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Social Issue

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Sep 22, 2010
29
I have played Wizard101 for a very long time and in that time I have dealt with a few rude people in the game, but here recently I am seeing a lot more of these issues in game and not just a little more.
Today I saw a person bullying another person and calling them names and telling them to go away and then engaging them in conversation again and calling them more names, so I told that person that they were being rude and to please just ignore the other person because I was afraid they would get into trouble. Come to find out they were friends on the game and just causing issues with people as they passed by and with each other, so I blocked them both. In the last 3 months I have seen people having cyber relations and saying some pretty gross stuff to each other. This situation is so common now that people are playing matchmaker in the game and setting up adult situations over an online game that is considered a family game. Most of the people I see doing this are Very Low Level FTP Accounts with Open Chat and rude, disrespectful minds that express wrongful things in game. They sit 90% of the game in the FTP zones causing issues with others and hitting on everyone while begging for free things. I have 3 children under 16 that were also interested in playing this game, and while playing the game to show them what it was like we ran into these situations and they were often. People making words look like or pronounce like bad words or people just being too adult in game around children. As a parent and an uncle I feel this game's social atmosphere is getting to a point where I am almost Afraid to tell them to play this game with me in fear that they will be exposed to this issue. I mean there are 12 year olds with no supervision that are being allowed to have Open Chat that go around doing nothing but causing issues. I want to enjoy this game with my kids and sister's kids but I am growing very concerned.

Explorer
Jul 01, 2009
87
Welcome to the world of the MMO. Sadly, this is a thing when you get anonymous people together on the interwebs. KI does their best to ban these people but they keep coming back on free accounts. The game is rated E10+ but that rating only holds for game content, not online interaction with other players.

What I do is look for realms that are not crowded and stay there. Also, never hang out in the commons if you don't have to be there. You won't find this stuff hardly at all in the paid areas. Especially avoid the realm named "Wu". It seems to be the social hangout for the problem people. You can also put the annoying people on your ignore list, but in a crowded realm that can make for a long list rather quickly. My best way of handling it is just to stay in realms listed a "perfect".

Adherent
Mar 12, 2010
2831
DeathSchoolWizard8... on Dec 26, 2016 wrote:
I have played Wizard101 for a very long time and in that time I have dealt with a few rude people in the game, but here recently I am seeing a lot more of these issues in game and not just a little more.
Today I saw a person bullying another person and calling them names and telling them to go away and then engaging them in conversation again and calling them more names, so I told that person that they were being rude and to please just ignore the other person because I was afraid they would get into trouble. Come to find out they were friends on the game and just causing issues with people as they passed by and with each other, so I blocked them both. In the last 3 months I have seen people having cyber relations and saying some pretty gross stuff to each other. This situation is so common now that people are playing matchmaker in the game and setting up adult situations over an online game that is considered a family game. Most of the people I see doing this are Very Low Level FTP Accounts with Open Chat and rude, disrespectful minds that express wrongful things in game. They sit 90% of the game in the FTP zones causing issues with others and hitting on everyone while begging for free things. I have 3 children under 16 that were also interested in playing this game, and while playing the game to show them what it was like we ran into these situations and they were often. People making words look like or pronounce like bad words or people just being too adult in game around children. As a parent and an uncle I feel this game's social atmosphere is getting to a point where I am almost Afraid to tell them to play this game with me in fear that they will be exposed to this issue. I mean there are 12 year olds with no supervision that are being allowed to have Open Chat that go around doing nothing but causing issues. I want to enjoy this game with my kids and sister's kids but I am growing very concerned.
This does not help the issue, but all of this does happen online. I started playing the game because my grandchildren (ages 8 and 12 at the time) were playing. I wanted to see what the game was like.

I quickly learned about the "Report" button. KI does take it seriously that this is a kid-friendly game. Sad part is that some of those offenders are sometimes 'kids' too. It doesn't matter if they are friends and are just 'causing issues'. If it is not acceptable behavior and does not follow the rules, KI will take action on it.

First thing I also learned was "do not interact" with these offenders. It never helps and only aggravates the situation. So, don't feed the Trolls.

