Problem with jerks in the game

I'm not even sure where to put this message. If this is the wrong venue, please move it.

My 9 yr. old son (who's had an account for over a year, and plays quite well) and I were just kicked off an ITF at the very end, by some snarky 16 yr old moron. They accused my son of not helping, despite the fact that he died many times fighting mobs and was having the same bad lag issues another person on the team was having. At one point, he was jumping up and down in an attempt to get his toon to respond. On his screen, nothing was moving. She used that as her reason to insult him. Apparently, it was okay for her friend to skip 30 minutes of the TF and come back and claim the reward, but not okay for my son to have lag issues. I should have told her that my son was 9, but it was okay for her not to tell us or the rest of the team that he friend was going to disappear for 30 minutes.

She harassed my son in broadcast, called him autistic, and defended keeping her leech friend on the team.

After three years of playing, I am just about through with City of Heroes. The griefing is just awful. My son didn't deserve the crap he got today, and neither of us deserved to be thrown off the team just before receiving the reward. The whole wasted 90 minutes has left a very sour taste in my mouth.

Do I expect anything to be done about this? Nope. But I need to vent, and this is as good a place as any.

Not sure what to say, other than people like that are an anomaly. For the most part, the people in this game are friendly and helpful. Every once in awhile you'll run into a jerk, but that's just life. Don't let one rude person get you down.

Did you send in a Petition about the harassment?

You may want to review A Guide to Anti CyberStalking. There are some good tips there.

I did petition, but I doubt it'll do any good. I'm just upset and like I said, needed to vent. Most people I've met over the years have been decent, but today was not a good day. Thanks both of you for responding.

You have my condolences. Fortunately it's true that the vast majority of players are friendly, helpful people (Either that or completely silent but skilled ). Unfortunately every game has its share of idiots. I hope you don't let the experience drive you away from such a great game.

You say it was a wasted 90 minutes, but I can't believe that the harassment was like that the whole time. If it was, then why in world did you subject your child to that. If you disagree with how a team leader treats you or your child on her team, then quit the team. ITF's form often enough to jump on another team or you can easily form your own.

My daughter has asked to play the game with me, but being that the game is Rated Teen for a reason (usually language and adult content from other players i nthis game), we end up playing something more age appropriate that we both can enjoy.

I am sorry this 16 year old girl upset you to the point where you want to quit the game. Bt perhaps it is for the best that you leave it if you find it harmful to your child (similar to turning off bad TV that your child is watching if it goes against your teachings).

Wow Cerulean_Shadow I'm just astonished at that.

I don't know what server that was but I've never seen anything like that. Everyone should understand lag happens on the ITF at the best of times.

Hope it doesn't drive you away becuause people like that are in a small minority.

EDIT:
I find global channels quite good. I would say that if you found that person through a global a 'quiet word' with the Mod of the channel might be in order. If nothing else they might just keep an eye out for similar complaints about that player and dump them out of the channel if they get a few.

If jerks are common for your play experience, you should try a different server.

I have rarely met jerks that kicked before reward etc, but you will find them more common on the WST, as that brings out more people in general. Some people find TFs stressful and handle it badly.

Harrasing on broadcast is just poor taste - hopefully they got slammed for it.

I think the person you encountred as team leader was a jerk. (assuming everything as you sadi it was).

You should ensure that you one starred them and thier friend.

There is also that your son may not be of age to deal with jerks well. There is an age suggestion for Heroes which reflect that the 'play experience may change online' may not always change to the better. At 9, some kids dont react well to jerks and better to avoid them completly.

I let my daughter play who is below that age suggestion, and she handles the jerks when we come across them just fine.
They bother her far less than they do me to be honest. She shrugs and moves on.
But if you're son gets overly upset I'd just duo or only TF when it a friendly SG or group of global friends.

A teachable moment for sure

Get into an active Super Group and run TFs with them. Odds of such behavior will drop quite a bit (though there are no guarantees).

WARNING: I bold names.

Come to Guardian...

Small population... many players are very mature, and they play with their families.

and the best part...

WE HAVE COOKIES!!!

Sadly this is just another practical demonstration of "John Gabriel's Greater Internet ____wad Theory" (look it up). Unfortunately you will encounter these type of people everywhere on the internet. I'm sorry you and your son's experience was soured by this encounter, but know that it is not the norm among CoH's playerbase. Fortunately, the game does provide you some tools to deal with this sort of thing (with the stipulation that you must first encounter the idiots in order to deal with them).

Player notes: (you might have to set options to "Player notes: show always") One star the offender and leave a note with what they did, and their full global name. I say add their global name in the notes because there is/was a bug that would apply the note onto other players if there was spaces in the global name. This will aid in never teaming with the individual again.

