Chat Moderators Coming!!

Rebecca McBlanket
Administrator

Posts: 935

Chat Moderators Coming!! Jun 3, 2016 8:52:57 GMT 10

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Post by Rebecca McBlanket on Jun 3, 2016 8:52:57 GMT 10

Hey everyone! Im just here sharing some info from the Swedish news page. It applies only to the Swedish servers FOR NOW. Other servers will get this soon!!
The post is in Swedish so I've translated it to english.

"Chat Moderation
Good news! We are proud to present the first phase of the launch of our team of chat moderators! As of this week so players will in Sweden to get their gaming experience even more secure in the presence of randomly placed chat moderators. Here is everything you need to know:

★ Chat moderators will now be on the Swedish servers. This will also apply for other countries in a later stage.

★ Chat moderators are anonymous: they will neither appear or otherwise be identified.

★ Chat moderators will be online during random times to monitor activity in the Star Stable Online chat.

★ Chat moderators will not tolerate behavior that violates the guidelines of the chat which is stated in the Star Stables terms.

★ Chat moderators can give you a warning or suspend you from the chat if they feel that you behave in a way that violates our policies.

★ Chat moderators will never ask players about personal information, such as logins and passwords

★ Chat moderators are there for your safety in the game. They deserve your respect and consideration, and if you try to disturb or provoke them, so you can be banned from both the chat and game.

We know that you will give the new moderator all the respect and consideration they deserve and that you will welcome them with open arms at your chat! The whole gang here at Star Stables headquarters are delighted that we can give you that extra layer of security in the game for all of you, it is our top priority that you should be able to feel safe, secure and happy in the game!"

If you'd like the link, you can find it HERE

Thanks for reading guys

And let me know what you think about this addition!

Last Edit: Jun 3, 2016 8:53:24 GMT 10 by Rebecca McBlanket

Maja Windward Riding Instructor Posts: 931	Chat Moderators Coming!! Jun 3, 2016 12:49:11 GMT 10 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Maja Windward on Jun 3, 2016 12:49:11 GMT 10 Oh Hallelujah!!! Badly needed! So glad to hear this. I wonder if they'll get rid of the filter once they have chat mods in place on all servers? That would be soooooooooo nice!
	“Look back at our struggle for freedom, Trace our present day’s strength to its source; And you’ll find that man’s pathway to glory Is strewn with the bones of the horse.” ~Author Unknown "Thou shall fly without wings... oh, horse." ~The Koran

Maja Windward
Riding Instructor

Posts: 931

Chat Moderators Coming!! Jun 3, 2016 13:14:54 GMT 10

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Post by Maja Windward on Jun 3, 2016 13:14:54 GMT 10

Hmmm... thinking about this, the only aspect I question is the anonymity of the mods. There are pros and cons to having mods be anonymous and to having them identified.

Anonymous Mods:

Pros:

* Less harassment for the mods

* Less pestering of the mods (from players wanting help, thinking the mods are SSO employees (which I presume they will be?) and trying to curry favour, etc, so the mods can enjoy their game more.

* Players do not stop rule breaking just because they see a mod, then start again later when the mod is out of the area, since they will not know who is or is not a mod.

Cons:

* Impersonation: If mods are not identified in any way, any player can easily claim to be a mod.

* Ignored: Players are more likely to ignore a warning from another player and continue their rule breaking behaviour.

* Notoriety: Even if unidentified, over time, players will start to learn who the mods are, by the warning followed by players being kicked from game or banned. Players against whom action is taken will tell their friends who will tell their friends, etc, and it will eventually become known who the mods are.

* Unscrupulous mods can bait players into breaking rules for the power trip of actioning players.

Identified Mods (say by a silver star by their chat in game, or other identifying feature-- the pros are true if and only if the mod speaks in game, of course, if that is solely how they are identified.)

Pros:

* Players are more likely to stop rule breaking behaviour if they know for sure there is a mod around.

* Players are more likely to heed the warning of a known, identified mod.

* Players know who to turn to if they need help, game help or more importantly, if someone is trying to put them into a dangerous real life situation or is endangering that players account in some fashion.

Cons:

* Players will want to become mods just for the cool star/horseshoe/whatever is used to identify the mod.

* Power trip for the mod. Marked mods have prestige and are given nearly automatic trust, and can easily lead a player astray. This has happened even with game company employees. Fortunately this is rare if the chat mods are carefully chosen and vetted.

* Mod may be harassed more in game due to their mod status. Yes, this will happen. Period. While the mod can of course kick the harasser out of game, the goal is not to lose customers for SSO! Mods will need to have a thick skin, whether they are identified or not.

* Mod may be bothered more in game by well-meaning players who a) want to be friends with a mod! or b) who want help with the game. or c) who want to ask tons of questions of the mod, even though they could easily find the same information online or d) who want to report a bug, offer an idea, etc, even though they should more properly use the contact form on the SSO website to do this. They will assume their issue will get considered/fixed sooner if they tell a mod (which will be quite the opposite case, I'm sure)!

Can anyone think of more, especially anyone that has had experience in games with chat mods, who were either anonymous or identified?

