Studio "mortified" that folks are using their pay to reserve a name system to "troll" other players

Slapshot1188 · March 2018

Hail Elyrians,

Yesterday we launched the Surname Reservation system to great enthusiasm and excitement. Unfortunately, while most eagerly awaited the system for the purpose of reserving the surname they've established lore around, others decided to use this as an opportunity to abuse and harass another player.

This is unacceptable to us, and we're mortified that one of our most influential community members would gain joy out of making the life of someone else less enjoyable. Games are all about bringing happiness to others; an escape from reality and an opportunity to live a life we could otherwise only dream about. While we are fine with people playing vile characters, criminals, and deviants in-character, taking such behavior outside of the game represents a style of player we do NOT wish to cater to, nor plan to.

Earlier today we announced a potential policy change around pre-reserving peoples' online user names so that others could not snipe them as surnames. And while our intentions were good - to thwart would-be trolls, after discussion we've determined it infringes on the otherwise healthy, competitive nature of surname reservation. Indeed, a technical change to the name reservation system at this point would easily confuse our feeling of repulision against a clear act of trolling with an otherwise legitimate name reservation system.

So - in contradiction to the earlier posted announcement, we have decided NOT to pre-reserve user account names as surnames. We feel like such action would defeat the purpose of the influence table and thus render surname reservation less meaningful.

That said - we will ALWAYS stop trolling in its tracks whenever it is witnessed. No matter who does it, no matter their influentual or financial support for our studio. Because there is no amount of influence or financial backing worth creating a culture of misconduct or malevolence.

As a reminder, our Terms of Use says:

"You must not abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate, or intimidate other users of our Services or any employee, agent, or affiliate of Soulbound Studios...

Should you be found to have engaged in illegal or abusive usage of our Services, or any violation of these Terms of Use or Code of Conduct, Soulbound Studios may suspend, terminate, or take other action regarding your User Account. Soulbound Studios is the sole and final arbiter of whether conduct violates these Terms of Use. Soulbound Studios assumes no responsibility or liability for any User Conduct or Soulbound Studios’ decision to take action or not to take action with respect to User Conduct."

and our Code of Conduct says this...

"3. Trolling: Trolling is a waste of everyone’s time, so don’t do it. Unless you are “being a troll” by roleplaying as the kind who live under bridges in the Fan Fiction and Roleplaying forum, just don’t do it. Doing so will result in disciplinary actions being taken, and potentially having your account banned."

In this instance we will be denying the surname submitted maliciously so that the intended owner can claim it, punishing the person who reserved it, and strongly discouraging anyone else from intentionally causing conflict, chaos, and confrontation out-of-character. The Surname Reservation tool utilizes our influence system as a fair and objective way to handle picking order and we will not be making any changes to this system. Use the name reservation system, attempt to get the name you want, but if you are determined to be trolling other players, we will take action against people who abuse our terms of service. Simailarly, if you feel you are being targeted, attacked, or trolled, do not hesitate to contact support@soulboundstudios.com, as our goal remains to create a fiercely competive game in a friendly, collaborative environment.

MadFrenchie · March 2018

I'm sure once they hit launch that those influential players will all be sure to have the interest of their fellow gamers in mind and WON'T look to exploit or manipulate in-game systems to harass or abuse other players, or to ensure their purchased advantages stay theirs. /Sarcasm

Wellspring · March 2018

Any idea who caused that statement? It seems they were speaking against the actions of a very specific person.

Slapshot1188 · March 2018

IMHO just another example of extreme naivety. I hope all the folks listening use this as a chance to legitimately discuss the serious issues their systems have (like OPCs...)

If they are "mortified" and having a "feeling of revulsion" around something as simple as reserving names.. wait until the real griefing starts.

Remember, this is one of their High Roller donors.

How are they going to respond when The Goons decide to come piss in their Cheerios? It's their utter shock at the fact that people will ALWAYS find a way to abuse a system that is most concerning...

"Games are all about bringing happiness to others"?
Utter naivety...

Wellspring · March 2018

Agreed. Idk what they were expecting. It's a full loot PvP game. People grief names all the time in MMOs.

Back in Vanguard people stole our guild leader and some officers' character names at launch. He had to play with his name spelled backwards. Same thing often happens with guild names.

