Chat System Anomalies - Disecting the flaws.

[seafox]

ok....having relatives in the uk...there are words here you questioned...like bit...they banned git..as thats a slang for like idiot or something...and heck...sounds like the one with the f..which rhymes and thats one a no no here...and there...anyways...keep tellin em...its all we can do...

today I heard ghost voices in a couple of different jungles and caverns...I have a xi-fi extreme sound blaster card...and wondered if its glitching or am I picking up vent. or other type voice ones...I did use my headset as it has better sound quality....but Im not using those now on this game...mebbe it just picks out the base sounds they used for the special fx sounds?? wondered if anyone else hears it?

[Captain Sureshot]

Originally Posted by Edward Edgemenace

You will be shocked...

Shocked that words and entire sentences get filtered by the in-game chat system? Shocked by the inefficiencies in that chat system? Or shocked by the general bugginess of the build(s)? lol, no EE, not me. Not any of my long time in-game friends, either. You see, we have also noticed the various "anomalies" so we simply work around them. Transgression? lol, there is no forgiveness necessary since everything is pretty much what I have come to expect from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online. This isn't my first time at the rodeo. So what you perceive as clear regarding what I am aware of is a misunderstanding on your part based on erroneous assumptions.

You are correct in that I run no type of empirical test to check which chat went through and which didn't. Couldn't be bothered as I have adapted enough to be able to communicate successfully in-game. As far as "unlimited" chat - I did misspeak. I should have used the term Open chat. Additionally, I don't use any third party chat client when playing POTCO. Isn't necessary since I play POTCO as a game, not a social networking site or a chat client.

One thing I don't want to be lost is how much I appreciate your dissecting of the chat system and some of its flaws, as well as the other areas of the game you have looked at. Well done. Which is exactly the opposite of the way I feel towards POTCO development focus: either the producers and development team are aware of these anomalies and are, at least for the time being, letting them be or they are unaware. Either way they earn a fail.

[Edward Edgemenace]

Originally Posted by Captain Sureshot

...So what you perceive as clear regarding what I am aware of is a misunderstanding on your part based on erroneous assumptions.

You said it was "perfect" when it is anything but. (Game is rated 10+, btw. It's a family game, except in the minds of the current development mangers, if they still work there.) And, FWIW, I'm talking strictly about game-relevant chat, not chat "for social networking."

...either the producers and development team are aware of these anomalies and are, at least for the time being, letting them be or they are unaware. Either way they earn a fail.

I strongly agree.

[Cannonfury]

Originally Posted by Bartholomew Foulsteel

I believe that is because "bit" is past-tense of "bite."

ok but why would bite be a red word o_o

[Captain Sureshot]

Originally Posted by Edward Edgemenace

You said it was "perfect" when it is anything but.

Well, what I said was that it was "perfect for a game geared toward 8-12 year old children" so I will stand by my statement.

Game is rated 10+, btw. It's a family game, except in the minds of the current development mangers, if they still work there.

EE, you are confusing the game's voluntary ESRB rating with whom Disney is targeting the game to.

[Edward Edgemenace]

Originally Posted by Captain Sureshot

Well, what I said was that it was "perfect for a game geared toward 8-12 year old children" so I will stand by my statement.
EE, you are confusing the game's voluntary ESRB rating with whom Disney is targeting the game to.

Perhaps you misread what I wrote? Regardless, it is far from perfect, for 8-12 year old children, or anyone.

You specifically stated you never have "much trouble" working around the system, yet you don't use the speed chat (supposedly that you say that Disney says is the target audience of ONE survey commissioned by a new and clearly misguided team) that you also claim to be perfect, despite routinely not using it (perhaps never?)

And yes, you would be shocked to learn how many complete lines of your text are simply not sent at all to other open chat recipients (despite every indication to you that it is sent) even when there are no italicized words, nor any comment in the removed text that is not completely innocent and directly game related.

To fix the problem, the development team can issue a series of warnings to the sender, or issue warnings to the message recipients, or issue both warnings and the text, or flag the conversation for moderator review (auto-report) or any combination of those actions. Simply removing the game-relevant text silently, harms the game overall.

Obviously, this tactic is not in any way geared towards protecting minors. Technically, they do have the mechanism to save chat logs server side. Some text can occasionally be found in the client-side game logs. From a technical standpoint, client-side logs are comparatively very simple and lightweight. And yet, no provision is made for the easiest of logs - a timestamped client side text log of chat. Nor is any variation of it, available. This particular design choice is not a feature to protect children or even Disney - it is a feature to protect lawyers.

That is not a system that is "perfect for a game geared toward 8-12 year old children" at all. You yourself concluded "they earn a fail" and I certainly agree with that.

[Dan_OB]

I believe that Disney uses a white list as the main device to control what words are used. What I mean by this is that they have a list of acceptable words and words that are not on it are flagged. Thats why so many innocent words get flagged, like "bit" or "poet". I remember reading that you could send Disney suggestions for words to add to the white list.

Not to be cynical or anything but the primary purpose of this censoring is to protect Disney from legal problems. If it protects kids too all the better.

BTW, I don't believe Disney has ever explicitly and publicly stated a target age range for the game so we really don't know. I do believe that it is intended, like the movies, to be "fun for the whole family" . How well they are achieving that is subject for debate.

