Some Ideas
I'm not sure where else to put this, but PB&M seemed the most appropriate considering this has to do with player behavior and how players, themselves, can deal with it.
There is a problem with chat. Filtering specific items does nothing to avoid the damage caused by verbal abuse. Once something is said, it's out there. That is why players opt to mute entire teams. Because they would rather take preventive measures against verbal abuse than try and enjoy chat at personal risk. But, in doing so, they miss out entirely on an otherwise enjoyable and often useful game feature.
I believe that there should be more options available than simply endure it and report after, mute and report after, or simply mute all.
My ideas are as follows.
The chat filter should allow for personal customization. What I mean by this is that a player can add words and combinations of characters to the filter they would rather have censored and that there is no limit to the number of items that can be added to the filter.
Next, instead of just censoring single words, the filter can operate on 3 settings.
- Default, censor only filtered items.
- Block entire entries in chat that contain filtered items so that you don't see them at all.
- Block entire entries in chat that contain filtered items and automatically mute the player who said them.
This suggestion, if implemented, would help eliminate any need to mute entire teams at the start of a game and players who opted to do so might even be able to enjoy chat again.
