A friendly reminder that asking for nerfs is against forum guidelines

...and a suggestion that more of us start reporting people who violate the forum guidelines such as by calling for nerfs instead of starting healthy discussions about balance. My hope is that if we do a better job policing the forum then we will benefit from more respectful and meaningful contributions. I noticed that I myself have violated a few of these guidelines (like calling people out for trolling) and should be more aware of my conent.

SOE Forum Guidelines


1) Be respectful and courteous - The purpose of these Forums and other official, SOE-maintained communication channels is to create a positive and constructive atmosphere for discussion about SOE Games and topics meaningful to our communities. While we may at times disagree with one another, it is important to maintain an atmosphere of civility and respect so that all voices may be heard. Disagreements with others are acceptable, but must be expressed in a reasonable and polite manner.
2) Communicate constructively - It is important for any communication, whether between players or directly with SOE employees, to be constructive. Posts without constructive commentary distract from or otherwise reduce the visibility of valuable communication and discourages others from participating in the conversation.
A few examples of non constructive communication are as follows:

• Off-topic commentary for specific forum - topics or conversation inappropriate for a particular area is unlikely to be seen by the intended audience and can spawn distracting and non-productive discussions, as well as splitting otherwise useful discussions into multiple channels.
• Spam -communication without meaningful content, and does not add to the conversation. Some examples are: +1, first, bump, /agree, etc.

• Cross-posting - posting the same topic or conversation repeatedly and across multiple avenues of communication in an attempt to gain attention for an issue. This splits conversation into multiple channels. If a conversation is relevant to multiple groups, players may post a link to the main conversation in no more than two additional forums. We also discourage posting a new thread on a topic that is already being discussed, as it spreads conversation out and makes it harder to gather the appropriate feedback.
• Naming/Accusing - Openly accusing another player or group of misbehavior results in non-constructive discussion and is not allowed. You may discuss the type of behavior at issue, but specifically naming individuals or groups is not. In cases of exploiting, harassment or other violations of conduct, please submit a ticket to Customer Service for investigation.
• Disrupting Official Threads - these are created to gather feedback on specific issues or topics relevant to SOE. Do not post about other topics, or use it as a platform to attempt to advance another agenda.
• Polling/Petitioning – The creation of petitions or polls for the purpose of game changes without approval from SOE are not permitted in SOE communications channels.
• Threatening Legal Action - Any player who feels the need to take legal action with regard to their experiences with SOE forums or games should contact legaldept@soe.sony.com directly. We do not allow such discussions to take place on the forums.

3) Do not troll or make personal attacks - Trolling and attacking others is not allowed on SOE Forums or other SOE-maintained communication channels.

• Trolling is posting provocatively with reasonable expectation of provoking an emotional response (intentional or not). Trolling can include.
  • Non-constructive feedback or comments.
  • Nerf Calls - Openly calling for "Nerfs" (blanket reductions to abilities) is not allowed. If you feel something is overpowered or needs to be toned back, post your constructive comments and explanations.
  • Accusing Others of Trolling - Calling someone a troll or accusing them of trolling is a form of trolling in and of itself. If you feel someone is behaving in a manner not consistent with these rules, please use the "Report this post to a Moderator" function on the forums. Do not respond to or quote the person exhibiting these behaviors as this is often the very response the person misbehaving was looking for.
  • Excessive Reporting of Posts - Using the "Report this post to a Moderator" function of the forums to draw attention to a specific cause, to target an individual or to bypass a forum suspension or ban is considered trolling, particularly if it is used frequently for the purpose.

• Personal attacks - Do not insult, degrade or criticize any person or group of people. Personal attacks are hurtful, often lead to response in kind and destroy useful discussion.
  • Examples of personal attacks include calling someone stupid, saying "You suck," "I wish you would die," or "You should be fired."
  • Attacking groups of people, companies, and other countries is similarly prohibited.
  • Attacks specifically regarding race, religion or sexual orientation are grounds for immediate suspension or banning.

4) Do not reveal account information when discussing CS actions - While most areas of our games are valid topics for discussion, Customer Service (GM) interactions are sensitive, due to privacy concerns. If discussing CS interactions, the comments must be kept constructive, civil and without revealing personal or account information. Additionally, if a moderator or SOE employee removes the post, you will be contacted. Follow the direction given, if any.
5) Profanity is not allowed - Because SOE appeals to a broad audience, the use of profanity is not permissible in any SOE communication medium. Please be respectful of your fellow players and do not use this sort of language.

• Do not intentionally evade the word filter or partially mask profanity by the substituting characters or words. The intent will still be clear.

