Things Seem to be Getting out of Hand

[Aolain]

I am as big a fanboy as there is. Been with this game since 2006. I will not "rage quit" nor am I making "demands."

These are my observations on Landroval.

Since 2006 I have, when they are here, had my little grand kids sit with me playing the game...the girl is now 7 and the boy is now 10. Both have asked me to teach them the game (something I will no longer consider).

They have loved watching the game and I have had them chat with my kin and had them "play the game." I have never, ever, ever, had any hesitation having them with me as I played.

This weekend, however, I was afk. My little grandsone went into my office and was watching the game, observing the chat. When I walked in, my emotional, gut instinct was "Oh No! What has he seen!" And to head off criticism, I will turn the game off from now on when they or any other minor children are around.

In the past, this would never have been my emotional response. And this, along with chat today in glff, caused me to post this.

Things are getting out of hand. I know the GMs are doing their best, but at this point, but things are getting out of control in this game.

In the last three days I have seen multiple references to male anatomy, both the vulgar term and the anatomic term.

I have seen references to various sexual acts.

I have seen certain groups attacked.

I have seen the vulgar term for intercourse multiple times.

I have seen a discussion about the origins of the vulgar term for intercourse.

I have seen people asking folks to tone it down being mocked in chat.

I have seen people who use the most vulgar or terms, after being reported, stay in the game and not, apparently, being subject to a sanction.

These are my observations. Feel free to disagree.

Turbine, just my opinion.

[FormulaTroll]

It's been worse than usual on Gladden too. Not horrible, but definitely noticeably worse. In the past, whenever I felt the need to report people I would add them to my friends list and almost invariably they would go offline soon after the report was filed and not show up again for a couple days.

Since the release of F2P I've made two reports, and only one was booted offline within an hour of the report and both were on again the next day, and coming real close to the line of decency to boot.

I'm going to continue and hope that this is just a matter of too much work for too few GMs for the time being. I'm hopeful things will get better.

[Davinius]

Sorry to hear this is happening on your server too, unfortunately its happening on most since F2P it does bring in the wrong crowd but usually they do not last long and leave when bored.

As for your children well you should know the game carrys a certification of 12 so they are too young to be viewing the product in the first place. Due to the graphical violence and obviously the chat. My 19 year old daughter plays and she gets annoyed by the chat but since she now spends most of her time in Moria or Mirk you do not see that kind of stuff so maybe if you head to a newb town keep the kids away if your in moria etc then the chances of that kind of ooc or chat wont be around.

[ComradeDomovoi]

People, please, PLEASE, get out of these mystical golden days that never existed. I've played on Landy since 2007 and I have seen all sorts of things go down, and don't get me started on global LFF, which is used for anything but. We have always had cretins, we have always had jerks, and we have always had the less desirables making themselves heard. In fact, the only attitude switch I see as a significant change is VIP elitists who think they own the game.

[SacredChandelier]

Aolain, with all due respect, I don't think putting children of that age in that kind of environment will ever be a good thing. You are pretty much exposing them to the worst the internet can and will throw at them. ANY MMO will be a bad place for them to be, not just LOTRO. You're being slightly naive here if you don't mind me saying so.

[SacredChandelier]

unfortunately its happening on most since F2P it does bring in the wrong crowd but usually they do not last long and leave when bored.

Here we go. F2P = evil. No long-term subs ever behaved that way they are all paragons of virtue and they're certainly not behaving that way now with their elitist attitudes. Wow I wish I was a lifetime sub how I would be elevated to sainthood, oh, if only *weeps*.

[Arbalister]

People, please, PLEASE, get out of these mystical golden days that never existed. I've played on Landy since 2007 and I have seen all sorts of things go down, and don't get me started on global LFF, which is used for anything but. We have always had cretins, we have always had jerks, and we have always had the less desirables making themselves heard. In fact, the only attitude switch I see as a significant change is VIP elitists who think they own the game.

Yes, you've seen it before. Its not that it's anything new, its that it is now *constant* not a once in a while thing.

[JeanCarlo]

Heh, tried to compose a response three times now, and unfortunately, there;s not much I can say that won't sound like a criticism to you, so I'll just say

(something I will no longer consider)

Good for you.

[jedinatt]

...turn off OOC? The occasional reference to anatomy really doesn't offend me all that much. If it's clever. Inane chatter annoys me more than inappropriate chatter.

[Aolain]

The point is not the kids...the kids sparked this post--when I was horrified that they were watching this game unsupervised. The point of the kids is that chat in this game has gotten so foul that one must turn the game off for fear that a minor will see what is going on in the game.

From my perspective that is a bad thing....perhaps I am wrong here.

And think about that....think about what it means....that regular people cannot play this game without being assaulted with every vulgarity known to man.

I feel, despite what folks may say, that things have gotten out of hand.

You are free to disagree, however. And If you disagree that is you opinion, just as good as mine.

This is just my observation.

