Banned from Chat

Hi all,

I would like to know where in the T&C that it states a player maynot use caps in chat ?

I have been banned from it and so not able to chat in game with my Guild or connect to the game.

I have purchased gems and am now instructing my CC company to request return of money for said payments, allowing any mod the right to ban any player for using caps when you do not offer a function to increase the text size is without doubt one of the most stupid ideas I have ever seen in any online game.

To say that I am disappointed with actions such as these beggers belief.

What ever this game had going for it has been destroyed by over zealous MODS, while I can understand the need for mods to control chat is needed players are at the mercy of said mods.

The article review that I am doing for a gaming magazine will reflect this and a copy of what happened will be sent to Ubisoft under complaints from the magazine on my behalf.

For those wishing to play this game, I would advise caution when chatting in the chat channels, and above all do not purchase any gems as you may find yourself banned at any moment depending on the mood of the mods.

For all others I would say stick to what ever online game you are playing and wait until Ubisoft employ adults to moderate their chat channels with proper guidelines.

Regards

Cemmac

I do hope that this post is allowed and left as its not in any way in breach of T & C

Hello,

If you feel there has been a mistake with the issuing of your ban please get in contact with support. You can do so here:
http://www.thesettlersonline.com/en/help-and-support

It was issued under the guidelines which are openly set out here:
The Settlers Online Code of Conduct, Forum and In-game Chat Rules

I believe that the maximum duration of this ban was 30 minutes to serve as a notice, and is in no way permanent.

Best,
-CF

Hi CF and thank you for your prompt reply,

However as you have so clearly pointed out this was a mistake on the part of the MOD involved but as per the rules of the game as outlined in the T & C we are not allowed to make any comment about them.

"Use of capitals/Caps-locks

Excessive use of capitals or caps-locks can result in a short to long term ban. Length of the ban will be decided by the MODs present and is not up to debate.
Common expressions or abbreviations usually written in capital letters are of course allowed as long as the player does not abuse of them."

I was not given a warning but another player said I would get banned, the mod did not issue a warning until placing the ban, the time frame was not given as to how long the ban would be in effect for, so for the moment i am unable to chat to the members of my guilde or use the trade feature.... this needs more explaining and maybe adapted to reflect so.


Hello,

If you feel there has been a mistake with the issuing of your ban please get in contact with support. You can do so here:
http://www.thesettlersonline.com/en/help-and-support

It was issued under the guidelines which are openly set out here:
The Settlers Online Code of Conduct, Forum and In-game Chat Rules

I believe that the maximum duration of this ban was 30 minutes to serve as a notice, and is in no way permanent.

Best,
-CF



"Complaining about moderation
We will not accept any complaining about the moderation, the moderators or the rules on the public channels and any such behavior will result in an ban!
If you wish to report abusive moderating please send a personal message on the forum to one BB_Ravel or send a ticket to Support.
Remember to stay objective and constructive in your messages. Rude or insulting languages to or about any of the TSO team will only result in your message NOT getting an answer."

So in the event of players needing to complain about a mod they face the likely hood of a ban with out notice .....and have to send a message which is understandable to UbiSoft.

Rules are made to be adherred too so in the event of a Mod being over zealous on chat and some times being insulting we just have to take ? but if a player due to eyesight has to use caps gets banned well very nice.

Again i thank you for the reply and still find this game to much sided for MODs that can when ever they like issue bans .... of course they are only human, but do not make mistakes or try to approach any issue in such a manner to try and explain to players what is wrong with their conduct.

As for the 11 odd K of Gems on my account I will take this issue up with the payment gateway involved and also with UbiSoft for the return of the monetary value.

Then i will be closing my account and will never play another UbiSoft game again, when the article is printed and online I am sure that we will find a way to let you know :-)

I am not trying to belittle any person or Ubisoft for that matter but when clear guidelines are not available then sorry, this game even in its beta does not make for a happy playing experience or atmosphere that I feel suits me or the readers of our magazine.

I will not be making any more post in relation to this matter and just thought I should return a comment to your post.

Thanks again

Cemmac

We direct issues with moderation to the support team to ensure that it is evaluated fairly on a case by case basis. If the moderating team attempted to resolve disputes, I am sure you would agree that this is a very one-sided situation. The support team has the ability to review chat logs and evaluate context of the situation; this is also something we do not have the ability to do.

Once again, if you feel an error has taken place I would urge you to make contact with support. The short-term bans are issued to ensure people do take notice of the guidelines set out, and it does not prevent you from logging in to the game itself.


I have also merged these two topics into one for context.

Best,
-CF

Hello Cemmac,

I would like to get a few things cleared out here so there are no misunderstandings about this issue.

First of all I must say that I'm sorry to hear you are unhappy about the way things were handled. I sincerely hope you will understand the necessities of the rules I wrote and that we can all get passed this.


The use of caps is not allowed as it leads to players abusing of it and spoiling the chat for other players. Hence, the moderation team will often ban people who write in caps. Just remember that bans are far from permanent and shouldn't be taken very seriously as long as the ban time remains short: this is often used as a warning and players should not get overly upset about it.

Complaints or discussions about moderation are not to be discussed in public as they will always turn into MOD bashing festivals and will never be productive in any way: too many players would seize this opportunity to insult, bring down and generally make the MOD's life really hard despite the hard work they put into making the chat a nice place to be in. Nevertheless, if a player thinks he was moderated unfairly, we are more than happy to discuss this with him in private and get to the root of the matter (players are therefor asked to contact Support about this). We are far from being unreasonable and if we also agree that a ban was too long for example we will lift it happily !

If you want to discuss the rules (not an act of moderation), we only ask you to do it in a calm and sensible manner, by giving us a thorough explanation of your opinions and a proper alternative to the rule you find inappropriate. You can do this on the forum, openly and publicly if you want to, and we will do our best to understand your position and find the best possible compromise. I never close discussions that are productive and can lead to making our set of rules better :)

Finaly, I would like to remind you that you are far from being alone on this game: there are thousands of other players and you must have noticed how cramped up the chat can become. Often a MOD will issue a public and open warning about a certain issue and will ban the next people he sees doing whatever it was he warned against. It will sometimes happen that players such as yourself may not have seen the public warning for any number of reasons. I'm not saying this was your case, but I would like to attract your attention to the fact that moderators have a lot of work on their hand, and if you sincerely think they are doing a poor job of it, then you haven't spent enough time in the chat yet to fully understand the extent of their work. Please be indulgent when errors occur.

So... Yes you should have been given a warning. No, you should not have gotten so upset about a simple chat ban. If you still believe the moderation was excessive, please contact support. If you believe the rules are unfair, unjust or unjustified, please contact me via PM on the the forum or open a thread addressing that issue (remember to follow my previous advice on this subject).

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

BB_Azariel