Just use the "Report" Button. You can click on the Wizard or their name, and their info screen appears. Click on the "Report" button, and type the reason (ex: creative profanity, cursing around the filter, bullying, predator threats, asking for username or password, etc.). They receive a warning that they have been reported, but it does not say 'who' reported them. Then you can also put them on your 'Ignore' list, using the same Wizard info screen. Sometimes I find it funny that when they are reported and receive the warning, they run around asking "who reported me?", and if no one replies, they turn on each other and start accusing their own friends. :)

KI will investigate every Report and take action where needed.

This link to a post from Prospector Zeke explains Reportable and not-Reportable Offenses;

https://www.wizard101.com/forum/headmasters-announcements/i-got-reported-28843

Hope that helps.

Squire
Oct 29, 2011
586
DeathSchoolWizard8... on Dec 26, 2016 wrote:
I have played Wizard101 for a very long time and in that time I have dealt with a few rude people in the game, but here recently I am seeing a lot more of these issues in game and not just a little more.
Today I saw a person bullying another person and calling them names and telling them to go away and then engaging them in conversation again and calling them more names, so I told that person that they were being rude and to please just ignore the other person because I was afraid they would get into trouble. Come to find out they were friends on the game and just causing issues with people as they passed by and with each other, so I blocked them both. In the last 3 months I have seen people having cyber relations and saying some pretty gross stuff to each other. This situation is so common now that people are playing matchmaker in the game and setting up adult situations over an online game that is considered a family game. Most of the people I see doing this are Very Low Level FTP Accounts with Open Chat and rude, disrespectful minds that express wrongful things in game. They sit 90% of the game in the FTP zones causing issues with others and hitting on everyone while begging for free things. I have 3 children under 16 that were also interested in playing this game, and while playing the game to show them what it was like we ran into these situations and they were often. People making words look like or pronounce like bad words or people just being too adult in game around children. As a parent and an uncle I feel this game's social atmosphere is getting to a point where I am almost Afraid to tell them to play this game with me in fear that they will be exposed to this issue. I mean there are 12 year olds with no supervision that are being allowed to have Open Chat that go around doing nothing but causing issues. I want to enjoy this game with my kids and sister's kids but I am growing very concerned.
I do find this a huge problem as well. If you go afk in the commons for about a minute, your chat box will be filled with spam from the kids in the commons starting drama. This game was meant to be played, not used a chat room.

Armiger
Jan 18, 2010
2280
DeathSchoolWizard8... on Dec 26, 2016 wrote:
I have played Wizard101 for a very long time and in that time I have dealt with a few rude people in the game, but here recently I am seeing a lot more of these issues in game and not just a little more.
Today I saw a person bullying another person and calling them names and telling them to go away and then engaging them in conversation again and calling them more names, so I told that person that they were being rude and to please just ignore the other person because I was afraid they would get into trouble. Come to find out they were friends on the game and just causing issues with people as they passed by and with each other, so I blocked them both. In the last 3 months I have seen people having cyber relations and saying some pretty gross stuff to each other. This situation is so common now that people are playing matchmaker in the game and setting up adult situations over an online game that is considered a family game. Most of the people I see doing this are Very Low Level FTP Accounts with Open Chat and rude, disrespectful minds that express wrongful things in game. They sit 90% of the game in the FTP zones causing issues with others and hitting on everyone while begging for free things. I have 3 children under 16 that were also interested in playing this game, and while playing the game to show them what it was like we ran into these situations and they were often. People making words look like or pronounce like bad words or people just being too adult in game around children. As a parent and an uncle I feel this game's social atmosphere is getting to a point where I am almost Afraid to tell them to play this game with me in fear that they will be exposed to this issue. I mean there are 12 year olds with no supervision that are being allowed to have Open Chat that go around doing nothing but causing issues. I want to enjoy this game with my kids and sister's kids but I am growing very concerned.
To be honest, there is a reason for concern.
Over the years, the atmosphere of Wizard has become very polluted with these kind of people. They do things like this because it seems they get a notch for it, they enjoy it/think it's fun. But in reality, it isn't and if you try confronting them, they will start or team up on you and you can already tell that, that conversation won't be an entirely enticing one.

