Please Crack Down on R*pe Jokes and References

Feedback/Suggestions
#1

Dear Devs,

I know you care about your players feeling safe. I’ve seen the Powers that Be (aka You Guys) do an awesome job at cracking down on other hate speech issues. This new trend is just as disturbing, if not more.

This is a plea from one of your community members to take a firmer hand with rape jokes/references. I’ve seen them in about 1/3 of my games recently. Pointing them out gets me called a c - - - and/or, even worse, brings other players out to defend it. I’ve consistently reported them, and I encourage others to do the same.

To the community: did I mention it’s really not okay, guys? There is literally nothing funny about this subject.

Sincerely,
An active member of your community who just happens to be Female (& I’m only a tiny slice of that statistical r- - - pie).

5 Likes
#2

Couldn’t agree more.

1 Like
#3

Just report them and action WILL be taken.

They can’t do anything about the offenders if they don’t have proof. And reporting them gives the mods the proof they need to take action against them.

1 Like
#4

Will keep on doing so. Statistically speaking, I do not know what % of players is female, or what % of other demographics of players in ToL feel targeted by this type of humor, but I’ve seen people call out every other form of hate speech in game – except this kind of stuff. Racial slurs, nasty sexual slurs – I’ve seen lobbies unilaterally bond together in agreeing these are not acceptable.

For some reason I cannot understand there seems to be some debate about this one, so I chose to make a topic here to call some of the defense of anonymity into account.

Directed to the general community:
Meme culture didn’t make it funny to begin with :frowning: Even if you don’t personally identify as someone affected by this speech, statistically speaking – if we all hypothetically know 3 adult human females – we all know someone who has been, even if they haven’t shared that with us. And that’s not taking into statistical consideration that women aren’t the only ones affected.

Whatever the current social climate might seem to promote, last I checked r*pe was still very much a crime. Please don’t use ToL as a venue to promote this bleeped-up bidness.

2 Likes
#5

I am going to say. I have played many games like about 300 which are in my logs and I could say I rarely have encountered this issue. I think 1/3 of games is an exaggeration of the facts to make your point seem stronger. I would say maybe a few of the 300 encountered this issue. Also can you please give examples of the references you are talking about. Because maybe I just miss them or don’t acknowledge them, but you pay especially a lot of attention. On the flip side, maybe they aren’t even harsh foul references. Also personally, very few times have I encountered strongfoul language directed at me.

Also look in #justice in the ToL discord to actually see the reports and see if your reports made a difference. But you also said it was a new trend and most of my games have been in the first section between now and January so I am probably an old timer with the old trends.

#6

3 in 3000 games with people making rape jokes is 3 games too many.

4 Likes
#7

I am happy to answer your questions.

I specified vaguely “recently” and “new trend” because I cannot give accurate start dates on which I first noticed it. I can say it’s caught my attention strongly in the past week - two weeks. I’d seen it before, but not as commonplace or boldly defended by other players.

Examples of references are things like “creative” player names and deathnotes, and hate speech retaliation for calling it out. Death notes get really creative, because artists can “gray area reasonably” defend them by saying you’re misinterpreting, or clear them if they get nervous after someone points it out.

I do not screenshot these deathnotes, and I do not care to, but I do and will always click the REPORT button.

Edited to add: I’d rather not call out specific players by name or identifiable information (we’re a sorta small community here…) but I’ve definitely made sure to include all the stuff in my reports for the Devs to decide for themselves. I’m happy to say - I have NEVER seen anyone threaten it in chat point-blank. They’d rightfully be chased outta our community with pitchforks raised, I’d hope. I’m talking references like what someone probably thought were “clever” plays on words, death notes with the word spelled in odd format and scribbled over, etc.

2 Likes
#8

What kind of person makes rape jokes?

1 Like
#9

People who think it is funny.

And people who just want to harass the female playerbase.

2 Likes
#10

You don’t have to tell me that.

1 Like
#11

Unknown whether a matter of Devs silently taking action, players reading post and altering perspective, or simply coincidental good luck.

NGL y’all, whatever the reason, seen a sharp and sudden dip in the “trend” since posting this.

So “Thank You” to anyone who takes/took the time to read this post, even if you don’t sympathize.

GLHF, happy gaming

1 Like
#12

I’m quite happy to say: these sorts of references are not acceptable in this community, and dealing with them has consistently been a high priority. When they get reported, they’re dealt with accordingly.

I’ve also noticed an increase in frequency recently. I am reasonably optimistic that it will die down shortly.

2 Likes
#13

If you keep seeing the same person doing it repeatedly, then you can go directly to a Judge or above on Discord about it.

Just make sure to have their username and to grab some screenshots of the in-game chat, so we can handle them quicker.

4 Likes