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72-Hour Tempban! For....
dragon733
Member UncommonPosts: 31
Private/Crew chat between me and my cousin! These instances were within the context of PRIVATE chat that no one but me and my cousin could see. I've never sworn outside of private chat, and I hardly talk to other people at all.
Here's the majority of the email they sent me:
"We are writing to inform you that inappropriate language has been found within a chat log attached to your account, shown below:
*a bunch of examples of me swearing to my cousin and no one else, in a 100% private chat area*
Due to the nature of the language, we have placed your account on a 72-hour hold. To regain access to your account after the 72 hours, please review and agree to our Terms of Use and House Rules here: http://disney.go.com/corporate/legal/terms.html.";
Wtf... they penalize me for PERSONAL conversations? This is pure bullshit, even if it is Disney! Other than this, I barely talk to other people at all, let alone say anything bad! They shouldn't be locking my account for 3 days for shit that I've said in private situations, where the person doesn't mind and no one else sees it!
The funny thing is, they have some really retarded systems. I got the e-mail about 2 hours ago, but I'm still in-game! I assume that if I log out, the tempban will then be enacted. The idiots! When I'm going to leave, I'll just go AFK in a quiet area and leave the game open! I can play through the entire account lock, and laugh about it the entire time!
This is retarded, even for Disney.
Playing: BF2142
Waiting For: Jumpgate: Evolution
Played: UO, DAoC, MCO, EQ, AO, TSO, Shadowbane, Planetside, SWG, FFXI, CoH, L2, EQ2, WoW, MxO, EVE, AoC
Played 6mo+: UO, EVE
Comments
BAHAHAHAHA!
Sorry, don't mean to laugh... but that is retarded.
Hmmm. Maybe your cousin turned you in. In which case, the ban would be appropriate
As it is Disney and is a game catered towards a pre-adult crowd this is an unfortunate but necessary precaution. As the chat happens in game, using their software it travels through their servers. In an effort to protect children from the evil of the internets you used language that set off flags in their monitoring software. I would not be in the least bit surprised if it said in their EULA or TOS that all chat channels are monitored, whether it be group, guild, or personal whisper.
I would suggest that, if you are incapable of carrying on a discussion without profanity then, you should most likely stick to using skype or one of the many messenger programs.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
How do they know it's your cousin? You could be swearing at some little kid. Also, you have no expectation of privacy. You agree to the rules when you initiate play. If you can't abide by them, then go elsewhere. It's their game, their rules.
~Ripper
Was it under True Friend Chat?
No, I think only younger players get true friend codes, because they aren't allowed to talk to anyone else. Or some stupid thing like that, idk..
And of course, you also have to call to cancel your subscription. Because instead of hitting a cancel button online, obviously I'd enjoy sitting on the phone for 10 minutes, explaining to the PR idiot why I don't want to continue playing the game.
Playing: BF2142
Waiting For: Jumpgate: Evolution
Played: UO, DAoC, MCO, EQ, AO, TSO, Shadowbane, Planetside, SWG, FFXI, CoH, L2, EQ2, WoW, MxO, EVE, AoC
Played 6mo+: UO, EVE
well...swear on line and they'll cancel it for you?
Thats wierd. I assume the only was to be caught cuzzing is if someone turns you in. I've been playing for a little over a week now and I cuss constantly. So far never had anything happen to me.
i got a warning and never could get them to tell me what it was i did or show me a log so i can't really say for sure, I just know i do not cuss in open channel so ...
I'm presuming they're combing the logs with some kind of program. they *might* have lightened up since launch, i do not know.
I was banned release night for giving my email address to a fellow guild member so we could hook up on msn and then meet in game when the game was released, i agree it's crap but they monitor everything just find ways around it.
Although it was private chat, Disney does not know who you are cursing at. Mabye it is an eight year old boy you met, and then was added to your friends list. The next day you curse ALOT at him. Now they did not know this person was your cousin.
On the fact that this game was based on a lower-aged audience (although I am sure some older people play it as well), I believe that Disney should do this, because no 8 year old children to be looking at people cursing. This is good, so now younger people will not learn bad language from a game produced by Disney =p.