It's all part of the server launch rush. Most game studios stay out of it and simply say "tough luck".

MadFrenchie · March 2018

Slapshot1188 said:

IMHO just another example of extreme naivety. I hope all the folks listening use this as a chance to legitimately discuss the serious issues their systems have (like OPCs...)

If they are "mortified" and having a "feeling of revulsion" around something as simple as reserving names.. wait until the real griefing starts.

Remember, this is one of their High Roller donors.

How are they going to respond when The Goons decide to come piss in their Cheerios? It's their utter shock at the fact that people will ALWAYS find a way to abuse a system that is most concerning...

"Games are all about bringing happiness to others"?
Utter naivety...

That's why I never bought this idea that the high roller donors would be good little stewards of the game world, ensuring that new players are welcomed in with open arms...

It won't be. At least part of those who spent significant amounts on advantages will do everything within their power to hang onto them, including exploiting unintended consequences of game mechanics.

I've seen little to tell me SBS has any idea how to prevent such things, or that they even recognize the glaring issue it will present if they don't.

Ungood · March 2018

Just to be clear, this does not need to be trolling in my book, this could be Investing. Securing Popular or Sought After names, and then Selling them to the people that would want them is a form of commerce in some of the MMO's I have played.

While no doubt a game like CoE which is built upon drama and subterfuge will have this more then say.. a typical adventure game. It should come as no surprise that this kind of thing will be done, as it is a part of the game itself, and should not be viewed as direct Trolling, until motives have been looked into.

Slapshot1188 · March 2018

Ungood said:

Just to be clear, this does not need to be trolling in my book, this could be Investing. Securing Popular or Sought After names, and then Selling them to the people that would want them is a form of commerce in some of the MMO's I have played.

While no doubt a game like CoE which is built upon drama and subterfuge will have this more then say.. a typical adventure game. It should come as no surprise that this kind of thing will be done, as it is a part of the game itself, and should not be viewed as direct Trolling, until motives have been looked into.

Don't tell us... tell Caspien

He's the "mortified" one

Benezetta · March 2018

Is it April Fools day yet? Cause this has to be a joke.

Ungood · March 2018

Slapshot1188 said:

Ungood said:

Just to be clear, this does not need to be trolling in my book, this could be Investing. Securing Popular or Sought After names, and then Selling them to the people that would want them is a form of commerce in some of the MMO's I have played.

While no doubt a game like CoE which is built upon drama and subterfuge will have this more then say.. a typical adventure game. It should come as no surprise that this kind of thing will be done, as it is a part of the game itself, and should not be viewed as direct Trolling, until motives have been looked into.

Don't tell us... tell Caspien

He's the "mortified" one

What.. and spoil all the fun?

You don't know me well at all...

Edit added: There is also the minor issue of not being a member of their forums or community, so.. I don't talk to them at all at this point. You have more clout then I do.. you tell him.

Blaze_Rocker · March 2018

You're mortified that human beings are capable of gaining joy from antagonizing others!?!

When did you guys arrive on planet? It's obvious you haven't been here very long if it shocks you that people would pay to do this.

Ungood · March 2018

Blaze_Rocker said:

You're mortified that human beings are capable of gaining joy from antagonizing others!?!
When did you guys arrive on planet? It's obvious you haven't been here very long if it shocks you that people would pay to do this.

I dunno.. I would say.. yah.. it shocks me that someone would PAY to be an asshole..

Wizardry · March 2018

Too bad his statement does not carry any weight in the real world.
No amount of money,eh,if only that were true,we are seeing ever more corruption being uncovered as technology gets better,from our governments,to the many government offices filtered all the way down to the public sectors.

I watched a city council meeting with the two leads of the regional law enforcement,sometimes was ok others i felt a lot of lying and deceit.

In this particular case,likely just a notable person within the community but not within their employment,otherwise we would likely hear cover ups and a different speech.The very notion of paying money to get in and lock up a surname is devious in itself.Imagine if Blizzard went around and erased everyone's game name and said ok,you want your name back PAY US,there would be a massive uproar.
Speeches are nice,but i live in a real world,developers like most people DO NOT care until we the average Joe makes them aware of a problem.You can bet that money most certainly is behind most problems in the world,that and power.

