Please disable cough emotes in this time of plague

[RosieCotton]

I was at the festival today, and twice, both at the party tree and the Taste of Hobbiton I came across someone spamming cough emotes over everyone. I can't say I've ever been a fan of some of the more "trollish" LOTRO emotes--like the barf--but right now the cough seems, frankly, way too much. I have a disability and would almost certainly die if I got Covid, so if someone deliberately coughed over me in real life right now I'd consider it a death threat. I have a close friend who's been in the ICU since the end of March since getting Covid, so for me coughing over people right now is NOT a joke. People have even been arrested here in the UK for trollishly coughing on policemen. So please remove these emotes. They are more than just rude, they are veering into the realm of criminal behaviour right now.

I don't know to be honest what they are. If they're an effect someone has gone to the effort of collecting I can understand that you might not want to remove it--but if this is so can you please replace it with a different emote or compensate players for the loss of this emote in some other way?

I'm of course aware that the game contains plenty of references to actual plague and such elsewhere. Heck, you can even catch plagues if you're bitten by bats and rats and things in certain places. Obviously, the whole game can't be changed and besides I don't think these things are a problem. They are even quite amusing in fact, in hindsight, because of course when they were created no one anticipated Covid. But an actual player, today, choosing to deliberately cough over other players, is surely trolling behaviour, even if the player wasn't intending to troll (I expect they were though).

Please make this right!

[YamydeAragon]

I was at the festival today, and twice, both at the party tree and the Taste of Hobbiton I came across someone spamming cough emotes over everyone. I can't say I've ever been a fan of some of the more "trollish" LOTRO emotes--like the barf--but right now the cough seems, frankly, way too much. I have a disability and would almost certainly die if I got Covid, so if someone deliberately coughed over me in real life right now I'd consider it a death threat. I have a close friend who's been in the ICU since the end of March since getting Covid, so for me coughing over people right now is NOT a joke. People have even been arrested here in the UK for trollishly coughing on policemen. So please remove these emotes. They are more than just rude, they are veering into the realm of criminal behaviour right now.

I don't know to be honest what they are. If they're an effect someone has gone to the effort of collecting I can understand that you might not want to remove it--but if this is so can you please replace it with a different emote or compensate players for the loss of this emote in some other way?

I'm of course aware that the game contains plenty of references to actual plague and such elsewhere. Heck, you can even catch plagues if you're bitten by bats and rats and things in certain places. Obviously, the whole game can't be changed and besides I don't think these things are a problem. They are even quite amusing in fact, in hindsight, because of course when they were created no one anticipated Covid. But an actual player, today, choosing to deliberately cough over other players, is surely trolling behaviour, even if the player wasn't intending to troll (I expect they were though).

Please make this right!

You can filter out the cough emote soundtrack, or any other specific sound that makes you uncomfortable, without need to change the game for everybody.

[Rugongrod]

LOL

[RosieCotton]

You can filter out the cough emote soundtrack, or any other specific sound that makes you uncomfortable, without need to change the game for everybody.

I know you can disable involuntary emotes, but that doesn't solve the issue. I'm not sure how you disable the sound. How do you do that? Even if it's possible I doubt many people would know how. I wouldn't want to disable all sound effects, obviously. And even with sound disabled, the visual is still there.

And really I mention this, not so much because it makes me "uncomfortable," but rather because I don't think LOTRO should be allowing players to behave like this towards each other during a pandemic. Players aren't allowed to attack each other without consent in PVE, quite rightly. Obviously, if you go PVP you are consenting to be attacked, and I've PVPed in the past, and it's great fun. But this is not consent--in real life right now this is threatening behaviour.

[OghranNasty]

That is a road that never ends.
Some people seem to find being annoying a great way to party, especially during festival times. Prohibition is a war you will not win: they'll find new ways. Just /ignore and move on.

On filtering sounds: Alt-R gives you a popup with three tabs. Bottom one has a record button, record until you caught the sound. You can double click to verify you got the right one, then drag & drop to (account) filtered. Quite nicely done, imho.

[Thurallor]

This is a ridiculous request, but exemplary of the ridiculous times we're living in.