This is just my opinion, but I think that this is good, due to the fact that this game is based for younger children
~mike470~
__________________________________________________
In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08 - Rest In Peace; you will not be forgotten
Yeah, as said, you could be cursing/swearing at a little kid. Think about it, kids probably over populate teen agers playing this. So chances are you're talking to a kid.
And whether private or personal chat, it's still cursing. The game prohibits cursing overall. So just don't curse, you're not supposed to, you're not allowed to, and now you've been warned with a 72 Hour ban. That's you're fault. Now you know to obey their rules.
Where there's a game, there's a player, I'm that player.
Seriously people?
"How do you know it was your cousin?"
um... news flash - I think people would know who their relative is. Most people don't just walk up to other people and assume they are their cousin. Sheesh.
I understand the whole, "it is a younger audience of players... so they are trying to avoid them learning bad words". So I agree with the temp-ban.
But honestly, I'm appauled at some other posters that think that you don't know your own cousin. Seriously - that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
The person knows who they are cursing at. Disney Does not know, which is why I said that Disney does not know who this person is cursing at. They do not know if it is his cousin or an 8 year old boy. Sure, the one who is cursing might, but Disney does not know.
__________________________________________________
In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08 - Rest In Peace; you will not be forgotten
I dont understand how half of you people take this so lightly. Who is Disney to tell anyone how to talk as long as the channel is private? Even if it was not private - there should be a feature called chat-filter to filter out "bad" words. And as long as noone is reporting sb else no action should be taken anyway, except in extreme cases (what is extreme could be open to discussion tho, spamming "bad" language on some open channel for example).
Tbh, imho, if above mentioned tools are available (i.e. chat-filter), it would be the responsibility of the parent to set up the game in a way their kids wont be able to read "bad" language. I remember some MMORPGs, including WoW, whose chat-filter settings filtered half of the words any normal human uses on a day-by-day basis, like "dog" and similar words .... even in npc-chat xD
Last but not least: What is "bad" language? As long as I dont use words to attack another person, I should be able to use any word I want to. Its not the word which is "bad", but the intention I might have by using certain words. If that intention is left out the word itself is absolutely harmless. Im sick of having to watch what I am writing, only because some overzelous christians decided to censor language at some point in the past. Im no christian, so why do I have to watch my language? Because thou shalt not swear? Or because I shall not use the name of the lord in vain? Now excuse me if I feel that I as a non-christian dont want to abide to those rules. After all, many readers here wouldnt want to have to abide to certain rules other religions set up in the past.
Im also asking myself what is worse: having kids use or hear(read) censored words or try to manipulate kids into manipulating their parents to pay for a service. Or weather killing zombies and destroying ships is morally any better than using certain words.
For all I care Disney can go and *censored* themselves. The game is crap, it would not motivate me to spend my time grinding for more than 2-3 days if it was - even if they allowed me to swear all day.
Who is Disney to tell anyone how to talk as long as the channel is private?
For one, it's Disney. Family-friendly is their middle name. Of course they do not want any form of "bad language" used in their game.
Secondly, it's their game. I'm sure if you read the EULA, you'd see provisions for language use, and what not to use. They pretty much have every right to tell you what you can and can not do in their game. If you don't like it, don't play.
A language filter is a nice feature, but not one they have to add. Especialy if they want to discourage bad language all together.
One thing to keep in mind is, POTC is one of Disney's few franchises that is of a more mature level. They will be cautious in the who's and what's of their game. If Disney had been doing PG-13 / T movies and games all along, I'm sure we'd have a Conan like POTC... Well maybe not, but that would be cool.
Brrrflp!
Theres nothing really wrong with your arguments. My point though was a different one, namely that it is not a moral question at all weather a person uses swear-words (if not actually intending to hurt another person). It does become a moral question if marking certain words as "bad" will affect peoples social status. For example giving tardies to kids at school for using "bad" language (and consequently, after 3 tardies, expelling them from school). This will actually hurt the kid and therefore is immoral imho. Half the grown-ups in america use "bad" language at times - the president does. But kids get tardies at school if they do.
