rules-of-conduct
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Put your clothes back on, Twitch streamers
Twitch updated its rules of conduct today to include the requirement that streamers dress "appropriately," meaning no "sexually aggressive clothing – including lingerie, swimsuits, pasties, and undergarments." This isn't a new policy and it isn't related to Twitch's $970 million sale to Amazon, Twitch PR Director Chase (just Chase) tells Joystiq in an email. "This is a long-standing policy meant to create an open, supportive, safe environment for all gamers," Chase says. "We are not the fashion police and this is not a new policy, just clarity on a long-standing one rooted in common sense. In other words, don't broadcast naked or in lingerie, swimsuits, pasties and undergarments. We don't actually get many cases of dress code violations, but felt it should be clarified since our community has occasionally asked about specifics." The updated policy notes that the dress code applies to both men and women. Basically, the rules boil down to, "Keep your shirts on, you sexy nerds." Twitch employees don't actively monitor streams for dress code violations, Chase says: "If our community reports things they believe are against our rules of conduct, we will investigate the claim and determine repercussions at that time. Offenders are few and far between since we're really just clarifying what most broadcasters already know." Twitch recently updated its policies to ensure that sponsored broadcasts are clearly labeled.
SWTOR unsubscribe option goes missing for some [Updated]
Call it the Case of the Canceled Sub: Many players have written in to us to report that the "cancel subscription" button on their Star Wars: The Old Republic account pages has mysteriously gone missing. Considering that tomorrow is the one-month mark where accounts are set to be billed following the free month of gameplay for those who started on launch day, we think this is particularly troublesome. Some players have found a workaround link but have received a warning and seen their threads shut down by moderators as violating the Rules of Conduct. BioWare is investigating the situation and has alluded to an issue with certain types of browsers. In the meantime, the CS team has asked those affected customers to contact the company by phone for help cancelling their subscriptions. BioWare is awarding those players who pay for an additional month of game time by March 19th with a special "Founder" title. [Thanks to the many, many people who sent us this tip!] [Update: In a correspondence with us, BioWare has confirmed that it is aware of the website issue and is working to resolve it that the issue is now fixed.]
Hyperspace Beacon: Cheating vs. poor design
Recently, Ilum took center stage in an argument about exploits, and I honestly cannot say which side of the fence I'm on. When do the intentions of the designers take precedent over the players taking advantage of poor design? Well before Star Wars: The Old Republic even crossed the mind of BioWare's creative brain-trust, exploiters have been taking advantage of unintentional game design. Even more interesting about the situation with Ilum was that the design was not exactly flawed; instead, players did not respond to the designs the way the developers intended. The game was "working as intended," but the players weren't. At what point do we blame the designers? In a game as large as SWTOR, we know that if someone is allowed to do something, he will. At the same time, players are lazy efficient when playing the game: They will find the fastest and easiest way to level or gear up despite the intended path. Designers should know this. I remember in Ultima Online when players would raise skills by poking each other with low-level swords for hours on end. I am sure the designers intended that players would earn skills by actually battling each other, but the simplest solution was to prod one another with a dull stick. I honestly don't know if that was ever fixed, but I certainly don't remember a GM tossing out a ban hammer for it.
