Auto-ban for in-game voice message needs to STOP

Mark191919 · March 9

It has happened to me at least 4 times. The algorithm banned me for a certain amount of time (the first ban was 15 days which makes absolutely no sense) from voice message just because someone else reported my in-game voice message. The ban came right after the game ended, which means no human judgement went into this process to make it fair. This makes no sense.

It makes even less sense when using in-game voice message is punished so easily while a trolling play is not punished nearly as hard, if at all.

I reported this issue through a direct email to Pokémon Unite team and got no reply at all. Reddit also removed complaints like this because their moderators thought it was too unproductive to talk about a problem that the game would possibly never be solved. I had no other choice but to post this here.

Flametix · May 3

that's just how the voice chat bans have always worked for years, you can report anyone and they get automatically punished. the official response to this from support is to not use voice chat at all.

Pokemaster9293 · May 7

yeah don’t use the VC

TheJeffers · May 15

@Flametix That's absurd. I cannot believe the solution to players abusing the report system is to tell people to avoid playing with anyone other than friends.

I would say that the solution would be to penalise abusers rather than let automatic bans stand, but I already think I know why that won't happen.

Reviewing automated bans resulting from reports requires a human employee to look at the game, review chat logs and determine whether or not the report was justified and whether the punishment stands or whether the report was false and malicious (people do make mistakes, after all), and if any penalty needs to be issued for false reports.

Human moderators might get it wrong. In game violations, or worse, real world threats to children, might slip through the cracks. Then the company may face litigation and public or media scrutiny for their failures.

One side of a dispute is going to be angry whatever the moderators decide and however justified it may be. It would result in players constantly complaining and appealing against bans or unjust bans.

But most importantly, moderators need to be trained and supervised. It takes time, resources and, worst of all, money to have a fair report and ban system overseen by well trained moderators.

It is much cheaper, cleaner and safer for the companies behind an online game to simply ban anyone reported for potential violations than spend resources actually ensuring the rules are enforced fairly and no potentially embarrassing scandals slip through the cracks.

You can see why a lot of companies forego communication in their online games inthe first place.

But that won't work for a MOBA, where co-operation is key.

So there are technically communication features, but you get banned if you actually use them.

So why bother with the pretense.

Flametix · May 21

@TheJeffers that's just how unite is really, it was even worse in the first month when you could get reported for voice chat without even having the microphone option on. but mostly people don't use voice chat anyway since it's opt in and the switch needs an external one and just make do spamming "thanks" ingame.

mods do technically have to monitor username resets though those also have false positives. otherwise I don't think anything else gets checked other than chat and automatic AFK detection.

Mark191919 · December 2

@Flame The penalty/report system is not only silly and biased, but most importantly it's mocking players. It says "any player who repeatedly misreport others will be punished" when the system itself is not monitored by humans. They directly tell players that they have authority over what makes a just punishment when they don't have it at all. And now with your screenshot, it seems that they invent a system and advice players against using it. I'm genuinely amazed.