Blocking Players In Open

Old Duck

Old Duck
How does blocking a player work on the Xbox? Does it only block an annoying player's comms, or does it make that other player "go away"? If the latter, isn't this the obvious answer to griefers? Seems a lot easier than all the other solutions (including some of my own) being presented in the endless number of threads on the subject over in Dangerous Discussions.

ps - I'm specifically talking about playing in Open.
 

UnhappyDev

UnhappyDev
You can block a player in game by blocking them on xbox live. Once you have done that, you will never instance with the blocked player again. i.e. you will never 'see' them in game.

So yes, you can make griefers 'go away'. But it's not a silver bullet to fix the griefer problem. I've been playing the game for nearly 2 years and I see new griefers quite a lot, along with the usual suspects at CGs.
 
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Old Duck

Old Duck
UnhappyDev said:
You can block a player by blocking them in game on xbox live. Once you have done that, you will never instance with the blocked player again. i.e. you will never 'see' them in game.

So yes, you can make griefers 'go away'.
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MikeHawk said:
yea blocking players lowers the chance of you instancing with them. Still a chance but much lower
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Amazing... Anyone know if this is a console-only feature? I'm absolutely gobsmacked that this simple solution is never suggested in these 30-plus page threads bemoaning the woes of playing in Open. I do realize one must be griefed to identify and then ban a griefer... That's the fly in my ointment. But still, better than nothing!
 
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mung0

mung0
It's not quite that simple. Say there's 15 players together in an 'instance' and you join as the 16th. If just one of those 15 other players was on your block list, you can't join that instance, and could well find yourself playing on your own as a result.

If you don't want to risk running into trouble, better to simply opt for solo or private group mode. If you want the proper 'open' experience, best to take it as it comes imo.
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
mung0 said:
It's not quite that simple. Say there's 15 players together in an 'instance' and you join as the 16th. If just one of those 15 other players was on your block list, you can't join that instance, and could well find yourself playing on your own as a result.

If you don't want to risk running into trouble, better to simply opt for solo or private group mode. If you want the proper 'open' experience, best to take it as it comes imo.
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I personally would only use blocking as a last resort - for example, if an Elite ganker is sitting in the starter system picking off newborn sideys (which I will be when the day comes, see my sig). I actually like the "dangerous" in ED. That's why Mobius really isn't an option for me.
 
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UnhappyDev

UnhappyDev
Old Duck said:
I personally would only use blocking as a last resort - for example, if an Elite ganker is sitting in the starter system picking off newborn sideys
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Even then, a better option would be a temporary change to solo mode while in that system.

For example, there was a community goal last year where a certain PVP faction decided to blockade the CG system. I jumped in to see a line of 8 or 9 combat ships in SC. Within a few seconds, I was interdicted. I ran off, went back into SC and was interdicted again, and again. So I logged into solo mode and docked safely. I suppose I could have blocked all the CMDRs in the group, but that would have been painfully slow and rather unnecessary.
 

mung0

mung0
We've all been blowed up, it's gonna happen sooner or later. I'm no exception. I do take issue with the rather pathetic m.o. that's sadly all too often employed by the murder crowd (2+ vs 1 / whale vs minnow, that's a cowards game). But nonetheless I still respect their right to play the game however they choose. I've not made any enemies after these scuffles. All part of the rich tapestry that is open mode.

Penguin put it succinctly. If you want the true open experience then you need to take a whole bite, not sit there trying to prize out all the bits first till there's little left to chew.
 

S0fa C0mmand0

S0fa C0mmand0
That doesn't always work on Xbox live. It may work on Elite but most definitely not ALL games. I've had fallings out with real life friends and blocked them. Still see them on ESO when I go on. WOT every now and again I see us in the same lobbies. So I gesture at it lowering the chances but not out right blocking from ever instancing together.
 

BluWolve

BluWolve
In actuality the way it works on Xbox you can block someone and still technically be in the same instance. You wont see each other whatsoever, but I have been in instances with friends that were chatting via local comms to someone I have blocked.. So it doesn't affect instancing really, but it does prevent you and that player having any contact, works very well in my opinion.

Edit: Thinking about it some more, I would guess that the only time it would affect instancing is if the blocked player was the instance host, but I couldn't say for sure.
 
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stormyuk

Volunteer Moderator
stormyuk
BluWolve said:
In actuality the way it works on Xbox you can block someone and still technically be in the same instance. You wont see each other whatsoever, but I have been in instances with friends that were chatting via local comms to someone I have blocked.. So it doesn't affect instancing really, but it does prevent you and that player having any contact, works very well in my opinion.
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Good to know, so not quote as game breaking as mung0 suggests. Assume the same will work on PSN.
 