Albatroes · March 2018

Lets not forget the types that spell their names almost identical with 1 letter differences just to cause annoyance.

Kyleran · March 2018

Albatroes said:

Lets not forget the types that spell their names almost identical with 1 letter differences just to cause annoyance.

I plan to have alts named Unguud, Slapshott, and Mystikhaze......

Kyleran · March 2018

These Devs don't have the stones to actually run the type of game they are building. People blame CCP for the behavior of it's players but at the end of the day its the players themselves who are responsible for the shenanigan's, and face it, many gamers are scum, and there's no real changing it.

But what the heck, as long as they pay for their sparks, worlds like this need great evil in order to balance the great good, it's the way of things.

Slapshot1188 · March 2018

Caspien: The very first surname picked was a clear and obvious attempt at ruining the experience of another.

Harbinger: No shit. Welcome to the real world. Now use the time you have to take a real look at some of the mechanics proposed and take proactive steps to mitigate the weaknesses already discussed. When people start griefing IN GAME the tears are going to be much saltier than about some silly name stealing. If name stealing “mortifies” you... you’re going to shit your pants at launch when real griefing starts.

Kyleran · March 2018

Slapshot1188 said:

Caspien: The very first surname picked was a clear and obvious attempt at ruining the experience of another.

Harbinger: No shit. Welcome to the real world. Now use the time you have to take a real look at some of the mechanics proposed and take proactive steps to mitigate the weaknesses already discussed. When people start griefing IN GAME the tears are going to be much saltier than about some silly name stealing. If name stealing “mortifies” you... you’re going to shit your pants at launch when real griefing starts.

More importantly, as we saw in this example even major backers can be griefers. So one has to ask, is their money really no good? CCP balances this all the time, permitting griefers enough freedom to keep on paying, without driving away the less tolerant gamers. No telling if they've found the "best" balance, but they did find one that kept the game running all these years.

Ungood · March 2018

Kyleran said:

Albatroes said:

Lets not forget the types that spell their names almost identical with 1 letter differences just to cause annoyance.

I plan to have alts named Unguud, Slapshott, and Mystikhaze......

Tale "Ungod" it works on more levels then Unguud.

Dakeru · March 2018

2nd March 2018 - The day Soulbound learned something about the nature of their community.

TEKK3N · March 2018

I don't think they should feel "mortified", this happens in every game, they cannot police this sort of behavior even though it is unpleasant.

kjempff · March 2018

Gasp ! Griefing in a competetive pvp game..
Well, I know the studio are actively designing the game to not be a gankfest game and therefore avoiding some toxicity, but being outright surpriced that some of the players are griefers ...
But in any case.. I like that they take a stand early on.

Scot · March 2018

TEKK3N said:

I don't think they should feel "mortified", this happens in every game, they cannot police this sort of behavior even though it is unpleasant.

Welcome to the boards!

Scot · March 2018

The degree of "millennial speak" was rather worrying, I hope staff don't need counselling after this, or once the game starts they will need weekends in a sanctuary retreat.

TiamatRoar · March 2018

Too bad the chances of this game coming out are slim to none. The hypothetical grief explosion that would have happened if it did come out in any playable form would have been epic.

killimandros · March 2018

I feel two sided reading about this; first of all, if the FIRSt name being reserved was a troll-attempt AND the troll got punished, that means they dont cater to the highest paying customers at all

Now I dont see that as a bad thing. No matter how much you pay, if youre an asshole, you will be treated like one. I like that tbh. I used to play Age of Reckoning, and personally I found deep pleasure in the mods naming and shaming hackers, abusers and the like publicly via announcements in game, no matter who passed the thin line. If they continue policying griefing and trolling and other forms of in-game shit like this I cant complain and I wont. I wonder though what they will do about exploiting game weaknesses, texture exploits to enter and steal stuff, OPC griefing, hacking, botting etc. Are they gonna hire a lot of ingame mods or will they as previously stated use players to moderate their game. Now we KNOW one of the highest payers actually is capable of abusing both his position and rank to gain advantages used for trolling purposes how will they filter out the "good guys" if players are gonna be in-game mods?

Secondly; what did they expect

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Studio "mortified" that folks are using their pay to reserve a name system to "troll" other players

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Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

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Studio "mortified" that folks are using their pay to reserve a name system to "troll" other players

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Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV