Solution to what seems to be an increase in social bans?

idk · August 2020

It seems there has been an increase in social bans the past few months, or I just happen to be noticing the threads more. I have even seen some players get a social ban again shortly after Zos resolved the previous one.

Does Zos have a solution or suggestions for players to prevent these social bans from happening? @ZOS_BillE

SilverBride · August 2020

idk wrote: »

Does Zos have a solution or suggestions for players to prevent these social bans from happening?

Behave yourself.

Wuuffyy · August 2020

SilverBride wrote: »

idk wrote: »

Does Zos have a solution or suggestions for players to prevent these social bans from happening?

Behave yourself.

Lol. In shared a ban for all my friends to see. They thought it was a joke. I was ban for generally suggesting someone isn’t as good as they could be.

Sanctum74 · August 2020

The moderation both in game and the forums has been pretty heavy handed lately. Apparently we aren’t allowed to talk like adults in an adult rated game. Welcome to 2020 everybody looks for a reason to be offended.

SilverBride · August 2020

Wolf_Watching wrote: »

I was ban for generally suggesting someone isn’t as good as they could be.

I'm curious on how you suggested "someone isn't as good as they could be".

Did you say something like "You aren't realizing your full potential. It would greatly benefit you to check out some builds, and get better gear, that would help increase your performance."

Or did you say something like, "Dude, you really suck. Git gud."

I know which I think it probably was.

Wuuffyy · August 2020

SilverBride wrote: »

Wolf_Watching wrote: »

I was ban for generally suggesting someone isn’t as good as they could be.

I'm curious on how you suggested "someone isn't as good as they could be".

Did you say something like "You aren't realizing your full potential. It would greatly benefit you to check out some builds, and get better gear, that would help increase your performance."

Or did you say something like, "Dude, you really suck. Git gud."

I know which I think it probably was.

Actually no it wasn’t. I literally said some players who don’t understand a build tend to come to the forums as a first resort instead of learning what to do to counter that type of gameplay. This comes with the fact that I didn’t curse or direct anything directly at the OP.0.0

SilverBride · August 2020

Wolf_Watching wrote: »

I literally said some players who don’t understand a build tend to come to the forums as a first resort instead of learning what to do to counter that type of gameplay. This comes with the fact that I didn’t curse or direct anything directly at the OP.0.0

I don't know then, unless they thought you were baiting. But isn't this one of the things the forums are for? To help each other with our questions, suggestions and observations?

Sgrug · August 2020

SilverBride wrote: »

Wolf_Watching wrote: »

I literally said some players who don’t understand a build tend to come to the forums as a first resort instead of learning what to do to counter that type of gameplay. This comes with the fact that I didn’t curse or direct anything directly at the OP.0.0

I don't know then, unless they thought you were baiting. But isn't this one of the things the forums are for? To help each other with our questions, suggestions and observations?

There are a group of posters who report you when they do not like you, they have become they effective moderators of the forums and anyone they do not like get banned by default because your post gets flagged as offensive.

Yes the social bullies rule here and the moderators just do as they are directed via post reporting by said bullies.

MercilessnVexed · August 2020

Shh. Don't talk to anybody! Ever!

Wuuffyy · August 2020

SilverBride wrote: »

Wolf_Watching wrote: »

I literally said some players who don’t understand a build tend to come to the forums as a first resort instead of learning what to do to counter that type of gameplay. This comes with the fact that I didn’t curse or direct anything directly at the OP.0.0

I don't know then, unless they thought you were baiting. But isn't this one of the things the forums are for? To help each other with our questions, suggestions and observations?

Exactly. Like I hardly want to post anymore. I just don’t know when I’ll just get an actual perms-ban for making constructive criticism or engaging in debate.

jircris11 · August 2020

Wolf_Watching wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

idk wrote: »

Does Zos have a solution or suggestions for players to prevent these social bans from happening?

Behave yourself.

Lol. In shared a ban for all my friends to see. They thought it was a joke. I was ban for generally suggesting someone isn’t as good as they could be.