The other point is, and that is where I do disagree to an extend, that I dont think it is OK for a GM to monitor private chat and ban anyone just for the use of certain words. If you consider that I am coming from a country with a formerly communistic and controlling government you might guess why. I do agree though, even considering my first point, that it would be ok to ban people if swearing in public channels. Also, people are also saying stuff like "Its their rule.. its in the EULA!" So what? An EULA is a contract, and as any other contract can have points which are not binding (i.e. the paragraph against reverse engineering in many EULAs is not valid in several countries which have laws that explicitly allow reverse engineering).
And yes, absolutely, its my choice to play this game - or not. And I choose not to.
...Disney is not family-friendly. They simply wrap themselves in programing that seems geared more towards children. But a lot of their movies, shows, et cetera, have been very...non-child. I mean, PoTC, for one...many people took their children to the first movie, thinking "It's Disney, it will be fine." And then, the skeletons came about. Now, I'd think most could handle dead folks, but I've heard from more than a few people that the younger crowd was a bit taken aback by the scene.
That, and it is not like Disney is teaching children any morals or anything. A lot of mindless fluff, that lacks a message or real content. Clean fluff is no better for a child than foul language and violence, and the like. Also, their movies have always had a subtext for an older crowd, something to pass just over the heads of the young, and get a chuckle from the old. So, really, a ban for private chat that passed unreported by either party is just...wrong. Use filters, and moniter reports, not -every- single word passed between two people.
Sorry to burst your idealistic utopian bubble, but the fact is that every society judges its inhabitants and determines their social status at least to some extent based on their words and their actions. Get angry or indignant about it all you like, it's not going to change the way human beings interact with each other. Behaviour codes are enforced especially strictly amongst younger people (like swearing in schools) because it is widely believed (rightly or wrongly) that one kind of antisocial behaviour can lead to more serious forms, especially with young people who don't yet have a fully formed understanding of social consequences. Not learning lessons about behavioural propriety early on often can cause far bigger problems for the individual later in life... better to get a 'tardie' (whatever that is) now than get fired for abusing your coworkers later.
But moral questions aside, it is the legal privilege of any private arena to set and enforce rules of conduct on their `premises'. Whether it's a sports stadium, an exclusive restaurant or an online game, pretty much everywhere you go will have some explicit or implied contract of behaviour... dress code, code of conduct etc. So long as these rules don't discriminate against only one part of society, they are perfectly acceptable. Moreover, it's entirely your choice as to whether or not you want to enter these places, and hence be bound by their rules.
In this case Disney have chosen to enforce a language code. That is neither amoral nor sinister, it's merely a marketing decision they've made and one which players agree to by accepting the EULA. Nor is it likely to be found illegal in any country where this game is sold. I'm guessing it's a completely automated function with a list of keywords that trigger an alert, not (as you imagine) an army of shadowy masterminds fingering through private conversations searching for conspiracies or titillating gossip.
I do agree with Greek, other than foul language being "Anti-social", unless I misunderstood that part, though the way the young crowd uses it, it often can be such, I suppose, and hardly leads them to productive lines of actions...it is Disney's right to do this, and all, no matter how wrong it can be viewed as. I still dislike how Disney is being painted as some clean, moral source, though, as I've said, which is why I agree with Greek as much as I do. Really, this seems more about business than keeping things clean...unhappy parents leads to a loss in sales, after all. It still seems like something to frown upon, though.
Hurray for Disney! About time someone tried to make a MMO that was kid friendly.
Bad word filters are easy to circumvent. WoW is a prime example.
Can you definitely be sure that you were still in private chat? I have seen a lot of accidental mistells to the wrong channel in MMO's.
If you look at it from their point of view they got a rule, which is in place for a good reason, you knowingly broke the rule, because you thought it would not matter with your cousin. They caught you breaking the rule and punished you.
They did the right thing, even though you dont not like it, you know you where breaking a rule even though you thought it would not matter.
Use one of the dozens of other programs to chat with your cousin, while playing, but dont go around breaking rules and exspect to not be punished went your caught.
@ Greek_Matt
Sorry to burst your idealistic utopian bubble,
It is neither idealistic nor utopian ... so no need to be sorry. In many other countries swearing is widely accepted. Now I am german, and no one will look at me twice if I choose to use swear words in public as long as I am not targetting someone with those.
but the fact is that every society judges its inhabitants and determines their social status at least to some extent based on their words and their actions.
