Conclusion on "Chinese mod abuse" Issue

[johnNOVHn]

Since I was (probaly) the first guy to made a thread in this forum to bring up this issue, I also wanna conclude it and give some thought.
TW has clearified that:
1. Only Devs could Ban player That fourm lied and misled some players (myself included).
2. That forum abused TW trust. They collected "political incorrect" report from Chinese players and reporting them to TW as cheating.
3. Ten-year bans were reduced to 1-week ban
4. Devs already have a solution for this issue.

What TW has not clearified:
1. Their relationship with that fourm/ community. It seems that Chinese fourm helped TW with Chinese localistion.

My final words on censorship or racism(troll):
It this hard to tell the whole story by a few screenshots (expecially cropped). Some users believe that some asian players started all conflicts by throwing around racist slurs. However, it this hard to tell the whole story by a few screenshots. Some Chinese players are exetreme sensitive about political avartar/ID/ messages. While it is true that some players intentionally throw racist slur against Chinese, so does Chinese players. They cropped out their inapporopiate speech when they file reports. Thats why most screenshots provided in the open letter contains cropped chat message rather than complete chat record. Many non-Chinese asian players did not take screenshot to defend themselves because they never heard off that Chinese Fourm. The whole suituation is one-sided and favour Chinese players.

Possible solution:
1. Seperating Chinese Server from Asian Server. Chinese ideology is different from other asian players.
2. We need legit rules on what is bannable and what is not. Is politics allowed in offical servers chat? What is the punishment for racism? etc.
3. An in-game report system so that TW wont have to rely on that Chinese Forum.

Not matter of your stance on this issue, thank you for following it and sharing your thoughts. I sincerely hope that this will be sorted out soon. Peace.

 

[Mabons]

A more varied mod team would be better, one from China, one from Taiwan, etc. etc.

 

[Arcas Nebun]

There is a mute system implemented in the game at this moment. Any player can mute another player if he finds the other player to be abusing. As such, both sides can use it whenever needed.

 

[FearSpear]

A more varied mod team would be better, one from China, one from Taiwan, etc. etc.

I would disagree about the inclusion of (People's Republic of China based) Chinese moderators for the dichotomy of bias they may find themselves in which leads to two possible scenarios.

1. Hopefully Taleworld servers will not moderate speech the same way the Chinese Communist Party does in their country, a mod who would follow communist practices will cause community issues such as the one we have just experienced.

2. If you find a mainland Chinese mod who does not follow the practices of their country, rather the server guidelines, they may find themselves being exposed to speech which is illegal to view in their country, and being in a position of power to stop it (and choosing not to), they could potentially get in legal trouble by the Chinese government.

I understand that a game developer like Taleworlds wants to keep politics out of their game as much as possible, yet when dealing with actual communists there are no solutions which are optimal. If they choose to remain neutral, and the type of speech that the CCP is trying to censor is allowed to proliferate on their Asian based servers, they may fall under scrutiny of China's Orwellian "Ministry of Truth".

 

[Keldar]

What a joke, the Chinese government has extreme censorship over EVERYTHING it controls. Anyone with a tiny brain knew this was coming. They want to push their total control/censorship over everything they can. I would like to believe that TW is doing everything possible to correct this problem but the fact that it was done IN THE FIRST PLACE is a stain on their company.

 

[Jon Warren]

Not sure exactly what's going on. Despite my intense love for the Mount and Blade series, if it comes out that Taleworlds aids any government in the censorship of their citizens, I will never purchase another product from them till the day I die. Same goes for Steam or any other platforms or game studios out there. Human rights are no joke.

I'll be tuned in for more info. Created an account to make sure I made my position known.

Stay safe folks!

 

[Keldar]

Sounds to me like its still going on and TW is making excuses. What an absolute disgrace. I am with you @Jon Warren that if TW is enabling Chinese censorship against ANYONE I will NEVER purchase another one of their products and I urge ALL decent people no matter where they live to stand against this kind of vile and evil behavior. Talk is cheap TW actually DO something or admit you are cowards.

 

[Younes]

The sheer amount of ignorance of the people above me is honestly baffling.

 

[Keldar]

I guess it depends on who you are talking about. There are many companies that do cowardly things all the time. TW gave the power to either people who "abused trust" as they like to claim or they gave government officials power who did what any idiot would see coming. If they gave power to people who "abused trust" then they didn't do a very good job at vetting those people did they. Either way the company is responsible for censoring people who dared to speak out against the Chinese government a government that continually does horrible things to its people, to the people of Hong Kong and who threaten Taiwan on a regular basis. It is a disgrace and continually making excuses for their bad decisions is going to make people believe them LESS not more. Anyone defending horrible decisions like these are a disgrace as well.

