Snakes in the Garden
Editor’s foreword: this article deals with the actions of trolls in PlayStation Home, and contains material that some may find offensive.
by FEMAELSTROM, HSM team writer
I decided to write this article as I spoke to a woman who came to me, upset over being assaulted by trolls in the Hub.
The story was familiar — some punk kid stands in the Hub and hurls vile mouthfuls of venom at female avatars, listing the things he would like to accomplish sexually with them. I have been here over a year, and frankly, putting aside the “freedom of speech” ideal for a moment, this has to stop. The decent folks of Home are asking you to make this madness end. I am not the first person to say this; I’m merely the latest.
I have, in my day, heard so many lamentations from women of the ills of the trolls that the story is as worn out as an 8-track cartridge. It breaks my heart to hear that women have been assaulted verbally and made to feel inferior to the point that some want to leave altogether, rather than endure another day of rancor and hate from trolls on Home.
Trolls are an evil force that women have to deal with on a daily basis.
The stories range from unwanted sexual offers to threats of assault to outright requests for sexual activities in exchange for PSN cards. This is the same as calling a woman a prostitute. These things have brought women and girls to me in tears, and though I am always willing to hear the troubles of my friends, I am not a professional counselor and I feel the burden of this problem should fall less on the other users and more on those in charge.
When we spawn into home, it is usually into the Hub. To Sony’s credit, this was a good idea. It’s a launch point from which people can jump to their final destination, but it’s also a place where they can get their bearings if they are new to Home, and see ads for products offered by our many fine developers.
There is a flaw, though. First let me start by saying that I do not fault Sony for wanting to put us in a commerce-based central spawn point. Sony is a for-profit business; they are here to make money. There is a need for change, though, because the spawn point in the Hub is where the ladies of Home get accosted heavily. In the time that it takes for one to spawn, read the message of the day, and enter, trolls have had time to see a female name or her image, and have begun the attack. The answer to this is simple: let us spawn where we want, or at least let us spawn in a private space. I am aware that Sony attempted this previously, but it is an idea that needs to be revisited.
A lot of women of Home fear this place now.
As residents of Home, we are exposed to the ads that cover the land, in whichever space we visit. This is especially true in the Hub. And I am not complaining about that — it is a revenue generator for Sony. I think though, that if somebody is going to spend money in Home, they will do so whether or not they are surrounded by advertisements. They will go to the Mall or spend from the comfort of a private estate. Those who shop pretty much already know what they want, and they will do so regardless of advertisements.
The private message option is a great item that, like most great items, has lost its lustre. Because the trolls now abuse it to send women their vileness from land to land. I have personally seen this happen — a troll will make contact and continue contact long after you jump away, to a different public space.
Allow me to offer a perspective. I have made it no secret that I have a very attractive female avatar, whom I affectionately call “Pinky”. Her prime use is in decorating my homes. As a man who appreciates a pretty woman (with great respect), I created her to enjoy as I tinkered around my private estates. There have been times, though that I have taken “Pinky” out to see the troll action. I walk “Pinky” through the public spaces and can instantly see with disgust why women have such troubles here. As “Pinky”, the attractive female, I get propositioned, told vulgar and lurid things, and find myself objectified and abused and offended in nearly every land. Often these vile insults come at me in the form of friend requests and private messages that are sent by an overly persistent follower, who turns out to be a troll.
This is what awaits the ladies of Home in the Hub.
I used to tell newcomers that to be in Home, one needed a very thick skin, like that of a crocodile. But though this is true, I feel that it’s a shame. It’s akin to telling some to get used to snake bites: after a while, one wonders why they are going into the snake pit.
The current reporting system needs a serious upgrade as well. The fact is this: we need to be able to report somebody with more precision than the current system allows. We need the ability to write down the names and actions of the offender in detail. And we need a greater hope that something will be done. For instance, the complainant should receive an update informing them if something was done to punish the offender.
When we Report, we know that a screen capture is automatically sent to Sony showing what was going on when the Report button was pushed. Perhaps that feature could be expanded, by letting us capture offensive action ourselves — an option like the in-Home camera, but one that shows the avatar names, the word bubbles and the text scroll. The prompts to block and mute are good, and I applaud Sony for these controls offered to Home users. But certainly more is needed.
This is troll ‘magic’
There is a real need for Sony to step up their vigilance and monitor what is typed here in Home. To be clear, I would never want to censor people. As an advocate of freedom of speech and the freedom of expression, I am all for freely speaking one’s mind. But the issue at hand is this: as I walk through Home, far too often I see words that are vulgar and foul — too foul to quoted or even hinted at here. But we still see them in Home.