Last Edit: Jun 3, 2016 13:17:21 GMT 10 by Maja Windward

“Look back at our struggle for freedom,
Trace our present day’s strength to its source;
And you’ll find that man’s pathway to glory
Is strewn with the bones of the horse.”
~Author Unknown

"Thou shall fly without wings... oh, horse." ~The Koran

Evelyn Wolfstar
Novice Rider

Posts: 145

Chat Moderators Coming!! Jun 3, 2016 17:53:03 GMT 10

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Post by Evelyn Wolfstar on Jun 3, 2016 17:53:03 GMT 10

That sounds like great news! I don't use the chat at all, but I think it might become more interesting for me if I know that people cannot harass me for basically no reason!

I agree with Maja on the pros and cons, and I personally think that anonymous mods are a best idea on a game like SSO whereas identified mods are better on a forum.

Level 21 - Spring Star Server - Nice and reserved, I mostly play as a loner.

♥ Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur lover ♥

Rebecca McBlanket Administrator Posts: 935	Chat Moderators Coming!! Jun 3, 2016 20:18:56 GMT 10 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Rebecca McBlanket on Jun 3, 2016 20:18:56 GMT 10 Thats a really great list Maja!! Lots of great points! I guess we will see how well it runs when the time comes Hopefully it only improves things for the players

Maja Windward
Riding Instructor

Posts: 931

Chat Moderators Coming!! Jun 4, 2016 6:06:49 GMT 10 Eleanor Swordstar likes this

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Post by Maja Windward on Jun 4, 2016 6:06:49 GMT 10

I used to play a game where there were identified volunteer moderators in the game. The merits of the mods being anonymous was often debated, so I had plenty of material to draw upon. There were also volunteer forum moderators who were identified on the forums. However, player mods (pmods-- chat mods) were not identified on forums nor were forum mods (fmods) identified in game, and in both cases, the mods were not allowed to "out" themselves where they were not identified.

Although I say volunteer mods, players could not just ask to be mods. The game company would send an invitation to become a mod to those whom they felt were good candidates. It was then up to the player to accept or decline. These were unpaid mods, thus volunteer. While they were given guidelines set forth by the game company, the mods were not *required* to do any work whatsoever.

So if a pmod saw rule breaking in game, they did not have to take action. If, for instance, they were at a critical point in the game, they could just ignore the rule breaking and continue with their game. There was not even a requirement that they log into game (or onto forums, for the fmods), although the game company could and did demod for inactivity (ie no game or forum activity whatsoever) after a long period of time. This was not due to not utilizing mod tools, however.

Companies have to be very careful with a volunteer mod force that they do not make any demands on the mods which could be construed under law as treating them as employees. AOL was successfully sued for this many years ago. AOL, however, truly did treat their volunteers as employees, requiring them adhere to schedules and even provide a doctor's note if they had to miss time.

I am assuming, though, that the SSO chat mods will be employees. I do think it's an excellent move that will go a long way toward increasing security, especially for the younger players, on this excellent game.

Last Edit: Jun 4, 2016 6:09:53 GMT 10 by Maja Windward

“Look back at our struggle for freedom,
Trace our present day’s strength to its source;
And you’ll find that man’s pathway to glory
Is strewn with the bones of the horse.”
~Author Unknown

"Thou shall fly without wings... oh, horse." ~The Koran

Luna Eveningbell Junior Rider Slowly getting back to being active on here. Posts: 63	Chat Moderators Coming!! Jun 4, 2016 6:24:33 GMT 10 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Luna Eveningbell on Jun 4, 2016 6:24:33 GMT 10 Can't wait for the Chat Moderators to come to the NA Server's, no more drama hopefully (And hopefully no more darn spammers)!
	\| Chocolate Cupcake Server \| \| Level 20 \| \| 39 Horses \| \| Proud Owner of West Hurricanes \|

Maja Windward
Riding Instructor

Posts: 931

Chat Moderators Coming!! Jun 4, 2016 9:04:37 GMT 10

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Post by Maja Windward on Jun 4, 2016 9:04:37 GMT 10

There will still be drama. This is a game with a predominantly teen demographic, after all.

There may even still be some spam. Not all spam is created equal. There may still be some game related spam which will hopefully be tolerated to a degree. The point should not be to create an oppressive atmosphere, but rather to prevent rule breaking which either endangers players or their accounts, or negatively impacts the gaming experience of other players, especially large groups of other players.

Again, there is a delicate balance to be struck between enforcing game rules to protect the players and the gaming experience in general, and losing a significant portion of the customer base.

Hopefully the mods will be a bit more lenient at first, until players get used to the idea that the rules *will* be enforced now. Hopefully the mods will understand that context is king. Spamming dots for minutes at a time ought to be dealt with in a different fashion than a player spamming "rose" in response to "wild morgan role, say rose to join". While the latter example is also spam, it is game related. A gentle nudge should suffice to curb that player's enthusiasm to join the advertised roleplay, while the former example of spamming might call for a stern warning followed by a boot from game if the offender does not stop.

