. But after a minute or two of pleasantries, she began to tell me that she didn’t want sex from me and that I was being mean to her -- needless to say, neither of those topics had come up previously.
Eventually I left to either play some games or join up with friends, but I was left with the impression that she was trying (poorly) to trick me into saying something I could be reported for -- all the while portraying herself as some sort of abiter of good behavior in Home. A very strange encounter, indeed.
Many of us are annoyed at some of the miscreants which find thier way into Home who seem to have no other purpose than to try to ruin our fun…and the seeming inability for the Mods to do much about it. But on the flip side, some folks -- who may have good intentions -- risk going overboard trying to catch the ‘bad guys’. As Glow mentioned above, it may be a fine line between trolling and pa-trolling.
Agreed!
I have had alot of experience with all the above mentioned and I would have to agree with cthulu93. Be clever and give them something to think about or laugh about and they more than likley will calm down. If not, and it is really bothering you do what you have to do to do what you wanna do.
I am glad to hear that there are others that have succeed, where I have failed with hardcore trolls.
heaven help you if you get ME going out there, i eat them alive. OH, and banning a whole ps3? its called bricking a system. i know of two people that have had their systems bricked. basically now as useful as a super nintendo online…..not going to happen.