trolling
Latest
Twitter's broader abuse powers let it filter hostile tweets
Twitter knows that it's not enough just to make it easier to report abusive tweets. You have to catch and discourage that abuse as often as possible, too. Appropriately, the social network is rolling out a broader abuse policy alongside tools that help it stop harassment quickly. The new rules now cover all promotions of violence against someone, not just "direct, specific" threats -- Twitter can crack down on more than the most serious attacks. That's particularly important for victims of systematic abuse, who frequently chastise Twitter for being soft on people who clearly wish harm but aren't explicit about it.
Revenge porn is now a specific crime in the UK
Posting revenge porn has always been a bad idea, but the UK is about to make examples of those heartless enough to share nude photos of their exes. As of Monday, the country's Criminal Justice and Court Act treats revenge porn as a specific crime. Publicize racy private images with the "intent to cause distress" and you'll face up to two years in prison. While the law could technically punish this behavior before, the Act is meant to discourage those who otherwise wouldn't get the hint.
How Russia's 'troll factory' pumps out online propaganda
Russian blogger Marat Burkhard told Radio Free Europe that working in an infamous "troll factory" generating fake internet posts and comments was "Orwellian." "Whatever we're told, that's what we'll write about, no questions asked, and we don't want to know." Using the word "absurd" no less than five times, he detailed how a typical day went at "Internet Research," a company run by a Vladimir Putin crony. The team of around 300 employees reportedly puts out about 30,000 pro-Kremlin comments a day from fake accounts on Twitter, Facebook and websites like the New York Times. Burkhard took the job because it was an "adventure" and pays considerably more than a professional journalist makes in the nation.
Twitter CEO admits 'we suck at dealing with trolls,' vows to fix it
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has admitted that "we suck with dealing at trolls on the platform and we've sucked at it for years," according to an internal memo obtained by The Verge. He added that the problem has caused "core user after core user" to flee the platform and took personal responsibility. Though Twitter has suffered from issues around abuse and trolling for years -- with the recent GamerGate abuse of Anita Sarkeesian being just one egregious example -- the apparent breaking point for Costolo was a recent Guardian story by feminist writer Lindy West. In it, she talked about her interview on This American Life with a troll who assumed the identity of her beloved, deceased father on Twitter.
Turbine pledges to act on LotRO player event griefing
Concern over trolls disrupting and griefing player-run events in Lord of the Rings Online has been hitting our inboxes here at Massively, which is why it's good to see Turbine take an official position today against such griefing in the future. According to a post on the forums, the studio will be "making a concerted effort" to combat trolls and encourage the continuation of player-run events. GMs pledged to take action on help tickets as well as monitor such events as they occur, but said that it will limit such policing efforts to stage areas only. "We know that players moving throughout the performance area on mounts can be particularly frustrating and distracting," the studio said. "To combat this problem we're looking into what options are available to help combat this behavior in designated performance (stage) areas. We'll also be removing players who are mounted from the stage area manually in the meantime." [Thanks to George for the tip!]
UK wants tougher prison sentences for internet trolls
Online harassers in the UK may soon face much harsher consequences for their scare tactics. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling tells the Daily Mail that a newly proposed measure will let magistrates send cases of internet abuse and threats to crown courts, boosting the maximum prison time for those cases from six months to two years. The measure likely won't intimidate the most determined of trolls if it takes effect, but it could serve as a warning to "casual" abusers who don't think they'll pay a price for their long-distance hate campaigns. Given how nightmarish internet threats have become as of late, the proposed tougher sentencing might be well-timed. [Image credit: Eirik Solheim, Flickr]
Head of Sony Online Entertainment's flight rerouted over concerns for explosives [Update]
The commercial flight of John Smedley, head of Sony Online Entertainment, has allegedly been rerouted due to Twitter users warning America Airlines that explosives are on board. These same users are also claiming responsibility for this morning's apparent DDoS attack on the PlayStation Network, explaining that part of the group's messaging is that Sony "should be paying for DDoS protection" with the revenue earned from PlayStation Plus. Smedley tweeted earlier today that he would be flying to San Diego, later adding that his flight had been rerouted to Phoenix, seemingly due to concerns about "security and our cargo." Smedley's tweets match the flight pattern of AA Flight 362, shown in the above image from Flight Aware as well as AA's online records. Update: The FBI has released a statement to Game Informer. It's not much of a statement, but it shows the authorities are at least aware of the situation. "Today AA Flight 362 traveling from Dallas to San Diego was diverted to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. The flight landed without incident. Passengers were safely removed from the plane," the Bureau writes. "The investigation is still ongoing." [Image: Flight Aware]
The Daily Grind: Do you comment on headlines before you read articles?
