While problematic players are nothing new in the world of gaming, it's rare to see community managers making such direct and public complaints about harassment that makes it harder for them to do their jobs. We want to maintain a constructive and open dialogue with you, and this kind of behavior inhibits that. If you feel strongly about something in Minecraft, please tell us in the appropriate locations (such as these threads) because we want to hear what you have to say! However, harassment does not help anyone: not the devs who receive it, nor the players who are passionate about an upcoming change. Please understand that this behavior does not encourage employees to reach out to the community, nor will it bring about the changes you're wanting.
There have been some folks following Mojang employees around here on Reddit, responding to unrelated posts from them and commenting about this system. Overzealous and harassing messages from some fans have ended up hindering communication between the company and its players, he wrote:
Listening to feedback "does not mean that feedback will always change the design principles Mojang Studios adheres to," MojangMeesh added.īut MojangMeesh went on to criticize some members of the Minecraft community for taking their feedback too far. Writing on Reddit, relatively new Community Manager MojangMessh said that while the company "appreciate and value" this kind of feedback, Mojang is "not planning on changing" its new chat moderation system. Reporting me for saying racial slurs is literally 1.19.84 #saveminecraft /43BCekvGnB "Servers should be in charge of moderation like they have always been." Advertisement "Just remove the chat report system completely," a Twitter user wrote in one of the less overwrought examples on the hashtag. Many angry fans are organizing under the #SaveMinecraft hashtag, which includes plenty of dramatic comparisons to George Orwell's 1984. In a FAQ following that announcement, Mojang clarified that it is focused less on minor infractions like swearing and more on serious instances of "hate speech, bullying, harassment, sexual solicitation, or making true threats to others." Mojang also says it will not be actively monitoring chat on private servers (absent a player complaint), that humans will be involved in any ban decisions, and that bans will be subject to appeals.ĭespite that, the new moderation regime has led to a lot of pushback from fans. "Just because you can't see it directly in a given tweet or forum reply doesn't mean that it didn't happen," Gafner wrote.įurther Reading Microsoft will start banning players from all private Minecraft serversThe second instance of recent gaming community conflict comes from the world of Minecraft, where developer Mojang recently announced a new global chat moderation system that could lead to player bans that apply even on private servers.
Some of that harassment has apparently come through private channels. The harassment Gafner is talking about goes beyond "just rude replies on Twitter or vague comments," he wrote, and encompasses "real threats toward our people and our studio" from fans. Destiny 2 Community Manager Dylan "dmg04" Gafner responded to explain that he has taken some time off due to "some serious harassment towards me and my family," which has led to "an amount of reduced communications as the team plans future protections / strategies to help avoid these sorts of things." The first example comes from the Destiny 2 community on Reddit, where one member posted Wednesday lamenting the shrinking number of threads that receive an official reply from Bungie. That's the question two major gaming companies have faced in recent days, with community managers saying that harassment from customers is making it harder for them to do their jobs. But what happens when some of the concerned players become a cause for concern themselves? In video games, community management is all about listening to the concerns of the fans and communicating with them in a way that makes them feel that their concerns are being heard.