 

[Younes]

I guess it depends on who you are talking about. There are many companies that do cowardly things all the time. TW gave the power to either people who "abused trust" as they like to claim or they gave government officials power who did what any idiot would see coming. If they gave power to people who "abused trust" then they didn't do a very good job at vetting those people did they. Either way the company is responsible for censoring people who dared to speak out against the Chinese government a government that continually does horrible things to its people, to the people of Hong Kong and who threaten Taiwan on a regular basis. It is a disgrace and continually making excuses for their bad decisions is going to make people believe them LESS not more. Anyone defending horrible decisions like these are a disgrace as well.

Except it hasn't been a decision. They already stated it wasn't done by the government but by individuals themselves.

 

[CarefulDeath]

Not sure exactly what's going on. Despite my intense love for the Mount and Blade series, if it comes out that Taleworlds aids any government in the censorship of their citizens, I will never purchase another product from them till the day I die. Same goes for Steam or any other platforms or game studios out there. Human rights are no joke.

I'll be tuned in for more info. Created an account to make sure I made my position known.

Stay safe folks!

Well, I hope you already dropped Steam then. They're making a special client just for China, to be clear, this client will be fully in line with with guidelines the Chinese Government demands, and used specifically in the Country. Most Entertainment platforms from Movies to Videogames have some sort of relationship with China these days as well, actually pretty much every company/product you likely have in your home has some sort of relationship with China as they manufacture quite a bit of products. Tencent has bought quite a lot of stock in various publishers and active relationships with others, like Activision-Blizzard. Personally, as long as whoever does business in China keeps China's demands only for China, there is no issue for me. China runs it's country however it wants, if the people don't like it then it's up to them to change it. Other countries have various regulations as it befits them, Germany for instance doesn't allow depictions of the Swastika and such in games. It becomes an issue when one country's political ideology starts to affect things for everyone in the world. I don't live in China, I don't want to be censored like they are.

As for this situation, Perhaps a little more could be done but Taleworlds has corrected the issue for the most part. From the sounds of things it seems like a simple abuse of trust from people who helped with localization for the game in that region. As long as Taleworlds has realized that the abuse of trust has occurred and are likely scrutinizing every report they make on a case by case basis, or simply not give authority to take reports from that specific forum then, as far as I'm concerned the issue is solved at that point.

 

[Jon Warren]

Well, I hope you already dropped Steam then. They're making a special client just for China, to be clear, this client will be fully in line with with guidelines the Chinese Government demands, and used specifically in the Country. Most Entertainment platforms from Movies to Videogames have some sort of relationship with China these days as well, actually pretty much every company/product you likely have in your home has some sort of relationship with China as they manufacture quite a bit of products. Tencent has bought quite a lot of stock in various publishers and active relationships with others, like Activision-Blizzard. Personally, as long as whoever does business in China keeps China's demands only for China, there is no issue for me. China runs it's country however it wants, if the people don't like it then it's up to them to change it. Other countries have various regulations as it befits them, Germany for instance doesn't allow depictions of the Swastika and such in games. It becomes an issue when one country's political ideology starts to affect things for everyone in the world. I don't live in China, I don't want to be censored like they are.

As for this situation, Perhaps a little more could be done but Taleworlds has corrected the issue for the most part. From the sounds of things it seems like a simple abuse of trust from people who helped with localization for the game in that region. As long as Taleworlds has realized that the abuse of trust has occurred and are likely scrutinizing every report they make on a case by case basis, or simply not give authority to take reports from that specific forum then, as far as I'm concerned the issue is solved at that point.

I know. I saw an article, I'm waiting to see if Steam actually goes through with it. I won't pay money to a company that helps enslave people, regardless of whether it personally affects me or not.

Censorship of free speech is very different from censorship of iconic imagery connected to hate crimes.

I can get my fun elsewhere. There is too much injustice and brutality in the world for me to help fund the continuation of it.

"First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me"

- MARTIN NIEMÖLLER

 

[eddiemccandless]

There is too much injustice and brutality in the world for me to help fund the continuation of it.

Not that I disagree with the sentiment, but you are funding it any time you buy clothes that were made with cheap labor (i.e. pretty much anytime you buy clothes), any time you use Google, any time you use Facebook or any product produced by a big company. It is an intrinsic part of modern society and globalization, and the only way to avoid it is to live in a forest somewhere and be completely self sufficient.

On topic, I wish that people would bother to actually verify their sources with an ounce of critical thinking before launching themselves in crusades. Please stop blowing this out of proportion.