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Freedom of speech and MMOs
Shynarra
Member Posts: 3
Good day 
I am not a buff in MMOs so gonna ask it straight from those who knows it better. What if some moderator on some MMO forums closes a thread, of a player outraging about obvious and continuous game problems, and then openly tells everyone that law of freedom of speech is nothing and you can only post what pleases them? Can anything be done about that?
Nah, actually, just wanted to know if there are many other MMOs having the same problem :P
P.S Got a screenshot of that post, not going to post it here as truth may be offensive for somebody lol Just ask me via PM if you're interested 
Comments
Freedom of speech only means you won't be put in jail for voicing your opinion. On a moderated community forum, it literally means nothing. You have the right to say whatever you want, but they have the right to delete it. Your freedom of speech protection isn't being violated because you aren't physically being put in jail.
Having said that, if mods on an MMO forum are deleting valid, well-constructed opinions and creating a tyrannical environment where people are afraid to offer criticism, people will take notice and cease to post on those forums.
>>SMITE<<
>>Strife: best ever MOBA<<
>>Rift: FREE Ally of the Ascended Pack<<
More power to mods, I say.
in fact freedom of speech is strictly a deal between you and the government. It states that you have the right to voice your opinion (in a orderly fashion... Storming a municipal building only dressed in your birthday suite and offering your opinion on tax law by the way of poop on plywood is still not ok) and the government can not imprison you or cause you harm based on that fact... As long as you behave.
Stepping in to my house and refusing to leave (or at least shut up) will have you forcefully evicted by the nice men and women of law enforcement. When you visit a private forum, that is the house. The operator is the resident and the mods are the police.
So yes they have every right in the world to ban you and never let you in again based on pretty much anything... They could ban you for liking the colour yellow.
This have been a good conversation
I don't see anything wrong with that.
Pretty much what Tawess said. Freedom of speech doesnt mean what most people tend to think it is. It does NOT mean you can say what you want, when you want, where you want, and to whoever you want and nobody can do a damn thing about it. It only applies to the government not having the right to prevent free speech.
Aside from that, your freedom of speech in any situation and location is determined by whoever is in charge. Your teachers and administrators in a school can make rules about speech, the management at a store, a homeowner, the moderators of a website, executives and HR staff at any company, etc can all make their own rules and none of it applies in any way to freedom of speech in the constitution. When it comes down to it, if a forum mod feels like banning you just for spelling a word wrong or using a word incorrectly, they can. Is it the right thing to do? No. Is it illegal in any way? No.
Also, people tend to forget that the whole freedom of speech thing, even if it did apply as people think it does, is an american thing and that most of the games we play are not made or run by american companies to begin with. So yeah, things like going and posting on a forum for a japanese (or whatever country) game and then QQing about your american rights being violated is pretty ridiculous.
I have been trying ArcheAge for the last 2 days.
Every day is the same.. the Germans call the French "frogeaters" - the French call the Germans nazis.
Then the international community jumps in, declaring that everyone has a sexual interest in their mothers.
No, freedom of speech on MMOs is not a good thing.
The Internet is NOT a country that enshrines free speech - it is an amorphous construct with no central regulating authority and it has no freedom of speech laws whatsoever. Websites are almost always private property and the owners, if so inclined can ban who they like, when they like, whether for a good reason or a whim
You may not like it but there's sod all you can do about it.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." -first amendment to the United States Constitution
The key is the start "Congress shall make no law..." Nothing there prohibits you from regulating what people can say in your own house without you kicking them out. When you play a game, you're effectively in someone else's house, and if they don't like what you say, they can kick you out.
Being quick to ban people for random, harmless things is bad for business, of course. But where to draw the line is entirely at the discretion of the company. At most, you could try to get a refund if you get banned shortly after paying for something. But there is no broad right to play someone else's game, just as there is no right to be in someone else's house.
pretty much this.
OP, you need to learn what freedom of speech is.
I has NOTHING to do with you being able to say anything you want wherever you want and everyone has to listen to it.
It does have something to do with you being able to express your opinions and not be sent to jail for it.
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Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
What they said.
Freedom of Speech is probably the most misunderstood amendment, followed by the 2nd. After that no one seems to care about any of the others (except for the 21st). Like, the 4th amendment is pretty much violated 24/7.
It's simple, really.
Forums or games are not democracies, and they are certainly not the U.S.
They are private properties and the owners make the rules.
Most EULAs (that i have read) also states that you can be banned at any time without explanation.
No such thing as freedom of speech. The president can have you arrested for radical behavior if you were to call out negative behavior of the government. We see this with Snowden and Ferguson- Mike Brown situation.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Snowden, while moraly right did in fact break laws in the region he was a resident of. Can´t say i am particularly familiar with the other situation. But then again i live in the cold north of Scandinavia so.
My question to you is... Will the government kick down your door and arrest you for what you just said... If no... Then you are wrong. There is indeed freedom of speech where you live.
