Online turned Real Life Harassment

[Iscah]

I think people are tangling up several issues (or more exactly several types of people) here.

There are people who would stalk someone in real life.

There are people who will act creepy within a game.

And there are people who play on Balmung.

There *may* be a correlation between those things, or any two of those three things, but that doesn't instantly mean that Balmung player = RL stalker potential (let alone stalker = Balmung player) and the problem would be solved if you just went somewhere else.

There's just as much potential for people to turn out creepy on any other server. They might act perfectly normal up until that point.

If you make this purely about "how people on Balmung act", you are dangerously missing a point.

It's Internet safety 101, regardless of which server/game/forum you're dealing with. Don't give out your personal information to anyone. You never know what people are actually like.

[Qojon]

Are there people who ERP on the Aether Datacenter? Yes. And can some of them be a bit out there? Yes.

So it is FUBAR. Thanks.

[Kuzulo]

Have you ever been harassed in the game before, and then suddenly started seeing effects offline?

I thought I’d make a thread for people to vent their experiences. Just please don’t use any actual user names, or break TOS.

- I had been friends with a person in game for awhile. Unfortunately I gave them my discord/ social media information, and etc too soon, because they live nearby, and I wanted to make a new friend.

You NEVER do this, NEVER EVER. I'm a 51 year old, average to not very attractive, thin enough, male; So I'm pretty darn "stalker proof", just by default. I STILL never do this.

I would not even give your discord/whatever. I don't do anything in "public", connected to games like this or Wow. That is to say, they can't find me or my IP address from just the game alone.

I leave everything "friend" in game. Sure, we can be friends in game. This is for my protection, as well as yours.

[Fhaerron]

It’s not always that easy. Often the police can be hard to work with. It’s not just “problem solved.”

I'm not sure what isn't easy. All the people I have blacklisted in the game and ignored on Discord and other media stuff hasn't been able to contact me anymore.

As for the real life stalking and blackmail, I had callback logs and recordings, police also did their own investigations and observing.
I'm 27 and I've had to go to the police several times and they have always been helpfull. Of course I just don't go there and tell them to put person X in jail because I don't like him/her, I actually gather my own evidence so I have proof.

I've helped a friend in the past with this. Especially with sexual harassment or if they have pictures of you and blackmail you have to put your pride to zero, without proof there isn't much they can do.

Whatever happens online you report, ignore. Whatever happens in real life you gather evidence and report to the authorities.

They have campaigns over here about online bullying and harassment and all that stuff and what to do, they probably have such things in your countries too and might be worth checking it out. I've been to an info session about this once but it what stuff I already knew or was already doing.

[Fhaerron]

You NEVER do this, NEVER EVER. I'm a 51 year old, average to not very attractive, thin enough, male; So I'm pretty darn "stalker proof", just by default. I STILL never do this.

I would not even give your discord/whatever. I don't do anything in "public", connected to games like this or Wow. That is to say, they can't find me or my IP address from just the game alone.

I leave everything "friend" in game. Sure, we can be friends in game. This is for my protection, as well as yours.

My best friend ever actually comes from WoW. We talk daily, we send each other gifts for b-day and Christmas and we meet up. And I have other friends from WoW I'm close with and talk with a lot for several years now.
From this game though I've only have 1 such person, the other friend I have like that in this game I've met in real life and he was a friend before this game so I don't count that.

I'm glad I actually did this, meeting those people have changed my life in a good way.

[MoroMurasaki]

We don’t though?



Do people that have dwarfism take pride in being called “Midget?” Do Black people take pride in being called the n word? Do LGBT+ take pride in being called gay slurs? No one should have to take pride in being the butt of an uncomfortable a joke. Ever.

Did you seriously just compare the 'lolbalmung' meme with irl discrimination based on immutable characteristics like race and such?

Dude, take a step back. Like a lot of steps.

[Ilan]

Honestly, this should be common sense for most people.

Japp. People should think before they give out their private datas to anyone. A cellphone number is not an issue since you can replace that very easy, but adress and so on...just NO.

[Kresus]

Japp. People should think before they give out their private datas to anyone. A cellphone number is not an issue since you can replace that very easy, but adress and so on...just NO.

^ This. Honestly, humanity's online presence has gotten to the point where we can say "You asked for it." It should really be common knowledge by now. If not, /tough.


As for the RP servers being a "problem", you don't need to worry. Same stuff happened back in World of RetconCraft back in the day too. .....Mostly because "hurr durr all-inclusive ^_^" garbage and not nearly enough people saying "Dude, stop. Just no. It wouldn't work. Twilight is a movie for aroused 14 year olds, not something you draw inspiration from, hook on to the first similarity in game, and then claim it as gospel and perfectly fitting in the setting. "
Doesn't stop me from lamenting the degradation of human intellect whenever someone thought "The Honeybee Inn" was a good idea to focus your RP on in the Goblet. Or wherever. A whole world full of adventure and intriguing subplots, and you chose a brothel. [Sarcam]Well done[/Sarcam]

[Shouko]

You NEVER do this, NEVER EVER. I'm a 51 year old, average to not very attractive, thin enough, male; So I'm pretty darn "stalker proof", just by default. I STILL never do this.

I would not even give your discord/whatever. I don't do anything in "public", connected to games like this or Wow. That is to say, they can't find me or my IP address from just the game alone.

I leave everything "friend" in game. Sure, we can be friends in game. This is for my protection, as well as yours.

This isn't always the case, it really depends on the situation.

There are people who've gotten married in game and then after years finally started dating then finally married and have kids. One of my good friends irl met another guy and they got to be friends, he was going to come up to hang out with him but it didn't happen due car trouble.

[HyoMinPark]

Japp. People should think before they give out their private datas to anyone. A cellphone number is not an issue since you can replace that very easy, but adress and so on...just NO.

I guess it just boggles my mind that people openly share personal/sensitive information so freely. The importance of protecting your private information and not just handing it out isn't a new concept; I was aware of this since I was old enough to get onto the Internet (so sometime in the 90s). But there does seem to be a lack of common sense in people, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised....