How Would You Punish Trashtalk?

[Col_StaR]

Hello folks,

No point in writing an elaborate introduction for this poll. The moment you folks saw "Trashtalk" in the title, everyone's fingers instinctively shot to their keyboards, with one side writing, "I hate it all" while the other side tells that side, "deal with it".

I'm not going to input my opinion into the poll, and I know the general consensus about what everyone thinks about trash talking. But what I am curious about is how those people who think trash talk should be punishable want us to punish trash talk.
Assuming that we cannot filter it, or assuming that our (currently pre-occupied) Developers cannot address the matter, it thus comes to the Moderation staff and the community to address the matter.

Trash talk walks that fine line between, "insulting" and "crass but acceptable", which is one of the reasons why we are hesitant to make it punishable. It's nothing new in the realm of games, with real life sports and eSports being afflicted with trash talk all the time. It's the nature of these games to be competitive, and to draw competitive people, and thus they are likely to say some things related to their competition. Even the most mild-manners of players can get drawn up in the moment and let loose a singular, "rekt".

But let's assume for a moment that the network does have a policy against trash talk, and we do start punishing players. How would you want those trash talking players to be punished?

In my eyes, there are only two possible options for punishments: mutes and bans. I will explain the options below.

• Bans are given as punishment for more severe rule breaking chat such as extreme abuse, racism, sexism, etc.
  • Punishment escalation plan would start with a 1 Hour Ban, followed by 6 Hour, 1 Day, 3 Day, 5 Day, 7 Day, Permanent.
  • Alternatively, the punishment would be a repeating 1 Hour Ban.
• Mutes are given as punishment for the less severe rule breaking chat such as lesser abuse, spam, advertisement, etc.
  • Punishment escalation would start with a 1 Hour Mute, followed by 6 Hour, 1 Day, 3 Day, 5 Day, 7 Day, Permanent.
  • Alternatively, the punishment would be a repeating 6 Hour mute.
• If you feel like another punishment plan would be more appropriate than bans or mutes, please list it below.
  • But keep in mind that any punishments proposed should be practical for us to use.
• If you feel like trash talk shouldn't be punishable, either because of the amount of work it will put on the staff or on the principle that it isn't severe enough, please say so.

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Side Notes and Clarifications:
Example terms of what constitutes Trashtalk:

• eZ
• rekt
• ezpz
• lemon squeezy
• get good
• ur bad
• gg10
• scraped
• scrub

The staff will not be punishing for GG, since that is still used in a positive light.

Remember that if a user trashtalk and abuse are similar in usage, but different in severity. If a moderator interprets a term as abuse even if it uses trash talk, it will be punished as abuse; vice versa, if you perceive something as abuse, and it is interpreted as trash talk, it will be punished as trash talk.
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Please keep in mind that all of this is hypothetical, and it is in no way a promise that I will make trash talk punishable. But I see how passionate people are about turning off the trash talk, and I'm curious to know how those same people would plan to do that.

I'm eager to hear everyone's responses. No matter what side you voted for, please leave a comment below if you wish to make your arguments heard.

 

[Burningcupcakes]

I'm ok with trash talk if someone sazy ez or l2p. However I think you need to start punishing them if it gets personal. E.g. Your completely trash at this game go cry home to mummy( Im minusing expletives here). However people take it certain ways. If you don't want to read trash talk you can just make your chat really small.

Edit: There is no way everyone should be punished for saying easy or gg. That would be way to hard for staff to deal with. Also it is good for people to let out some steam once in a while. When things get personal thats when moderators just.

 

[MoLoToV]

I don't feel trashtalking deserves to be punished with a permanent mute nor a ban. IMO it would be best if we had mutes like 1 Hour > 3 Hours > 6 Hours > 12 Hours > 1 D. And insteed of giving a permanent ban in the end, you just keep multipling the previous mute by 2, this way it's all up to the player if he'd decides to keep trashtalking, which if he does, he'll just get muted for longer and longer periods.

