[Feedback] Regarding chat toxicity, scammers, and victim-blaming culture.

This is kind of a multi-faceted feedback post, and I'm sure people are going to vehemently disagree and pretend that this isn't the way of things, but it needs to be said. I love Path of Exile, and I wish to see it succeed and continue to scale in popularity, however these things hold the game back from having the correct appeal it needs to reach a broader audience. I have seen their effects first-hand among the real-life friends that I try to get to play Path of Exile with me.

Firstly, I do not believe that there exists any sort of discouragement for people harassing other people or being generally toxic in global chats. They might be muted once in a while for 15 minutes because enough people reported one of their posts, but in the grand scheme of things that will never change the behavior. Example of this, there is a person I will name "Person A" in my global chat that EVERYBODY has to put on their ignore list. Whenever someone sees a one-sided conversation in this global chat they will speak up and say that putting "Person A" on their ignore list is a tradition of the channel and highly recommended. I get that that's what ignore lists are for, but expecting an entire global channel to mute one person rather than blocking them out from using global channels for a week, month, league etc is a bit silly. At the very least expand the ignore list size, because it's so easy to fill them up.

Secondly, GGG in the whole time I've played this game has had the public appearance of protecting scammers. On top of inaction against them, scammers are protected by the "no calling people out" rule in forums. This isn't even to mention the fact that account names are well hidden so known scammers only have to make a new character and are essentially a different person. When I say scamming in this context, I don't mean selling something on the trade site for too much or anything like that, I mean the kind of behavior like playing psychological games to get the other player to accidentally accept a trade for a bricked headhunter or the wrong amount of currency etc, or offering a service then making off with the other players' stuff, etc etc etc. I personally have not been scammed because I am innately distrustful of other human beings, but I see attempts or other people being scammed almost daily.

Lastly, and this is not directly a fault of GGG but rather the sort of environment their inaction creates, Path of Exile's players have developed kind of a victim-blaming culture. Newer players who are barely dipping their foot into the crazy complex economy of the game are very likely to get scammed, and when they do the public reaction from other players is "well you shouldn't have let yourself be scammed". Maybe it's just me, but I see this no different than "You shouldn't have been outside after dark" or "Maybe you shouldn't dress that way". Either way, this is another thing that is going to drive new players, and potential MTX buyers, away from the game.

As the game scales, these will inevitably be things that GGG will have to figure out solutions to if they want to succeed. Driving away new players is not in the best interest of a game, and if somebody's early days in a game are filled with toxicity, being scammed out of their first awesome expensive item, then being blamed for it... I think that person is more likely to play Diablo.

Toxicity is fine in my opinion, never had anything against banter or shit talking each others, thats how the internet has been since the very start. I am against censorship, I am against censoring toxicity.

I do agree with the scamming part, scammers are annoying and no one likes them.

The last thing you are describing is a none issue, its good that players get called out on their mistakes so they remember not to make that mistake again.

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ubersuperduper wrote:

The last thing you are describing is a none issue, its good that players get called out on their mistakes so they remember not to make that mistake again.

Unfortunately this is a little idealistic. There are already an overwhelming number of barriers for new players to get past to really start enjoying the game, if you add being scammed with absolutely no recourse to all of that it is more likely to make them leave the game... Especially when everyone else shames and blames them. I have seen this first-hand among my group of friends.

I was agreeing with most of what you said, right up until you lost me right here:

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battlecarrier wrote:

I see this no different than "You shouldn't have been outside after dark" or "Maybe you shouldn't dress that way".

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

You REALLY don't see a difference between a person who is the victim of a violent, life-altering (sometimes even life-ending) crime and someone who allows their own greed and/or laziness to enable someone taking advantage of them and "stealing" some make believe money in a videogame?

Just... wow. This is maybe the single worst take I've ever seen in this subforum, and that was a HIGH bar to clear.

Honestly I'm pretty disgusted when people compare failing to check a trade in the same category as an assault or rape victim.

The trade window forces you to look at the item(s), it's not the same as being violently beaten or being physically violated without your consent.

The reality is the internet hate has grown dramatically as it's become more accessible. It's the people, whether it's x-box live, pc gaming, or even twitter and social media.

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ARealLifeCaribbeanPirate wrote:

I was agreeing with most of what you said, right up until you lost me right here:

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battlecarrier wrote:

I see this no different than "You shouldn't have been outside after dark" or "Maybe you shouldn't dress that way".

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

You REALLY don't see a difference between a person who is the victim of a violent, life-altering (sometimes even life-ending) crime and someone who allows their own greed and/or laziness to enable someone taking advantage of them and "stealing" some make believe money in a videogame?

Just... wow. This is maybe the single worst take I've ever seen in this subforum, and that was a HIGH bar to clear.

Are you actually this dense or just intentionally obtuse? You even quoted them. OP didn't say they see no difference between what was done to the victims. They said there was no difference in how wrong it is to blame the victim.

I don't care if you disagree with them about that, have fun with that argument.

But to pretend they said "being scammed is like being raped" is either hilariously disingenuous or maybe you just couldn't be bothered to comprehend the point before you spewed your drama filled reply into the thread.

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SeCKSEgai wrote:

Honestly I'm pretty disgusted when people compare failing to check a trade in the same category as an assault or rape victim.

The trade window forces you to look at the item(s), it's not the same as being violently beaten or being physically violated without your consent.

The reality is the internet hate has grown dramatically as it's become more accessible. It's the people, whether it's x-box live, pc gaming, or even twitter and social media.

See my reply above, it seems to apply to you also.

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Sqrlmonger wrote:

"

SeCKSEgai wrote:

Honestly I'm pretty disgusted when people compare failing to check a trade in the same category as an assault or rape victim.

The trade window forces you to look at the item(s), it's not the same as being violently beaten or being physically violated without your consent.

The reality is the internet hate has grown dramatically as it's become more accessible. It's the people, whether it's x-box live, pc gaming, or even twitter and social media.

See my reply above, it seems to apply to you also.

The difference is comparing a poe "scam" to real-life assault. The victim in a poe scam enables the scam by agreeing to the trade. The victim in an assault almost never has any control over the situation.

Blaming the victim of a rape for being out after dark is not the same as blaming a video game player for not taking a few seconds to look and verify before clicking accept.

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Sqrlmonger wrote:

Are you actually this dense or just intentionally obtuse?

...

maybe you just couldn't be bothered to comprehend the point before you spewed your drama filled reply into the thread.

OH THE IRONY.

The complete lack of self-awareness in this reply would be hilarious if it weren't also so sad.

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SeCKSEgai wrote:

Blaming the victim of a rape for being out after dark is not the same as blaming a video game player for not taking a few seconds to look and verify before clicking accept.

THIS, right HERE, is the point that seems to have utterly eluded your comprehension my friend. By saying victim blaming for "scamming" is the same as victim blaming for RAPE AND ASSAULT, OP is directly equating them. And THAT is the part I would hope any decent person would object to, in the strongest possible terms.

GGG Support is showing some sort of sickness that is political correctness into the level that any freedom - if not in frames understood by them - is anihilated.

This is the main reason why i will stop "contributing to community".