The crisis of one-way blocking

[gerberlyfe.9736]

After a PvP match, someone will whisper something terrible, hurtful and nasty to you. When you try to reply, "the player you are trying to whisper is not online". Then they send you another hurtful message. And there's nothing you can do. You just have to take it.

Makes me want to cry sometimes how Guild Wars 2 has designed its blocking system.
To fix this, they need to make the following changes

(1) You cannot message someone you are blocking (i can't believe they haven't done this yet.)
(2) Block cooldown timer. You cannot unblock or reblock someone immediately, you have to wait maybe an hour.

These two changes would prevent one-way abuse of the blocking system.
 

Edited August 3, 2023 by gkoogz.3089

[Linken.6345]

Why not just block them back thats what I do.

[Zebulous.2934]

You never will stop that first bit of abuse.  They are smart enough to send first then block while you type your response.  You can, at that point, block them back. Blocking them will stop further harassment from that particular account.  

Harassment from an alternate account requires multiple instances of the game running or several loading screens. So that is unlikely.  Hiding all whispers is the only strategy I can think of for that.

[jason.1083]

Also you can just set your presence to offline during PvP sessions, if they try to whisper you they'll get that "the player you're trying to whisper Is not online" and stop bothering.

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

40 minutes ago, jason.1083 said:

Also you can just set your presence to offline during PvP sessions, if they try to whisper you they'll get that "the player you're trying to whisper Is not online" and stop bothering.

This has some bad side-effects in other parts of the game, though.  It makes your name not appear in party and squads properly, and it prevents other people you do know from sending you messages.  

[jason.1083]

6 minutes ago, Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:

This has some bad side-effects in other parts of the game, though.  It makes your name not appear in party and squads properly, and it prevents other people you do know from sending you messages.  

Well, ok let's just say that's the solution when you don't have to worry about that, the "I have no friends" solution. 

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Report, block and move on. 

Why would you want to engage with someone who is terrible, hurtful and nasty.  If you do engage, you forfeit any CS/GM action against said terrible/hurtful/nasty person.  🤷‍♀️

[Gop.8713]

There is already a recent thread about this. You'll have to wade through a few ppls who felt obliged to chime in with a response telling you not to respond, but there are also some posts with suggestions on how to improve/work around this badly broken system from ppls who are interested in improving the game . . .

[Glacial.9516]

7 hours ago, gkoogz.3089 said:

When you try to reply, "the player you are trying to whisper is not online". Then they send you another hurtful message. And there's nothing you can do. You just have to take it.

Luckily the offending player has already given you the solution to your problem! "The player you are trying to whisper is not online". If you block them, they cannot send you another hurtful message. So, there is something you can do and you don't have to take it. (That said, not being able to whisper people on your block list would be a fine addition).

"Solutions" like timers on blocking or (as the other thread suggested) "Unable to block someone until 10 minutes after you whisper them" inherently hinder the victim as well as aggressor and assume negative intentions on the part of the blocker. It is not unreasonable to block a player that is spamming map chat and periodically unblock them to see if the offending behavior has stopped. Sometimes players lose their cool, get mad, break into an insult-fest on map chat and then 10 minutes later they've calmed down and no longer need to be blocked. Other times they have a neverending supply of anger and need to be re-blocked~ Having to wait an hour to do so is completely unreasonable when a solution to the original problem already exists. And Block prevention after you whisper a person is even worse worse! These types of toxic conversations often escalate rather quickly if they do not start with you being blocked. Trying to resolve it amicably through whispers would leave you unable to block the person when it does.

[costepj.5120]

1 hour ago, Glacial.9516 said:

That said, not being able to whisper people on your block list would be a fine addition

But ofc you could simply unblock, whisper, block again.

[ArchonWing.9480]

Why would you waste your time replying to someone clearly incapable of having a proper conversation with you in the first place? Do you think they will ever be like "Oh, yea, your indomitable wit has me cornered. I must concede, dear sir or madam"? What could be the best possible outcome would be if they read your retort?

 

To me, if someone sends me abusive messages, I'm usually too busy snipping it and sending it to my friends on Discord. Any replies are just to entertain my friends. We have a channel for that and are always willing to share.

Edited August 3, 2023 by ArchonWing.9480

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

14 hours ago, gkoogz.3089 said:

After a PvP match, someone will whisper something terrible, hurtful and nasty to you. When you try to reply, "the player you are trying to whisper is not online". Then they send you another hurtful message. And there's nothing you can do. You just have to take it.

Makes me want to cry sometimes how Guild Wars 2 has designed its blocking system.
To fix this, they need to make the following changes

(1) You cannot message someone you are blocking (i can't believe they haven't done this yet.)
(2) Block cooldown timer. You cannot unblock or reblock someone immediately, you have to wait maybe an hour.

These two changes would prevent one-way abuse of the blocking system.
 

