On Report

I followed up on my posting about sexual harrassment by doing some research on the /report command.

What I found was that using /report will create a file of the last 20 lines of your log. Nothing else. In order to bring the /report to the attention of a GM, you must then use /petition to create a customer ticket. I haven't tried this out yet, I don't know if any further steps are needed.

I recommend that anyone doing this try to be as specific as possible. Name the player(s) who's behavior you found unacceptable, and be as specific as can, within the bounds of propriety, about what they said. The GM's will probably be able to see the report for themselves, but it doesn't hurt to get to the point in the petition, as well.

The number of people who do this sort of thing is a tiny minority. Sony has a very strong interest in keeping the environment enjoyable and free of harrassment or griefing. So I expect a vigorous response from them.

I also recommend that any target of harrassment set a clear limit. Make it clear that the behavior displayed is unacceptable to you. Then use /ignore. The nice thing about the game world is that you don't have much to fear in the way of reprisal. The offender cannot get physical with you, nor can he fire you. Confronting these individuals isn't easy, to be sure. But you will be helping not only yourself, but many other women in the offenders future.

There's an old asian saying "Condemn the offense, not it's perpetrator". Using this advice is likely to avoid escalating the situation. Sometimes, the response to an offense is nearly as annoying as the original offense. Which results in turning off the channel, typically /ooc.

Turning off /ooc altogether is a sad result, but it is sometimes necessary. I want a game world where the population is outgoing and engaged with one another, not isolated. If a few people are allowed to pollute the whole channel and make the players more isolated and insular, we all lose.