Global ignore: somewhat self explanatory.

Petitioning: Kicking your son from the ITF probably wasn't really petitionable, but the harassment after was. For a case like this - I'd guess that either a warning or a time out would be issued depending on past history. But know that it is policy not to inform the petitioner what actions were taken against the reported player.

Honestly, I was more upset than my son was. He took it in stride, I was pissed off on his behalf. And s/he didn't start in with the comments and digs until the last mission, or we simply would have quit. By the end of the TF, we wanted to stay to get the reward.

Anyway, I've calmed down now, thanks for listening/posting. I've been playing for three years and he's been playing for a little over a year, and this is the worst we've had to deal with, so we're probably doing okay in the long run. It was just a frustrating experience.

Interesting story. My son started to play when he was nine as well and at the time I wouldn't let him team up with anyone other than me or my real world friends who knew him. Your son is likely better than mine was, but mine couldn't keep up with chat and was easily distracted which made him a real liability on teams and that combined with my concerns about the "John Gabriel's Greater Internet ____wad Theory" kept me from allowing him into task forces and the like. My son is older now but I still watch closely when he plays online, he still misses tells and team chat pretty often, but soon enough he will be dealing with the jerks on his own. Glad you were close by when this incident happened to show your boy how to respond, I think dealing with internet jerks will be fact of life for kids growing up today. I would still one star the team leader as many others above had said, even when I play with an adult who is playing erratically there is no need to be a jerk to them, just note them and move on.

Firstly, you ran into a jerk. It can happen anywhere. This kind of situation is why we have the star system and player notes. You can easily avoid the jerk (and her friend) forever, no matter if they are on a different character.

Unfortunately, the Weekly Strike Target brings out the worst of the community - people who are interested in nothing but the reward, have no concern for others feelings and would exploit the hell out of the game in a heartbeat. Only a tiny fraction of the playerbase is like this, but the WST is where they will gravitate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerulean_Shadow After three years of playing, I am just about through with City of Heroes. The griefing is just awful.

From what I've heard from RL friends and family who play CoH and other MMO's, many (if not most) other MMO's are WORSE. Some are MUCH worse. CoH has a much higher average player age and a higher percentage of women than most other games.

Finally, if you're on Infinity, I'll organize and lead an ITF just for you and your son (and anyone else you'd like to bring). Please contact me via PM or in-game to @Ironblade One or @Ironblade Too

You have my sympathies. My son is almost 11, actually is autistic, just started to play the game, and doesn't jump around like a monkey for kicks. I would have been fuming! You also are under no obligation to reveal your child's age to anyone in game...goodness knows there are plenty of adults who can't play super perfect either. So don't let them ruin your fun. You both know it was lag and you cannot fix stupid. Hopefully you got their global and can avoid teaming with him/her in the future.

So sorry you had that happen to you and your son. If you play on virtue pm me @Tezian and we will do a itf or you guys can team on my teams any time. I am runing teams every night. Would love to have you both on my teams.

I would say.. try a few other servers first...

Maybe even the EU community. That is possile soon.

Not all communities are the same. And if one has too many hassles it seems the time is ripe for a server switch!

Hello,

well I had just finished another ITF and was waiting to roll again along with a large gang of others on the platform by Imperious when all this kicked off in broadcast.

I was not on the ITF in question and do not know any of the players involved.

I am not geting into the rights or wrongs or circumstances of the events during that ITF, but my comments are on what I saw in broadcast as a result of those events and how I felt about it.

I was shocked at the vitriole and bile that was scrolling past my chat window and at the way some players were abusing each other. I took no active part in this incident, but even I felt that the game was being ground down to a level that made it a place I would not want to be in for very much longer!

Probably the most personal viscious verbal abuse I have seen in chat since I started playing.

It did highlight the problem that there is nobody to moderate the "Broadcast" channel like all the others we have. If there were this would have been immediately stopped by silencing all involved players. I have no wise head solution as to how this problem could be adressed

There were a lot of stunned players on that platform with me and I did team up with a few of them just after it was all over and we were all sickened, saddened and angry about how impotent we felt whilst it was taking place. Not a very cheerful ITF that one.

I must say that some players did make requests for the players to take it all to PM's et etera but feelings (and ego's fuelled by anger) were out of control for a while.

I like to think that it will be another 45 months before I see the likes in open broadcast again.

Thank you.

My 8 year old son plays from time to time, but i've got him on all hidden and only let him play solo or team with myself. I'd hope that if the 16 year old had known that your son was playing and was only 9 years old that all that would not have occurred.