How About An "Incognito" Player Status?

[Magic-Mal]

Shows how OP is exaggerating.

Whhaaaat? What do you think privacy options are for? For protection and for people who don't want to be bothered. It's a really basic feature.

Shows that OP doesnt want to get tells from anyone not only want to use it against RMT and also shows that this is not only about the player search. So please can everyone stop bringing up that argument that its only about player search to prevent rmt.

Yes it is about player search? How else could they know what zone I'm in to look? I clearly stated that all features and communication would be active but in proximity only. Not by search if incognito is enabled.

Shows how wrong the person is because I already proved that simply following someone results in a ban.

Okay. I was wrong about the ban. No need to harp on it.

This thread in a nutshell. Lazy ppl everywhere. If it bothers someone so much (any reason?) then use the two fast tools you have which is ignoring/blacklist thats why we have it. It bothers you extremely? Report. In the end since ppl always find a way these options are the best to prevent such stuff in future.

Maybe I'd rather prevent an attack before taking action to deal with it? Let me give you more examples because you seem to not know what prevention/protection is.

-You gets ads on your computer. Do you ignore them or report them? Or get an ad blocker?

-You see a bug in your home. Do you ignore them and wait to be infested, THEN call the exterminator? Or do you kill it, then protect yourself from future infestations?

-You've had a fire in your house. Do you wait until you're house is blazing to call 911 or get a fire detector or fire extinguisher to warn you? Do you not do things that can cause a fire?

-Mosquitoes bite you. Do you get bitten everytime then put on skin cream to treat the bite? Or wear repellent?

-You have a robbery because your door wasn't safe enough. Do you get robbed again then call 911? Or get BETTER security so you don't get robbed?

Like...

Reporting someone should be the last resort. The whole point of it is to not be a victim already then deal with it. Being a victim can simply mean being a victim of people(friends, FC members, etc) trying to talk to you too. When you want to be alone.

[TiaHariberux3]

-Mosquitoes bite you. Do you get bitten everytime then put on skin cream to treat the bite? ?

Does it prevent u from being bitten again? etc.

You should compare it to smth more similiar.

Can you prevent being insulted in the first place? etc smth like that for example

I used the word exaggerating because you compared the privacy settings of your psn account which contains your rl informations to ingame informations. A stalker can join linkshells (hunt ls etc.) which u are in to see the zone, he could make a alt to join your fc, a friend of the stalker shares a ls with u or saw u ingame. Just few examples how ppl can stalk even without using player search. Hell they can even ask in the areas if someone saw u. You shouldnt be forced into a status because of such people get rid of the complete problem and get them banned etc. This will prevent said stalker to stalk you or other players in future.

[Magic-Mal]

Does it prevent u from being bitten again?

You should compare it to smth more similiar.

A stalker can join linkshells (hunt ls etc)which u are in to see the zone, he could make a alt to join your fc, a friend of the stalker shares a ls with u or saw u ingame. Just few examples how ppl can stalk even without using player search. Hell they can even ask in the areas if someone saw u. You shouldnt be forced into a status because of such people get rid of the complete problem and get them banned etc. This will prevent said stalker to stalk you or other players in future.

It's the same concept. Prevention.

You have a stalker and don't want him/her to join? Tell the LS leader. Prevention.

A stalker makes an alt to try and get in the FC? Have controlled recruitment. Prevention.

As a matter of fact my FC already has controlled recruitment due other female members being messed with by guys(they were kicked). We have not gotten a creep since

[TiaHariberux3]

It's the same concept. Prevention.

You have a stalker and don't want him/her to join? Tell the LS leader. Prevention.

A stalker makes an alt to try and get in the FC? Have controlled recruitment. Prevention.

As a matter of fact my FC already has controlled recruitment due other female members being messed with by guys(they were kicked). We have not gotten a creep since

You still cant prevent everything and you cant know if this is a alt of someone in your fc or not.

lol You wrote a massive post with 10 quotes just to prove how I'm wrong and you're right. You have to admit that if not outright agressive, it's at the very least a bit heavy handed, no?

It was not just to reply to you. I think some people need to learn what aggressive/verbal attack mean imo.

[Niwashi]

You still cant prevent everything

Nobody claimed it would prevent everything. That's no reason not to prevent the part that it can.
Less hassle and harassment is better than more, even if you can't absolutely guarantee there will never be any.

[Bloody]

Does it prevent u from being bitten again? etc.

You should compare it to smth more similiar.

Can you prevent being insulted in the first place? etc smth like that for example I used the word exaggerating because you compared the privacy settings of your psn account which contains your rl informations to ingame informations. A stalker can join linkshells (hunt ls etc.) which u are in to see the zone, he could make a alt to join your fc, a friend of the stalker shares a ls with u or saw u ingame. Just few examples how ppl can stalk even without using player search. Hell they can even ask in the areas if someone saw u. You shouldnt be forced into a status because of such people get rid of the complete problem and get them banned etc. This will prevent said stalker to stalk you or other players in future.

My biggest problem with your main argument in this thread is that it is basically saying "You can't prevent everything so why bother?"