[jedinatt]

I've been playing on one of the new servers (Crickhollow) and I really haven't noticed much **** going on in the chat channels. One time people were talking about stupid things in glff and I commented on it and they stopped. That's pretty much the most notable instance I've come across....

edit: I didn't actually use a bad word... the censor is is quite sensitive on this board...

[SacredChandelier]

The point of the kids is that chat in this game has gotten so foul that one must turn the game off for fear that a minor will see what is going on in the game.

The minors shouldn't be playing the game. If you as an adult are that sensitive to crude language I wonder how you ever lasted this long in an MMO at all. Everquest 1 OOC would have probably made you feel compelled to call the police, FBI and possibly the army.

[Yicky]

I agree with you that things have gotten WORSE since F2P. But they have never been good. Definetly not good enough that you can leave it open for a 10 year old to observe without having something racy or obscene pop into the chat window. But i do agree that things have gotten worse. I was making a trip through breeland the other day and every other word in the advice channel was an F bomb among other terms. For those that say it never existed, well, I never was THIS bad before.

[Dufferdave]

I agree that the profanity and rude comments are getting out of hand.
An easy solution is the "/ignore feature". Sometimes reporting these people doesn't do any good but this works for me. I haven't maxed it out yet but if I do, I'll jst remove some of the earlier "/ignored" people from my list.

[Aolain]

Sacred:

I appreciate your comments.

I do, however, disagree; especially since I have been with the police, the Army, and in Old EQ 1 from launch.

I understand that my opinion is not popular with most folks. I would expect, however, that people would respect my opinion as I respect yours.

[SacredChandelier]

I've been playing on one of the new servers (Crickhollow) and I really haven't noticed much **** going on in the chat channels. One time people were talking about stupid things in glff and I commented on it and they stopped. That's pretty much the most notable instance I've come across....

edit: I didn't actually use a bad word... the censor is is quite sensitive on this board...

I've played on Crickhollow too and some of the other new servers and so has my partner. Being F2P I can only have two characters per server so I have to move around. I haven't noticed any of this horrible vulgarity, just people helping me out in the advice channel and some of the 'old timers' waving at me and saying hello as they go about their business.

I really don't know how I seem to miss all this terrible F2P evil and wrongdoing. I shall pay more attention next time.

[Dawnsblood]

The first thing I do when I logon to a character is to make sure OOC and Regional are turned off. Both channels get really bad at times on Windfola. The rest of the chat channels seem mostly safe to me so far.

[SacredChandelier]

I would expect, however, that people would respect my opinion as I respect yours.

I respect your opinion completely I just think you are being a tad unrealistic in what you expect from such an open internet environment. I hope your experience with the game improves but no MMO I have ever played has been any different to the scenario you described in your OP.

[Elderban]

I've noticed that it seem to be getting worse and worse and the "F2P Trolls", as I will call them, are ruining the game experience for a lot of people.

I reported someone tonight for using racial slurs and vulgarity, which seems to be starting to run rampant on the servers. They also openly attack role-players calling them wackos and nutjobs, among other things.

I've asked them to stop, mentioning that they can have their accounts banned, and their only response is "Its an F2P account, why do I give a flying <expletive>???". And even if they are banned, they'll just create another F2P account and do it all over again.

The only reason I call these people trolls is because all they're doing is creating accounts to go into the chat channels and stir things up. They aren't even there to play the game.

I would like to formally request that the "Report a Gold Spammer" option be changed to "Report a Chat Violation".

Oh, and I hope Turbine doubled it's GM force.

[0rdinary0wl]

I don't think OP is trying to say this sort of chat never happened before, but rather that it is happening far too often since F2P.

[Llywela]

Someone suggested turning off OOC. Could you maybe make a seperate chat tab that has only the channels you would feel comfortable with and switch to that whenever you have kids around?

Doesn't solve the real problem, but sometimes that can't be solved anything short of reaching through the internet and smacking someone. If only...

[Lochhi]

I feel this was to be expected. Both, the bad behavior in chat and the OP's position.

OP, you have several options at your disposal;

1) The chat-filter
2) The /ignore feature
3) The /report feature
4) Turning off several chat channels

Coming to the forum does NOT help the situation. Using the tools Turbine gave you, will.

It never seems to amaze me when people try to cram their ideas down everyone else's throats, rather than doing something constructive to alleviate the situation.

[Elderban]

It never seems to amaze me when people try to cram their ideas down everyone else's throats, rather than doing something constructive to alleviate the situation.

Perhaps there are people that would like to remain in the aforementioned chat channels?

I have no problem with the occasional goings-on that happen in the chat channels, but when people are there for the sole purpose of "stirring the pot", if you will, then something needs to be done about it.

And the people that the OP mentioned are CLEARLY violating the Terms of Service, so something should be done about them.

[Ella]

I agree that something should definitely be done about folks who violate the coc and tos. That said I haven't yet had any problems on Gladden.

[SacredChandelier]

That said I haven't yet had any problems on Gladden.

Funny ain't it that we don't see these things that are apparently rife? I strongly suspect isolated incidents inspired the OP.