It's all about wording in this snowflake ruled world

SilverBride · August 2020

Wolf_Watching wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Wolf_Watching wrote: »

I literally said some players who don’t understand a build tend to come to the forums as a first resort instead of learning what to do to counter that type of gameplay. This comes with the fact that I didn’t curse or direct anything directly at the OP.0.0

I don't know then, unless they thought you were baiting. But isn't this one of the things the forums are for? To help each other with our questions, suggestions and observations?

Exactly. Like I hardly want to post anymore. I just don’t know when I’ll just get an actual perms-ban for making constructive criticism or engaging in debate.

You make a good point.

I know you cannot discuss the particulars of that ban, but I hope they at least told you what they found offensive, so you can adjust your wording in the future.

And maybe they are quicker to ban someone who has been banned before.

Thank you for giving me a different perspective on this issue.

Ashtaris · August 2020

People, don't confuse a social ban with a forum moderation ban, they are two separate animals. A social ban is a in-game ban where you can still log in, but are severely limited on chat and other in game activities like guild traders, etc.

It seems that a social ban is more likely to occur if you are a family or group of players all playing from the same IP. Some friends of ours (family of 3) all received a social ban and it took almost a week for them to get it cleared. About 2 or 3 days later, they got ANOTHER social ban. This time they haven't been back in the game since that happened (2 or 3 weeks ago), so I think they are gone. ZOS lost 3 subscriptions, plus what they were spending in the crown store. I feel like starting a thread with the title: "WARNING - Playing Together As A Family Can Get You BANNED". This has happened with other family groups, so it's not a isolated incident.

And although this mainly impacts the people who are banned, it also impacts people who are friends or guildies. We lost a very nice husband & wife team (along with their son) that we enjoyed doing dungeons with and other in-game activities. Now that they are gone, our enthusiasm for the game has diminished. So it definitely has a negative cascading effect.

My feeling is that they have a automated ban bot that is detecting higher than normal use from a particular IP and accidentally mislabeling it as farming bots or something else. Whatever it is, they (ZOS) needs to figure out what is going on because, really, they are just hurting their bottom line. People will move on to other games or activities.

@ZOS_GinaBruno , @ZOS_BillE

Moloch1514 · August 2020

I've noticed that moderation and censorship on this forum has become extreme, leading me and many others I've heard from to believe ZOS is getting very thin-skinned the more they lose control of their game's performance and overall player enjoyment.

Ashtaris · August 2020

Moloch1514 wrote: »

I've noticed that moderation and censorship on this forum has become extreme, leading me and many others I've heard from to believe ZOS is getting very thin-skinned the more they lose control of their game's performance and overall player enjoyment.

Again, a forum moderation ban is not a SOCIAL ban, which is the title of this thread.

SeaGtGruff · August 2020

Sanctum74 wrote: »

The moderation both in game and the forums has been pretty heavy handed lately. Apparently we aren’t allowed to talk like adults in an adult rated game. Welcome to 2020 everybody looks for a reason to be offended.

I tend to doubt that there are any in-game moderators lurking in every zone looking for offensive chat, so if someone were to get a social ban for offensive chat then it would most likely be because other players reported them. And while I understand what you mean about talking like adults in an adult-rated game, some of the chats I've seen went far beyond "adult language" into obvious and deliberate hate speech. When called out by other players, the offending parties usually try to come back with a lame claim that it was just a "joke." Besides, just because somebody uses "adult language" doesn't mean they're talking in an adult manner; most of the raunchy "adult language" chats that I've seen were extremely juvenile, not adult.

kargen27 · August 2020

Self censoring works for me. My first draft sometimes reads as if I am some kind of caustic (put favorite bad word here) and I think to myself that is going to have consequences. The rewrite while sometimes still a bit snarky is much better than the original. Sometimes it is cathartic to type out an asinine and evil rant and then not hit reply.

abigfishy · August 2020

Wolf_Watching wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

idk wrote: »

Does Zos have a solution or suggestions for players to prevent these social bans from happening?

Behave yourself.

