Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Trolls are an issue. Ranging from disposable NPC corp alts to nigh-untouchable large bloc members, ISDs have a lot of work cleaning the sewage from the forums and elsewhere in the game.

One part of the problem is the lack of tracking afforded to ISDs for repeat offenders. If they happen to recognize a repeat offender, that delinquent might end up with a forum ban. But beyond that, the tools are somewhat lacking, and people are taking advantage of this.

It is also possible to recycle alts -- yes, yes, it's against the ToS or EULA or whatever, but it still happens -- and evade repercussions on the primary spaceships character(s) of the account while continually defecating all over the forums. Whether they abandon the character, biomass, or even sell it for a profit, it happens.


What if some sort of account-wide "karma" or "reputation" tracking was employed, in a punitive-only fashion? When you misbehave and get spanked, your karma goes down. If you make constructive posts, or just avoid spreading garbage, your karma can rise to a normal level. It would be punitive only, in that at no point in time would anyone be able to "earn" a free pass at shiptoasting. So Chribba would have no more freedom to troll than would a brand-new 0-day noob, though the community would discount the latter's posts much more readily than the former's.

If you continually spew forth utter rubbish, eventually your karma would dip below a threshold warranting a forum ban. This could either happen automatically or could trigger a flag for ISDs to pass up to CCP. Repeated and frequent offenses could trigger (flags for) more serious consequences than a temporary ban. Ultimately, repeat offenders might lose forum posting permissions permanently. On any character on that account, old or new.

This kind of accountability tracking would follow the account. You couldn't recycle alts to evade consequences, though you could eventually use NPC alts to "earn" your main spaceships character a permanent forum/communications ban, even you never used that character. Imagine being unable to use corp chat or fleet chat because you can't behave yourself in Local or on the Forums with your troll alt.

This is sort of creating a "criminal record" for accounts regarding forum posting. Players can use whatever account they want to use to disseminate information or leaks, or to speak freely without fear of reproach, but they would remain accountable to everything they post on any of their characters if they choose to violate the ToS, etc.

This could still be handled anonymously, if ISDs were not intended to have a record of this kind of information. Only when the flags are raised would the account be recommended for further action.


Also possible would be include public in-game communications infractions. If you can't behave in your (public) communications, then maybe you don't need to have the privilege of using (any) communication resources, whether forums or in-game channels or EVE mail, etc. I would imagine being able to chat with your buddies in-game to be more important than trolling CAOD, for example. It might prove to be more "encouraging" than simply behaving on the forums.

Trolls suck but its a part of the game TBH and its a part of real life. If people want to pay their 15 bucks a month to sit in jita and troll people, as long as they aren't breaking the rules (EULA) its a part of the game and shouldn't be subject to penalization.

Remember this is an attempt to be a simulation game as well as a fun dynamic universe that tries to include all aspects of life in a science fiction universe. Trolls are apart of it even space trolls.

Depends of your definition of trolling. Trolling can technically be defined as highsec ganking or killing someone for no reason...

This is obviously not illegal

I think the definition we are referring to is the kind that just pushes right up to the line on you shouldn't do that but its not against the rules

To your point where do we draw this line is a different topic but we still shouldn't penalize people for not breaking the rules even if they are pushing it.

One man's troll, is another man's sensible posting on facts in regards to the thread.

I have a feeling your idea would be a way to troll, rather than help prevent it.

I'm suggesting both statements (and not the ones that I omitted).

There are channels in-game where some "speech" is not allowed. There is some "speech" that is not allowed on any public channel. CCP or ISD has to deal with those cases, thus those cases should be tracked so repeat offenders can be dealt with.


Unless Goons own the ranks of the ISD, then no, you probably need to re-read to notice all of the references to ISD and CCP in the suggestion. If you are implying that Goons do own ISD, then we're already hosed anyway.


We already have the ISDs who deal with trolling et al. Their tools are limited. This is suggesting a history tracking feature so accounts that create inappropriate "speech" as defined by the EULa/TOS/whatever and enforced by ISD/CCP can be identified upon repeat offenses. At some point, offenses would flag offenders for potential (or automatic) ban recommendations.

The in-game functionality was an afterthought that might provide more incentive for players to tone it down. Maybe it's going too far or maybe it's not, I don't know, but it would seem to be a compelling reason to behave if there was the potential to lose important in-game communication abilities because of what you did on your troll character.


Are you guys so used to player manipulation (manipulating and being manipulated) that you've forgotten there really are rules to follow and people that have the duty to enforce them? :)