I need to question the validity of the current ERP rule and the zero tolerance approach taken in its enforcement. I’ve seen a trend of people getting banned under the ERP Zero Tolerance rule, where I don’t think an appeal / voucher ban was appropriate.
I absolutely, 100% get wanting to keep explicit sexual content off the server. It’s not something people want or need to see, and if people want some explicit smut they can go browse some of the weird discord servers out there. Same for WGW. It might’ve been kinda funny to watch people get lynched back in the day, but it isn’t really necessary.
HOWEVER, I see people getting appeal banned for sometimes just mentioning anything that might be tangentially related to sex, or sexual organs. Eg:
How is ‘deez nuts’ something worth banning people over? It’s harmless. If anything, they should get a kick for reusing an old joke (kidding)
Banned for saying “I pissed myself” - I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t peg this as sexual. There’s tons of places where that has a non-sexual comment. Hell, there are children’s shows/films where the joke is that a character that’s scared has soiled themself.
Banned for saying “Sec touched me without my consent” - again, something that could’ve been settled with a word. Didn’t warrant a ban or even a kick.
Joking about “PP inspection day” - a bit stupid, but surely not worth instantly banning someone over? Maybe just telling them not to do it?
Simply referencing that people have genitalia with no sexual action mentioned isn’t what I would qualify as sexual content. there was no direct reference to any sexual act.
This really does feel like you guys are making a mountain out of a molehill. This is a very long running joke that has existed before the internet, and has been a part of internet popular culture for multiple decades about an awkward interaction that someone had at a high school, and the confusion around that no one else had it. I dont think it’s unreasonable to assume that the vast majority of ss14 players would know that this isn’t a joke about a sexual act, but an awkward medical experience.
I’m confused by the spectrum of what’s deemed acceptable behaviour here as SS14 is a game where the intention of the player is to murder, gore, literally rip bodies apart, commit acts of terrorism etc. but simply acknowledging the existence of genitalia tangential to a joke is an immediate ban? Not even a warning?
This does seem to be squarely within the realm of “exceptions for insults such as dickhead, etc.” as that is the use of a word that is “sex-adjecent” without any underlying sexual context. Unless the reader is to assume that they mean the person literally means that we’re talking about people running around with penises on their head.
Banned for joking “ERP update” in OOC chat. This got rolled back, but this is again another example of where zero tolerance doesn’t work.
Labelling objects as “penis holder” - dumb and immature, but hardly graphic. Could’ve easily told them to knock it off / answered with a kick and taken the labeller off them. If you’re willing to take the time to ban them, why not just speak with them instead?
Banned for saying they were trapped in the “cum dungeon” - no other ERP etc. Again, could’ve easily been handled with a friendly word and told to knock it off.
Emoting as a mouse “wiggles its ass seductively” when begging for food - this was dumb, but was the immediate ban needed? I thought this was kinda hilarious tbh. Again, if the player had been contacted they could’ve clarified why they wrote what they did and asked to cool it down.
Saying “take care of my penis” after someone else emoted removing it in surgery. I’ll be honest, this seems like a very banal thing to punish someone for.
“Coords on or ill snap your genitals in half” - a bit aggressive, but ERP? Again, no, and the player didn’t to be threatened with a voucher ban if they made another mistake.
You have to understand that taking a zero tolerance approach is just inappropriate, and it’s part of the reason why Wizden has a bit of a bad rap even from the moderate / nice elements of the SS community.
The post I’ve quoted above kinda hits the nail on the head on my view of things. At the end of the day, this is a game about 2D spessman fighting robots, clowns, secret agents, space carp and other weird shit (like wizards and so) wbere the game has tons of cosmic horror, gore and other unpleasant things - what does it matter about the occasional comment? Is SS14 governed by the FCC? Are you seriously telling me half of the stuff here isn’t something that 12 year olds would’ve been exposed to already in school, let alone 16 year olds (who can play on the server) - grass needs touching a bit in my view.
And obviously with the recent trailer promoting this game, I don’t think it really will do SS14 any favours (as Wizden is the face of the game that a lot of people will see) in taking such a heavy handed approach for every minor comment. Especially when some of it is more in the biological than sexual sense. Saying you’ll kick someone in the dick / balls does not necessarily mean erotic RP nor any such intent. Says “deez nuts” is not sexual RP.
What is the ask here?
All I am asking is that the administration use more common sense and not just go straight for the jugular. Zero tolerance is not a good policy to take for anything but the most explicit shit. You do not need to appeal ban someone straight away. Speak with them first. Make it clear you don’t want that stuff and ask them to knock it off if it personally bothers you. A few seconds of typing with someone is better than forcing it to the appeal stage.
You don’t need to go with the illusion of “protecting the children” because again, I guarantee you most 16 year olds (us included, when we were that age) have seen a ton worse. Again, this is a game where we have gore, terrorism, murder, lies, alien monsters and space wizards. Why does a “deez nuts” joke cross the line? It beggars belief.
It’s not like Valve (or any other platform owner) is going to deplatform SS14 over this. You’re not exactly enabling child abuse or anything harmful. Check out any Garry’s Mod DarkRP server or any other Source game and I guarantee you there’s stuff 10x worse, and that’s without getting into the stuff that WAS banned like the infamous SWEP. (which deserved to be banned)
Again, happy for this to be a dialogue / clarification.