Arena chats, cheating?

Solus_Imperius
232 posts Member
edited December 2020
Straight from the SWGoH ToS
Interfere with or disrupt another player's use of an EA Service. This includes disrupting the normal flow of game play, chat or dialogue within an EA Service by, for example, using vulgar or harassing language, being abusive, excessive shouting (all caps), spamming, flooding or hitting the return key repeatedly.
Harass, threaten, bully, embarrass, spam or do anything else to another player that is unwanted, such as repeatedly sending unwanted messages or making personal attacks or statements about race, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, etc. Hate speech is not tolerated.
Contribute UGC or organize or participate in any activity, group or guild that is inappropriate, abusive, harassing, profane, threatening, hateful, offensive, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, defamatory, infringing, invades another's privacy, or is otherwise reasonably objectionable.
Engage or assist in cheating or other anticompetitive behavior (such as boosting, collusion, and match or matchmaking manipulation).
Promote, encourage or take part in any prohibited activity described above.

With these direct quotes, I would enjoy an explanation of how shard mafias are NOT a violation of the ToS. It outright says boosting or cooperation, any anticompetitive behavior, is a violation.
I get it works better for everyone, but how is it not a violation of the language there?

Edit: Thanks to whichever mod corrected the title and location.

Replies

  • Unless they are collaborating using the in-game chat then CG can legally do nothing about it.

    For all CG knows people are just moving when they want to get ahead.
  • StarSon
    7406 posts Member
    Has anyone at CG ever said it's not against ToS? But there's nothing they can do about it.
  • It’s a free arena. I can hit whoever is in range of me at any time I like during the day. That’s all that’s happening. People are playing arena according to their choices.

    Since the cooperation happens outwith the game, what would you propose is done about it?

  • Shiryu wrote: »
    Unless they are collaborating using the in-game chat then CG can legally do nothing about it.

    For all CG knows people are just moving when they want to get ahead.

    While I like this response, it legally doesn't hold. Direct messages in a system like Discord, if they are to the original sender such as the unwarranted harassment I've received on discord, are legal evidence in the court of law.
  • Shiryu wrote: »
    Unless they are collaborating using the in-game chat then CG can legally do nothing about it.

    For all CG knows people are just moving when they want to get ahead.

    While I like this response, it legally doesn't hold. Direct messages in a system like Discord, if they are to the original sender such as the unwarranted harassment I've received on discord, are legal evidence in the court of law.
    But that would be Discord’s terms of service being breached, not Swgoh’s.

    Good luck taking someone to court for moving you in arena.
  • StarSon
    7406 posts Member
    Shiryu wrote: »
    Unless they are collaborating using the in-game chat then CG can legally do nothing about it.

    For all CG knows people are just moving when they want to get ahead.

    While I like this response, it legally doesn't hold. Direct messages in a system like Discord, if they are to the original sender such as the unwarranted harassment I've received on discord, are legal evidence in the court of law.

    This isn't a "legal" issue. This is a game issue. If you get banned you aren't going to court.

    So, how would you even prove to CG that someone is using an arena chat for collusion?
  • Solus_Imperius
    232 posts Member
    edited December 2020
    The point is: that Discord messages count as evidence of collusion and cheating and while they can't be used to prove harassing or threatening behavior as pertaining to the game, they can be used to prove cheating.
    The in-game language is only applied to the messages not the cheating.
  • StarSon
    7406 posts Member
    The point is: that Discord messages count as evidence of collusion and cheating and while they can't be used to prove harassing or threatening behavior as pertaining to the game, they can be used to prove cheating.

    You have no real way to link those back to any specific in-game account.
  • The point is: that Discord messages count as evidence of collusion and cheating and while they can't be used to prove harassing or threatening behavior as pertaining to the game, they can be used to prove cheating.
    The in-game language is only applied to the messages not the cheating.
    It’s not cheating.

    People are using their ability to battle someone in arena.
  • Engage or assist in cheating or other anticompetitive behavior (such as boosting, collusion, and match or matchmaking manipulation).
    When 5 people are spamming my account around payout time so I can't move, that's anticompetitive behavior.
    And when they're stupid enough to specifically mention you're in their shard and have the same IGN as they do Discord name, it is linkable.
    Ironically, the shard mafia is here defending itself.
  • When 5 people are spamming my account around payout time so I can't move, that's anticompetitive behavior.
    On the contrary, you are in a competition with 5 people, trying to reach as high on the ranking board as possible.
  • When 5 people are spamming my account around payout time so I can't move, that's anticompetitive behavior.
    On the contrary, you are in a competition with 5 people, trying to reach as high on the ranking board as possible.