To have a high chance of avoiding persons like these one would suggests switching to Perfect Realms as these people seem to occupy the more crowded ones.

Others would suggest ignoring them.

Others would probably say to report them.

Guide your kids accordingly and don't let rude behavior stop you from potentially creating new memories with your young ones :)

Be Blessed


Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
Maybe it is time for KI to make sure there are Hall Monitors in the Commons again or more often. I have heard others stating the same thing but I have been staying in realms that are relatively empty just to stay away from this kind of thing plus I don't lag as much either.

Armiger
Jan 18, 2010
2280
DragonLady1818 on Dec 27, 2016 wrote:
Maybe it is time for KI to make sure there are Hall Monitors in the Commons again or more often. I have heard others stating the same thing but I have been staying in realms that are relatively empty just to stay away from this kind of thing plus I don't lag as much either.
I don't get it, why did they cease this?

The Hall Monitors?


Illuminator
Aug 03, 2016
1475
The types of things in the original post are not acceptable. This is a G rated game that many children play.

I have also witnessed inappropriate things and when egregious enough yes I have reported a person or two in the past. It is not OK to make certain types of advances and chat in the Commons for all to hear. It is not OK to whisper filthy language to someone. It is not OK to just call names and bully others.

Maybe new players should have more chat impositions on them. I'm not sure. The game also needs to ban certain phonetic combinations since people seem to get around chat limitations quite easily that way.

Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
Star Edward on Dec 28, 2016 wrote:
I don't get it, why did they cease this?

The Hall Monitors?

I am not sure they have completely stopped using Hall Monitors but I haven't heard or seen anything posted on Central in quite some time. It may take some suggestions on being made for instance on Wizard101 Central in the Wizard101 feedback section to possibly get this going again.

There was prior to the Hall Monitors a couple of groups that started watching and reporting in a couple of areas especially in Wu Realm back in 2012. After the Hall Monitor system began, those groups were no longer needed to help keep the game safe for younger players. Now, it seems the Hall Monitors are needed again.

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
sadly, this is nothing new.

i, for one, would love to see hall monitors back in action~ nothing sweeter than hearing some nasty person brag about how he'll never be sanctioned because, oh, his uncle's brother's cousin's roommate's goldfish is on the desk of someone who works at kingsisle... and then seeing the message, "a hall monitor has muted *name*". it's glorious, and i miss it.

unfortunately, simply "being rude" is not a reportable offense. however, threats, harassment and cursing around the filter are; if i hear disgusting language, i'll tell the perp to tone it down; if they persist, i report.

(one time, i was in a dungeon with one other player and things were not going well. he said one of the 7 filthy words, and the first thing out of my mouth was "say that again and i'll be out of here faster than you can blink". that resolved the issue quickly lol.)

in the meantime, op, use your report button liberally and teach your kids/nieces and nephews to do the same. also, avoid wu realm like the plague.



-von

Defender
Jan 01, 2009
155
I can positively state that the Hall Monitors are alive and well in the Spiral. I just came from the Wu commons after doing my daily and saw a Hall Monitor warn a player. The whole place calmed right down. This was Thur. morning about 10:20 am est. They may not be around as often as before, but they are still in the game.
Michael

Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
Michael Nightgem on Dec 29, 2016 wrote:
I can positively state that the Hall Monitors are alive and well in the Spiral. I just came from the Wu commons after doing my daily and saw a Hall Monitor warn a player. The whole place calmed right down. This was Thur. morning about 10:20 am est. They may not be around as often as before, but they are still in the game.
Michael
Glad to know they are still around. I have not been in Wu realm in a very long time. I now run in relatively empty realms for 2 reasons.

1. I don't see the chat balloons with the rudeness or foul language.

2. I no longer lag in the game especially when running 2 accounts or even gardening.

Fallon

Geographer
Nov 22, 2015
859
I'm aware of the problems in the Commons, but I've almost never experienced this personally, probably because I spend all my time in the paid areas.