I never said society does not. I made a distinction between swearing and swearing AT someone. Merely using a swear-word to make clear that I dislike the current situation as opposed to hurting some person is a big difference. So basically I am saying that the intention of the words used matter, not the word itself. Steven Pinker distinguishes 5 different kinds of swearing (just check wikipedia) only one kind actually insulting others.
Get angry or indignant about it all you like, it's not going to change the way human beings interact with each other.
Please use proper arguments and stop telling me what to do or not to do, will you? Also, if you dont believe that the oppinion of a single person can change things, why do you post at all :P Appart from that, there are others with similar arguments, read that for an example: link
Behaviour codes are enforced especially strictly amongst younger people (like swearing in schools) because it is widely believed (rightly or wrongly) that one kind of antisocial behaviour can lead to more serious forms, especially with young people who don't yet have a fully formed understanding of social consequences. Not learning lessons about behavioural propriety early on often can cause far bigger problems for the individual later in life... better to get a 'tardie' (whatever that is) now than get fired for abusing your coworkers later.
Theoretically right, practically wrong - for the same reasons as stated above. What really should be made clear to kids is the stated distiction - do not use words (or fists) to hurt other people. Also your argument aint quite right as, again as stated before, that "that one kind of antisocial behaviour" is not seen as antisocial in many countries. Again here in germany, I never had problems when using swear words in school. Would maybe in kindergarden, dunno, but then again the reason WHY is seldom made clear to kids, mainly because grown ups (such as you I guess) dont know themselves.
It certainly is better to get a tardy for swearing and miss school in a society which will fire people for swearing at work, so in that respect your argument would be valid. Problem is you are generalizing. It is certainly worse to miss school for swearing if you wont loose your job if you swore. Which I believe wont be a problem for most employes in the U.S. (depends really, but still one cant generalize that one would loose ones job just for swearing). So practically your argument is absolutely right, it just does not apply to swearing, or not to all kinds of swearing anyway. Oh and a tardy is, uh well, do something bad you get a tardy, get three of em and you get a day off of school.
But moral questions aside, it is the legal privilege of any private arena to set and enforce rules of conduct on their `premises'. Whether it's a sports stadium, an exclusive restaurant or an online game, pretty much everywhere you go will have some explicit or implied contract of behaviour... dress code, code of conduct etc. So long as these rules don't discriminate against only one part of society, they are perfectly acceptable. Moreover, it's entirely your choice as to whether or not you want to enter these places, and hence be bound by their rules.
This is right in nowadays society. Nevertheless there is the question where to draw the line when talking about discrimination. I feel discriminated as non-christian if I am not allowed to use swearwords (not addressing other persons ofc). Now I am a minority and therefore it dont matter apparently. Its discriminating nevertheless. Not getting into a club because one is not wearing designer clothes is discriminating too.
In this case Disney have chosen to enforce a language code. That is neither amoral nor sinister, it's merely a marketing decision they've made and one which players agree to by accepting the EULA. Nor is it likely to be found illegal in any country where this game is sold. I'm guessing it's a completely automated function with a list of keywords that trigger an alert, not (as you imagine) an army of shadowy masterminds fingering through private conversations searching for conspiracies or titillating gossip.
The enforcement of language code itself aint amoral. Amoral is to listen in on private conversations and enforcing it even if all parties involved not having a problem with swear words. It might very well be illegal to censor peoples language in a private channel in a democratic country. There are laws prohibiting certain products showing violence and profanity to be sold to underaged. Those do not apply to single persons (ofc there are laws against perfoming violence against someone ...). There is no law against swearing, not even in the states as far as I know. So censoring in a private chat is actually violating my right of free speech.
Imagine this:
12 year old girl makes online friend with 12 year old boy.
12 year old girl starts talking to 12 year old boy in friend chat.
12 year old boy and 12 year old girl start having dirty little conversations.
12 year old girl agrees to meet up with 12 year old boy.
12 year old boy is really 40 year old pervert.
12 year old girl turns up in river, dead.
All because it would be improper to monitor private chat in a game marketed toward children.
I applaud Disney for this. OP, suck it up OR play a game NOT intended for children.