This have been a good conversation
Sooooooooo, I don't get it. Is this post a pro-toxic community post? I have noticed that the toxicity of gaming forums has tapered off lately. You know what? If you want to speak your mind and be completely uncensored, try reddit. Might be the last bastion for you.
You might have some valid complaints, but chances are they already know about "continuous issues", they may have already warned you or the community at large, you may have posted in the wrong section, and people may just not want to hear your whining. Maybe save it for customer support. They're paid to listen, although it's likely they rarely do.
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
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Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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Heres a simply and direct answer. As nothing to do with freedom of speech.
The obvious troll got what he deserved.
If you went into a company to insult the CEO or whatever and demanded he got fired, security would also "escort" you from the building tell you to stay out.
If it doesn't work in the real world there's no reason it should in the virtual.
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https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
Freedom of speech is a freedom, not an obligation. You are free to voice your opinions, but no-one is obligated to allow it on their forums, MMO, or any other situation where they set the rules. You'll have to voice your opinions somewhere where the person/entity controlling the place does not forbid it.
“You get to say the world is flat because we live in a country that guarantees free speech, but it’s not a country that guarantees that anything you say is correct."
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson
want 7 free days of playing? Try this
http://www.swtor.com/r/ZptVnY
OP:
Its a constant legal struggle between free speech and privately held Forums.
So the idea is that you 'should' be able to say whatever you want when standing on a public sidewalk but not when you are in a building owned by someone.
Having said that, like I say its a constant legal battle because companies will use the free speech argument when broadcasting what they want and then say its their property when shutting someone else down.
Also, people have been restricted from protesting (free speech) on public property which by all accounts is unconsitutional.
Well game companies that censor posts about opinions are just dumb if its a valid opinion or suggestion it should be allowed and generally I never have many problems except on some games moderators become abusive and this is when I take the posts to other forums which the game company doesn't own, snapshot proof of the abuse and pass opinion about the game this means that such posts would appear on the search engine for anyone searching specific things on a search engine generally its rare but some moderators are jerks on forums and try to censor valid opinions about a specific game with things like warnings, Closed or Deleted Thread, but they don't understand that Google Cache saves pages pretty fast and Censoring an opinion when called out with proof generally gives the said company a bad name anyways.
If you feel a Moderator is being abusive in a specific forum you can always.
. Get proof of abuse, and have a bunch of people report the said moderator in a customer service ticket to the company
. You can't truly be banned many forums on the internet just log IP address, which means a person can just keep making accounts on many games no matter how many times you are banned.
. If the company really wanted to silence this said method they could always get a lawyer there are other parts of the U.S u.s Constitution which could be taken to court and protect a game company it would seem although in general it never goes this far usually.
Then there is actual moderation where posts should actually be deleted because someone posts really disturbing content, or just trolling like a topic saying "This Game Sucks" but don't provide actual feedback with a solution to the problem take this as an example.
https://forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/4110-Fix-This-Loss-OF-Founders-Items/?pageNo=1
Simple story short game company charged players $100 for a founders package, but made all founders items able to be fully looted without properly letting players know, there is no option to "Refund" on their site and no said fix in place other than they took advise to fix the item details on the site so players who buy in the future were aware but those who already paid got really screwed over. More interesting if you go read page 4 you can see the type of lewd posts some players make when valid suggestions are made to fix a problem.
Exactly. Freedom of Speech is a restriction on the US government's powers to intervene in people's lives. Web sites aren't the US government, and have no legal obligation to allow people to say anything.
The thing I see frequently confused with the First Amendment is that it allows a person to say anything they wish without consequences. That's simply not the case. People can be arrested for yelling 'Fire' in a public gathering. That's one case where the law prevents people 'griefing' others by causing undue panic and alarm. If you use a racial / sexual / ethnic slur, you can be sued by an offended party. There are laws making slander, libel, plagiarism, misrepresentation, copyright infringements and other specific forms of 'speech/expression' illegal.
Being banned from a forum isn't a breech of the First Amendment. Being able to rant and rave isn't a protected form of speech, it is a privilege allowed by that forum's owner, and consequences to offensive speech may be dispensed by that owner.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Pretty much this. I don't think I'm that thin skinned but the chat I've seen in there is pretty bad. I wouldn't mind at all seeing them crack down on it more as it makes playing with chat turned on rather unpleasant. No I don't think you should be thrown in jail for being a racist idiot or pretending to be one to troll and annoy people but at the same time just because you're legally allowed to think and say it doesn't give you the right to a captive audience.
Oh no, you are clearly mistaken. I have a clear "right" to rant and rave wherever I wish.
But others have a right to throw me out as well...... so you bear the consequences of your actions.
If I ran a company sponsored website, it would be heavily moderated, because there's very little business benefit to letting some folks go on all sorts of rages, so why let them.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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