Question: What exactly is considered trolling

[CrystalDrop]

➼We all know how annoying trollers are in tower defense. A recent incident of my friend being reported for "misplacing" 1 tower used for a strategy, brought up a question that held some debate. (This player did end up getting a warning).

How many towers need to be misplaced in order for it to be considered Trolling.

➼Obviously, it depends on the situation. Although I have had some staff members say, 1 misplaced tower can be an automatic warning, while others say 3+ towers. Another friend told me there was an incident where he reported someone for placing on a bunch of 5x5's to claim spaces while being toxic in chat, yet no warning was given at all. (He is an experienced reporter) I think to avoid confusion, there should be specific guidelines for trollers on TD.

➼I am curious to hear what you guys have to say about this situation. And when would you make a report? For me:
-8+ misplaced towers and an attempt of me trying to communicate with the player to the best of my ability.
-or misplaced towers included with toxicity in chat.

➼The thing I look out for, is sometimes that player is new and simply does not understand how to play, or does not speak english, so I know to be patient and do the best I can to help before putting in all the effort of the report and blatantly accusing that player as a troller. Or it could be the opposite, the person could be a very experienced player who just wants to do a unique strategy.

^ This tower was also later removed for a leach, and by having this tower placed here he was able to get some kill coins.

 

[Anthoken]

Atleast for me i only report once the person has misplaced 3 or more towers. If its 1 or 2 i usually let it slide because it honestly doesnt effect that game that much! I have been told that it has to be atleast 3 towers for the report to be accepted

 

[LordSidi0us]

That can be the case as @Anthoken said above.
I've read in the staff-help channel, that a player is considered as a troller, if you ask them to move their tower/s and they ignore it.

 

[InkAsriel]

well we talked about it on discord x3 i will say it here for the people who get mad about the report: i was quite salty cuz of a lot of other trolls and judged too quick there, but it sure does bring questions! i feel like there should be one specific rule about claiming and misplacing towers. as mentioned, some staff warn when theres 1 tower, others when theres 3, but same story with claiming. some say its not allowed, others say it is!

its hard to see the difference between a troll and someone claiming for strategy, thats why i always suggest to communicate with your team, its a team game after all :) same for new players, they could ask for help and try to copy others their playstyle. communication is key!

 

[Shotgun]

Reporting of Trollers
Above is a screenshot of the reports site. As the warning states, the offence of trolling may require the user to have been warned. I agree that most moderators punish differently, but I think this is a clear requirement and a good requirement to have. This way the player has a chance to prove his innocence.

I agree with CrystalDrop about the need of clear reporting guidelines. I personally think 8 is pretty much already though, so I'd say 4 is enough but as stated above there has to be some kind of communication between the reporter and "troller".
I don't see any problems with the second requirement CrystalDrop talked about (toxicity in chat combined with misplaced towers). This is a fair requirement in my opinion.

About claiming: it is not needed. If you are that much better than your teammates that you decide claiming is best, then I got just one question for you: are you really that good? Because when you are, you must know that there are certain towers that kill steal easily. So if you place those, then you don't have to claim anymore...

And above all: this is supposed to be a team game. If you are not happy with the teammates you get, try to make friends to party up with! You could always contact me for a game! Start a conversation or send a friend request on Discord (Shotgun#5555).

What if you are actually that bad
Then it is time you get some coaching! I am open to learning you strategies for TD, and I know there are more players who are willing to teach you! If you want coaching, make sure to contact me in conversation or send a friend request on Discord (Shotgun#5555).

 

[shanewolf38]

I've seen very few people actually trolling by misplacing. I can only recall maybe 2 or 3 times, where experienced players decided to take up spots with archers over the entire map, one time to spot save everything and another time to try to make their team lose. Most of the time misplacing towers is either people not knowing how to play or wanting to spot save certain areas.

When players don't know how to play, I only consider them to be trolling when they speak your language and talk in chat but still refuse to remove their towers (which is a pretty rare case). If people simply don't type in chat or don't understand you and don't know how to play, I don't think they should be reported no matter how much they misplace. It's Cube's fault for removing the tutorial and not spending the few minutes required to program in a permanent fix for misplacing, so I don't see how the player could be at fault here.

As for spot saving, I don't consider it trolling by my definition, but I do believe it should be punished and it does fall under Cube's trolling definition. For me it's not number of misplaces, but number of spots saved. If a person saves 4 or more spots and they refuse to remove them, then I report them. For instance I've seen many people misplace on portal and save 4 spots with just 1 tower (though they usually save a lot more), and this would be a report for me. I personally don't like spot saving but I don't mind if people save 1 or 2 spots. I only do it when other people are spot saving so I can actually have a few towers.

Also as a side note, inferno spamming is just as annoying and anti-team, if not moreso, than spot saving. I think that should be reportable as well. But since it's not playing the game in an unintentional way, I doubt that will ever come to be.