Not feeding the trolls isn't always a good solution, though. You're best with going with one of the other suggested solutions in this thread. Most trolls get pleasure just out of trolling and don't care if they get a response.

Wizard101 has a chat box for a reason, but only to be used appropriately. And definitely never go AFK in the Commons.

More Parental Controls and Hall Monitors would be good solutions.

Illuminator
Oct 22, 2011
1304
Michael Nightgem on Dec 29, 2016 wrote:
I can positively state that the Hall Monitors are alive and well in the Spiral. I just came from the Wu commons after doing my daily and saw a Hall Monitor warn a player. The whole place calmed right down. This was Thur. morning about 10:20 am est. They may not be around as often as before, but they are still in the game.
Michael
Nice to hear that Hall Monitors are still around.

Although it seems the nastiness has picked up a bit in the realms, it doesn't seem nearly as bad as a few years ago when our little group started mega-reporting offenders.

I still report when needed. It's fun to see & hear the 'shock' of the offending wizard when that window comes up that s/he's been reported. Blaming others for reporting instead accepting the consequences of your actions is a commonplace with young offenders.

Nice to see you on the board, Michael :)

Brynn

Illuminator
Aug 03, 2016
1475
Fable Finder on Dec 30, 2016 wrote:
I'm aware of the problems in the Commons, but I've almost never experienced this personally, probably because I spend all my time in the paid areas.

Not feeding the trolls isn't always a good solution, though. You're best with going with one of the other suggested solutions in this thread. Most trolls get pleasure just out of trolling and don't care if they get a response.

Wizard101 has a chat box for a reason, but only to be used appropriately. And definitely never go AFK in the Commons.

More Parental Controls and Hall Monitors would be good solutions.
I mainly go through the Commons rather than hang out there, but sometimes I still have a quest or assignment there.

I also like to stitch or unstitch and that is the only place I know of, to do so. (Maybe some other worlds but I do not have those places memorized. Easy to find by the lake in the Commons.)

There are also fish for the fishing quest that can only be caught in the Commons.

Etc.

Should not be necessary to avoid any part of the game.

Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
Fable Finder on Dec 30, 2016 wrote:
I'm aware of the problems in the Commons, but I've almost never experienced this personally, probably because I spend all my time in the paid areas.

Not feeding the trolls isn't always a good solution, though. You're best with going with one of the other suggested solutions in this thread. Most trolls get pleasure just out of trolling and don't care if they get a response.

Wizard101 has a chat box for a reason, but only to be used appropriately. And definitely never go AFK in the Commons.

More Parental Controls and Hall Monitors would be good solutions.
Wu realm is the main one to stay out of when in the Commons or Dye Shop.

I have been personally attacked in the Dye shop in Wu. Thankfully, several of my friends were there at the time and the reports flew very quickly including my own report. Some players can be so rude and explicit it makes you angry that people could and do act like this in a game that families play.

I rarely ever go to Wu now. I have occasionally found myself in that realm if I have helped someone in the game but leave it as soon as possible for another realm..

@BrynnerOfReign, I still do report if I see it but it is very rare in the realm I currently run in.

Survivor
May 19, 2015
5
I'm afraid this is only going to get worse.

The Rasputin fight at the end of Polaris has started to make some players real jerks. They's made the fight so difficult that unless you go in with exactly the right information, 3 other players who know the fight, and super special stats from your gear you have no hope of defeating this boss. A great many of the players who have made it through and want to farm the boss are starting to become elitist snobs.

Thankfully, I'm past The Rat finally, but getting past it has been a pain because people leave if your gear isn't just so, or they don't want to explain how the fight works to new people. At this point in the game people have definitely become bigger jerks, less helpful, and noticeably more rude. Mirage appears to be more of the same...

This is what KI is setting players up for. I watched this garbage happen in World of Warcraft, and it's going to happen in Wizard101 if KI continues to disregard casual players. My guess is that they hope to make enough more money from the people who are willing to buy their gear at Game Stop than they will from the players leaving the game to make this all worthwhile. After all, the strategy worked for Blizzard...

