The sudden influx of Brazilian players

[Alderon]

What exactly is going on?

It only started about a week ago, suddenly there's all these private games popping up and a whole host of new players.

Normally I'd be all for it, great! Bigger community!

Except it's not.

They don't speak English, they don't interact with the regulars, they play each other in private games that nobody else can access and there's more of them coming in by the day.

That's not building a community, that's segregating two seperate communities which is unhealthy.

Where the heck did they all come from and what's going on?

[Ross Przybylski]

Hero Mages goes international = exciting!!!  I am looking forward to the day when we can host the Hero Mages "World Cup".

Our press releases are distributed world wide through various news channels and many of them are translated into different languages from all over the world, so it shouldn't be surprising at all to see users online that don't speak English.  I am delighted, however, to see the influx of new members- my guess is that a few people caught on, really enjoyed the game, and told their friends about (hence the recent surge of private games).

I respect your point, Alderon, about wanting to maintain a cohesive community that plays together, but at the same time we should also respect the right to private games.  Whether you're from another country or not, some players might just want to play with their friends, which is ok- it doesn't hurt anyone else's playing experience and it draws traffic and sales to the game which only serves to benefit our production of new content.

Also, I'm sure that overtime our new friends will want to expand their gaming horizons and will start playing games with other members of the community.  I've personally played games with players from South America, Europe, East Asia, and Australia (sometimes in the same game!) and I couldn't be more excited about the prospect of people throughout the world being brought together via the game I created.

As the game grows, we also plan to build additional portals and language translated versions for different parts of the world.  Until then, remember the best way to a good community is to continue being friendly and respectful towards other players.

[Alderon]

I always am Ross, you should know that. What worries me is that I don't want to see people driven off when they try the game and see a lobby full of a language they can't understand and games they're unwelcome in.

I think it's great we have a bunch of new members all at once, but I gotta be honest, I'm uneasy about the way they're handling themselves so far. And it's not just a few, there's about 20 of them and the number's increasing.

What about the players who've been here for a long time, introduced others to the game, built friendships and shared some great moments. Are we all supposed to just sit and watch as the game we love becomes 'Hero Mages Brasilia! (Ignore everyone else and call all the games Taverna!)'

[diesbudt]

I whole-hearteny agree with  ald just said.

A bigger community would be awesome!   but its not really a bigger community as it is just 2 seperate communities that annoy each other.

While preparing for a public 2v2 waiting for Vinman, they would kee joining over and over  everytime I put them to spectator or boot.  Eventually I had to start banning them rom my game. Its getting to the point where We may have to use passwords so they stop trying to join a game I kept trying to tell them was waiting for someone.

This would mean ess spectating etc.

[diesbudt]

It isn't I wouldn't want to play with them,  but from what  google translator is telling me,  they do not act civil in their games,  and can't play with them as I don't understand them.

Also Ald hit a key point I fear on the head.  A new player enters, sees all these foreign language and than logs and doesn't come back thinking its a spanish  w/e game. maybe if they could seak english to some degree itd be better...

[Ross Przybylski]

Of course I know you as a friendly and respectful person!  I'm grateful for all the awesome games we've played and friends we've made.

So, what's wrong with a new group of players creating private games? They're probably all friends and just want to play and have fun with their own group or maybe they don't want others to feel isolated by the language barrier, hence they're creating their own private room so they can all speak Portuguese together.

Everyone has a right to play and enjoy the game, new and verteran players alike.

What I will do eventually, given a large enough userbase, is enhance our game by adding different lobbies and language translated versions of the game to encourage a more welcoming environment for non-English speaking players and also help organize the chat rooms better so we're not clustering 100+ people in a room where no one can understand each other.

Additionally, since I often like to play private games myself during my weekly LAN event, I thought it would be a helpful feature to include a variation in the private game setting: The ability to make the game private to play but public to watch.  In this way, you can reserve player slots for your friends without having to isolate other players who might want to communicate an interest to play the next game with you.

How do these ideas sound?

[Alderon]

Just now, me, sinney, Vin and space were in the lobby about to start a game and a bunch of them are sitting there talking in Portugese or whatever it is. Sinney asks very politely and in a friendly way if anyone would like to join our game we're about to start.