Lol. In shared a ban for all my friends to see. They thought it was a joke. I was ban for generally suggesting someone isn’t as good as they could be.

There is a difference between "Excuse me but you should use X skill and Y set because they will really help you to improve" and "STFU noob u suk f-u dont eva que again biartch go kill urself".

Can't wait till I have endure this abuse from people like you in BGs for 6 hours to get rapids back that were just taken from me.

redspecter23 · August 2020

idk wrote: »

It seems there has been an increase in social bans the past few months, or I just happen to be noticing the threads more. I have even seen some players get a social ban again shortly after Zos resolved the previous one.

Does Zos have a solution or suggestions for players to prevent these social bans from happening? @ZOS_BillE

ZOS could start by telling people what they did to get social banned so they can prevent it in the future as well as warn their friends. It would result in happier players, fewer bans and a lighter workload for customer support.

Sephyr · August 2020

People are confusing a forum ban with a social ban. A forum ban is here on the forums. A social ban is a soft-ban in the game that prevents you from interacting with players, the bank, and other services that's usually to prohibit gold sellers.

As for the OP, I honestly have no idea. I've seen a few things that may be triggering it;

Massive amounts of gold transferred between accounts, most notably accounts that have been recently created.
Somehow someone was able to be gifted crown store items during the 30 day non-gifting period (both giving and receiving).
Players running dungeons behind the same router and doing something (it was never specified what they actually did, but the slew of them in the group was social banned after trading dungeon gear).
Something to do with target dummies (I don't know what it was and I know it was an exploit so that's as far as I'm willing to go on that one).

Most of these I'm feeling are doing something to trigger the automated systems that have been dialed up to 10 as of late. As far as solutions go though, I've got nothing since no one has been clear on what's happening either way.

Sgrug · August 2020

Sephyr wrote: »

People are confusing a forum ban with a social ban. A forum ban is here on the forums. A social ban is a soft-ban in the game that prevents you from interacting with players, the bank, and other services that's usually to prohibit gold sellers.

As for the OP, I honestly have no idea. I've seen a few things that may be triggering it;
Massive amounts of gold transferred between accounts, most notably accounts that have been recently created.

Somehow someone was able to be gifted crown store items during the 30 day non-gifting period (both giving and receiving).

Players running dungeons behind the same router and doing something (it was never specified what they actually did, but the slew of them in the group was social banned after trading dungeon gear).

Something to do with target dummies (I don't know what it was and I know it was an exploit so that's as far as I'm willing to go on that one).

Most of these I'm feeling are doing something to trigger the automated systems that have been dialed up to 10 as of late. As far as solutions go though, I've got nothing since no one has been clear on what's happening either way.

It use to be, may still be a trigger, if enough players report you you got a social ban. I know there was a group of self appointed social justice warriors using that to harass people a while back.

Sephyr · August 2020

Sgrug wrote: »

Sephyr wrote: »

People are confusing a forum ban with a social ban. A forum ban is here on the forums. A social ban is a soft-ban in the game that prevents you from interacting with players, the bank, and other services that's usually to prohibit gold sellers.

As for the OP, I honestly have no idea. I've seen a few things that may be triggering it;
Massive amounts of gold transferred between accounts, most notably accounts that have been recently created.

Somehow someone was able to be gifted crown store items during the 30 day non-gifting period (both giving and receiving).

Players running dungeons behind the same router and doing something (it was never specified what they actually did, but the slew of them in the group was social banned after trading dungeon gear).

Something to do with target dummies (I don't know what it was and I know it was an exploit so that's as far as I'm willing to go on that one).

Most of these I'm feeling are doing something to trigger the automated systems that have been dialed up to 10 as of late. As far as solutions go though, I've got nothing since no one has been clear on what's happening either way.

It use to be, may still be a trigger, if enough players report you you got a social ban. I know there was a group of self appointed social justice warriors using that to harass people a while back.

I don't know if that's the case anymore. Unless it's seriously dire (extreme racism, etc), generally I still see people spew tons of vitriol. But the cases as of late that have posted on the forum have generally done one of the above and very few did anything else.