Survivor
May 19, 2015
5
SparkleTude on Dec 30, 2016 wrote:
I mainly go through the Commons rather than hang out there, but sometimes I still have a quest or assignment there.

I also like to stitch or unstitch and that is the only place I know of, to do so. (Maybe some other worlds but I do not have those places memorized. Easy to find by the lake in the Commons.)

There are also fish for the fishing quest that can only be caught in the Commons.

Etc.

Should not be necessary to avoid any part of the game.
You can get items stitched on every world I think. Just look for good 'ol Whatshername standing by Zeke. It's the same standard NPC arrangement. I haven't tried stitching on every world, but the two of them are always standing near each other on every world.

Illuminator
Aug 03, 2016
1475
Phluffy the Mad on Dec 31, 2016 wrote:
You can get items stitched on every world I think. Just look for good 'ol Whatshername standing by Zeke. It's the same standard NPC arrangement. I haven't tried stitching on every world, but the two of them are always standing near each other on every world.
Thank you, Phluffy the Mad


Defender
Jan 01, 2009
155
BrynnerOfReign on Dec 30, 2016 wrote:
Nice to hear that Hall Monitors are still around.

Although it seems the nastiness has picked up a bit in the realms, it doesn't seem nearly as bad as a few years ago when our little group started mega-reporting offenders.

I still report when needed. It's fun to see & hear the 'shock' of the offending wizard when that window comes up that s/he's been reported. Blaming others for reporting instead accepting the consequences of your actions is a commonplace with young offenders.

Nice to see you on the board, Michael :)

Brynn
Just for an update. Saturday afternoon I saw a Hall Monitor Mute egregious behavior in the Commons of Wu. The trash talking young wiz was very surprised. She ran around in circles for a minute then disappeared. The other trolls quit talking or left.
@BrynnerOfReign. I remember the times in the dye shop. Cray Cray. I wore out a report button in there. Had to special order one from KI Always great to see a friendly face on the boards. Even better in the Spiral.

Michael

Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
Michael Nightgem on Jan 1, 2017 wrote:
Just for an update. Saturday afternoon I saw a Hall Monitor Mute egregious behavior in the Commons of Wu. The trash talking young wiz was very surprised. She ran around in circles for a minute then disappeared. The other trolls quit talking or left.
@BrynnerOfReign. I remember the times in the dye shop. Cray Cray. I wore out a report button in there. Had to special order one from KI Always great to see a friendly face on the boards. Even better in the Spiral.

Michael
Hummm. I must have missed it. I did spend a little time in the Commons and the Dye shop as well in Wu but all was fairly quiet. I did see a few asking others to go to Wraith Realm but most ignored that request. I think the next time I log in, I will check Wraith and see if things are heating up.

@Michael, Yes, it is nice to see friends on the boards again.

Fallon

Survivor
Sep 22, 2010
29
I am glad to see that this issue is being addressed and that others are noticing that KI is taking action.
It makes me even more happy to know that there are these Hall Monitors and hear that people are seeing them.
I also saw on a social media site where a kid was complaining about being muted and then another got banned.
So I am at ease a little more again. Like I said I love this game and I invest into this game because I love playing it.
I have noticed a decent cut back in these behaviours since my last posting, so I can only assume I have KI the thank for that.

Astrologist
Mar 16, 2012
1061
If you don't report obvious chat abuse, then you're part of the problem. The reason most young players are surprised when they get reported is that they've have done this many times before & their friends do this without consequences.
KI can only do so much on their own, so support the game you love and report.

Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
DeathSchoolWizard8... on Jan 17, 2017 wrote:
I am glad to see that this issue is being addressed and that others are noticing that KI is taking action.
It makes me even more happy to know that there are these Hall Monitors and hear that people are seeing them.
I also saw on a social media site where a kid was complaining about being muted and then another got banned.
So I am at ease a little more again. Like I said I love this game and I invest into this game because I love playing it.
I have noticed a decent cut back in these behaviours since my last posting, so I can only assume I have KI the thank for that.
I hope you are right and that KI is doing more about this.

Feel free to post about this problem anytime you see it. Many here want to keep this game as safe and as free of foul behavior as possible.