Because you might get mobbed and mass reported.
I want to start by saying this, in the 4 years that I've played this game I have not directly uttered a single word to anyone. Period. Much less have I ever been reported because I am an extremely reserved person. I often go weeks without even speaking to the friends that I'm lucky enough to have who also understand my need for regular and sometimes extended solitude.
Just a few days ago was the first time I've ever opened up and spoken within the game, and it was the first time I've ever used emotes outside my inn room for more than just to see what they looked like, and I ended up making new friends and having a good time as a result. I even chased a group of lalas with an axe all across the lower decks.
But another result I didn't expect was being attacked over it and mass reported by a toxic clique of bullies, and their discord, who don't even play the game beyond sitting in Limsa doing the very same thing they reported myself and my friends for. One of them even went as far as demanding the people I was talking with to blacklist and report me as well.
Being quiet and reserved didn't stop me from getting put into a jail cell with a GM telling me that I now have a caution strike on my account of 4+ years with hundreds of dollars invested into it, because I had the audacity to exist in the same space as these people and publicly speak while using emotes and abilities with my current friends and the new friends I made at the same time that day.
Instead of simply telling someone who actually regularly plays the game with zero history of trouble whatsoever "Hey, cool it." and telling said clique "Literally just blacklist them." I get punished over out of context chat logs and they remain free to abuse the vague and dated report system as well as continuing to push people around who aren't one of them.
It's very disheartening to know that a system like this is so readily exploited by bullies who only pay their subscription to pretend they're in high school again and use major cities as a chat room. Reports like this are purely abusive, as they aren't to better the community as a whole, rather they only serve to feed the egos and the delusional senses of power these people have as they use it solely to get back at people who aren't one of their own over petty nonsense a simple blacklist could solve.
I was already very withheld but now I'm not so sure I want to be anything but. Not only do I feel discouraged from playing the game for the first time, I feel as though I no longer have the option to occasionally leave my shell and make new friends- which is completely under duress at this point as opposed to personal struggles because apparently any mild annoyance can constitute a strike and possibly a total account deletion.
Continue reading...
I want to start by saying this, in the 4 years that I've played this game I have not directly uttered a single word to anyone. Period. Much less have I ever been reported because I am an extremely reserved person. I often go weeks without even speaking to the friends that I'm lucky enough to have who also understand my need for regular and sometimes extended solitude.
Just a few days ago was the first time I've ever opened up and spoken within the game, and it was the first time I've ever used emotes outside my inn room for more than just to see what they looked like, and I ended up making new friends and having a good time as a result. I even chased a group of lalas with an axe all across the lower decks.
But another result I didn't expect was being attacked over it and mass reported by a toxic clique of bullies, and their discord, who don't even play the game beyond sitting in Limsa doing the very same thing they reported myself and my friends for. One of them even went as far as demanding the people I was talking with to blacklist and report me as well.
Being quiet and reserved didn't stop me from getting put into a jail cell with a GM telling me that I now have a caution strike on my account of 4+ years with hundreds of dollars invested into it, because I had the audacity to exist in the same space as these people and publicly speak while using emotes and abilities with my current friends and the new friends I made at the same time that day.
Instead of simply telling someone who actually regularly plays the game with zero history of trouble whatsoever "Hey, cool it." and telling said clique "Literally just blacklist them." I get punished over out of context chat logs and they remain free to abuse the vague and dated report system as well as continuing to push people around who aren't one of them.
It's very disheartening to know that a system like this is so readily exploited by bullies who only pay their subscription to pretend they're in high school again and use major cities as a chat room. Reports like this are purely abusive, as they aren't to better the community as a whole, rather they only serve to feed the egos and the delusional senses of power these people have as they use it solely to get back at people who aren't one of their own over petty nonsense a simple blacklist could solve.
I was already very withheld but now I'm not so sure I want to be anything but. Not only do I feel discouraged from playing the game for the first time, I feel as though I no longer have the option to occasionally leave my shell and make new friends- which is completely under duress at this point as opposed to personal struggles because apparently any mild annoyance can constitute a strike and possibly a total account deletion.
Continue reading...