The device used to get these words past the censors is simple: the offenders simply drop the vowels or re-spell the words in ways that are not blocked. One day I was at the now-vanished Diesel Beach public space, and I saw a word I had never seen before. I stood and worked to decipher it, only to discover it was pervasive and profane, but its user could use it openly because he had found an alternate way of spelling it. True, Sony cannot filter out every word, but some variants may be easy to catch and program into the censor filter. This is distinctly relevant to the women of Home, as often these obscenities are hurled at them for the mere act of spawning into the Hub.
We must realize that when we go into the real world, here in America, we have certain freedoms of speech that the rest of the world covets — but here in Home, we are in a private place, made by a private company, which has the right to censor us or ban us. So, as much as freedom of speech applies, we do have to play by Sony’s rules, and Sony should step up and help those who are victimised because of a lack of attention to the censor filters.
This is how the young men of Home look to some of the abused women.
The fact is that we are flooded with trolls here on Home, and to be frank this is not Sony’s fault. The problem is that bad people have come to Home and carried their evil here, and the system was not designed to anticipate its greatest weakness: the human element.
However, we are in Sony’s playground and have to abide by their rules, and it would be a better environment if it were made safer for the women on Home, so that they could enjoy the landscape as much as any other decent person. But unfortunately the trolls have overrun some places to the point that women can’t be comfortable there, and are effectively denied access. And these uncomfortable spaces include the central core spaces of the Malls and the Hub.
Usually I try to close an article with a light or casual comment and end on a happy note. Today though, I will only say this: we here in Home need more help in dealing with an epidemic of troll evils, and to some extent we need the help of Sony. It is ultimately Sony that stands to gain the most, commercially, by addressing this issue.
August 5th, 2012 by FEMAELSTROM | 25 comments
FEMAELSTROM came to Home in June 2011 and never wanted to leave, even at weekly maintenance when he usually gets booted. The sand box environment appeals to the explorer in him and often is out and about as he ‘geeks’ out dressed like some sort of sci-fi character, while he people watches in popular public spaces. An artist and writer, FEMAELSTROM loves making friends and meeting people. He loves sci-fi and decorating Home estates and loves to respond “here” when people ask “where are you from?” in public places.
OH WOW POOOR WOMEN
MEN ARE SUCH EVIL BEING LET’S LYNCH THEM
What the hell seriously. If the opposite happens men wouldn’t do anything. They would enjoy it.
And stop calling them Trolls, you don’t know what a real troll is.
(Moderator’s note: this comment has been edited due to profanity and inflammatory comments. Further such infractions will not be tolerated.)
Yes, we do know what a troll is… you just exemplified one for us.
I want to applaud you Unknown. You showed us all exactly what I was talking about. Perfect timing.
I agree with your assessment Strom. Better reporting tools would be nice, I don’t let the local trolls bother me too much anymore I usually just have fun with them and warn them then report after muting. It is true that I rarely go into public spaces anymore though, so it may be worse than I have seen for some of the women on Home. I know how it used to be in Central Plaza that is for sure.
As for Anon’s comment, we call them trolls because that is a nice way to say it, if we could we would call them worse. We are well aware of what a real troll is, it is just used as a euphemism for something else less in compliance with Sony’s censorship and our own sensibilities.
And even if a “man” wouldn’t protest this kind of treatment from another man, we aren’t men and we have rights too. The right not to be harassed, degraded and attacked are a few of them. Also there is nowhere in the article that he says all men are bad, it is a few rotten apples that spoil the barrel for the rest.
Good read Strom.
I guess I have been desensitized to most of what goes on, I do however send in reports on a regular basis when I see people being harrassed. My best friend is the ignore option. It is hard to be offended when you can’t see what is being said. If it comes down to the good old face in the crotch most that most trolls seem to adore, report it.. repeatedly if needed and have any friends around you report it as well. Personally I would like to see an option in that system to select more than one offense per report. If someone is verbally and virtually attacking you, you should be able to report everything they are doing all at one time, not have to spend 20 mins going in and out of the reporting system trying to click off everything they have done because usually by that time, they are off to their next victim.
Well said Mael
Home is my 1st online experience with gamers. I knew they were bad but i didnt expect that. At the beginning I tried to talk with 3rd party rep and some home vet about it. They all gave me the same answer: “Thats how it is on the net, woman need to be strong” I couldn’t beleive it! The problem is endemic because the industry let it grow that way. The usual answer is. ” we have a too big user base, we cant monitor it all” I see it the other way around, more like “We dont want to hire enough man power to take care of it”
I’ve read somewhere (not sure of the validity of the number) that psn mod have to go to around 3000 report per day. That was the reason it took so long to ban an ID on Home Honestly, i don’t care about the numbers. It’s not my problem. It’s YOUR company. it’s YOUR userbase. YOU take care of the problem. Anything else is just excuses. And i’m sick and tired of excuses on that matter.