How many other emotes need to be banned? Certainly a lot of people would find it disturbing for someone to /firebreath in their face, "in this time of plague" or any other time.

OP, if you are being harassed, there is a rule against that, and you should report it to a GM. And there are active measures (such as others have described above) you can take to defend yourself. But it is not your job to police the entire game for other players by banning everything you don't like.

[PenrodBarker]

I play games to escape reality, not have it reflected back to me.

[djheydt]

This is a ridiculous request, but exemplary of the ridiculous times we're living in.

How many other emotes need to be banned? Certainly a lot of people would find it disturbing for someone to /firebreath in their face, "in this time of plague" or any other time.

OP, if you are being harassed, there is a rule against that, and you should report it to a GM. And there are active measures (such as others have described above) you can take to defend yourself. But it is not your job to police the entire game for other players by banning everything you don't like.

I never thought of recording and /ignoring a sound. But I don't listen to the in-game sound; I have the radio on.

OP, while we're on the topic, do you know that you can make yourself immune to forced emotes? The kind that make you faint or dance or whatever?

Type ctrl-O for "Options", and click on "Social Options" in the right-hand column. Then on the left, seven items from the top, is "Enable Involuntary Emotes." Make sure that box is empty and involuntary emotes disabled. I don't know if it will disable sounds, or if you'll have to follow OghranNasty's record-and-drop suggestion. It ought, at least, to keep anyone from coughing on you.

[Pontin_Finnberry]

I know you can disable involuntary emotes, but that doesn't solve the issue. I'm not sure how you disable the sound. How do you do that? Even if it's possible I doubt many people would know how.

You hit Alt + R and that opens up the filters panel there's a tab to record sound, you can record everything you hear find the sound you want to filter out by character or account, and you will never hear that sound again unless you take it out of the filter.

[MindOfLucy]

Hi, this is what i think about it: At least we don't have to worry about our health and life in game
Just disable Involuntary emotes, filter their sound and don't worry, this is just a game

[YamydeAragon]

I know you can disable involuntary emotes, but that doesn't solve the issue. I'm not sure how you disable the sound. How do you do that? Even if it's possible I doubt many people would know how. I wouldn't want to disable all sound effects, obviously. And even with sound disabled, the visual is still there.

And really I mention this, not so much because it makes me "uncomfortable," but rather because I don't think LOTRO should be allowing players to behave like this towards each other during a pandemic. Players aren't allowed to attack each other without consent in PVE, quite rightly. Obviously, if you go PVP you are consenting to be attacked, and I've PVPed in the past, and it's great fun. But this is not consent--in real life right now this is threatening behaviour.

As ALL other posters said, if another player is following you around & spaming you emotes in game, just report that person & let the GMs sort it out. Then filter the sound & be done with it. Banning all emotes you don't like is not the right answer. Next week another person will find the jig offensive then request to get it banned.

[RosieCotton]

Individuals may well be able to filter this emote out, and yes, I've turned off the ability of others to perform emotes on me for now at least. But again I think all you guys are missing the point. I'm posting here because the real life equivalent of this behaviour right now is unacceptable and threatening so in my view it shouldn't be here as a "joke" in any form. As I pointed out, in the UK at least, people have been arrested for deliberately coughing at policemen. This is more than just a childish prank. Kids play LOTRO and in my view shouldn't be learning that they can threaten people, older more vulnerable adults especially, simply by coughing at them. See this news report for instance: https://news.sky.com/story/coronavir...class-12060091 The schools haven't even gone back yet here in the UK, and yet the article says: "pupils going back to some schools are warned they could be sent home for "malicious coughing"" and "Some behaviours (eg coughing deliberately on another person) that were previously 'simply' anti-social, are now potentially extremely serious." I can well believe this could become a problem in schools. I certainly wouldn't want to be a teacher right now. So I think LOTRO should set a good example and remove this emote.

