One of the problems with having a game that allows player-generated content is – you guessed it – trolls! What can game devs do to limit their disruption?
One of the problems with having a game that allows player-generated content is – you guessed it – trolls! In Interference We start with a description, then let a chain of players take turns to draw and describe – but each player can only see the previous step in the game. It doesn'’t take long for the original message to get lost in translation and turn into something completely different (and hilarious!). Well – that’s how it’s meant to go!
Trolling takes many forms from players being new and not sure what to do to the ones who just wilfully derail the game – for example we recently had a troll who wrote and drew nothing but “Peeps” – in game after game after game. This annoyed many players who had been looking forward to seeing how their games would turn out or wondered how the next person would describe their lovingly crafted drawing.
Now I do like Peeps – they’re marshmallow sweets from the USA, usually in the shape of chicks – but they were derailing every game.
This was quite a mild form of trolling. However, there are others where the words or pictures are totally obscene. This game is meant to be for players 16+ – even so, some of the pictures we have seen have ranged from child-like to actually talented and realistic depictions of genitalia and rude acts. Or as Nathan (our lead-developer) calls it “The Giant Schlong Problem”
Obviously we cannot be looking at what it being drawn every minute of the day and night (Interference is very popular in the USA and tends to be most busy when we are asleep in the UK.) So, how do we tackle trolls?
Firstly, we had to put in a Swear Filter – so that most obscene words could be caught and held for moderation before anyone saw them. That’s not so easy with pictures until we invent software that can recognise rude shapes and body parts. So, we have a reporting system – theis means that when a player is presented with a picture to describe – there is an opportunity to skip it and report it to the moderators. This will hold the item in a queue until either of us has time to have a look.
It is interesting because while some players will happily let something dodgy go through and describe it, others report things like a picture of someone smoking for example – because they do not like to see that sort of thing either! That makes it hard to try to think of players who would be good moderators for the game. Which means that so far we do that job ourselves.
So, we need to check what the transgression is – and either let it go through – or delete it, restart that game and deal with the troll.
What happens to trolls when we catch them? In the first instance we send them a warning and ban them for 3 days. Quite often it can be a newbie who hasn’t understood how the game is played and what the rules are. If they behave after the first ban then all is well.
If it keeps happening again then the bans are for longer and longer– until a 1 year ban is put in place. Occasionally, when the trolling has been really bad and prolific (gross misconduct we call it) – then we go straight to the 1 year ban. This is when it is obviously deliberate and the troll is intentionally trying to ruin the game.
It can be quite nerve-wracking when, for example, we have been put forward for an award* and we know that judges will be looking at the game – it would be just typical if the first thing they had to describe was the aforementioned giant genitals. Arghhhh!
We are wondering about restricting new players to just being in 5 games until they have some likes from other players and we can see that they are well-behaved. Any helpful comments would be gratefully received! (No trolls please!)
*luckily when the TIGA judges tried Interference recently it must have been all good – as we were shortlisted for 3 TIGA awards!
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