Harassment Loophole

[Aniew]

I apologize if this is the wrong forum in advance.

A player who has a lot of upset feelings toward me after being banned from my FC for inappropriate behavior a year ago recently took to messaging my peers and asking them to relay inappropriate messages to me in-game. This player does this on alt characters that I never met.

Unfortunately there is nothing that I can do because SE does not consider this to be harassment. This is because they are using third parties to convey the messages.

Even if I blacklist (which wouldn't do any good since they are not messaging me directly AND they are using alt characters I never played with), provided that they message my groups to ask them to convey the inappropriate messages on their behalf, it's not considered blacklist dodging.

At the same time, I feel like this is clearly harassment. A vindictive player is going out of their way to try and intimidate me, and I just want them to leave me alone. It should be enough that I am saying that they are DMing my friends and asking them to convey inappropriate messages to me in an attempt to intimidate me and make my friends uncomfortable for an investigation to be launched.

I don't feel I should have to issue announcements to all my communities to say, "hey guys, Creepy McHarrassmenthands may be sending you a DM with inappropriate messages to ask you to convey them to me. I'm sorry that they're like this. Please report it if it happens." Why make a scene when a GM can just step in and ask them directly to knock it off without me and my peers having to jump through hoops?

It feels like this is a loophole that this player has exploited.

[KageTokage]

Why are your peers even relaying these messages to you in the first place? They should be able to understand the intent behind them and not bother, no?

Not to mention I'd think they themselves should be able to report this guy if he keeps pestering them in what should be an obvious attempt to dodge your blacklisting.

[Lucerna]

I agree the rules for slander and harassment need to be adjusted. There have been three players who, for the past month, have launched a campaign against me where they publicly slander me in the Balmung Novice Network and stalk me at roleplay events. I've had to stop attending a roleplay event that I founded because they would stake it out and then use disruptive abilities on the roleplayers if they saw me there. It got to the point where I would seize up in panic every time I logged on, and could barely sleep nor keep food down. The GMs have been unable to do anything to ensure my safety. It's only been lessened slightly in the Novice Network because they got bored.

[Aniew]

They don't relay them for the content of the message, just to give me notification that someone is messaging them in an attempt to harass me. It puts me on notice so I can both know this is going on as well as potentially reach out to my friends to warn them they may be sent the same messages.

[Jaywalker]

It got to the point where I would seize up in panic every time I logged on, and could barely sleep nor keep food down. The GMs have been unable to do anything to ensure my safety.

Lucerna, I do think you should still be reporting because this behavior is really slimy... but I also think if you're having such an extreme reaction to these people and consider them a threat to your safety then you should probably take a break to take care of yourself. Build some mental/emotional defenses and again, if you think these people are truly a threat to your safety (in the sense that they could realistically hurt your life and/or livelihood outside of playing a game) then you should involve the authorities.

I suspect you said "safety" more in the sense that you felt vulnerable to personal attacks when you wanted to have a good time, because a lot of people speak that way. It's not the same thing, and remembering that is important because extreme threats do come up in online communities. It's crucial to be clear about what you are dealing with, what you are not dealing with, and how much is what you're afraid could happen relative to what is likely to happen. At the very least so that you can keep a level head and make sure everything gets dealt with fairly/appropriately.

Not saying any of this to pick on you. When you said you were struggling to eat and sleep because of this, my immediate reactions were "that's awful" and "that is the point you take a step back from the game to make sure you're okay".

If you mainly play to be social, there are additional avenues available for you to do that. If you mainly are into design, or fighting, or crafting, there are a lot of ways you can engage those activities too. It's not convenient but you really need to put your health first with this dude.

Hope you feel better.

[kidalutz]

I agree the rules for slander and harassment need to be adjusted. There have been three players who, for the past month, have launched a campaign against me where they publicly slander me in the Balmung Novice Network and stalk me at roleplay events. I've had to stop attending a roleplay event that I founded because they would stake it out and then use disruptive abilities on the roleplayers if they saw me there. It got to the point where I would seize up in panic every time I logged on, and could barely sleep nor keep food down. The GMs have been unable to do anything to ensure my safety. It's only been lessened slightly in the Novice Network because they got bored.

It would be Libel since it's in print. but yeah I can understand the issues other than that and tre not cool for it to happen. report them for harassment and move on it'll do wonders for your mental state.

[Lucerna]

It would be Libel since it's in print. but yeah I can understand the issues other than that and tre not cool for it to happen. report them for harassment and move on it'll do wonders for your mental state.

I have. After that, they still stalked me and used abilities to be disruptive. They also continued defaming me in public chat channels (from screenshots from friends). Blocking, reporting, and trying to move on can only do so much.

[kidalutz]

I have. After that, they still stalked me and used abilities to be disruptive. They also continued defaming me in public chat channels (from screenshots from friends). Blocking, reporting, and trying to move on can only do so much.

Damn that really really sucks.

[Iscah]

Have your friends tried to report the person directly, or did you send a report saying that your friends received messages?

Being sent a message telling you to relay nasty messages to your friend would probably count as harrassment in itself, so they might have a valid case even if you technically don't.


I hope you can get this resolved. It sounds awful.

[Lucerna]

Have your friends tried to report the person directly, or did you send a report saying that your friends received messages?

Being sent a message telling you to relay nasty messages to your friend would probably count as harrassment in itself, so they might have a valid case even if you technically don't.


I hope you can get this resolved. It sounds awful.

We've tried both. And thank you, I hope it's resolved soon too. The GMs have been great, but I understand they are restricted by their company policies.