Virtualsense In-Game Chat/Trade Channels | Moderating

[DarkMoonEnigma]

Virtualsense is a business that first acquired Monria on 26 Nov 2015, and over the years put a progressive plan in place to partnership with our community toward creating the best possible experience. Right from the beginning our primary focus has always been on community. We observe, we listen and we act in accordance to what will work best for the community. This includes inviting Suggestions/Feedback from our community members, of which many ideas have already been implemented.

On 19 Aug 2020, we added Planet Toulan to our Virtualsense family, and on 1 June 2021 we expanded Monria with the DSEC-9 dimension. This meant having an even greater responsibility to our growing community, and an elevated focus on providing the kind of cohesive community environment that promotes beneficial interaction with regard to helping each other, and especially new players joining both Monria and Toulan. This also relates to a comfortable level of communication without certain elements that can become disruptive and thereby cause drama and prevention of the normal course of how our community operates.

Right from the start, we have done things differently. We give primary focus to building our community to work toward achieving goals and a vision that benefits all. We created the Community Initiative Programs (CIP) where many community members volunteer their time and effort toward helping each other. Some manage parts of these programs, and some have, over the years even created their own initiatives that help community members. We appreciate and support the efforts of our community, and it is incumbent upon us to give them an environment that is conducive to the work that they so tirelessly volunteer to do.

We want our community to have the kind of chat and trade channels that foster a positive and beneficial exchange, so we will continue to monitor chat and trade channels to assure this is happening.

We are also asking community members to engage in self-policing with regard to what is acceptable and not acceptable to community members who are trying to provide help and evolve each location we serve (Monria, Toulan, DSEC-9).

The following in-game channels are owned, operated and moderated by Virtualsense and English Only is allowed, but will be considered community channels and described as follows: (DSEC-9 is part of the Monria chat and trade channels)

• #monria
• -- this channel is for community chat only with a focus on supporting the needs of the community
• #monriatrade
• --- this is the official Monria trade channel
• -- all Monria buying, selling and advertising should be posted in this channel only
• the only exceptions are:
• --- a Twitch streamer streaming at one of our locations can post in the chat channel but not spam
• --- someone hosting an event at one of our locations can post in the chat channel but not spam
• --- a warp service about to leave the Monria SS can post in the chat channel but not spam
• #toulan
• -- this channel is for community chat only with a focus on supporting the needs of the community
• #toulan_trade
• -- this is the official Toulan trade channel
• -- all Toulan buying, selling and advertising should be posted in this channel only
• the only exceptions are:
• --- a Twitch streamer streaming at one of our locations can post in the chat channel but not spam
• --- someone hosting an event at one of our locations can post in the chat channel but not spam
• --- a warp service about to leave the Toulan SS can post in the chat channel but not spam

What's not allowed:

• rudeness
• disrespect toward community members, VS Staff, or other EU officials
• trolling or using comments to incite or create drama
• racist comments are totally not acceptable
• posting false information about a player or an MA or PP official
• bullying or intimidation directed at a player, VS staff or EU official
• no political, religious, or other real world sensitive discussions because they tend to derail and cause disruptions toward efforts to help our community members
• chronic complaining that disrupts an otherwise positive environment
• unnecessary and consistent cursing, especially dropping the F-Bomb

Please keep communication civil and constructive. We want our chat channels to be an enjoyable experience.

Thank You

 

[DarkMoonEnigma]

I am reviving this thread because there's more to say after an incident that occurred ...

There's another important reason why we manage our forum and in-game chat and trade channels for Monria and Toulan as we do ... it feeds again into the fact that Virtualsense is also a business, and we are tasked with working on player retention, of which we have done very well. When the chat channels are disrupted with nonsense posting that causes drama and escalates into unnecessary wasted time, it prevents us from servicing our community members in the way it's meant to be.

We have periods where we have influxes of Monria and Toulan Born new players, as well as more players visiting our locations due to the continued implementation of VU content that we are consistently adding. It is vital that we are able to answer questions and provide valuable information when asked to help community members navigate our locations. When there is unnecessary disruptive posting, it prevents us from doing that efficiently because the chat is scrolling and we can't catch everything. This kind of activity tends to push people away from our chats, and even our regular community members shy away because they don't want to deal with it. I get quite a few PM complaints and I try to encourage them to actually speak up in chat if something isn't going right.

Aside from the forum and chat rules that were formulated to create a safe and pleasant experience for our community members, if you've ever been in Monria or Toulan chat, we DO have a lot of fun and banter, but without the unnecessary disruptions that often come with nonsense posting that has no relevance to the game or what we are trying to accomplish, as well as rudeness, disrespect and far too many times pushing the envelope to see how far some can go before I step in ... however, more in the community are now stepping up to support the effort and I appreciate that very much.

I work with awesome Community Initiative Program teams who tirelessly volunteer their time to help make our community as vital as possible, including going the distance to make sure we have all the information available so that it helps you navigate our locations. We take the time to connect with our Monria and Toulan Born new players to make sure they get a good start.

If you have ever cruised through our forum, you can see the volume of information readily available to everyone on all 3 of our locations. In the game some of us make sure we have readily-available links to share when questions are asked, and we make sure that accurate information is given to minimize any frustration that might occur. When we released the Mountain of Madness, ShadowDragonV and I assembled information, links and waypoints and created stickies so that we could readily share it with the community. I reached out and created 2 chat messages to send with a ton of info, links and waypoints to those asking questions, and it proved valuable, because that information was shared across the universe and more players were bringing socmates and groups to do the dynamic wave events at MoM to get the Elder Gods Suit and Shub Spine. Some are even hosting their own events to help lower-level players.

I take my Virtualsense Dev Team position seriously, and have a responsibility to Ant when it comes to my Community and Media Operations to fulfill what is required of me, and that means taking care of the community the best I can, throw in some PR and Marketing along the way, promote our locations, answer questions, make information available as soon as possible, especially after a VU release, but then I have ShadowDragonV as an amazing partner with disseminating information and working on media projects.

I spend time in the game every day ... some days are busier than others, but unless something comes up, I check in with the community every single day, 7 days a week. I make sure that information is available, and I field a lot of PMs while in the game, as well as answer questions and provide info in chats. I do the same on our VS Discord. I am active and available and you know how to reach me either through the forum, our VS Discord or in the game through a PM or Chat Message that I'll get when I log in at some point. I am 5 hrs behind game time, so it will be later in the day for some, but I get there.

I want to make sure that every respect is given to those in our community who have stepped up to make contributions in one way or another, and that the unnecessary disruptions are minimized. I don't care what some think of me because of how we work with our community to make sure they get what they need, but it's mostly those who have been the disruptors screaming the loudest. We get excellent results and feedback as a result of our community efforts, and we give back to the community in many ways to say thank you. We work in partnership WITH the community to make things happen, and we will always listen, which is why we encourage Suggestions/Feedback for all 3 of our locations. Ant and Kendra pay close attention to those posts, so don't think they are overlooked.

Thank you again to those who have been immensely supportive, it's greatly appreciated.