Badwater Trolls

[ogie]

Hi, I play on Skial servers often especially BADWATER US and LA. Maybe it is just me but it seems like there is an increasing amount of players in these servers using voice chat for the sole purpose of trolling, bullying, and seemingly doing everything in their power to insult and infuriate other players.

I don't know at what point a player who is hogging voice chat and being an absolute troll / jerk is in violation of your rules, but it makes for an extremely unpleasant experience for someone such as myself who is simply looking to play a competitive game of TF2 without the drama.

I know the dictated remedy for these situations is to mute said player, but many times it seems like after 1 or 2 trolls have started engaging other players suddenly the entire server is in a foul and defensive mood and any genuine fun to be had in voice chat is completely disrupted / ruined. Your only true recourse at this point if you just want to enjoy a fun game of TF2 is to turn off voice chat on your client altogether.

I know that like any online video game there is bound to be disruptive trolls, but frankly I feel like certain Skial servers are becoming a breeding ground for them. So excuse me if I am just oversensitive or misguided in feeling this way about Skial pubs, but it's almost to the point I am considering entertaining the idea of abandoning Skial servers for Valve servers.

I generally play Skial servers for the 24/7 maps, and the skilled player base – but the amount of trolls is increasingly becoming a turn off for me. I would appreciate anything the management at Skial could do to help alleviate trolling. I looked at your list of admins but was unsure which admin to add as I don't know which ones like to play these servers. If someone could direct me towards a couple admins I could add I would appreciate it. I would also consider applying for admin myself personally if only just to quell some of the verbal abuse going on in these servers.

Thanks for reading my post.

P.S. Does anyone know why LA has been extra dead lately? Seems like I've been unable to find it populated for like a week or longer.

-ogie

 

[KillerZebra]

Do you really think you won't find trolls in Valve servers?

We cannot stop trolls. Its impossible. So if you aren't willing to mute people so you don't have to hear it, then I don't know what to tell you. Every single server is going to have trolls. We do our best to mange them, but we aren't going to punish people for being mean.

 

[Meowcenary]

If they're breaking any of Skial's rules we can take action.

Beyond that tho, trolling and being a jerk in itself isn't something that is against the rules. It's frowned upon but not something we silence or ban for.

Take the advice from the guy who gets called a furfag on a near daily basis; client mute them and continue having fun. Client mute hides their text and mutes their voice so they're very easy to deal with.

 

[ogie]

I know per your rules you don't have to punish someone for being a jerk. I am simply stating that when trolling is above average in your servers, and people are being insulted and even verbally abused more often than in other servers, I myself and likely other players are less likely to play there. It's your choice really, technically you don't have to do anything about people who are being verbally abusive to other players, but does that really promote the kind of environment you think will attract players to your servers? I am not asking that you completely eliminate trolling, but I am stating that I believe trolling is very much above average on the two servers I listed and I would appreciate anything Skial can do to promote a fun abuse-free environment in your servers. The choice I suppose is entirely up to you.

 

[Deadfront]

I know per your rules you don't have to punish someone for being a jerk. I am simply stating that when trolling is above average in your servers, and people are being insulted and even verbally abused more often than in other servers, I myself and likely other players are less likely to play there. It's your choice really, technically you don't have to do anything about people who are being verbally abusive to other players, but does that really promote the kind of environment you think will attract players to your servers? I am not asking that you completely eliminate trolling, but I am stating that I believe trolling is very much above average on the two servers I listed and I would appreciate anything Skial can do to promote a fun abuse-free environment in your servers. The choice I suppose is entirely up to you.

They do this because people wont take the 2 seconds to client mute them. You all complain and cry about it and all that does is feed them trolls. Now you can either be proactive and client mute them or complain about it and they achieve what they are trying to do.

 

[ogie]

Once again I feel the problem is above average on your servers and am simply pointing this out. Within the confines of your rules I know you don't have to do anything. But it certainly is nicer when I can join a server and not have to worry about an excessive amount of people using voice chat for the sole purpose of trolling. I honestly feel that Skial servers have this problem more than any of the other servers I visit. I am just pointing something out that I feel is a detriment to your community and your servers. So we can't ban all trolls just for being trolls, I understand, but I think one could say that in many instances trolls are indeed in violation of your rules, and I would appreciate it if someone could direct me towards and admin I could add to so I could help aid the banning of disruptive / rule violating players on your servers.

 

[Deadfront]

and I would appreciate it if someone could direct me towards and admin I could add to so I could help aid the banning of disruptive / rule violating players on your servers.

I tell everyone add me. I am more than willing to assist on any RULE breakers that you need me to take care of. Most of the other admins are willing to do this as well. You have to understand that when you yourself can take care of this problem by client muting them, we have really no need to punish them. I can tell you that as admin I hear my fair share pointed at me and I don't even client mute them. To me it is hilarious and just points out how pathetic they really are.

I understand that it can be frustrating to hear constant BS but it is still not against the rules and pretty sure that will not change.

 

[KillerZebra]

Thats because almost every other server bans for "disrespecting admins or other players" which is a stupid rule for the internet.

We can't stop you from leaving or getting your feelings hurt. But if you think you are better off on a Valve server that has no admin support, than be my guest.

