Newcomer / Intro question about block function

dreyone

D
Hi,

I don't normally block anyone in this game due to how it affects instancing and still have zero players on my block list, but I am wondering, is there any way to block a player from communicating with you completely (e.g. system chat, dms, etc) but not break instancing?

Reason why I am asking is there is a small group of players who repeatedly harass me in the in-game comms channels and outside the game on other platforms like Youtube and Twitch as well. I am not sure if reporting them to Fdev will do anything, but I am getting tired of reading their abusive messages.

The other night I was in Eurybia just casually having a few fights, a player complimented me saying "nice armor tank". I replied saying "ty" and that was all it took to set this player and his friends off into a half hour long session of repeatedly insulting me in the chat. They also spread lies about me to other players, they encourage other players to block me to break instancing for me, and a host of other genuinely toxic behavior.

The harassment is completely unprovoked and is apparently the product of a grudge they formed against me for having an opinion about the game they didn't like and also killing the shield generator of one of their friends who was exposed for using a trainer cheat program.

I don't want to actually prevent myself from instancing with these players as I enjoy their feeble 8+v1 gank attempts and get a kick out of denying them the kill every time, but I also don't want to continue reading their abusive chat messages, which are also violating the game's EULA.

Please let me know.

Thanks.

Edit: 2021-04-26

As of a few weeks ago I have permanently quit playing Elite Dangerous due to Frontier's failure to act on this matter. The harassment and stalking got much worse over these past couple months and this group of players began stalking me outside of the game. Also, this group of players are HIGHLY influential in the game's community and actually control some of the biggest unofficial communities for this game on other platforms (I won't mention them here because I don't want this post nuked for "naming and shaming") but I'm sure most readers here can figure out what those communities are.

They were able to leverage their influence to weaponize hundreds of players against me, most of whom I have never met or interacted with at all. They made armies of alt accounts both in-game and on other platforms like Youtube, Reddit, and Discord to impersonate and defame me. Even now, weeks after I quit playing the game, they are still hounding me on social media and sending me harassing messages from armies of alt accounts daily.

Apparently they have a long history of doing this to other players and have successfully bullied and harassed a substantial amount of players into quitting the game. Unfortunately, even though they have been reported to Frontier probably thousands of times by hundreds of different players over the course of the past several years, Frontier chooses to let them continue with this abuse and refuses to do anything to put a stop to it.

Let this serve as a warning to any new players considering playing this game: Don't. The community is horribly toxic and Frontier will do nothing when they target you for harassment both in and outside of the game. Stay FAR away.

Very sad that Frontier allowed such a beautiful game to be ruined by such incredibly toxic, dedicated griefers and trolls.
 
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GroG79

G
You worry to much about instancing. In very special cases there is a small chance you break instancing. Dont believe the openonly/gankers/anti-blockers that this WILL cause problems. It is highly unlikely.
 

dreyone

D
GroG79 said:
You worry to much about instancing. In very special cases there is a small chance you break instancing. Dont believe the openonly/gankers/anti-blockers that this WILL cause problems. It is highly unlikely.
Click to expand...

I am not a ganker, but am normally against blocking and play the game only in open. I never even thought I'd have to block a player in this game as I thoroughly enjoy PVP combat, but I'm tired of these players' abusive messages in chat.

Based on my understanding blocking DOES break instancing and will completely prevent you from instancing with a blocked player except in supercruise, and in the case when you are in an instance with someone who is on their friends list or they are winged with.

I do not want to affect instancing in ANY way, however, I would ideally like to:

a.) Block all comms channels text from these players, including in system chat
b.) Prevent them from seeing my text in system chat, so I can converse with other players without triggering them
 

GroG79

G
Hi Dreyone

I also have an almost empty blocklist. I even clean it from time to time. I block nasty talk, caps use etc.

Alas if you block someone. This someone will not instance with you neither in SC. Period. Neither will you see each others chats.
 

Krieger

Krieger
It's a package deal so to speak. Blocking players in ED blocks their comms AND blocks them from instancing with you and vice versa (including in supercruise btw). It's how the feature was designed to work.

