Notes

The Players are the Problem Community Managers Complain of Excessive Harassment

Some Destiny 2 and Minecraft players seem to be getting too obsessed with their game.



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



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



This is the question two major gaming companies have been asked in recent days. Community managers say that customers harassing them makes it harder for them to perform their jobs.



This first instance comes from the Destiny 2 Community on Reddit. A member posted on Wednesday complaining about the decrease in the number of threads that receive responses from Bungie. Destiny 2 Community Manager Dylan "dmg04" Gafner responded to explain that he's taking some time off due to "some serious harassment towards my family and me," which has resulted in "an amount of communication that has been cut down as the team plans future strategies and protections to avoid such incidents."



Gafner's harassment does not include "just rude responses on Twitter or insignificant comments", he wrote. It also includes "real threats to our people and our studio" that are made by fans. Some of that harassment has been reported to have come from private channels. Gafner wrote that "just because you don't see it in a particular message or forum response doesn't mean it didn’t happen"



Gafner wrote, "I will be very transparent in stating that appreciate the studio for the way it has helped me after some serious harassment towards myself and my family." "I'm taking time off partly because of this."



Gafner admitted that "it's bummer" that there's not been more interaction within the community, but the less communication wasn't intended to be a "retaliatory measure" against the majority of the community. Gafner wrote "Sometimes we just need to take a little amount of time to get things sorted out." "It can take weeks or even months, like any other development pipeline. We would like to ensure the best for our players and our employees. However, we cannot simply go about business as usual' until things are resolved. It's painful, but we want to ensure that people are secure and well taken care of.



Minecraft madness



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In a FAQ that followed the announcement, Mojang clarified that it is focused less on minor infractions , such as swearing and more on serious instances of "hate speech and harassment, bullying sexual solicitation, or real threats to others." Mojang also says it does not actively monitor chat on private servers (absent a player complaint) and that humans will be involved in any ban decisions and that any bans are susceptible to appeal.



Despite that the new moderation system has caused an outpouring of anger from fans. Many angry fans are forming groups under the #SaveMinecraft hashtag. This hashtag has many dramatic comparisons to George Orwell's 1984. "Just remove the chat report system completely," a Twitter user wrote in one of the less overwrought examples on the hashtag. "Servers should assume the role of moderators as they have always done."



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



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



MojangMesh, a relatively new Community Manager, posted on Reddit that even though the company "appreciates and appreciates" feedback, Mojang "not intends to change" its chat moderation system. MojangMessh stated that taking into consideration feedback doesn't mean it will alter the principles of design Mojang Studios adheres too.



MojangMeesh then was able to criticize members of the Minecraft community for taking their feedback too far. He claimed that some players with their abrasive and threatening messages have hindered communication between the company, its players and their customers.



There have been a few people following Mojang employees around here on Reddit and responding to non-related posts from them and commenting on this system. This kind of behavior won't inspire employees to join the community, and won't result in the changes you'd like to see. If you are strongly influenced by a topic in Minecraft we would appreciate it if you inform us in the appropriate places (such as these threads). We want to hear from you! However, harassment doesn't help anyone: not the devs who receive it or the players who are passionate about an upcoming change. We would like to keep an open and constructive dialog with you, but this kind of behavior inhibits the process.



Although problematic players aren't new in the world of gaming, it's rare to hear community managers make such direct and public complaints about harassment, which makes it harder for them to do their jobs. Here's to hoping that the cooler heads in these communities prevail and that the companies involved continue to give their community experts the help they need.
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