@thewheeiienoob
Thank you for your response. I appreciate the time you put into writing this out, because this is the type of feedback that we can properly work with.
In this response Iâll use the terms as you defined them. Unlike the previous posts by gieb, this post is my own view on the matter and not all elements (if any) may be unanimously supported by the modteam.
Proposed changes
We are proposing two changes:
- A decrease in how frequently a person can change their name: from monthly to once every 6 months.
- A rewording of the original rule on impersonation/similar names
Identity
The first change focuses on addressing identity. Decreasing the frequency with which people can change names will make usernames more stable and make it easier to identify specific players. Weâve seen the feedback on visible userIDâs, as well as the alternative static handle approach suggested by ArchSimkat. We have not ignored these suggestions, just as we have not ignored any of the other suggestions in this thread.
Weâve discussed the feasibility of these two options internally. I specifically like the suggestion by Arch over the use of our playerIDs, because strings of numbers are generally more difficult to remember and recognize than words. The modteam as a whole seems to be in favour of an option like this, but we donât know in what timeframeâif anyâthis can be implemented: changes like these require dev time, and that is always in short supply.
A quick side node on how name issues affect moderation. We already use unique playerIDs, but that does not solve all issues for our mod team. Screenshots supplied with reports naturally wonât match up, and neither will chat- and gamelogs. That said, I personally think the issues that names cause for my own work as a moderator are not the most relevant argument in this discussion. And if that was all, I would not be in favor of the changes we proposed. Our previous two posts have not focussed much on those arguments either: our arguments are mostly on how the current name system and rules affect other players interacting with other players.
While you are correct in saying that it is not our job as mods to ensure everyone knows who everyone else is at all times, like with the example of Pepsi you mentioned, it is our job to see how game features cause issues in the community. Making name changes less frequent is not going to solve all the issues, but it will improve some of the issues. Such is the nature of finding solutions that work for large groups: they donât work perfectly for anything. A true âsolutionâ to any and all name issues would be to abolish the rename system altogether, but I do not believe the negative aspects of that change would weigh up to the positives.
Making name changes less frequent will make usernames more stable. I sincerely believe this is very beneficial to the community and significantly more important than being able to joke with usernames. Leave that for chat, discord, and (for all I care) wall templates.
Discernibility
The second change addresses what you call discernibility. Responding to your points roughly in the order that you brought them up:
Impersonating moderators has occurred, but this is not the crux of our argument. I agree with you that we have other tools to handle that. I think the moderator badges we are currently using work well.
General player impersonation occurs somewhat frequently. Weâve previously received reports and acted on them. However, it is a misunderstanding that we require a report before we take action. This is not part of the current FAF rules, and will not be under our rewrite. In fact, the rules explicitly mention that it is up to the modâs discretion to apply penalties where necessary. When we notice an issue, we may take action without a report. Our only (self-imposed) restriction in this matter is that we generally do not moderate games that we are ourselves a part of, and those games are reviewed by a second moderator.
Weâve taken action on names that broke the original wording of the rules in the past, but have gotten feedback that those rules are unclear and not equally applied. Now, we get the complaint of unequal moderation more often, and in most cases there is little validity behind those complaints. I do my best to handle reports blind to whomever the report is about, and we have some good guidelines to how we handle certain offenses and ban lengths. However, the comments in this thread show that the rules on usernames are not equally enforced. Thatâs an issueâmore so than the scale or frequency of the impersonation issueâand means we either have to stop enforcing them entirely, or make it feasible to enforce them properly.
And we do believe we have to enforce these rules. Say, for example, you have the following game:
One of the TheWheelieNoobâs becomes tilted and becomes verbally abusive, or causes another kind of issue that a moderator should deal with. Can you distinguish between the two to find the player you need to report? I wouldnât be able to. Now obviously all Wheelie clones are naturally outstanding members of our community who wouldnât and have never caused offense, but when this happens with other users we need to have a rule to point to when we explain that usernames like that arenât allowed. Those rules exist, but needed a rewrite for clarity, and as with all rules they need to be applied equally and without bias. This means no exceptions for our 1%ârs.
At the end, this discussion on whether such rules are necessary really boils down to what you believe the core goal of the username is. I understand usernames to be unique identifiers for different players. If usernames are neither unique nor identifiable, then they have failed in their purpose. A second static handle would go a long way to solving most of these issues, and I would love to have that option. Until we have that worked out though, these changes are necessary.
Lastly, we had chosen not to directly address it previously, because it would distract from constructive discussion, but some of the hate that has been directed towards modteam over the past weeksâboth in this thread on this topic as well as in discord and regarding other topicsâhas been disturbing and deeply unpleasant. I want to briefly comment on that.
I signed up to the modteam about half a year ago to help clear the massive backlog of reports we had, because I was annoyed by how my reports seemingly had no effect. I am volunteering a not insignificant portion of my time, 30-60 minutes nearly every day, to the moderation team because I want the FAF project to have a healthy community. For the same reasons Iâve spent several hundreds of hours making maps and writing very long tutorials on mapping, because I really like this game, and most of you. We have since cleared the backlog (I alone cleared more than 2100 reports in the past 6 months), something that I am very happy with. But the vitriol Iâve seen some people spew⌠do you all remember that thereâs another person behind the other screen?
Do not forget that while the modteam speaks as moderators, we also speak as individual players. It is easy to point at the Wheelie-group and go âlook how many people think itâs fun to play with namesâ, and accuse us of being tyrannical overlords just out to ruin the fun. But our individual opinions as players count too. I wouldnât spend this much time drafting replies and joining discussions on these rules if I didnât feel strongly about this change.
-- Index.