I'm not a Twitter fan. I never use it outside of work, and the time I spend manning the Massively Twitter feed is one of the least enjoyable portions of my workday. This is due mostly to the large numbers of people who read our headlines via Twitter and then proceed to comment or tweet back without reading the article. I know; it's a game of trolls and the winner gets to feel like a special snarkanaut for cramming his invaluable insight into 140 characters or less and hopefully provoking some sort of reaction. But like all casual games, it gets tiresome rather quickly. Ultimately, we, like most writers on the internet, design headlines specifically to entice reading, not to sum up a post in 10 words. How about you, Massively readers? 'Fess up: Do you comment on headlines before you read articles, either on Twitter or elsewhere? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Stick and Rudder: Should you be scared off by Star Citizen's community?
Massively's Justin Olivetti and I were talking MMO communities recently. Star Citizen came up, and my esteemed colleague mentioned that the constant hubbub surrounding the crowdsourced space sim sandbox has made him a bit wary of getting invested in the title for the time being. From the inside looking out, I can see how the game's community sometimes seems like a roiling mass of internet rage and entitlement, but I think it's worth mentioning that -- like the game itself -- it's also what you make of it.
Watch Dogs mobile griefing app out today
Ubisoft's mobile companion app for Watch Dogs is now available on Android and iOS, and gives players the opportunity to interact with others in the game's online sections. Though the word "companion" doesn't have the same ring to it in the "ctOS Mobile" app, as players use it to mess with others' surroundings in an attempt to thwart their attempts to reach the finish line in both race and free ride modes. For instance, players within the ctOS Mobile app can control a Chicago PD helicopter and go on the hunt for their rivals, controlling ctOS devices within the helicopter's range like road blockers and traffic lights to halt other players. Mobile players will also dispatch Chicago police units like squad cars and SWAT teams and upgrade their effectiveness. As app users complete challenges, they earn experience and skill points, with which they can enhance their police arsenal as well as their own abilities. The app is free to download and doesn't require that players own the console game. Ubisoft has a list of its compatible devices on its blog. Our review of Watch Dogs, now available today, notes that the game is "a more fluid and modern power fantasy than we're used to," likening players in the game to being a wizard. [Image: Ubisoft]
Denmark made in Minecraft is why we can't have nice things
Let's face it: learning about your government and country is often not the most exciting thing in the world. That's why the Danish Geodata Agency recreated the entire country of Denmark in 1:1 scale inside of Minecraft - to make learning a bit more fun. Unfortunately, the Internet had its own agenda, and decided to teach those Danes a lesson about ... we don't even know. Why the world can't have nice things? See, despite the DGA turning off dynamite on the map they created - which used more than 4 trillion blocks and 1 terabyte of data - intrepid Minecraft users discovered that in-game carts which carried dynamite were still active. Using this exploit, players bombed areas of virtual Denmark towns, sometimes placing American flags and tanks in their stead. Classy. DGA spokesman Chris Hammeken told UK news site The Register that only minor areas were affected, and that the DGA does not plan to reboot the map. "We consider that as a nature of playing Minecraft – elements are broken down and new are being created," Hammeken said. "Therefore we will not reboot the demonstration of Denmark in Minecraft. But occasionally we will rebuild minor areas if buildings are removed and nothing new is being created." If you want to check out what's become of virtual Denmark, the DGA still has it available to download. [Image: Mojang]
The Daily Grind: Does griefing in MMOs reflect a sinister personality?