But suppose there is a small group of players who are out in the middle of nowhere, with no other players nearby, and a chat mod happens to ride by. The players all seem to know each other, and one or more is spamming in local chat. Should action be taken then? In this case, the spam is not impacting the game experience of anyone other than the group who all seem to know each other. Perhaps friends, perhaps a club. A good mod will take into account that no one's gaming experience is being ruined by this bit of exuberance, and will ride by without disturbing the happy players.

There is so much more to modding than just knowing the rules and enforcing them! Mods must be able to think on their own, and correctly interpret guidelines given them by the game company, with full awareness of the desires and goals of the game company, even beyond the guidelines given them.

Ack, I could go on for hours. Sorry. *climbs off of soapbox*

“Look back at our struggle for freedom,
Trace our present day’s strength to its source;
And you’ll find that man’s pathway to glory
Is strewn with the bones of the horse.”
~Author Unknown

"Thou shall fly without wings... oh, horse." ~The Koran

Maja Windward
Riding Instructor

Posts: 931

Chat Moderators Coming!! Jun 6, 2016 6:39:16 GMT 10 Rebecca McBlanket and Hannah Miststone like this

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Post by Maja Windward on Jun 6, 2016 6:39:16 GMT 10

Something occurred to me whilst I was off star hunting. If the chat mods will be volunteers, or employees who, in addition to time spent moderating during regular work hours, may be given the mod tools even when they are not at work, I wonder if they will have global access to.. well... global chat! That is, the ability to see and use global chat even when not in city and/or stable areas?

If the chat mods are employees of SSO who will only be modding during work hours it won't matter, as they will not be playing the game while also modding. If they have access to the tools during non-work hours, however, it would be handy for them to be able to keep an eye on global chat even while they are off questing, etc.

Also, will chat mods be able to server hop easily?

It really will be interesting to see how SSO will handle the chat mod program.

Last Edit: Jun 6, 2016 6:40:52 GMT 10 by Maja Windward

“Look back at our struggle for freedom,
Trace our present day’s strength to its source;
And you’ll find that man’s pathway to glory
Is strewn with the bones of the horse.”
~Author Unknown

"Thou shall fly without wings... oh, horse." ~The Koran

Maja Windward Riding Instructor Posts: 931	Chat Moderators Coming!! Jul 6, 2016 9:26:09 GMT 10 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Maja Windward on Jul 6, 2016 9:26:09 GMT 10 Rumours abound of chat mods on North American servers! Supposedly they have green text and are labeled as chat moderators, so different from the previous announcement, if so!
	“Look back at our struggle for freedom, Trace our present day’s strength to its source; And you’ll find that man’s pathway to glory Is strewn with the bones of the horse.” ~Author Unknown "Thou shall fly without wings... oh, horse." ~The Koran

chloe5621
New Rider

Posts: 1

Chat Moderators Coming!! Mar 12, 2017 16:22:08 GMT 10

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Post by chloe5621 on Mar 12, 2017 16:22:08 GMT 10

Is there any way we could apply to work as a moderator? I'm wondering for a friend because she would be great at it, especially since she keeps trying to keep these kids from swearing or other stuff. Please let me know.

Rebecca McBlanket Administrator Posts: 935	Chat Moderators Coming!! Mar 12, 2017 17:08:27 GMT 10 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Rebecca McBlanket on Mar 12, 2017 17:08:27 GMT 10 Hey Chloe, you'd have to send that question over to Star Stable directly, We are just a fan based forum here X

dmsisabella Junior Rider I do Hunter jumpers and dressage. My dream is to become a dressage Olympian. I also love to do art Posts: 61	Chat Moderators Coming!! Mar 13, 2017 22:57:35 GMT 10 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by dmsisabella on Mar 13, 2017 22:57:35 GMT 10 Yes finally now people won't be rude on there to me and my friends ---Happy Dance lol jk

megalovania Moderator Posts: 433	Chat Moderators Coming!! Mar 14, 2017 0:01:01 GMT 10 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by megalovania on Mar 14, 2017 0:01:01 GMT 10 I wonder how much the moderators are on cause I see the Clay Hearts bothering people all the time and doing/saying rude and inappropriate things (this is on Frost Valley and they all congregate at Steve's)
	*i'm rooting for ya, kid! I BELIEVE IN YOU!! Hope to see some of you in game! Instagram: elsa_seadawn YouTube: ZenyattaRaceHorse

Deleted
Deleted Member

Posts: 0

Chat Moderators Coming!! Mar 14, 2017 0:16:09 GMT 10

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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2017 0:16:09 GMT 10

Mar 14, 2017 0:01:01 GMT 10 megalovania said:

I wonder how much the moderators are on cause I see the Clay Hearts bothering people all the time and doing/saying rude and inappropriate things (this is on Frost Valley and they all congregate at Steve's)

Yeah, I have a problem with bigger clubs on Frost Valley. I just stay away from Steve's unless I'm doing his race, which I usually do in the mornings. I would just report them.

I haven't seen any moderators yet, maybe they are just on the bigger North American servers or the ones that speak different languages (Maple Star, Night Star, etc.) Let's hope they will someday come on the small-ish servers, because the people on them tend to break rules alot, especially clubs that seem like one of their rules is to break rules.