What constitutes 'acceptable' topics in the Novice Network

The novice network on Behemoth lately has been full of topics which may be offensive or undesirable for New Adventurers using the channel. One person on the NN has even been given a formal warning about it by SE.

When I have tried mentioning something I was told by another mentor:

"to those complaining about chat topics, please refer to Square forums where GMs have repeatedly stated that any topic is okay for Novice chat and there are NO restrictions.. thanks :)"

Now, I'm not a prude but, some of these topics have been about heavy drug use, sexual behaviours and bodily functions, and have used some quite graphic language. For someone new to the game they may see this and take offence.

So I want to officially ask, are these kinds of topics really 'acceptable' or do people take the 'any topics are ok' too literally? It's one thing to talk about these topics amongst close friends where you know they're ok with it but in an open public chat mode I feel the topics should be kept a little more socially friendly. Just my opinion.

Judging by what you've said, I would personally think that is out of line myself, but without seeing exactly what is being said, it's hard to say for certain.

I think it would be any topic within the rating of "T" or ...whatever the rating is in JP and the EU... those topics, the ones you mentioned, seem a bit out of the scope of that.

I generally try to urge people to keep the subjects on topic of the game.
Some side chat is fine by all means, but while there may not be strict restrictions on acceptable subjects there is still the context of the network itself, to have mentors help novices. And when I see novices ask to leave because they don't want to see some particular off colour chat, I step in and tell people to cool it, keep it civil, or whatever.

For the most part, most of the mentors on Hyperion have been like-minded. I think we've made a pretty nice novice network community. At least, compared to some horror stories I hear about other servers I think ours is doing okay at least!

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Originally Posted by AskaRay

I think it would be any topic within the rating of "T" or ...whatever the rating is in JP and the EU... those topics, the ones you mentioned, seem a bit out of the scope of that.

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they are out of the scope of "T", but that is because its the game itself that is rated Teen, not the online interactions with others. pretty much every game that has any form of playing with others says online interactions are not rated.

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Originally Posted by Kaze3434

they are out of the scope of "T", but that is because its the game itself that is rated Teen, not the online interactions with others. pretty much every game that has any form of playing with others says online interactions are not rated.

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Yeah, I know, I mean you can't control other people but it's mostly a courtesy sort of thing, you know?
Not like I go into a T rated online game and expect M/X rated talk, neither do a lot of people... just be nice and keep that in a private channel.

Basically its a global chat channel. All the rules (or lack of) that apply to every other channel in the game apply to NN. You're free to discuss whatever you want even if its not related to helping novices but if you say something too risque then someone may find it offensive and report you, just like any other chat. If someone is saying something offensive then report them and let the GMs look into it.

Personally I don't find those topics appropriate for the NN but depending on HOW they talk about it I probably wouldn't report them. I may find it a distasteful subject but that doesn't make it reportable. if you found it offensive then please report it. I know GMs don't punish people for bad reporting as long as you aren't going crazy with it.

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Originally Posted by AskaRay

Yeah, I know, I mean you can't control other people but it's mostly a courtesy sort of thing, you know?
Not like I go into a T rated online game and expect M/X rated talk, neither do a lot of people... just be nice and keep that in a private channel.

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that part right there means there is a good chance that people will talk about whatever they want to talk about, where ever they want to. it doesnt matter what the game is rated. expected others to pretty much act/talk like children is stupid.

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Originally Posted by Kaze3434

that part right there means there is a good chance that people will talk about whatever they want to talk about, where ever they want to. it doesnt matter what the game is rated. expected others to pretty much act/talk like children is stupid.

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Just because you might run into that doesn't necessarily mean that it's allowed. I've seen plenty of games in which such things are banned.

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Originally Posted by MomomiMomi

Just because you might run into that doesn't necessarily mean that it's allowed. I've seen plenty of games in which such things are banned.

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tbh, the only one i can think of that did anything like that was maple story, granted the target audience was 15 and below. can you tell me some of the others that banned people for "mature" talk?
edit to clarify; i mean talking in a general area. not to a person directly.

edit again; im not going to expect 100% self censorship on anything that has human to human interaction based on the chance that someone that is being talked to is a child. that is an unrealistic expectation, seeing as how no one has anyway of knowing any one elses age. until someone says something about how i type(no one has) i will continue as i have been, treating others like an adult before anything else.

Even if the rules that apply are so, they do make a fair warning that entering as a mentor you should have some dignity and respect, course may not have been mentors talking, Balmung NN seems to be doing really well, having people pop in to in progress if a player bails, giving advice on rotations. There is occaisional friendly off topic, but I havent seen anything awful(yet) I would say that if things get too out of hand, or inappropriate that it shouldnt really be smiled upon, maybe mentioning to cool it, or reminding them. If it is really bad and people dont calm it, may have to report them as others have suggested

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Originally Posted by Alien_Gamer

Basically its a global chat channel. All the rules (or lack of) that apply to every other channel in the game apply to NN. You're free to discuss whatever you want even if its not related to helping novices but if you say something too risque then someone may find it offensive and report you, just like any other chat. If someone is saying something offensive then report them and let the GMs look into it.

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As I said, I don't want to be all totalitarian over what should and shouldn't be talked about in the NN, because as you said its a global channel and you can't control what is being said. Having said that though, when you become a mentor there is a condition that you be considerate of others, and openly discussing topics that are known to cause upset with people isn't really being 'considerate'.

here you go: http://i.imgur.com/jPX26HS.png

pulled from: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ussion-with-GM

When you log in there is a message saying the channel has no language restrictions. So I would say it is fair game as long as they don't violate TOS.

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Originally Posted by Cakekizyy

When you log in there is a message saying the channel has no language restrictions. So I would say it is fair game as long as they don't violate TOS.

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That refers to the different languages, not things to talk about.

I wish I had that kind of chat since it looks more entertaining than our novice chat. Every time I log into ours, all I see is some mentors having conversations that has nothing to do with anything. New players that are asking questions are getting ignored and some of the topics the mentors pick for their conversation is a copy and paste of reddit since none of them has ever run that content. I mostly kick mentors or just leave the channel since it has nothing to do with helping newer players. It was a bad idea to implement such system in first place but hey nobody ever listens therefore its not surprising lol.

This problem is back.

Is there a process to bring problems to someones attention? What if the "Mentors" are part of the problem?

Some people believe there is some sort of "free speech" rule. But honestly, the Novice Network these days quickly degenerates into a bunch of BS. The NN is very helpful, at least I've found it so, and I would prefer not to just leave it.