A recent psychology paper picked up by Slate suggests that maybe there's more to bad behavior on the internet than previously thought. Researchers asked study participants to evaluate what they found most fun about commenting on the internet, then gave those same participants a personality test to determine their levels of sadism, narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism -- the "dark tetrad" of antisocial personality traits. (One of the agree/disagree statements on the personality exam? "I enjoy griefing other players in multiplayer games.") The researchers found a significant correlation between those who flagged as sadists and those who claimed to enjoy trolling and expressed "sadistic glee at the distress of others." While the study focused on the 5% of participants who cause comment moderators the most grief on the internet, over here in MMOland I'm wondering whether this study would map equally well to griefers in video games since we might define griefing in a virtual world the same way: causing someone distress because it's pleasurable for the griefer. That guy who ganks your lowbie and corpse camps you for an hour might not be so socially well-adjusted in the real world after all, in spite of what griefer-apologists have been claiming all these years. What do you folks think? Does griefing in MMOs reflect a sinister personality? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Drama Mamas: How to deal with an overzealous guildie
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. One way or another, this week's letter writer is going to give her biggest fan the slip. Dear Drama Mamas, I'm a GM of a casual RP/social guild. As such I do my best to be diplomatic, friendly, and keep things friendly and inviting for my guildies. We've kept it going for years with ups and downs and I'm incredibly proud of how little drama we've had all things considered. I'd hate to be the source of any drama so am considering this a preemptive strike. There is one particular guildie who isn't breaking any rules, is a wonderfully creative RPer, and annoys the everliving crap out of me. It's not his fault, it's a personality thing. He rubs me the wrong way. We're very different people with different senses of humor and priorities etc and so on. And that'd be fine, I'm an adult perfectly capable of getting along and keeping the peace with people I don't necessarily jive with. Except that he is DEAD SET on becoming my BEST FRIEND FOREVER. To the point where my dislike has steadily grown into a total reluctance to log on.
Drama Mamas: Giving up on the team that gives up the farm
Image: Wowhead Having kids in the house keeps it real -- even (especially?) when it comes to PvP. With my 12-year-old daughter and I both plowing through moderate Arathi Basin obsessions, I have to admit that she's got a better handle on the social aspect than I do. How so? I've had to put myself in time out and cool off my knee-jerk reaction to whiny losers. The background: Leveling my most recent lowbie through her 20s and 30s in AB was absolutely, utterly glorious. My teammates were relaxed, and my opponents didn't spend more time emoting /kek or /spit or making strange gestures at me than they did focusing fire on me (yeah, the healer ... ouch). The 40s flashed by, too, albeit with a little more arguing among my teammates over strategy. But once the 50s hit, the losers (in multiple senses of the word) came out in full force. As soon as a single player declared we might be too far behind to pull off a win, half the team would crumple into an orgy of chat despair. Players would stand dead in the graveyards in order to continue textually bemoaning their fate. When your team gives up, what should happen next? Is it time to launch a rallying cry? Decry a lack of sportsmanship? Call out culprits? Ignore the whole thing and let the downward spiral continue?
The Daily Grind: Have you messed with other players?
