The Current Status of /b

[NotOnlyAce]

THE PROBLEM

I think that the current usage of /b in roleplay scenarios is starting to get completely abused and out of hand, which ruins not only mine, but the experience of many players on the server. I've been on multiple situations where people get shot down and then immediately rush to /b saying things like ((SAVE POV)), ((THAT WAS FU***ING DEATHMATCHING)), ((BRO YOU CAN'T DO THAT)). In most of those cases, players continue to argue in /b and the only thing I see in the chat is those blue brackets that I am starting to very much hate. How am I and other players that are here to roleplay supposed to do /me and /do commands in those circumstances. It's soo disturbing and puts you out of focus especially when you are positioned in a thrilling situation and are trying to remain in your character. It's getting to a point where I can't remember being in a gang/police situation where /b wasn't used. OOC chat should only be used if necessary. Calling someone out in it is absolutely not it. This is ruining the experience of the server and I believe some adjustments should be made.

SUGGESTIONS

• Better enforcement of the OOC communication rules.
• Allow players to mute /b, making them unable to read OOC chat until they turn it back on.

Thank you for reading this.

Edited November 4, 2021 by buta

[Dimja]

I dont think muting B chat is really a good thing. Other than the fact that it blocks people being toxic, it also blocks when people notify they are glitched, when staff uses b chat or when people inform you to save POV.  

 

There are already set rules about ooc usage and people are being punished. I’ve banned for a while, but when I still played, I barely encountered /b chat for nonse other than in fights.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Dimja

[NotOnlyAce]

6 minutes ago, Dimja said:

I dont think muting B chat is really a good thing. Other than the fact that it blocks people being toxic, it also blocks when people notify they are glitched, when staff uses b chat or when people inform you to save POV.  

 

There are already set rules about ooc usage and people are being punished. I’ve banned for a while, but when I still played, I barely encountered /b chat for nonse other than in fights.

Obviously /b mute should not apply to admins on aduty. If players really need to tell you something OOCly they can always use /pm, therefore not interfere with active roleplay. Everytime you log into server your /b shall be unmuted making it impossible to keep it on mute by accident for a long time.

By the server announcement /b shouldn't be used for SAVE POV anyways.

Edited November 5, 2021 by buta

[Ultra3D]

I agree, excessive /b is an issue which I have contributed to. In certain situational tensions and frustrations are high and it happens. However, lately I have been seeing situations where someone had broken a rule or done something that ruins an experience and when you /report 3 or 4 you get 0 response till the situation is to old for anything to happen. I personally try not to say "save POV" for two reasons, one being its not allowed anymore and two if I want someone to save POV I pm them, but I have been in a few situation recently where I have openly got into arguments in /b with people regarding RP situations. Im not saying Its right but its both party's at fault for participating.
 
Edit - what I can say though is the situations that caused me to go into /b ruined my Rp/experience more than seeing the ooc text so I feel more than just the ooc needs to be fixed/handled to improve RP.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Ultra3D

[Chunder]

I feel /b as a command is fine at it is. If people use excessive /b or they're toxic in it then you can simply save your footage and report them.
/b isn't needed the majority of the time, it makes no impact to RP. There are very little reasons you should use /b over just /pming the person individually.

[SkyeFuryy]

I don't agree with a potential mute button for /b. I agree with what has been stated above, /b is very useful as a command when used properly. For example, I am in a meeting and my audio suddenly stops working, I couldn't imagine going through everybody present through pm's to indicate such a thing. In this case, a simple "/b Sorry, my audio has stopped working, can we proceed in text whilst I fix it" is appropriate and the correct response in this situation. 

If somebody has /b muted, they could continue through the meeting thinking I am just ignoring them and potentially getting reported for something. How are we to know when somebody has muted their /b?

 

In the case of excessive use of /b, words help. Asking somebody politely to either move their conversation to pm's, or to cut /b works. Sometimes it doesn't. And when it doesn't, then stop replying to them. If you cut out of /b chances are the other person will too, since they have nothing to respond to. However, when it doesn't, save your POV and post a report or make an ingame one. That person will receive a punishment for it with actual footage of that person doing it, it just needs to get reported in the first place. 

 

I don't often get /b abuse or waterfalls of excessive use of /b (and yet, I used to work at DOC, currently I'm in SD). When I do, yes it is annoying and does distract from important /me's and /do's, but honestly it is not as often as we like to say it is. 

 

I don't see /b being an issue, and really when people do abuse it, I can be sure that they will be talked to or punished. A crackdown on the rule is, in my opinion, not needed. I feel that through in-game reports or forum reports, moderators and admins issue the necessary punishments or warnings. It is up to us to make an effort to report in the first place, which I feel we fail more times that not to do. 

Edited November 6, 2021 by SkyeFuryy

[TheCactus]

I have always tried to enforce the usage of PMs when you have to discuss an issue with someone. PMs do ruin the immersion more than a message in /ooc would since they're more visible but if a player or two must be informed about something important, there's no need to bother everyone in the area with the /ooc.

[jason]

Hi there!

I brought this topic up in a staff meeting that was on the next Saturday relative to this post. After a lengthy discussion, we arrived at the general conclusion that players should be holding themselves accountable for their usage of OOC chat. If need be, we will step in and guide a player in the right direction if they're failing to utilize OOC chat in its intended manner. Additionally, you are always welcomed to ignore a player's OOC chat if it's not pertaining to something important, IE informing you someone's game has crashed, they're bugged, they're lagging, etc. Please use your best judgement when making this decision.

We encourage players to report if they feel there's a rulebreak present, however in doing so we also ask that you remain in-character as much as possible and attempt to not disrupt the situation by ending up in an endless /b discussion. All situations can be reversed via our moderation staff and, if need be, our refund request system.

As this has been discussed and subsequently concluded, this will now be locked and archived. Thank you all for participating.