[ertr]

Individuals may well be able to filter this emote out, and yes, I've turned off the ability of others to perform emotes on me for now at least. But again I think all you guys are missing the point. I'm posting here because the real life equivalent of this behaviour right now is unacceptable and threatening so in my view it shouldn't be here as a "joke" in any form. As I pointed out, in the UK at least, people have been arrested for deliberately coughing at policemen.

That's in the UK, not in MIddle-Earth. I bet it is illegal to run around with a sword and killing people in the UK as well.

What is illegal or inappropriate in the real world does not automatically translate into the game world.

[Harla]

But again I think all you guys are missing the point. I'm posting here because the real life equivalent of this behaviour right now is unacceptable and threatening so in my view it shouldn't be here as a "joke" in any form.

Hi there, not missing the point, just not agreeing with you. I also speak as someone who lives with a disability that renders me in the extreme risk category of something like this. Fortunately, video game coughs carry no risk with them, primarily because they are in a video game, and are not translatable into our physical lives. People can cough around me all they like in Lotro, due to the fact that it's a video game, and doesn't carry any real-world risks.

There are many things you can do in this and other video games, which, if performed towards physical people in the physical world, would be dangerous, harmful, threatening, illegal and even potentially lethal. Fortunately, most people, young and old alike, understand the kinds of behaviours that are acceptable in real life, and the behaviours which are not. Some people, young and old alike, may translate what they receive in their media consumption - be it video game, movies, music or other forms - into their real life in inappropriate, dangerous, hostile or threatening ways. The extreme vast majority do not, because, as mentioned, they understand the distinction between fictional media, and the kinds of actions and behaviours that are acceptable in their real lives.

It is not, and never will be, the fault of the fictional media when this happens - the responsibility lies with the individuals, and this is borne out by the fact that those individuals are an extreme minority, while the vast majority consumes the exact same media without and such issues, confusions or compulsions.

It is not, and never will be the responsibility of the fictional media to safety-coat itself, beyond the media's rating guideline, or to censor actions and behaviours that might not be appropriate in real life - they are fictional media, and they are not representations of real life.

In the case of children and those who may have trouble differentiating or understanding the distinction, the responsibility of ensuring that the distinction is clear and understood lies with the parent, caretaker or other responsible figure in their lives, not with the fictional media.

As an addendum, in this particular case - no one could ever really learn that they could, as you put it "threaten people, older more vulnerable adults especially, simply by coughing at them." from a game like lotro... because when you cough at someone in this game, nothing untoward happens to the people around you; it is no threat, because it has no effect. It cannot function as a threat, because it does nothing.

Our real, physical lives are our real physical lives.
Video games are fictional media.

Fictional media does not, and never will, release us from our responsibility for our own actions, nor from the responsibility we hold towards the proper education of those in our care - and it should never be limited, censored or restricted for the sake of those who would make it a scapegoat and attempt to claim that it does.

[Aranaan]

I was at the festival today, and twice, both at the party tree and the Taste of Hobbiton I came across someone spamming cough emotes over everyone. I can't say I've ever been a fan of some of the more "trollish" LOTRO emotes--like the barf--but right now the cough seems, frankly, way too much. I have a disability and would almost certainly die if I got Covid, so if someone deliberately coughed over me in real life right now I'd consider it a death threat. I have a close friend who's been in the ICU since the end of March since getting Covid, so for me coughing over people right now is NOT a joke. People have even been arrested here in the UK for trollishly coughing on policemen. So please remove these emotes. They are more than just rude, they are veering into the realm of criminal behaviour right now.

I don't know to be honest what they are. If they're an effect someone has gone to the effort of collecting I can understand that you might not want to remove it--but if this is so can you please replace it with a different emote or compensate players for the loss of this emote in some other way?

I'm of course aware that the game contains plenty of references to actual plague and such elsewhere. Heck, you can even catch plagues if you're bitten by bats and rats and things in certain places. Obviously, the whole game can't be changed and besides I don't think these things are a problem. They are even quite amusing in fact, in hindsight, because of course when they were created no one anticipated Covid. But an actual player, today, choosing to deliberately cough over other players, is surely trolling behaviour, even if the player wasn't intending to troll (I expect they were though).

Please make this right!