 

[InkAsriel]

I've seen very few people actually trolling by misplacing. I can only recall maybe 2 or 3 times, where experienced players decided to take up spots with archers over the entire map, one time to spot save everything and another time to try to make their team lose. Most of the time misplacing towers is either people not knowing how to play or wanting to spot save certain areas.

When players don't know how to play, I only consider them to be trolling when they speak your language and talk in chat but still refuse to remove their towers (which is a pretty rare case). If people simply don't type in chat or don't understand you and don't know how to play, I don't think they should be reported no matter how much they misplace. It's Cube's fault for removing the tutorial and not spending the few minutes required to program in a permanent fix for misplacing, so I don't see how the player could be at fault here.

As for spot saving, I don't consider it trolling by my definition, but I do believe it should be punished and it does fall under Cube's trolling definition. For me it's not number of misplaces, but number of spots saved. If a person saves 4 or more spots and they refuse to remove them, then I report them. For instance I've seen many people misplace on portal and save 4 spots with just 1 tower (though they usually save a lot more), and this would be a report for me. I personally don't like spot saving but I don't mind if people save 1 or 2 spots. I only do it when other people are spot saving so I can actually have a few towers.

Also as a side note, inferno spamming is just as annoying and anti-team, if not moreso, than spot saving. I think that should be reportable as well. But since it's not playing the game in an unintentional way, I doubt that will ever come to be.

problem with different languages: they still dont respond when you just say your name. for example when someone would say "InkAsriel" and then after a couple of seconds what they wanna ask. everyone can read their own name so its still a bit weird when people dont respond in a team game.

what you said about inferno is so true, people over use it to "steal" kills from you and earn money. but the worst? they leave with it most of the times! inferno is a bit too OP in my opinion as it kills most mobs.

as you said about saving spots, 1 or 2 is a normal thing, but i still feel like people should remove when others ask. lets say you want a leach and claimed a spot for it, but someone else can build it too. its best to let your teammate do it then in stead. sure, you will miss the honor to place the most expensive tower in the game, but at least you can save money and work on way better defence! cuz lets be honest, leach.... is it really worth 3k? not to mention the expensive upgrades.


the biggest problem in TD is the fact that people dont know how to play, and barely anyone is able to help them with it. either because they dont speak your language, refuse to listen or because nobody in their team knows how to play.

 

[shanewolf38]

problem with different languages: they still dont respond when you just say your name. for example when someone would say "InkAsriel" and then after a couple of seconds what they wanna ask. everyone can read their own name so its still a bit weird when people dont respond in a team game.

what you said about inferno is so true, people over use it to "steal" kills from you and earn money. but the worst? they leave with it most of the times! inferno is a bit too OP in my opinion as it kills most mobs.

as you said about saving spots, 1 or 2 is a normal thing, but i still feel like people should remove when others ask. lets say you want a leach and claimed a spot for it, but someone else can build it too. its best to let your teammate do it then in stead. sure, you will miss the honor to place the most expensive tower in the game, but at least you can save money and work on way better defence! cuz lets be honest, leach.... is it really worth 3k? not to mention the expensive upgrades.


the biggest problem in TD is the fact that people dont know how to play, and barely anyone is able to help them with it. either because they dont speak your language, refuse to listen or because nobody in their team knows how to play.

I think some people have chat turned off completely, or have it only come up when they type. Unfortunately in this case if they don't know how to play there's not much you can. Though I do agree even if you don't speak the same language you should try to communicate. Sometimes I try to use Google Translate.

Yeah, inferno definitely needs a nerf. I think it should do a bit less damage and also cost more. On top of that, they should make it so potion kills don't give any coins. This would remove people's incentive for inferno spamming and most likely completely stop it.

Yeah, they should remove a spot save when others ask. Spot having is inherently kind of scummy, which is why I try to never do it. But bad teammates are fairly common in TD, which is why I don't blame people for ensuring they have at least 1 or 2 spots to put something useful. They need to bring back the tutorial, and made even better, so people can learn how to play the game.

 

[InkAsriel]

I think some people have chat turned off completely, or have it only come up when they type. Unfortunately in this case if they don't know how to play there's not much you can. Though I do agree even if you don't speak the same language you should try to communicate. Sometimes I try to use Google Translate.

Yeah, inferno definitely needs a nerf. I think it should do a bit less damage and also cost more. On top of that, they should make it so potion kills don't give any coins. This would remove people's incentive for inferno spamming and most likely completely stop it.

Yeah, they should remove a spot save when others ask. Spot having is inherently kind of scummy, which is why I try to never do it. But bad teammates are fairly common in TD, which is why I don't blame people for ensuring they have at least 1 or 2 spots to put something useful. They need to bring back the tutorial, and made even better, so people can learn how to play the game.

i think they should add 2 types of tutorials: the in-game one, and one on youtube. why two? some people rather see a video then read chat while doing stuff (like i would, cuz i'd see whats happening and easily watch back). its a little work with a huge impact on the game, would safe staff a lot of reports too!