There is no such thing as perfection, but it doesn't stop people from striving for it. There will be no perfect protection against harassment or RMT, but when there is something you can do to mitigate it, and it is potentially quite feasible, there is no reason not to do it. Like you, I don't agree with all of the suggestions regarding an incognito mode brought up in this discussion, but clearly there is a difference in opinion as to worthwhile actions.

On your second point in the post I quoted, I definitely agree that people shouldn't be forced into a status to avoid harassment, and reporting it will ultimately be a better solution. However, an incognito mode that reduces the ability of harassers to reach you is still a useful tool as it creates more space between the offender(s) and the victim(s). Incognito can help victims avoid offenders while GMs handle the situation (which is sometimes necessary, I've heard of people harassing right up to the moment of ban before, sadly).

In regards to your aggressiveness, I would say that the tone your writing projects comes off as very dismissive of other opinions, which generates negative responses and is why you are being "aggressive" in that sense. It isn't as straightforward as aggression (which is generally quite clear).

[TiaHariberux3]

My biggest problem with your main argument in this thread is that it is basically saying "You can't prevent everything so why bother?"

My main argument wasnt "you cant prevent everything so why bother" this was just a reply to the rl examples OP stated. What I was against is to make a status which block all /tells outside of your friendslist which got suggested in some pages later or to make ppl appear offline/no fc log in notication/hiding players char. Also I already said I agree on some other suggestions but I can still be against some other stuff suggested. I mean if ppl talk to me like "oh boy"/call me troll or telling me I have no point because Im outnumbered ppl shouldnt even complain about my tone which isnt even negative tbh. Just to me its a bit exaggerating when people think they are hurt in their privacy because someone knows how their char look like and where they are in a GAME. Or acting like its impossible to just log in and do stuff and log out. The thing that players here act like you could avoid all problems (atleast in some posts) bothered me so I replied. This "stalking" ppl talk about is not very common and should be handled with blacklist + report to make those "stalkers" understand that they cant do it and to prevent it in the future for other players.

[Newmanxeno]

This "stalking" ppl talk about is not very common and should be handled with blacklist + report to make those "stalkers" understand that they cant do it and to prevent it in the future for other players.

Why are you against more preemptive measures against this? Why can't we have both a blacklist and incognito? And why can't people gang up on you when you have weak reasons for opposition?

[TiaHariberux3]

Why are you against more preemptive measures against this? Why can't we have both a blacklist and incognito? And why can't people gang up on you when you have weak reasons for opposition?

I havent said that people cant gang up on me. I said when someone comes to this thread calls me a troll and says because Im outnumbered I wouldnt have the right to make arguments its pretty meh. Also ty for only replying to such a small part of my post and ignoring everything else.

[Niwashi]

What I was against is to make a status which block all /tells outside of your friendslist which got suggested in some pages later or to make ppl appear offline/no fc log in notication/hiding players char.

I think part of the problem is that you didn't specify at the outset that that was the part you were arguing against. You just argued, and people assumed it was the topic of the thread (which is the Player Search part) that you were arguing about. That's why some of your earlier arguments (like being unfriendly to newcomers) didn't make sense. To people thinking in terms of the original suggestion, it wouldn't have much impact on newcomers, but a "no /tells outside of your friendslist" suggestion could.

So let's break it down:

The main suggestion of this thread: An Incognito mode that prevents your name and info from showing up in Player Search. How do you feel about this one?

Personally, I think it would be quite beneficial at times, for all the reasons the OP listed.

Having that Incognito mode also make you appear offline in Friend/FC/LS lists and block FC login notifications. How do you feel about this one?

My own view on it: It has a more limited applicability than the Player Search part, because hopefully neither RMT spammers nor stalkers are in any of those groups, and people sending out blind invites are unlikely to do so from there either. But it does still have one nice effect for people who want a little privacy from their friends to play on their own for a while. Although it's only got the one purpose rather than several, that one is perhaps the most widespread. Lots of people want to be in highly social groups, yet still be able to have some quiet time to themselves now and then when they don't feel like making themselves available to those groups.

That's common enough that most implementations I'm familiar with combine the two, making their incognito or anonymous mode hide you from both friends and strangers alike. But if it was two selections, one for whether you want to be Incognito and not appear on Player Search, and another for whether or not to extend that to Friend/FC/LS Lists as well, that would be even better.

Hiding our actual characters themselves from other players in our vicinity

It's possible I'm wrong, since tone can be difficult to determine from text in a forum, but I'm pretty sure this part was just a joke suggestion, made from taking the incognito idea to an extreme.

Restrict /tell to Friends only

This used to be suggested a lot back before the right-click report feature pretty well got rid of RMT /tell spam. I was always against it, because it blocks too much useful chat between strangers and further segregates people into cliques (which is already a bit of an issue sometimes for new players and I'd rather not exacerbate it). Back when this was a popular suggestion, I usually conceded that it could be considered as a last resort if nothing else could get rid of the RMT /tell spam. (It's still better than using /busy for it after all.) But now that the /tell spam issue has been handled fairly well, I think we can quit considering such intrusive remedies for it.

The odd part here in this thread, is that although you've argued against it, I'm not sure who you're trying to convince, because I don't recall seeing anyone really arguing for it here. (Some might approve of such a feature, but it would be a bit off-topic in a thread that doesn't really pertain to chat directly.)

And are there any others I've missed? ...