Again we see peoples saying the woman should learn to deal with that. Sorry, I dont buy that. Sure they should in a way. But the burden of the problem should not rest on the users shoulders. Unfortunatly not everyone have the same ressource on that matter. Some are more emotionaly fragile. We are proud to have peoples with physical limitation on Home. Why would woman need to be emotioanal superhero with crocodile thick skin?
Trolls are easily predictable. The 1st reply prove it. The industry dont need any genius or magic wand to work on this issue. Just the man power and… the WILL to do it.
oh and btw, good article
This reply is to the concept that some are desensitized. Dlyrius, you’re my friend and in that I value you, but I have to disagree. It’s verbal assault and nobody should ever be desensitized to that. it should be upsetting to everybody all the time, and as a man, I am comfy because it rarely happens to guys, but as the ‘Pinky’ female I created, I have seen gross and disgusting examples of trolls, all of which chould never be desensitized to. And ladies with crock skin, it’s not fair to make that requirement of them.
Simply put a thick skin is not required unless you really cannot ignore such behavior. If you read the rules and restrictions of PlayStation Home you will find that you have to be 13 years of age to participate in the beta. You learn quickly that most “trolls” are under the age restriction, the ignore button on home is a useful tool. As is the block tool. I’ve had a good 4 years of experience on PlayStation Home I’ve seen it all. If push comes to shove contact an administrator.
If your harassment persists contact Sony don’t ever feed the trolls with a response to their messages it only fuels them. Starve them.
yes exactly
<3 so true!
You know that HOME is just a cross section of humanity at large. I mean what we see in the hub is just an indication of society at large. All this stuff goes on for attractive females in the real world too, from Cat calls and wolf whistles from construction workers to other females in the office believing that a sexy looking woman got the promotion because they have a nice rack instead of the fact that they pull long hours, are smart and actually do their job.
I guess what I am asking is: “Is it a corporation’s job to monitory what society finds relatively acceptable behavior?” And honestly it still is acceptable -right along with that sense of entitlement that things should be free or that anyone deserves anything simply for breathing.
Honestly this is what I have found. I do not have much of a problem with “trolls.” I mean yes sometimes there are some obnoxious punks that jam themselves between you and whomever you are talking too… and that can get annoying esp. if the convo is a serious one. And I can lose patience and leave. But I remember this kid the other day that just kept on racing around my friends and I and he slowed down enough when we just ignored him and asked why we were not talking with him.
And we told him. “you are not conducting acceptable behavior.”
He said “Its just a game.”
And we replied, “The hearts and minds of the people here are real.”
And miracle of miracles he stopped and thought about it and changed his behavior.
I think maybe optimistically that two out of three just are young and don’t get it. The rest are living out their evil suppressive fantasies and there are some chicks that dig that too. Me, I am not so much in the sadomasochism thing.
But you see I try to conduct myself (for the most part) like a lady. I usu. give them the benefit of the doubt, and if I don’t like it I announce that I am going to leave and that is usu. enough for the people I am talking with to go with me or to put the shut down on the troll person.
I do think it would be nice to (as mentioned in another article) be able to ghost someone -like blocking their conversation(which I do if there are sexual or racial slurs -after reporting them).
The inability to get a reaction is usu. entirely off-putting to these creepers. So you know there is room for improvement. But I don’t think it should get anyone woman down. Its not the lovely ladies after all -its the cretins that are slinging all the dirt that have the shortcoming.
But, always, just in case, I carry a big stick to paddle them with if they refuse to behave. LOL.
My assessment of the given situation is annoying not devastating. But perhaps the marketing in the Hub would be more effective if I felt like staying to have a conversation as opposed to leaving to get away from trolls.
I’m sorry, but I have to disagree. Yes, we do see a cross section of society here, but it is an anonymous cross section for the most part and that changes some people… it worsens them. Perhaps those “construction workers” feel a similar sense of anonymity due to the distance from the passers-by. I, too, have learned not to feed the trolls by responding to them, in most cases. However, I am not going to stand there while they kneel down with their faces too close to my avatar’s body. Perhaps I identify too closely with my avatar, but that is something I can NOT stand. Also, the situation may not be devastating to you or me, but it can be devastating to others. If for no other reason, Sony should take stronger action just to prevent loss of sales and improve customer satisfaction.
One of the big issues I had in writing this was the fact that though there are some very strong willed women here on home, there are women that are still not at all comfy with the first attack and sometimes thats the most shocking attack. The stories I can relay would never get past moderation and were never considered to put into the stories because they are too vile to print. That it happens at all to any woman needs attention.