    Ah yes, exactly.
    And it just happens to take exactly 5 minutes for their SLKR team to beat my SEE team because SEE holds up so well
    And it just happens that the time between the server refresh on my end and the next attack is 0
    Yes, it's just coincidence and not collusion
  • StarSon
    7406 posts Member
    Engage or assist in cheating or other anticompetitive behavior (such as boosting, collusion, and match or matchmaking manipulation).
    When 5 people are spamming my account around payout time so I can't move, that's anticompetitive behavior.
    And when they're stupid enough to specifically mention you're in their shard and have the same IGN as they do Discord name, it is linkable.
    Ironically, the shard mafia is here defending itself.

    You cannot prove that it is the same, even if they have the discord # in their IGN. Obviously it's probably true, but not provably so.
  • Yet all your proof to collusion is pure speculation.
  • Get in the Discord chat and join them. You might working with the 50+ people ahead of you to maximize rewards works better than working against all of them.
    In game name: Lucas Gregory FORMER PLAYER - - - -"Whale blah grump poooop." - Ouchie

    In game guild: TNR Uprising
    I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
    *This space left intentionally blank*
  • I again like how the ToS states something and instead of getting an explanation for how shard mafias aren't a blatant violation of the ToS, as the thread asks for, I get a reprimand of my behavior.
  • TVF
    36518 posts Member
    OP thinks multiple threads are the answer.

    https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/237649/shard-mafias#latest

    (Narrator: They aren't)
    I need a new message here. https://discord.gg/AmStGTH
  • StarSon
    7406 posts Member
    I again like how the ToS states something and instead of getting an explanation for how shard mafias aren't a blatant violation of the ToS, as the thread asks for, I get a reprimand of my behavior.

    I wonder if I'm being spam filtered again? Because as I've said, even if it's against the ToS (and I don't know that CG has made a statement on it one way or the other), there is literally nothing they can do about it because there is no way to prove it.
  • @Kyno
    Can a mod close the thread?
    The self important have arrived and are ignoring the forum rules.
    I'll just submit a full report through email to CG.
  • Kyno
    32087 posts Moderator
    Please feel free if you wish this to be open to respond to the following points:
    Straight from the SWGoH ToS
    Interfere with or disrupt another player's use of an EA Service. This includes disrupting the normal flow of game play, chat or dialogue within an EA Service by, for example, using vulgar or harassing language, being abusive, excessive shouting (all caps), spamming, flooding or hitting the return key repeatedly.
    Harass, threaten, bully, embarrass, spam or do anything else to another player that is unwanted, such as repeatedly sending unwanted messages or making personal attacks or statements about race, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, etc. Hate speech is not tolerated.
    Contribute UGC or organize or participate in any activity, group or guild that is inappropriate, abusive, harassing, profane, threatening, hateful, offensive, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, defamatory, infringing, invades another's privacy, or is otherwise reasonably objectionable.

    If you have any evidence of any of these happening in game, please feel free to message CG_SBCrumb, and they will take appropriate action. This type of harassment happening in the in game chat is dealt with by CG, and this was stated in the original thread also.
    Engage or assist in cheating or other anticompetitive behavior (such as boosting, collusion, and match or matchmaking manipulation).
    Promote, encourage or take part in any prohibited activity described above.

    the type of collusion indicated here, would be more akin to what was done in tournaments, where 2 players would setup a system that would allow them to score more points using each others positions and teams to do so.

    Unfortunately players attacking, and using the timer to their advantage is not going to constitute collusion as violation of the ToS, from my understanding. This does not mean you should not document and make your case as you see fit through the proper channels.

    Even with documentation of conversations that happen in a 3rd party app, this would be hard to prove those are the same people and not "fakes" or some setup to discredit them.

    People chatting about the game, and even planned attacks against someone else are not anti-competitive, that is part of the competition. purposefully weakening teams would be a good candidate for this argument, but that is not what you are describing.

    As I have said, please document any in game harassment and send this in a direct message to CG_SBCrumb. They will take action on messaging like that.
This discussion has been closed.