Star Trek Online: Griefing & Item Restoration

The latest game master blog at the Star Trek Online site deals with a host of issues that confront both GMs and players. This time, Destra discusses, among other stuff, griefing and restoring items. Check it out!

Griefing

How do we deal with griefing?

Players who are found griefing accrue account penalties in the same form they would if they were found harassing another player. However, it's not always black and white. We look at a few factors to determine if someone is truly at fault.

First of all, we have to see if the instigation is one-sided. One thing that griefers are always looking for is to elicit a response from the "griefee" (lack for a better term). If the player who is being griefed is freaking out and threatening the griefer, then they are basically encouraging the griefer to continue, and we're not going to intervene. In order for us to take action against a griefer, the griefee needs to be totally innocent: not insulting the griefer, not making threats to get them banned, etc. If you are asking to be picked on, we can't take your side.

If we're going to take action against a griefer, we need to see the following:

• The player who reported the griefing has attempted to resolve the issue on their own by responding maturely with a request to stop.
• The player who reported the griefing has tried to resolve the issue on their own by using the tools available to them, such as change instance, ignore, etc. (These options are context dependent.)
• The player reporting the griefing is not baiting the griefer in chat.

Usually, griefers are only looking for a volatile response from people. If you keep calm about their actions, they usually leave you alone without having to involve a customer service representative. But if someone is really trying to ruin your day, don't hesitate to ask for help.

Head to the link above for more insight into item restoration, fleet management and more.