Coin flip ban

[Tiberius Fireskull]

That guy really didn't want to talk about it. James, I really wouldn't be surprised if you were the 100th person that guy had to deal with that day regarding the incident. I had no better luck with my email I sent them. They seem to be avoiding an actual answer... Below is the email I sent. After that I will post the reply. Sorry for the messy looking email. I really don't want to have to format it.

Hello POTCO team. I am emailing concerning
> something that you are getting rid of in this game. Something that me,
> and many other players (I have actually asked them, and they agree with
> me) believe is something that is a simple yet important part of this
> game. The coin flipping emote. Once you release the new clothing
> merchants on the main islands, the coin flip emote will be removed. The
> coin flip is one of the most loved emotes among players. Getting rid of
> it is going to not just deprive many, if not most, players of their
> favorite emote. On the extreme end, some players may even leave the game
> because of this, depriving YOU of your customers, many of whom are
> paying money for this game.
>
> Yes, I do understand that the coin flipping emote can be used
> inappropriately; however, this does NOT mean that you should get rid of
> it. Getting rid of it is a very bad choice on your part. Instead of
> getting rid of it, change the way it works. Perhaps make it so that the
> hand "bounces" less when it grabs and tosses the coin. This would allow
> players to keep the emote, and it would make it so it cannot be used
> inappropriately. Not doing this is neglectful on your part. If you
> simply get rid of it, you are not doing your job of pleasing your
> customers, and it in turn will cause many to stop paying money for the
> game.
>
> I highly urge you to keep this emote in the game, for the player's sake.
> Getting rid of it will make a lot of players upset, and I know that is
> not what you want. Just change the animation so that it cannot be used
> badly.
>
> And yes, I do know that the "Joe the Pirate flips a coin... heads." will
> still appear in the chat box, but this is not important. It is the
> actual animation that matters. Please do not get rid of this emote. It
> will not end well with players.
>
> Please forgive me if I sound like I am attacking you, I am not. I am
> merely trying to persuade you to keep this part of the game instead of
> trashing it.
>
> Also, I have seen people getting knocked out and supposedly banned on
> the "Abassa" server for flipping a coin, and not doing anything
> inappropriate with it. If this is so, then that is unfair and harsh on
> your part. If you are going to get rid of it, which I hope that you will
> not, then at least let us use it while it lasts.
>
> Again, I am not trying to attack you nor complain, just pointing out
> things that I feel are in the player's and your best interest.
>
> I will not take any more of your time. Thank you in advance.


Reply:

Ahoy <Insert Name>,

Thank you for contacting Pirates of the Caribbean Online.

We appreciate your extensive feedback on the coin flipping emote. We are always pleased to hear from our Guests and welcome your comments, as we are constantly balancing and making enhancements to the game to make Pirates Online a fun and safe place to play online.

Again, we appreciate your comments, and look forward to seeing you in the Caribbean again soon!

<Insert Name>
Pirates of the Caribbean Online Member Services

Such a personalized response eh<sarcmark>

By the way guys, when you are posting emails or live chats, keep the worker's name anonymous. Even they deserve to have privacy.

[Captain Jason]

Mind if I just copy and past that Email? I might be able to send a link to this forum page too, if you guys want me to.

[Tiberius Fireskull]

Its your choice, but I would prefer if you sent a different email. Different wording at least. And yes, send a link to this forum page.

[muffin pirate]

I am going to do something, I thought I might never be capable of, going against POF... I have to go with Disney on this one. I mean, they have looked at all the different options, and I support them 100%. The emote abuse is being abused by immature players. And it MUST stop. One solution we might suggest is putting an age limit on the coin flip. Well, a lot of kids put random ages for their date of birth. I would know. My friends do it all the time. Another solution might be to add personal bubbles again. Well, that produces another problem which is another story I'm not going into... So, at the concluding part of this semi-ranty paragraph, I would say I back disney 100%. And that just like in life, a few bad seeds, can ruin something for everyone.And on the plus side, the more immature players that get banned, the less on the test server.

Not trying to be rude,
~Muffin Pirate

[Tiberius Fireskull]

Muffin! How dare you! Lol, kidding around. I see your logic, but I honestly don't think that Disney should do this. First off, I will point out the obvious. It is one of the most beloved emotes, and it will anger people to see it go.

Now, lets move on to this. From what I have seen, the reason it can be abused is because the hand motion is quite "bouncy". Now, if Disney just decided to do a little extra work for the sake of the players, they could change the animation. If they changed the animation just a little bit, so that the hand doesn't move up and down, or it barely does, then the problem will be solved. It really isn't that hard, and Disney is taking the easy way out, which is angering many players.