Once again a very instructive post Edward. Many thanks!

[Captain Sureshot]

Originally Posted by Edward Edgemenace

Perhaps you misread what I wrote?

Possibly, but after re-reading the posts I think I pretty much did get the gist of it.

Regardless, it is far from perfect, for 8-12 year old children, or anyone.

Well if you mean flawless, then yes, it is far from perfect. Hope you aren't expecting anything near flawless from Disney's POTCO product lol...

You specifically stated you never have "much trouble" working around the system, yet you don't use the speed chat (supposedly that you say that Disney says is the target audience of ONE survey commissioned by a new and clearly misguided team) that you also claim to be perfect, despite routinely not using it (perhaps never?)

I don't use Speed Chat? Wrong. I routinely don't use it? Wrong again! You really have no idea how I communicate in-game. I will say that my in-game communication style and technique varies and is situation dependent.

And yes, you would be shocked to learn...

Hello? Still not shocked and won't be. Not sure why you would assume how I would/should/will react. Let me restate and expound on a few things: I know chat is messed up. I knew it before you started this thread. Learned it all by my lonesome and confirmed it with the help of some friends. Wasn't at all shocked or surprised when I figured out that there is no notification for filtered chat in certain situations. Pretty much what I have come to expect from Disney's POTCO product. I do find it mildly surprising that you would argue with me on what my reaction would be, especially since I specifically stated that I was not shocked lol...

Just so I make myself clear: I am not shocked in the least that any part of POTCO is glitchy, buggy, incomplete or lacking. To be honest, I am no longer even disappointed. If I want quality product I look elsewhere. Which is sad in itself for I truly did love this game. Disney fails not so much for these particular chat anomalies, but rather because this is how it goes with POTCO development: updates are put out without being fully tested; updates are put out with known bugs previously reported by Test server players; things are made to work but never truly fixed; playability, balance and/or fun often suffer as the present team of developers attempt to meet whatever production goals have been set by the game's producers or their bosses at WDIG. I see POTCO as nothing more than a product, where once I thought it truly had a chance at being a contender as a great MMO.

[MacIronhawk]

Originally Posted by Captain Sureshot

Well if you mean flawless, then yes, it is far from perfect. Hope you aren't expecting anything near flawless from Disney's POTCO product lol...

Edward didn't say the chat system was flawless. If it was flawless, we wouldn't be typing things about this right now.

Also, it would make communicating a lot easier if Edward knew what chat system you had. I have Speechat, although it's basically Open chat, which still hasn't been released yet.

I can type anything I want to, although most curse words and words that may be considered real threats get through.

And if this is a family game, why can I still say hell anytime I want to and not get a warning email? I don't use the word often, but it's annoying seeing others abuse the word.

[Edward Edgemenace]

Corrected list, added a few. "Shoot it", "hit it" and "get it" don't go through, but "stop it", "zap it" and "tag it" do. "Web site" and "website" block, but "web sight" goes through. "Calendar" used to block, but no longer does. (Yay!)

[bartholomew bladeroberts]

if only i had my chat log for a couple days ago i don't know what word set it off but i was trying to say
ME ahoy krewe would you mind helping me with somthing
BBK sure what is it
ME I just got new soft ware that records games (game cam) and i was wondering if you wanted to help me test it out on a boss battle
BBK what
ME my message didn't go through
its things like that that get me a bit ticked off

[ex8404]

Been playing for a couple of years now and I can safely say that in all that time, I have never used, or tried to use, the word "calendar."

Just sayin'...

[Edward Edgemenace]

Originally Posted by ex8404

Been playing for a couple of years now and I can safely say that in all that time, I have never used, or tried to use, the word "calendar."

Just sayin'...

Every guild with over 100 members that I've been in, has had a calendar. Just got into the habit of calling it an "event list" instead, because "calendar" was blocked for so long. Last December, I tried to coordinate and schedule a scavenger hunt on the POF calendar - it was definitely blocked from in-game chat at that time.

Originally Posted by bartholomew bladeroberts

if only i had my chat log for a couple days ago i don't know what word set it off but i was trying to say
ME ahoy krewe would you mind helping me with somthing
BBK sure what is it
ME I just got new soft ware that records games (game cam) and i was wondering if you wanted to help me test it out on a boss battle
BBK what
ME my message didn't go through
its things like that that get me a bit ticked off

Thank you - I'll add "TEST IT" to the list of prohibited keywords.

[Big Bad Wolf]

If i remember correctly, the chat started malfunctioning when the new islands and the mini player card kicked in early 2009.

It would be interesting if we could bug report it LOL.

Or even go on Live Chat and demand a straight answer as to why there is a "secret filter" in our communication and make the Live Chat rep give an account as to that (which I'm pretty sure they would not be able to answer it anyways, I think i could be a better Live Chat rep than them Lol)

The only way to combat this problem right now would be playing 2 pirates at the same time to ensure that chat flows. The other solution, highly popular but seemingly unapt for good mickey followers, is to chat on another communication platform. If the chat is flawless there wouldn't be a need to chat outside the game, so should Mickey tell us again why do they subtlely disapprove it?

[Dog Firestack]

Saying Your Black does the trick I think.

And I say it like, Did you get your black belt yet?