Edit: I should say that I still see the same people spewing the same vitriol and I know they've been reported a few times by dozens. So if that still exists, they might've relaxed that trigger a bit from what it was before.

Wuuffyy · August 2020

abigfishy wrote: »

Wolf_Watching wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

idk wrote: »

Does Zos have a solution or suggestions for players to prevent these social bans from happening?

Behave yourself.

Lol. In shared a ban for all my friends to see. They thought it was a joke. I was ban for generally suggesting someone isn’t as good as they could be.

There is a difference between "Excuse me but you should use X skill and Y set because they will really help you to improve" and "STFU noob u suk f-u dont eva que again biartch go kill urself".

Can't wait till I have endure this abuse from people like you in BGs for 6 hours to get rapids back that were just taken from me.

No. Not at all. If someone comes to the forum advocating nerfs, I will give them the criticism they need to realize that it’s an MMO and people will run things they don’t like, but it does 0 good to spend a lot of your time on forums advocating for nerfs and less on the game trying to make your char better.

But there was one that was even more ridiculous too. But I can’t go in detail about TOS at all.

richo262 · August 2020

I got a social ban for mentioning that a large amount of gold farming comes from a certain region, but, ever since a certain event involving Blizard we all know how involved that particular region is in the gaming industry. It is sad to see what is going on.

VaranisArano · August 2020

Another frequent cause of social bans is "too many messages" being sent, which can be guild mails sent via addons or input lag (everything looks normal on your end, but the server gets all the input at once.)

Guthix_of_the_Green · August 2020

My ignore list grows more and more everyday with the toxicity from other players.

Soon it will be just me and the fishing holes.

joerginger · August 2020

Sadly there is an incredibly low limit to how many forum warriors we can ignore. It's only something like 12!

Sgrug · August 2020

richo262 wrote: »

I got a social ban for mentioning that a large amount of gold farming comes from a certain region, but, ever since a certain event involving Blizard we all know how involved that particular region is in the gaming industry. It is sad to see what is going on.

And once again the answer is money, yep know exactly what you are talking of, not looking to get another ban so I will stop at that.

BRogueNZ · August 2020

Don't dis the game by telling the truth

BRogueNZ · August 2020

INB4 my permanent ban

idk · August 2020

Ashtaris wrote: »

People, don't confuse a social ban with a forum moderation ban, they are two separate animals. A social ban is a in-game ban where you can still log in, but are severely limited on chat and other in game activities like guild traders, etc.

It seems that a social ban is more likely to occur if you are a family or group of players all playing from the same IP. Some friends of ours (family of 3) all received a social ban and it took almost a week for them to get it cleared. About 2 or 3 days later, they got ANOTHER social ban. This time they haven't been back in the game since that happened (2 or 3 weeks ago), so I think they are gone. ZOS lost 3 subscriptions, plus what they were spending in the crown store. I feel like starting a thread with the title: "WARNING - Playing Together As A Family Can Get You BANNED". This has happened with other family groups, so it's not a isolated incident.

And although this mainly impacts the people who are banned, it also impacts people who are friends or guildies. We lost a very nice husband & wife team (along with their son) that we enjoyed doing dungeons with and other in-game activities. Now that they are gone, our enthusiasm for the game has diminished. So it definitely has a negative cascading effect.

My feeling is that they have a automated ban bot that is detecting higher than normal use from a particular IP and accidentally mislabeling it as farming bots or something else. Whatever it is, they (ZOS) needs to figure out what is going on because, really, they are just hurting their bottom line. People will move on to other games or activities.

@ZOS_GinaBruno , @ZOS_BillE

This.

And yes, the social ban is automated and I doubt it has ever been levied by an actual person.

I have never experienced a social ban but have merely observed an uptic in players getting a social ban with some gettign the social ban again right after Zos fixed the first one. Granted, this could be due to longer ticket times with COVID but social bans probably lead to players creating threads pretty quick becuase they have no idea what happened. I thought at least we might have gotten some advice from BillE or someone to help players prevent this automated action hindering their gameplay.