Another soul joining the snowflake generation.
Starting to ban anything some people don’t like, is never the solution.

[PenrodBarker]

Remove:

Smoking emotes and pipeweed, because of cancer, COPD, etc. IRL
Drinking emotes and ales, wines, etc., because of alcoholism, drunk driving, etc. IRL
Shakefist, mock, fight, etc. emotes, because of bullying IRL

You could go through the whole list of emotes and other aspects of LOTRO(or any game) and find something to potentially offend someone, somewhere. Where would it end?

[RosieCotton]

That's in the UK, not in MIddle-Earth. I bet it is illegal to run around with a sword and killing people in the UK as well.

What is illegal or inappropriate in the real world does not automatically translate into the game world.

As I explained, it is not possible for one player to attack another player with a sword, or anything else as far as I'm aware, without the player first consenting to be attacked. There is PVP and sparing in PVE. That is it.

Someone else mentioned emotes like shaking your fist at another player--while this might not be advisable in real life, it's not actually harmful and won't get you arrested whereas coughing or spitting at someone right now might.

Unfortunately I'm not at all surprised by everyone's reaction to my post. I thought hard about whether to post at all as I knew it would attract derision and even anger from a lot of people, and figured it would be an uphill battle to get it changed. As for being part of the "snowflake" generation, I'm probably old enough to be mother to many of you... So listen to momma, lol, grow up, take responsibility for the safety of those around you, and support this change! This is an important and serious request.

If this game was for players 18+ frankly I'd be less concerned, as older players should be able to make the distinction. But it's open to kids playing, who may not understand the seriousness of this "prank" in real life.

[Arbornal]

[Thurallor]

As I explained, it is not possible for one player to attack another player with a sword, or anything else as far as I'm aware, without the player first consenting to be attacked. There is PVP and sparing in PVE. That is it.

Someone else mentioned emotes like shaking your fist at another player--while this might not be advisable in real life, it's not actually harmful and won't get you arrested whereas coughing or spitting at someone right now might.

Unfortunately I'm not at all surprised by everyone's reaction to my post. I thought hard about whether to post at all as I knew it would attract derision and even anger from a lot of people, and figured it would be an uphill battle to get it changed. As for being part of the "snowflake" generation, I'm probably old enough to be mother to many of you...

I can literally set off a roman candle between the legs of a person without their consent.

Do you realize that there is a regularly-occurring activity in this game, in which players play field hockey, using live chickens instead of a ball?

I'm afraid you haven't grasped the colossal extent of the crusade you are embarking on.

So listen to momma, lol, grow up, take responsibility for the safety of those around you, and support this change! This is an important and serious request.

If this game was for players 18+ frankly I'd be less concerned, as older players should be able to make the distinction. But it's open to kids playing, who may not understand the seriousness of this "prank" in real life.

Nope, sorry, there is no substitute for parenting. No amount of destroying the fun of other people will do the job.

[DavidmeetHal]

I cannot agree with this suggestion. Anyone smart enough to turn on a computer, open a game, type in a password, and use an emote is old enough to know the difference between a game and real life. And I may be wrong, but I think the minimum age for LOTRO is 13. Not sure about if I'm right or not.

But I do know that anyone old enough to actually play the game mechanics in LOTRO is mature enough to know the difference between a game and real life.


I'm against this in the strongest possible sense.

[ertr]

This is an important and serious request.

If this game was for players 18+ frankly I'd be less concerned, as older players should be able to make the distinction. But it's open to kids playing, who may not understand the seriousness of this "prank" in real life.

No, it is not an important request. It is a stupid and silly request.
LOTRO is not designed for "kids". It is for teens and above. If a teen cannot distinguish between fiction and reality, then there is something seriously wrong.
There are lots and lots of actions you can do in the game that would be incredibly dangerous and/or unwise to do in real life. Coughing is very far down that list, especially since it is something people do naturally in the real world, and it is not inherently unsafe to cough - unlike for example setting off fireworks, or fighting with sharp swords.

[RosieCotton]

Just because everyone here disagrees, that doesn't mean I'm wrong. I know I'm right.

