Roleplay/Partyfinder Discrepancies & Policy Enforcement by GM's

[SturmChurro]

This is hilarious, but justified. Party Finder is for running content. First step is getting rid of these ads. Other in or out of game alternatives, should be used. Considering the size of the RP community, some features should be made more easily accessible, however.

Speaking on the ERP subject - that has no place in-game, and is definitely off putting. A player shouldn't have to see it to begin with, especially not the PF for playing a game and running content.

[KenXSSS]

Why's anyone even responding to this guy? He's clearly just trolling at this point.

Yep, it's pretty clear the SE can do no wrong in his eyes. Or maybe he just hates RP

This is hilarious, but justified. Party Finder is for running content. First step is getting rid of these ads. Other in or out of game alternatives, should be used. Considering the size of the RP community, some features should be made more easily accessible, however.

Speaking on the ERP subject - that has no place in-game, and is definitely off putting. A player shouldn't have to see it to begin with, especially not the PF for playing a game and running content.

Party finder is for finding a party, if they wanted it purely for content, they could just restrict the categories better

[Airyll]

Party finder is for finding a party, if they wanted it purely for content, they could just restrict the categories better

It blows my damn mind that there are people here who don't understand this concept.

Considering that almost every other type of content has a category of its own, I want a genuine answer about what type of party the roleplay PFs are "hiding". Is it a recruitment advert? If that's the case, I could be really pedantic and say that recruiting for a static is actually a social feature, since you aren't intending to run content immediately and you're instead trying to organise a group of people to attend events at a specific time. Which, gee, if you phrase it like that... sounds identical to the roleplay PFs, which are people organising parties for people to attend events at a specific time in order to do content. Are we going to tell people recruiting for a static to go use the Fellowship Finder, too? (No, of course these people aren't, because everybody silently acknowledges that while Fellowship Finder is nice in principle, in practise it's a little bit lacking.)

What other kinds of parties could the roleplay advertisements be hiding, if not static recruitment? Can't be FATE parties, they have a category. Can't be Treasure Maps, they have one too. Eureka and Bozka? No, they have their own. Unsynced BLU alliance raids? Oh wait, that just shows up under the Alliance tab so no, can't be that...

I'm not even being sarcastic when I ask the question: what parties are the RP adverts actually hiding, when almost every other type of content in this game has its own tab and every single one of those tabs will show up higher on the "All" PF list than the "Other" tab does.

[Senariul]

This is hilarious, but justified. Party Finder is for running content. First step is getting rid of these ads. Other in or out of game alternatives, should be used. Considering the size of the RP community, some features should be made more easily accessible, however.

Speaking on the ERP subject - that has no place in-game, and is definitely off putting. A player shouldn't have to see it to begin with, especially not the PF for playing a game and running content.

RP is content when there's an RP tag you can put on yourself, or put on your house. If it's accessible and encouraged in game, then it's content available.

[SturmChurro]

RP is content when there's an RP tag you can put on yourself, or put on your house. If it's accessible and encouraged in game, then it's content available.

Clearly, according to the GM, it is not.

The GM looks to be encouraging them to use chat channels instead which feels even more disruptive, so looks like we'll be seeing it regardless.

I saw fellowships, but I think I read chat channels "within reason", so hopefully we don't have to see too much of it. Too bad fellowships or whatever are apparently bad (never used it). I do think RPers should have an avenue that's neither chat spam, or in the PF.

ERP shouldn't be allowed to be advertised anywhere in-game however.

[Yencat]

I saw fellowships, but I think I read chat channels "within reason", so hopefully we don't have to see too much of it. Too bad fellowships or whatever are apparently bad (never used it). I do think RPers should have an avenue that's neither chat spam, or in the PF.

ERP shouldn't be allowed to be advertised anywhere in-game however.

I agree, or give them their own RP tab in the Party Finder and remove anything that crosses whatever line SE has for their age rating.

They should be able to easily find like minded people and organize events without having to resort to shouting in cities if at all possible.

It's not offensive but I'd rather not have my chatbox be filled with maid cafe shouts and the like when I'm in a city either.

[Saefinn]

I agree, or give them their own RP tab in the Party Finder and remove anything that crosses whatever line SE has for their age rating.

They should be able to easily find like minded people and organize events without having to resort to shouting in cities if at all possible.

It's not offensive but I'd rather not have my chatbox be filled with maid cafe shouts and the like when I'm in a city either.

That's the other point, people will use /sh more and fill that with spam. If /sh and PF are bad places, then another avenue will help.

[Nakarumi]

I agree, or give them their own RP tab in the Party Finder and remove anything that crosses whatever line SE has for their age rating.

They should be able to easily find like minded people and organize events without having to resort to shouting in cities if at all possible.

It's not offensive but I'd rather not have my chatbox be filled with maid cafe shouts and the like when I'm in a city either.

Also, as a more clear denomination of both above-stated points and since this is something that was mentioned several times before, this game is rated T for the content that SE themselves provide and develop. However, SE also states and claims that online interactions (social activities) are NOT RATED and are only moderated on a case-by-case basis as when reported when something is in violation of the TOS. So while, yes, policy number 3.3 may not allow certain language or word-use to be appropriate in party finder, it doesn't mean that adult content is forbidden from within the game. Pornographic language isn't allowed in public forum, but ads for an adult venue is completely within reason. As expressed by another GM from another occasion:

[Yencat]

A player shouldn't have to see it to begin with, especially not the PF for playing a game and running content.

The GM looks to be encouraging them to use chat channels instead which feels even more disruptive, so looks like we'll be seeing it regardless.

[van_arn]

There are two things that strike me as weird in this case: (1) it's always the same GM, (2) One person was banned straight away even though they stated it was their first infraction, while the rest were given a warning.

This indicates that perhaps the person reporting and the GM are cooperating for unknown reasons. I say unknown but I suspect it has to do with taking down 18+ PF listings and covering it with taking down all RP ads regardless of being 18+ or not (or perhaps everything in their tiny little minds is 18+ when it comes to RP). If that's the case then the GM is guilty of corruption and gaming the system and should face the consequences.

Just to clarify, I am not a RPer but accept that the RP community needs to be given the tools tools and circumstances to thrive, I have no opinion on ERP if it's between consenting adults and in private, and I absolutely loathe all the RMT/clears/whatever sells that are always at the top of the PF lists.

What I have a problem with is the double standards of this specific GM (as well as the person who reports all these) and the absence of clear rules from SE's part. If 18+ is against the ToS then take them down but make it clear that they are and don't leave it to personal interpretation. As things stand it's a mess and the only thing it achieves is alienate people from the game and give SE a bad name.

As if a tab for non-game content (sometimes with lurid details attached) doesn’t already alienate people from a T-rated game and put SE in a bad light.

This is simply Square cleaning up the seedy part of town.

Why does Square even need to say “don’t post adult content publicly in the 13+ game?” They smack people with bans for merely using naughty words elsewhere, so why is this a surprise?