6) Signatures are Welcome - SOE forums allow posters to use custom signatures. These are allowed under the following conditions:

• The current maximum size allowed for a signature is 350px tall, 500px wide (including any text) and 1500KB.
• Political, religious, or any images which may be considered inappropriate are not allowed.

Any signatures not meeting these criteria may be removed. Repeated violations may result in the removal of your ability to use custom signatures.
7) Actions which can result in immediate suspension of forum privileges - Some actions are severe enough to result in immediate temporary or permanent suspension of posting privileges without prior notification. Serious or sustained offenses may result in suspension of not only the user's forum account, but game account as well. Examples include:

• Threats against anyone
• Viruses, malware, worms or Trojans
• Sexually explicit content
• Sharing personal information about other individuals, SOE volunteers or employees
• Hate speech (including slandering or otherwise vilifying a particular race, religion, ethnic group, gender, sexual preference, or sexual identity)
• Evading suspension through account hopping
• Impersonating an SOE Employee
• Promoting or linking to exploits, cheating programs, or any sort of illegal activity (if you wish to report such activity, please email forum-admin@soe.sony.com)

8) Abide by moderator and SOE employee actions and direction - self-explanatory.

• If you disagree with a moderator or employee's actions, do not discuss or challenge the matter in forum posts. Contact forum-admin@soe.sony.com (include your forum handle and game name, but NOT your password) and clearly state your concerns.

IMPORTANT: Forum content is moderated at SOE's sole discretion, and content may be modified, removed, or otherwise restricted by SOE employees and/or volunteers.

These rules are not comprehensive but are provided to provide a rough outline of conduct that is and is not allowed on SOE-maintained forums and communication channels. Failure to follow these rules or any direction from SOE staff or volunteers may result in your posting privileges being suspended, either temporarily or permanently.

I for my part, cant stand anymore this continuous Tr crying/nerf calls on forum. Everything about Nc is OP to them, Every thread about nc ends in Nerf calls!

u mad

I don't know why everyone says the TR are the only ones who complain. It's like people have both no memory and see the forum through filtered lenses.

To be fair, there are a lot of people on all sides that contribute to the problem. Proper discussions about balance are necessary with any game like PS2 but these seem to be difficult to have when so many people disregard the guidelines and provide posts that are neither constructive or respectful. I'm not naive enough to think that my reposting the forum guidelines will have the desired effect but I do think that the more we police ourselves (prior to posting) and police our forum (when people are out of line) the better the game will be and the better the community will be.

The last thing I want this thread to become is a he-said she-said about who complains more- if you notice, that kind of behavior is also contained in the forum guidelines.

Notice how every thread like the OP is made by an NC?

It's like they are doing everything possible to not nerfed.

What about the NC threads in the past that were crying they were UP?

See, this is exactly what I am talking about- if you want to have a proper balance discussion then have one but this is not a constructive post. Moreover, I explicitly waited to post this until after the NC MAX nerf in part because I anticipated this kind of response.

I would imagine that this would fall into the same category as blanket nerf calls since it has a similar intention- that is, if these posts were not constructive and offered no meaningful explanation then I would imagine they would fall under the same restrictions as nerf calls.

"Nerf Calls - Openly calling for "Nerfs" (blanket reductions to abilities) is not allowed. If you feel something is overpowered or needs to be toned back, post your constructive comments and explanations."

its not proper discussion , the people who have a problem are on the forum whining and crying, they are a small minority , but on the forum it seems they are the majority.. this is because you have no reason to come to the forum unless you have a problem.. there for balancing issues on the forum are never be balanced discussions

nerfting is bad mmmkay

OP backseat modding is not allowed either.
You're trying to throw in the rulebook and you just got owned by it.

Nerf asking for nerfs?
Seriously?

I sure do love all this gameplay!

Don't you just love using all these forum posts in the game?

i DID love the game play months ago , i cant stand it now

I was playing the game until it crashed. Again.

How is reposting the forum guidelines and asking that we abide by them and use them to create a better atmosphere moderating? I have no power. If you can show me what guideline I am violating I will report myself.

You're probably right, perhaps there is a better location for this thread but I posted it here in "Gameplay Discussions" because it is far and away the most popular and seems the most likely place for abuse of the guidelines to take place.

If you would suggest a better location I would be appreciative.

I'm not trying to nerf asking for nerfs- all I am trying to do is motivate the forum users to post more constructively about gameplay and other issues.

If you read the guidelines you will notice that it is within the guidelines to have constructive and respectful balance discussions.

Thanks for the update mr official soe forum moderator.

Wow, surprising the backlash that comes from posting the guidelines and asking we try to abide by them and help create a better community. What does this say about the community?

Nerf the community.