Freelancer Knux

Freelancer Knux
BluWolve said:
In actuality the way it works on Xbox you can block someone and still technically be in the same instance. You wont see each other whatsoever, but I have been in instances with friends that were chatting via local comms to someone I have blocked.. So it doesn't affect instancing really, but it does prevent you and that player having any contact, works very well in my opinion.
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That sounds truly broken. Imagine your friends coming under fire and being killed by someone while you're sitting there watching them just shooting into empty space.
If my wing just sat there and watched me die because they couldn't see or interact with my attacker, I would be so damn angry at them it wouldn't be funny.
 

BluWolve

BluWolve
Freelancer Knux said:
That sounds truly broken. Imagine your friends coming under fire and being killed by someone while you're sitting there watching them just shooting into empty space.
If my wing just sat there and watched me die because they couldn't see or interact with my attacker, I would be so damn angry at them it wouldn't be funny.
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This is almost what happened in this situation. I had to quickly unblock and reload my game to help friends against a well known xbox griefer wing because I couldn't see the players. I always suggest blocking the scummy ones, but a lot of people I know feel it makes the galaxy smaller. If you do not want to block someone that is personal choice but if they are really causing someone grief then at the least should report them via xbox live. If a player gets a certain number of reports from different people they will be put in a separate group for matchmaking connections on xbox live - "Avoid Me" players then only get to play with other "Avoid me" players, so the griefers can only bother each other.

Dont report pirates though, and always try a civilised conversation before blocking and/or reporting. I only ever block and/or report true griefers. At the end of the day, it is your xbox and your game you paid for to enjoy, you don't have to be subject to bullying and abuse by others. If you don't want to have interaction with a particular person, block them.
 

Freelancer Knux

Freelancer Knux
BluWolve said:
This is almost what happened in this situation. I had to quickly unblock and reload my game to help friends against a well known xbox griefer wing because I couldn't see the players.

Dont report pirates though, and always try a civilised conversation before blocking and/or reporting. I only ever block and/or report true griefers. At the end of the day, it is your xbox and your game you paid for to enjoy, you don't have to be subject to bullying and abuse by others. If you don't want to have interaction with a particular person, block them.
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Yeah that just confirms how game breaking it is.

Of course if you want to block someone that is your choice and nothing wrong with that but i have to ask.

Would it have been more difficult to have just played in a private group to avoid your "greifers" Rather than blocking them? Not trying to stir up an argument here just wondering.

For example while I usually fly alone and in open, my brother decided he wanted to do that last bounty CG with me so we switched to a private group while we did it to avoid any situations we didn't want to deal with. Now that the CG is over we have switched back to open.
Personally I found this the most efficient solution without unnecessarily breaking gameplay or immersion.
 

BluWolve

BluWolve
Freelancer Knux said:
Yeah that just confirms how game breaking it is.

Of course if you want to block someone that is your choice and nothing wrong with that but i have to ask.

Would it have been more difficult to have just played in a private group to avoid your "greifers" Rather than blocking them? Not trying to stir up an argument here just wondering.

For example while I usually fly alone and in open, my brother decided he wanted to do that last bounty CG with me so we switched to a private group while we did it to avoid any situations we didn't want to deal with. Now that the CG is over we have switched back to open.
Personally I found this the most efficient solution without unnecessarily breaking gameplay or immersion.
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Of course, I play in different modes depending on what I feel like. Never saw the point in restricting myself to one game mode. So yeah going to private group or solo is always an option, but at the time I wanted to play in open.

What happened was, I had them blocked from previous encounters, and whilst docked at a station with friends they were docked at the same station arguing with people in local chat. For me it looked like a one sided argument, I couldn't see the other guys messages or their ship in my local contacts, even though they were apparently docked I could not see them at all.

Then a few fights broke out, and I was still able to communicate and destroy people in the grief wing that I hadn't blocked. But I had to unblock the others before I could see them. 30 mins, 30 insulting messages in my inbox and a griefer or two combat logging later I got tired of it again and blocked them for a second time.
 

Freelancer Knux

Freelancer Knux
BluWolve said:
Of course, I play in different modes depending on what I feel like. Never saw the point in restricting myself to one game mode. So yeah going to private group or solo is always an option, but at the time I wanted to play in open.

What happened was, I had them blocked from previous encounters, and whilst docked at a station with friends they were docked at the same station arguing with people in local chat. For me it looked like a one sided argument, I couldn't see the other guys messages or their ship in my local contacts, even though they were apparently docked I could not see them at all.

Then a few fights broke out, and I was still able to communicate and destroy people in the grief wing that I hadn't blocked. But I had to unblock the others before I could see them. 30 mins, 30 insulting messages in my inbox and a griefer or two combat logging later I got tired of it again and blocked them for a second time.
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Well fair call. Its a shame it simply doesn't just put you in different instances, Seeing as that would fix the game breaking issue of invisible hostiles.
 
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