Bucket Guild | FUBU BH Forums

No, Rygarius, you are in the wrong here, and here's why:

What you, in your bureaucratic obstinance, cannot grasp is, these rules are in place to benefit the playerbase, and not Blizzard. Of course the corollary is, what is good for the playerbase, is good for Blizzard. The problem is, overzealous enforcement doesn't make players happy. Many people play this game for the community, and that isn't as simple as everyone getting along. A lot of committed players would earnestly say they play the game for the drama; this is, after all, an MMO, and it is the interplay of personalities that makes the game worth playing. If people didn't get heated or take things personally the game would be droll indeed. I know quite a few people who have fully canceled account because of how boring realm forums are. I know others who maintain accounts for no reason but to post.

How long do you think anyone would watch sports, or be interested in celebrities, if their lives and careers were droll and passionless? If they went to their functions and played their games and didn't have the sorts of rivalries and shades of moral grey that define anything that anyone takes seriously?

CMs have chosen to take this stance of nuking any thread, that offends anyone, anywhere, enough that they feel the need to report it. Now, common sense says, if you take this approach to communication, no one can say anything of substance, because ANYTHING worth saying is going to offend SOMEONE. It should be obvious to Blizzard from the company's experience that if you haven't made at least a few enemies, you've gotten nothing done.

This policy of nuking threads is bad for social stability, too. Players often bring their grievances to the forums, and the community gives the "thumbs up/thumbs down" on the issue. By ending any sort of heated discourse, what the CMs are actually doing is, preventing issues from being talked out. It essentially presupposes the whole playerbase is a bunch of six-year-olds who have to be made to sit in opposite corners of the room whenever they disagree on an issue, rather than doing what mature people do, which is talking it out, sometimes getting heated, then moving on. And sometimes this does mean, shoot them all down and let God sort it out - let what people want to say, be said; and if someone gets offended, so be it. Instead things don't get talked out and problems fester. I'm sure a lot of forum denizens can think of social dynamics from their own experience that would have played out better in the long run with more community. When players are prevented from resolving their differences on the forums, or at least venting, per angsty internet nerd culture - such is this game - everyone suffers, not merely the people who might have found the thread offensive.

Your quotation of the forum rules is also disingenuous because it is not the enforcement of these rules that drives most of the controversy. It is the arbitrary enforcement; how CMs have regularly gotten into the habit of simply nuking threads that have been reported, or even banning posters, irrespective of whether any actual violation has actually occurred. There are no appeals. It is this arbitrary, indiscriminate action, which to most players, appears to be driven merely by CM desire to reduce their workload by simply hitting the delete/ban buttons rather than reading the content and understanding what is actually said. Whether this is due to laziness, a culture shift, company directive, or excessive workload, no one outside Blizzard can really know. But ultimately, the problem is on the professional end.

Now, again to you, Rygarius, this post I have made is a case study. You could, if you wished, choose to interpret it as trolling. This would be a spurious interpretation, and here's why: because what I have said, although it may be harshly worded, and offensive - to you, ultimately the only victim of this post is your own ego, because what I have said, I say not with intent to provoke (except insofar as that garners your attention, which is part of communication skill), I say it with the intent to convey information, to state my opinion, because I believe that you can benefit from what I have to say. As I said, what is good for the playerbase is good for Blizzard, and so it is in your own interest, professionally speaking, to internalize what I have said, to choose to take a rational and not emotional response.

So, Rgyarius, what say you?