The response? (Put through a translator and verified by LuBu who seems the only one of the new influx who actually wants to participate in the community)

"**** off and die American *****."

I'm sorry for using that language on your forums Ross, but really? I went on the warpath after that, sinney is a fantastic guy and a great friend, he's also earned my respect here and I'm not gonna sit idly by. I told them that they better learn some manners quickly or else they can forget playing here. And I know that's not up to me, but I'm pretty sure I can get a lot of support in banning them all from our games if that attitude continues.

[diesbudt]

That's what we needed yesterday. A private to play and pubic to watch.  I don't know how many non english players kept joining a game I kept public so others could watch (wating on Vinman)

At first I would ask them to leave... after a few tries I made them spectators.  Everytime they would leave game and rejoin as player. Finally I just started booting them.  That still didn't give them the hint, so I had to start banning them (didn want to) from the game.  That still didn't stop them as more just kept coming in, and guests... to the point we made a private password game to get away from them.

It just got really frustrating.

[diesbudt]

I didn't know they were that rude... I knew from google translater sme the stuff they said to each other was mean and degrading, but that?

That is what we mean Ross, and I would hate to see it happen, but if it gets worse I may step out of the game myself.

[Ross Przybylski]

Thank you for that information, Alderon.  Playing private games is perfectly acceptable, of course, but we will not tolerate abusive language towards others.

I know comments like these are hurtful and upsetting.  We will take every measure necessary to ensure Hero Mages remains a positive and fun gaming commnity for everyone.

I'd like us to be tactful in how we handle situations like this to avoid escalating the problem, so here's what you should do if this happens again:

1) Send an email to admin@heromages.com to report the incident including the username of the culprit, the time and context in which the incident occured, and the message relayed.  Never accuse/blame/report a policy abuser's name in public forum.

2) Avoid further dialogue with the perpetrator.  Continuing conversation will likely only escalate the issue- so instead, ignore them, start your own game, etc.  The ban feature can be used to prevent abusive users and/or guests from joining your games.

3) Avoid stereotyping. Just because one abusive user is from a different ethic race or country does not mean they represent a group. An abusive user is a single person that violates our code of conduct and could be anyone.

I will work on adding additional features to game room setup to prevent abusive users and/or create friend-only games while still allowing others to spectate.  Additionally, I will add a player reporting system to allow users to report violations in our code of conduct directly within the game interface.

ABUSIVE TREATMENT TOWARDS OTHERS IS A VIOLATION OF OUR TERMS OF SERVICE AND WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.  OFFENDERS OF OUR POLICIES ARE SUBJECT TO ACCOUNT SUSPENSION, ACCOUNT TERMINATION, AND LEGAL ACTION.

[Alderon]

After re-reading some of my posts, I know it looks like I am stereo-typing a bit, but I can assure you I wouldn't.

I welcome anyone to the game, regardless of who you are or where you're from. And a lot of people would attest to that. What I dislike is the attitude of a select few who are leaving a bad taste in the mouths of the community here and making us fear for the game we love when we see that kind of behaviour in the lobby which up to now I can only remember being civil and friendly. All the time. (Sure there's a few 'disagreements' on tactics now and then or a particular move, but we never really fall out.)

To me, the number one reason I love your game Ross, is the fact that when I come on and play, I 'know' for a 'fact' that I'm amongst friends. That includes the new guys, they are just friends waiting to be made. Every game I can relax, have a laugh and enjoy myself and it's reached the point where I don't even really care who wins or loses.

I don't want to see that tainted. And if I have to I'll fight to keep Hero Mages a friendly and sociable place where anyone can be made to feel welcome.

[Vantrig]

Yesterday i play with what i later find out to be 2 brazzilians in a 3 man ffa. Given an insane number of chances to kill the others fm or defenders they didnt bother once. Instead they both go after me without touching each other.

Pelego was one of them and the other ill have to get the name of. I can tell you this...it should be addressed or i will be doing my best to do it personally. Put me in any game with either of them in the future im killing them even if on my team. (also i did translate some of what was said and they were extremely rude)

This kind of crap continues i will be killing any brazzie (and i mean any...as it seems they are a close knit group)  i play with regardless of team to send them a message....you can jack around but youll get your ass kicked for doing it! Punks like that quickly ruin a perfectly good game with very many good people.


Vantrig