Sometimes, something beautiful happens in shared chat channels. I was playing Final Fantasy XIV and wandering through Coerthas when someone asked at random whether Halo or Metroid would win in a fight. This prompted no shortage of people explaining that those games were not eponymous, which just spun off into more comedy like the original speaker asserting that The Legend of Zelda is about a green guy named Zelda, since why would you name a game after someone who needs to be rescued? It's Super Mario Bros. not Super Princess Peach Is Kidnapped. It was a pretty obvious attempt to get people to correct an assumption that didn't exist, and it was pretty funny. It was also harmless, which is another plus. Not everyone who messes with players is that kind; I've seen people teleport someone to a high-level area and then warp away, leaving the other player stranded, or a tank undressing and then pulling the boss just for giggles. Those might be a little less funny, depending on perspective. But today we're not asking about validity; we're asking about the act itself. Have you messed with other players just for the heck of it? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Flameseeker Chronicles: When good Guild Wars 2 commentary goes bad
I'm aware that not everybody who reads this column loves Guild Wars 2, and I'm cool with that. Occasionally I'm baffled by a comment or two left by people who apparently just swung by to give a brief, negative review of the game, completely independent of the topic of the article they left it on, but that's mostly harmless. I appreciate the vast majority of thoughtful comments, whether positive or negative; I like to think that most of you love MMOs as much as I do, and I believe that a person doesn't necessarily have to like a game in order to have something insightful to say about it and its role in influencing the industry. I mention all of this because I want to make it clear that when I talk about toxic GW2 commentary, I don't mean people leaving negative criticism in general, or saying that they don't like the game. In fact, the majority of what I'd like to discuss comes from people who apparently play the game regularly and who are deeply invested in it. Some of them say that they love it. And because they love it, it's easy to see why they might feel protective of it and take perceived threats to it personally.
The Soapbox: Community or comments
If there's one thing gamers love doing, it's insult games they don't play. Any news item, editorial, hands-on, review, or general pile of text dedicated to a few key games -- normally those with high profiles -- receives an instant and visceral response from a collection of commenters who seem to exist only to insult a particular game and berate its fans. Much of the time, these commenters have no actual experience with the game in question. Here on Massively, EVE Online and World of Warcraft seem to be the biggest magnets for such tomfoolery. Guild Wars 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic attract these behaviors as well, and WildStar is well on its way to becoming the next troll-favorite comment piñata. There's nothing wrong with not liking a game, of course. And a little conflict is good; why allow comments if everyone's going to have the same opinion? There's just one problem: If your opinion of a game is based on preconceived notions and not actual experience, that opinion is adding nothing to the dialogue. In short, you are trolling.
The Drama Mamas guide to coping with trolling and profanity
It's the last straw: After a long day toiling in the salt mines, you come home to settle in for some stress-relieving World of Warcraft, only to find yourself transported back to The Barrens –- not only the latest patch's Battlefield Barrens, but the trollish Barrens-style general chat you've come to loathe. Your chat box is scrolling ceaselessly with "Douchebag this!" and "$%^& that!" and you can see that any hope of a restful evening is slipping inexorably beyond your reach. What's a poor profanity-pelted player to do?
This is the Modem World: Why we troll
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology. Back when the PlayStation 2 was the world's most popular game console, the original Xbox was struggling to gain a post-Halo audience and the GameCube was a cute diversion with a couple decent titles, I trolled gaming message boards. I was so sure that anyone who bought anything other than a PS2 was out of their mind that I set on the most immature mission in history: to inform the masses, proselytize the word as handed down by Hirai-san, and ridicule those who were wasting their time with The Wind Waker. Those who were active gamers at the time probably read that paragraph and are now either annoyed or cracking a wry smile in understanding. The latter are the ones who played Ico. Those who weren't gamers at the time can insert their own products into the mix for context.
Ask Massively: The mobile site and trolly trollersons
Welcome back to Ask Massively, that corner of the site where we take a stab at answering random questions you deposit in our inboxes and comments. Hey guys, we have a cave troll, checkit. soundersfc.tid wrote: I have a question or two about the commenting system. Do you think there will ever be a way to flag offensive comments through the mobile version of the site? And speaking of offensive comments, what metric does Massively use when considering permanent bans on commenters? Long-time mobile viewers will know that our mobile site is... well, it's a thing. A thing that doesn't get a whole lot of love from the technical staff, unfortunately. We were thrilled that the new comment system works so well on mobile, but you're right: It has some deficiencies, which is a bummer because according to our site analytics, a lot of you surf from your favorite hand-held gadgets.