 

[Roboute Guilliman]

I know per your rules you don't have to punish someone for being a jerk. I am simply stating that when trolling is above average in your servers, and people are being insulted and even verbally abused more often than in other servers, I myself and likely other players are less likely to play there. It's your choice really, technically you don't have to do anything about people who are being verbally abusive to other players, but does that really promote the kind of environment you think will attract players to your servers? I am not asking that you completely eliminate trolling, but I am stating that I believe trolling is very much above average on the two servers I listed and I would appreciate anything Skial can do to promote a fun abuse-free environment in your servers. The choice I suppose is entirely up to you.

Just mute them.

 

[ogie]

It's less about my feelings getting hurt and more about Skial TF2 voice chat becoming a dedicated 24/7 hotline for trolls. lol I'm not here because I have hurt feelings, it's just annoying as hell to have to have my mute button constantly at the ready because apparently your servers invite trolls. Like I said once once a troll has come in and insulted multiple players any fun atmosphere that might have existed in TF2 voice chat can become severely disrupted, so a client mute does not solve every problem. I know it's technically not against your rules but as I stated many times the trolls are also in violation of the rules and I appreciate anything you can do to enforce your rules. All I really asked for when I came here is the name of an admin I can add so I can help keep your servers free from disruptive people. I think I'll add Deadfront and call it good.

 

[Meowcenary]

It's less about my feelings getting hurt and more about Skial TF2 voice chat becoming a dedicated 24/7 hotline for trolls. lol I'm not here because I have hurt feelings, it's just annoying as hell to have to have my mute button constantly at the ready because apparently your servers invite trolls. Like I said once once a troll has come in and insulted multiple players any fun atmosphere that might have existed in TF2 voice chat can become severely disrupted, so a client mute does not solve every problem. I know it's technically not against your rules but as I stated many times the trolls are also in violation of the rules and I appreciate anything you can do to enforce your rules. All I really asked for when I came here is the name of an admin I can add so I can help keep your servers free from disruptive people. I think I'll add Deadfront and call it good.

To put it bluntly; Bottiger makes the rules, the admins enforce them. Trolling is not against the rules in any way, shape or form to any degree imaginable. You can try to bend the current rules every which way you possibly want, but at the end of the day its not against the rules.

If we were to go silence a troll for trolling that would be admin abuse and we would get our admins powers revoked.

Now if you want to try to suggest it to be against the rules, we have a suggestion forum you can pitch the idea in. But as it currently stands, we would get hit with the admin removal hammer if we took action on trolling since it is not in any way, shape, or form against the rules.

So even if we wanted to we couldn't help you out.

 

[ogie]

I think in many instances people trolling are also technically breaking your rules with their comments. I am just suggesting you take action on the ones you can because it's going to promote a better environment on your servers. That's all I'm suggesting and I don't think that causes any of your admins to break your rules...

 

[Meowcenary]

I think in many instances people trolling are also technically breaking your rules with their comments. I am just suggesting you take action on the ones you can because it's going to promote a better environment on your servers. That's all I'm suggesting and I don't think that causes any of your admins to break your rules...

If they break any of the rules feel free to bring it to our attention and we'll take a look

Otherwise if they're just trolling and nothing more then we can't do anything about it

 

[SuperNewman]

Client mute is still a thing.

 

[Bottiger]

P.S. Does anyone know why LA has been extra dead lately? Seems like I've been unable to find it populated for like a week or longer.

Where do you see it? It was removed last week. And as for why it stopped filling, you'll have to ask the regs.

 

[SuperNewman]

Where do you see it? It was removed last week. And as for why it stopped filling, you'll have to ask the regs.

Quickplay strikes again. GG Valve.

 

[Sheev_Palpatine]

Client mute is still a thing, as well as turning down the volume of the game itself and relaxing to some music. As much as I don't like people harassing over the mic, there isn't much that can be done about it unless it breaks the rules. I tend to not use mic, but about 80% of the time when I would people were respectful and we all had fun talking. You can't let the bad apples stop you from having fun. If someone wants to give you crap, the best way to deal with it is to ignore them.

 

[ozzeh / dave]

client mute and don't forget a bout the /ignore command which ignores them for the session. also, don't feed the trolls

 

[Steky]

just mute..

 

[Mordy]

I'm gonna chime in here.

What Ogie is describing is more than just trolling, if not completely disruptive to the entire server. I can name 2 particular people who as soon as I see them connecting to the server, things are going to go to hell real fast. These guys get off on calling anyone a retard, who dares so much as look at their character wrong every 5 seconds. On the microphone they gag themselves, burp, fart, snort, and just make disgusting and gross sounds. If they happen to win the round, they brag about how easy it was hiding behind their sentries. If they lose, they blame the team looking to ruffle some feathers without shame.

They are trolls in the sense of the word; they want attention and they don't care how they do it. The server would be better off without these 2, period. Believe me, my report finger has been itching heavily to get these guys permanently muted so I also don't have to deal with the people who fall into their trap. I've been around long enough to know exactly how the rules play out here, and unfortunately, they are technically not doing anything that an admin can action against and I believe that is a problem here.

The US BADWATER server has been great up until these guys settled in. I love being able to talk with my team and coordinate strategy, even when the other team can hear me. But fuck me if I'm no longer allowed to do that because a couple of assholes have voice chat on lock down because they can get the whole server up in arms. They purposely do this because they know what they are doing won't get them banned/muted and they play it off perfectly. If I have to mute everyone who responds to the trolling, then they've won, and I can't compete against them because there is nothing I can do to stop it short of turning off a feature that is essential to the gameplay. Your rules about not banning trolls helps them, not so much the regular players.