Just my 2 cents. And WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE MEATY MUFFIN?!

[Captain Jason]

I'll try to send it tonight.

[Eliza Creststeel]

First, it was the /Kneel emote. Then, /Bounce (which really didn't do anything). And now /Coin.

This all stems from the same thing. Players using an emote to mean something vulgar or insulting or positioning their avatar so the emote looks inappropriate.

At what point will this end?

The brats on Abassa will simply move to another emote action and abuse it instead. How about /Glare or /Bored next? It's not like we have a HUGE list of animations anyway. We've had no real new emotes in years and they continue to remove what few there are.

You can even make some weapon use or loading animations vulgar or MEAN something vulgar if you want. Would they drop them too? And the rest of us suffer for it.

[muffin pirate]

If the Abassa "brats" keep abusing these emotes, theres nothing to stop them from doing so... They could put an age limit on the game, but then those brats would just put a random age as I said before... The only other option I can see right now is to ban anyone who abuses these emotes from the game for life. It should nto be tolerated. You don't have to take it out of the game, just ban someone for life. Nuff Said.

[SEAKING23]

I agree with muffin pirate. if someone is reported for doing something like this, it should not be tolerated. unless it was an accident.

[Tiberius Fireskull]

Umm... ok, so wait a second. When I found out exactly HOW people used this emote, it is not always the coin users fault. I don't want to go into depth on it, as the mods may not like that, but I will say this. Sometimes yes, the coin user will go up to a person and start using it abusively. Other times, however, the coin user will just be minding their own business, when someone will come up to them. In this sense, it is the coin user performing the action you could say, but they are not the one's that are doing anything wrong... I'm sorry I had to be so vague, but I would prefer not to tell exactly how it works.

[Captain Del]

I agree with Eliza.

Again, reprimanding an entire group for the select actions of a few will only make the mounds of manure grow high, and higher, and higher. You'll just be making more and more anger from those customers that enjoyed the feature, who focus it both on the abusers of the emote, and the company itself.

Yet I'm getting ahead of myself. I've taught myself that in order to get an opinion as close to politically correct as possible, you need to wipe out bias like an outside viewer, and see the perspectives of each sides. And in this, I can find three sources of "blame:"

1. The Abusers - Really, the root of the problem. This pattern continues over, and over, and over again. First with kneel. It was an emote that was supposed to express loyalty and gratitude, yet was twisted in to another meaning. Then, with bounce.. well, I won't go there. But now, with /coin, perhaps the most frequently used emote in the game, we're slowly eating away at the "character" that is added to this game through our very limited "emotions." And the sad thing is, I'm positive these pirates will see our reactions, laugh in amusement, and then go off to manipulate another emote.

2. Disney - They seemed to have jumped the gun when it comes to this situation. They could have just as easily editted the emote to remove the bouncing of the flipping hand, instead of just deleting it. Whoever is their response analyzer in terms of fixes, updates, and edits, really needs to focus a little more on farther points of view than having to yes the developers to death.

3. Us - Before you say anything, hear me out. We've really allowed ourselves to bipass the everyday activity that goes on when it comes to using an emote. If you just so happen to see somebody and his or her friends doing something inappropiate with a context of the game, 9 times out of 10, a usual pirate won't say anything. It's kinda like the people you see one What Would You Do, where their simple response is, "Ey, if I'm not involved, it's not my business."

I'm not saying that everybody here doesn't act to stop this immaturity. But what I'm saying is, we need to be more diligent in how we keep our expectancies in this game. When morale gets low, it will spread, and this will continue to go on, and on, and on, and on. We need to start to step up, and spread the maturity.

So, what am I trying to say? Don't punish a whole because of a fraction, use a wider view, and, mainly, "If you see something, do something!"

[Tiberius Fireskull]

You nailed it Delmaria.

Also... what did the bounce emote do anyway...?

[Captain Del]

Originally Posted by Davy Fireskull

You nailed it Delmaria.

Also... what did the bounce emote do anyway...?

Thank you

It did absolutely nothing in terms of motion, but it showed up in chat as "You bounce up and down."

[Tiberius Fireskull]

Thats what I thought... but then how could it be abused? I mean, I could see someone going into a certain position and then using it, but it is almost meaningless because there is no motion, correct? If so, why get rid of it?

[Captain Jason]

Honestly, kneel was one of my favorite emotes, along with coin. We're lsing the limited amount of emotes we have. What's next? Dance? Glare? Bored? Eventually they'll realize how they aren't doing much as in terms of helping, but they'll probably just think it's to much work to throw back in the emotes they took from us when they didn't need to. And I'm sending Disney a short Email like Davy suggested, and I'll try to put a link in to this page.