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The Problem Lies with the Community Managers: Players Complain of Harassment that is Excessive.

Some Destiny 2 and Minecraft players are taking their fandom too far.

Kyle Orland - July 28, 2022, 4:00 PM UTC

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Community management in video games is all about listening and communicating with fans in a way that makes them feel heard. What happens when certain players become a source of concern?

This is the question that two major gaming companies have been asked recently. Community managers say that customers harassing them makes it more difficult for them to do their jobs.
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The first instance is from the Destiny 2 community on Reddit One member wrote on Wednesday lamenting the shrinking number of threads that get an official response from Bungie. Dylan Gafner, Destiny 2 Community Manager, replied to explain that he had taken time off because of "some serious harassment of my family and me," which led to "a significant decrease in communication as the team plans future defenses and strategies to prevent these types of incidents."

Gafner's harassment does not include "just rude responses on Twitter or a few vague remarks" Gafner wrote. It also includes "real threats towards our people and our studio" from fans. Some of the abuse was apparently done via private channels. "Just because you can't see it in a specific message or forum response doesn't mean that it didn't happen," Gafner wrote.

Gafner wrote, "I will be very explicit in saying that I appreciate the studio for the way it has helped me after a serious incident of harassment against me and my family." "I am able to take time off as a result of this."

Gafner acknowledged that "it's regrettable" that there's not been more interaction within the community, but the decreased communication wasn't intended to be an "retaliatory measure" against the majority of the community. "Sometimes we're just required to take some time to get things straightened out," he wrote. "It can take weeks or even months, as any other pipeline of development. We want the best for our players as well as our employees. That said, we can't simply continue to operate as usual' until issues are resolved. It's a pain and we want to ensure that everyone is secure and well taken care of.

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Further Reading

Mojang clarified in a FAQ that it doesn't focus on minor offenses such as swearing, but more on serious instances of hate speech, bullying harassment sexual solicitation, or making real threats to others. Mojang has also stated that it will not be monitoring chat on private servers (absent player complaints) and that ban decisions will be made by human beings, and appeals are allowed.

Despite that the new moderation policy has caused a lot of pushback from fans. Many angry fans are organizing under #SaveMinecraft hashtag. The hashtag is full of dramatic comparisons to George Orwell's 1984. minecraft servers list In one of the more straightforward examples of the hashtag, a Twitter user wrote: "Just remove all chat reports." "Servers should be in charge of moderation just as they have always been."

Reporting me for saying racial slurs is literally 1.19.84#saveminecraft pic.twitter.com/43BCekvGnB

- Walnut Bread Guy (@WalnutBreadGuy) July 19, 2022

Writing on Reddit the an extremely new Community Manager MojangMessh stated that, while Mojang Studios "appreciate[s] and value[s]" this type of feedback, Mojang is "not planning to change" its chat moderation system. Listening to feedback "does not mean that feedback will always alter the principles of design Mojang Studios adheres to," MojangMeesh explained.

But MojangMeesh continued to criticize a few members of the Minecraft community for taking their feedback too far. The ad-hoc and abusive messages of some fans have ended up hindering communication between the company and its players, MojangMeesh wrote:

Reddit users have been following Mojang employees, making comments on the system and responding to their posts. Please be aware that this behaviour doesn't encourage employees to reach out to the community, nor will it bring about the changes you're wanting. If you are passionate about something in Minecraft, please let us know in the appropriate forums (such as these threads). We'd love to hear from you! Harassment is not helpful to anyone, not even the devs who use it, or the players who are passionately interested in the changes that are coming. This kind of behavior is harmful to our ability to engage in positive and honest conversations with you.

While problematic players aren't new to the gaming world However, it's not often for community managers to make public complaints about harassment that it makes their job more difficult. Let's hope that these community managers will prevail and that the companies involved will continue giving the support they need.