Edit : Col_StaR You screwed up on the poll

 

[smashmaster]

Trash talk can make people feel very bad about them selves and even though it doesn't bother me I deal with depression. If someone is feeling very down sometimes they can just snap and we all know what happens then. To be honest I rather a player hack then make someone feel down. I know allot of people wont agree with me but I think trash talk should be treated the same way hacking used to be treated, 1 week ban then perm ban. Please don't hate on me for speaking my opinion :/.

 

[Jojo]

I voted for Trashtalk not being punishable.
Yes, those words "ez" "rekt" (and so on) are not needed and it's annoying when you get killed by a triple-team and then all of them say "eZ" "rekt".
But honestly if I think about it, it's not a big deal. After 10 minutes I forgot it and couldn't care less.
Another point is, that people say "rekt " after killing a friend in deathmatch, just for fun. And really, that shouldn't be punishable, in my opinion.

 

[GibbyMC]

How about changing all these words to nice words using the swear filter thing.
Say if you typed "rekt" then it would come out as two things I could think of, 1, a practical joke I.e. Why did the chicken cross the road? There was a teir 2 there! Or 2, random non hurtful noun I.e. Potato

Or just block them completely

Or just go play csgo

Ty

 

[Evermore]

I don't think bans are necessary for trash talkers, as muting them would completely eradicate the problem. I would like to see the punishments go in this order: first offense 24 hour mute (Short enough to serve as a warning, but long enough to get the message through that it is serious) --> second offense 1 week mute (Gives offender time to think through his actions) --> third offense perma-mute (Removes player toxicity, but still let's offender play the game)

 

[Josh_Zhy]

not at all, its apart of the game. I mean, to a certain degree, "kys" and etc. should be a temp ban/mute

 

[P3num6ra]

Kinda like badlion, just mute them saying "show better sportsmanship". Makes the server a better place by mutes. They should not be progressively severe by the number of punishments, either.
Bans? lolno, that is literally really unfair.

 

[Lemonz87]

Trash talk is a part of the game. Getting too strict with what you are allowed to say ruins the fun of the game. I hate to throw Badlion into the mix as an example but I think the way they do thinks works very well. Badlion allows swearing, gg, gf, but not racism, or eZ, rekt or anything that could be taken as abusive. I am not completely certain over the details of how Badlion staff are instructed but I know what I am muted for, and what I am not muted for.

Punushing someone for saying gg or gf will simply anger the community greatly. On the MCGamer rules, a clear list of what you decide to make "against the rules" should be published so people know exactly what may be said- the wishy-washy "abuse" ban is completely based on an opinion and can make people upset, especially when they did not mean for their words to be taken offensively. I am a big believer in being able to say what you want as long as it does not infringe upon the lives of others. Just my opinions.

 

[Mr_Gears]

We're all gamers aren't we? Any game you play you'll be given those simple to extreme trash talkers. People who trash talk do it because it's funny to see the reaction of the player they intended to insult. You can go play Club Penguin and you'll still get a trash talker here and there. Sometimes trash talking can go above and beyond the intended reaction and cause tons of drama and more people saying useless things to other players.

Trash talking has many different levels from playful to extreme. Playful trash talk is simply saying "gg" or "ez" just tiny little remarks to cause a few seconds of elevated heart rate. Extreme trash talk is when someone goes way to far like saying "go kill yourself, you suck at minecraft kid you're trash get good scrublord cake eater no life fgt" something that should really never be said.

In a game like Minecraft, it's hard to avoid any trash talker just like any other game. We're gamers and we play to win. Sometimes winning can cause some harsh words. Look at pro CoD players who make a living by winning. They trash talk and they're at the top of the gaming community.

Trash talking is here to stay and if you try to remove it, it's only going to cause more angry players and upset kids.

 

[Scott]

I feel that it should be punished using the following table:
Kick
1 Hour Mute
5 Hour Mute
1 Day Mute
3 Day Mute
Permanent Mute

If someone can't learn to not trashtalk after 5 mutes/kicks, they need help with listening and don't deserve to talk in chat anymore.