Don't be hurt by cowards who can't take what they give. They've already resigned themselves to being a minor obstacle by allowing you to occupy so many of their neurons that they devised a strategy to avoid you before you were even aware they existed. 

Trash is trash. Don't interact with it. Or do what that guy above does and take a picture for framing.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Azure The Heartless.3261

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

14 hours ago, gkoogz.3089 said:

After a PvP match, someone will whisper something terrible, hurtful and nasty to you. When you try to reply, "the player you are trying to whisper is not online". Then they send you another hurtful message. And there's nothing you can do. You just have to take it.

Makes me want to cry sometimes how Guild Wars 2 has designed its blocking system.
To fix this, they need to make the following changes

(1) You cannot message someone you are blocking (i can't believe they haven't done this yet.)
(2) Block cooldown timer. You cannot unblock or reblock someone immediately, you have to wait maybe an hour.

These two changes would prevent one-way abuse of the blocking system.
 

This may sound counter intuitive and funny...but i do the opposite. i add them as friends, give them nicknames, so i can either avoid getting into matches with them, or to recognize when im against them in a match, so that i could dunk on them as a form of revenge.

[SleepyBat.9034]

15 hours ago, gkoogz.3089 said:

And there's nothing you can do.

No, you just block them.

[agrippastrilemma.8741]

15 hours ago, gkoogz.3089 said:

After a PvP match, someone will whisper something terrible, hurtful and nasty to you. When you try to reply, "the player you are trying to whisper is not online". Then they send you another hurtful message. And there's nothing you can do. You just have to take it.

Makes me want to cry sometimes how Guild Wars 2 has designed its blocking system.
To fix this, they need to make the following changes

(1) You cannot message someone you are blocking (i can't believe they haven't done this yet.)
(2) Block cooldown timer. You cannot unblock or reblock someone immediately, you have to wait maybe an hour.

These two changes would prevent one-way abuse of the blocking system.
 

Pretty good idea. Not a priority but still.

[Paradoxoglanis.1904]

15 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

Why not just block them back thats what I do.

But that might hurt their feelings 😢

[Downstate.4697]

You should probably seek therapy if some random  person is upsetting you enough to make you cry. They are obviously validating what your inner voice is already saying

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

35 minutes ago, Downstate.4697 said:

You should probably seek therapy if some random  person is upsetting you enough to make you cry. They are obviously validating what your inner voice is already saying

Nah, we don't blame the recipients of toxicity for the toxicity they receive without proof here. "If you're upset at me annoying you, you must deserve it" is p. cringe. 

Edited August 3, 2023 by Azure The Heartless.3261

[Endo.1652]

Just stun harder

[doozer.7063]

17 hours ago, gkoogz.3089 said:

After a PvP match, someone will whisper something terrible, hurtful and nasty to you. When you try to reply, "the player you are trying to whisper is not online". Then they send you another hurtful message. And there's nothing you can do. You just have to take it.

Makes me want to cry sometimes how Guild Wars 2 has designed its blocking system.
To fix this, they need to make the following changes

(1) You cannot message someone you are blocking (i can't believe they haven't done this yet.)
(2) Block cooldown timer. You cannot unblock or reblock someone immediately, you have to wait maybe an hour.

These two changes would prevent one-way abuse of the blocking system.
 

I cannot whisper ppl i am blocking. The ppl you describe just unblock you for another message and instant block you again. No. 2 is missing ingame true. But as others mentioned, you can block them too, makes no sense to discuss with toxic ppl anyway.

[Downstate.4697]

3 hours ago, Azure The Heartless.3261 said:

Nah, we don't blame the recipients of toxicity for the toxicity they receive without proof here. "If you're upset at me annoying you, you must deserve it" is p. cringe. 

I’m not excusing bad behavior, but letting people get under your skin is only hurting yourself in the long run. But if taking ownership of my feelings is cringe then I don’t want to be cool.

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

11 minutes ago, Downstate.4697 said:

taking ownership of my feelings 

This is fine, but

Quote

people get under your skin is only hurting yourself 

People getting under your skin by annoying you isn't a confirmation you deserved it.  That's all I'm pointing out. 

[Bazsi.2734]

You can set yourself offline, you can block. There, all communication related toxicity issues solved. Next non-issue please!

[Plok.5873]

Could that modus operandi (of sending insults, then blocking), stem from an influx of WoW players? I know this, unfortunately by experience, as the pinnacle of social skills of WoW-socialized individuals. Sarcasm aside, it's typcial, though ofc not exclusive.

I welcome the GW2 community's growth through former players of other MMOs. However, I wish they'd leave the rough manners there. I feel AN needs to focus this more so GW2 never becomes the toxic cesspit some other online games turned into.

[Stand The Wall.6987]

how about if someone sends you a message while they have you blocked you get a pop up option that lets you repost their message to map chat