Clarification on World Chat?

[Lordkingscience]

Hello!

Today there was a discussion in World chat about whether or not the rule regarding vulgarity applies to World, since it isn't a auto-joined channel? Having played on Horde for the majority of my time I never heard of the rule (regarding swearing, not verbal abuse against players) mentioned or enforced by the GMs. The GM who was indicating that people may be muted for swearing refused to answer if World chat was a public channel or whether we were free to swear.

I was hoping someone could clarify this for me lest I run afoul due to a misunderstanding of the term 'public chat'.

 

[Skosh]

I think a GM will chime in after a while, but the rules involving the matter fall under these two from the rules page.

– Repeated vulgarisms, offensive language, trolling, racism etc. in public chat
– It is forbidden to spam public communication channels, write meaningless or inconsequential messages or encourage players to violate the server rules

Using the odd curse word here in the /World chat doesn't appear to cause problems. But if you look in the Blacklist forums, people tossing out racial / national / homophobic slurs in a manner intended to shock and insult isn't permitted. Yeah, I know you can just put someone on Ignore. Yet the World channel is relied upon by numerous players to ask questions about quests as well as looking for groups, or looking for someone to craft something for you. It serves a purpose that contributes to the community, and someone being a bigoted troll or linking Blessed Blade of the Windseeker over and over gets attention.

 

[Zargoth]

Let's put this in perspective.

First of all, the GM in question stopped by before, no doubt, going to bed to see if there was anybody in need of assistance. The cursing was getting a little out of hand and the GM simply asked the perpetrators to "Watch the language, guys". Immediately some of the more ignorant of our community began typing in some of the worst vulgarisms known to man. I'm not sure but I do believe that some of them may have been temporarily muted at that time. After being questioned, the GM pointed the more vocal towards the rules. They then began insisting that World was not a public channel to justify their rudeness.

The GM actually quoted the rules for clarification at this point and eventually logged off. He did not refuse to answer the following questions, he simply was no longer there.

As to /world being a public channel, on almost every private server there is a public channel called either world or global. Whether you have to physically type /join or not, it is still considered and public channel by the administrators of these servers. Almost all of them have rules regarding vulgarity and/or racism. I say "almost" only because I haven't played on every private server out there, but every one that I have played on does have these rules.

Maybe the problem here is that these rules are not enforced enough or consistantly. It seems that no matter what time of day or night, there is always a small handful of people who constantly misuse these channels thereby annoying several hundred other players. Some find it entertaining while most others do not. But this is nothing new, it has been happening since the beginning of these types of games.

 

[Phantomplayer]

I think a GM will chime in after a while, but the rules involving the matter fall under these two from the rules page.

– Repeated vulgarisms, offensive language, trolling, racism etc. in public chat

/Agree on the line needing to be drawn here by GM.

IMO /World is def a public channel. It contains players from all walks of life and can be seen by anyone who has the capacity to join it. People need to show a little restraint when they post to a channel that is open. Be civil and be treat others as you wish to be treated. It's nothing new, I think some people just don't give a shit.

-PP

 

[Cision]

Yes the rule applys on World-channel.
This rule applys everywhere in our community.

 

[Revo]

what did you not understand of "public chan"?
everything you dont need an invite to, everyone can just join and see, is public. so is world-chan, and so the rules obviously apply.
so, basically, only channels like guild, party, raid, ... wont be moderated by GMs.