I think we actually agree Kass. I just am not that offended because I dont want to waste my time letting them make me angry. I can’t control them, their behavior or Sony’s reaction to it- what I can control is how I conduct myself in the face of adversity. And I am inclined to agree with Kori -women are guilty of heinous behavior here too. No one talks too much about that.
Yes women are also trolls, but that is a far smaller problem than the trolls that aree male, and in the year I’ve been here, the female trrolls have been few and very far between.
It isn’t all about men. There are women on Home that are horrible and very catty. They bully due to insecurities, and possible mental illness. It is a virtual world. It is what it is. Associate with people that are good, don’t live their life virtually, and make good choices. That is one of the beauties of it. You have those options to block such people, and act mature enough to handle it as an adult! BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK! <3
There may be a middle ground that can be reached. That would be possibly a WARNING people with no life or mental problems bully here. Or very direct directions on how to block.
NA Home seems to have trolls that can be talked to, which is a new thing to me still. Generally I just wait to see what their deal is, if they go away after being ignored for 5mins then great! If not, then I’ll just troll-out on them myself. A few of my friends have been. kinda shocked at the bile that can come from my keyboard, a couple of my more masochistic friends love it when I snap, and to be honest, I can enjoy it too. I guess we all have a festering pit inside us someplace, it’s just a case of having control of it, or even being able to accept it to use as a tool. People like OP of this thread prove that a lot of the time it’s just a simple case of ignorance or immaturity, which in my book requires a life-lesson to be taught and a little taste of their own medicine.
For the days I just can’t be bothered, I find the ignore tab to be all I need
The main problem with moderation in Home is its lack of transparency. Nobody really knows what happens when a report is filed, neither the griefer nor the griefee. Everything vanishes into the ether, which leaves the victims feeling like reporting is useless and the trolls feeling like they have immunity.
Pushing a little bit of direct feedback to the trolls might go a long way toward solving the problem. When a report is filed against someone, two things should happen:
1. The person who has been reported is automatically blocked and ignored for the person who files the report. If the person who has been reported then tries to communicate with the person who reported them, they get a message informing them that they have been blocked, along with the report category for the block (stalking, harassment, racial slurs, etc.)
2. The person who has been reported gets a message informing them that they have been reported. The ID of the person who reported them is not included, to prevent retaliation.
Once these alerts and messages start piling up, some of these trolls might see the error of their ways. At the very least, seeing a long stream of messages with subjects such as, “You have been reported for racist comments” or “You have been reported for stalking” will give them some insight into how they’re seen by the rest of the Home community.
If that doesn’t cut down on the problem, it’s time to go nuclear. Rack up 10 reports in a certain period of time, you get suspended until moderation can review your case. Given how busy the moderators are, that’s probably a week.
Moderating and then banning is a bit too much of a cart before the horse situation. Will some innocent people get suspended? Probably. Is that a reasonable price to pay for solving the problem? Unless you value your personal convenience over having a more respectful online community, yes, it is, and any group of people who false report to get an innocent user banned should face a one-month suspension, to deter that type of behavior.
These are simple fixes that are long overdue. If Sony sends a message that harassment and stalking will not be tolerated, it won’t stop entirely, but the incidents of it will go down dramatically.
What HearItWow said re racking up 10 reports and getting suspended until moderators review the case, I strongly disagree with.
There’s too much danger of the “bad guys” filing false reports against innocent people.
The rest of the post are options to be considered.
I agree with you kid, that could be abused so badly, however, his other ideas are bang-on and should be implemented asap.
There are better block methods that could of been used no one when creating home looked at others and learnt how to block or kick. Some turn the offending avatar into a human shaped blob that cannot interact with you, some have a kick system where if enough people vote you are kicked from that room and cannot return for 20 minutes. Nearly all social applications I know only allow an account to be single sex as well so if you pick male your avatar is male forever. instead home just tolerates it making some spaces no go zones if you dont want to be attacked all the time. its a circle home needs more users that are a better class to afford better moderation, but without better moderation its not going to get those users
Thanks for the comment Gary, though I have one item to say about switching genders. Aside from my love for my very own ‘Pinky’, there is a plus in the ability to change genders. Aside from the collectors that try to collect everything and I do mean EVERYTHING, and those who genuinely love to simply do so, there is a need for women. The ability to change genders as I have seen it over time I have been here is simply a great defense device. It is a great cloak. Women can change to males avatars and go about their business at a game place and not be sexually harrassed or trolled. I give Sony 3 thumbs up for allowing this ability as it has served many ladies I know.