Actually, although coughing over other people is particularly dangerous right now, it has been very dangerous for a long time. Do you know how many people die each year in the United States from flu? According to Google in 2016-17 it was 38,000 people. How many people died from misuse of fireworks or swordplay or some of the other "dangerous" things being cited in this thread. I don't know about swords, but apparently between 2001-2016 the average yearly death rate from fireworks was 7.1. They hardly compare.

The reason we've never taken coughing seriously is because, at the time it happens, the harm it does is not apparent. The person coughed on doesn't immediately fall down dead, but dies days or weeks later. It's not easy for people to make the connection. But the connection is real.

In many countries it has long been considered polite to wear a mask if you have a cold. In past decades, during the Second World War particularly, not that long after the 1918 flu pandemic that killed so many, there were public information campaigns that promoted slogans such as "coughs and sneezes spread diseases." Somehow as a society we've forgotten that. It's a great shame. If people were more responsible and sensible, maybe the USA and elsewhere, here in the UK included, wouldn't have had so many deaths.

I'm not going to stop maintaining I'm right. If I convince just one person, young or otherwise, to take more responsibility in their real life for the spreading of infectious diseases, I might end up saving literally tens of thousands of lives as the science suggests some so-called "super-spreaders" are responsible for ultimately infecting very many people. So you can protest all you want, but I will continue to point out the reality that coughing over others is wrong and shouldn't be permitted in any form with so many people dying from it. It simply isn't amusing.

[MerryCav]

Just because everyone here disagrees, that doesn't mean I'm wrong. I know I'm right.

Actually, although coughing over other people is particularly dangerous right now, it has been very dangerous for a long time. Do you know how many people die each year in the United States from flu? According to Google in 2016-17 it was 38,000 people. How many people died from misuse of fireworks or swordplay or some of the other "dangerous" things being cited in this thread. I don't know about swords, but apparently between 2001-2016 the average yearly death rate from fireworks was 7.1. They hardly compare.

The reason we've never taken coughing seriously is because, at the time it happens, the harm it does is not apparent. The person coughed on doesn't immediately fall down dead, but dies days or weeks later. It's not easy for people to make the connection. But the connection is real.

In many countries it has long been considered polite to wear a mask if you have a cold. In past decades, during the Second World War particularly, not that long after the 1918 flu pandemic that killed so many, there were public information campaigns that promoted slogans such as "coughs and sneezes spread diseases." Somehow as a society we've forgotten that. It's a great shame. If people were more responsible and sensible, maybe the USA and elsewhere, here in the UK included, wouldn't have had so many deaths.

I'm not going to stop maintaining I'm right. If I convince just one person, young or otherwise, to take more responsibility in their real life for the spreading of infectious diseases, I might end up saving literally tens of thousands of lives as the science suggests some so-called "super-spreaders" are responsible for ultimately infecting very many people. So you can protest all you want, but I will continue to point out the reality that coughing over others is wrong and shouldn't be permitted in any form with so many people dying from it. It simply isn't amusing.

Your opinion is valid to you...but doesn't mean you're "right" to/for all others. (You kinda lost my sympathy with that assertion. I didn't agree with you but, now I'm rolling my eyes) :/

The poster who pointed out smoking was on point. You are citing statistics for flu deaths; Do look up deaths related to smoking annually. (I did, and they are more than 10 times flu deaths, which makes it a far more "dangerous thing" as you called others' examples) Am I against it in game? lol...no. I think the smoking emotes are funny. It is all pixels and part of the story world.

I'm assuming you skip the quest requiring you to spit water on hobbits too?

[PenrodBarker]

No one is saying that coughing or sneezing in reality aren't potentially dangerous, merely that changing the game to satisfy a minority of players who are harassed by yet another minority of players is unwarranted.

[sapienze]

Just because everyone here disagrees, that doesn't mean I'm wrong. I know I'm right.

You're not right. Suggesting the real world and Middle Earth exist in parallel with real people and virtual characters of such sameness is beyond ludicrous.


Cease immediately with your gas lighting. Present a better argument or concede your suggestion was ill conceived.