If those players are really harassing you, you can certainly report them to FDEV.
 

dreyone

D
Thanks for the replies. That is unfortunate that there is no way to just block comms and not break instancing! Really wish Fdev would fix this. I would really prefer it if blocking just prevented comms and didn't impact matchmaking at all.

I did report them to Fdev but I have my doubts that anything will be done... I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed.

It just sucks because I basically can't go into any high traffic system, whether its Deciat or a CG, where these guys typically hang out, and not get abusive chat messages from them. I would really love to be able to stay instanced with them but not see their messages in the game (and preferably prevent them from seeing mine as well, so I can converse with other players without them butting in)
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
dreyone said:
Thanks for the replies. That is unfortunate that there is no way to just block comms and not break instancing! Really wish Fdev would fix this. I would really prefer it if blocking just prevented comms and didn't impact matchmaking at all.
............
Click to expand...

... but the only ones you are blocking from instancing with you are those that are causing you grief. It doesn't stop you instancing with other players, it has even been said that if you are instanced with someone and they have a wing-mate who you are blocking drop into NS on their beacon that the blocked person also appears to you. I have never seen it happen since I have nobody blocked in game (lots of idiots on the forum on my ignore list though ;) ).

Perhaps you want to instance with them to PvP with them but not be able to communicate - that sounds daft.
 

dreyone

D
My understanding is that blocking them could still have an adverse affect on instancing with other players, and I do not want to block these players from instancing with me. I actually enjoy their attempts at ganking me.

If they are in an instance with someone else, and I have them blocked, I will not be able to join that instance, meaning I won't be able to instance with anyone else that may be instanced with them.

I still want to be able to do combat with them but just not see their abusive text in chat
 

Morbad

Morbad
dreyone said:
I do not want to affect instancing in ANY way, however, I would ideally like to:

a.) Block all comms channels text from these players, including in system chat
b.) Prevent them from seeing my text in system chat, so I can converse with other players without triggering them
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, there is no chat-only block or mute function in this game.

Para Handy said:
... but the only ones you are blocking from instancing with you are those that are causing you grief. It doesn't stop you instancing with other players
Click to expand...

If those people are instanced with the blocked CMDR first, or their clients instancing weights favors the blocked CMDR's instance, it certainly can.

Para Handy said:
it has even been said that if you are instanced with someone and they have a wing-mate who you are blocking drop into NS on their beacon that the blocked person also appears to you.
Click to expand...

This has generally not been the case since they strengthened block weights and wing is about as strong a positive weight as there can be.
 

GroG79

G
You can try and set SYTEM chat and other to TABBED.

Then select squadron chat.. Normal chat messages will not pop up. Only direct messages to you. So if you dont look at the system scroll. You will not see a thing
 

Morbad

Morbad
dreyone said:
I still want to be able to do combat with them but just not see their abusive text in chat
Click to expand...

Para Handy said:
Looks like your only option then is a thick skin transplant. ;)
Click to expand...

Sometimes it's actually obtrusive, getting in the way of information I actually want to see. I move system chat to another tab and try to pretend it doesn't exist, but this isn't really practical to do with local.

Doesn't help that they changed the chat box around so less text fits in it.
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
Morbad said:
Sometimes it's actually obtrusive, getting in the way of information I actually want to see. I move system chat to another tab and try to pretend it doesn't exist, but this isn't really practical to do with local.

Doesn't help that they changed the chat box around so less text fits in it.
Click to expand...

Yes I always have system tabbed-out, I get annoyed by the disgusting language you often see in there. - Previously you could hide local too but now we have to hear how that liner is in the top 1% whether we want to or not. :mad: I'd much rather get back to just seeing direct messages again.
 

dreyone

D
Thanks for the suggestion about the system chat tab. This might partially address the problem but I still like to use system chat to chat with other players, and it's difficult for me to do this now without getting lots of abusive chat messages from this player and his small group of friends.

I have been using the internet for about 30 years and am pretty used to the typical sort of flaming and trolling that happens in online communities, but I've never encountered the degree of salt and toxicity I have encountered from this particular group in any other game or online community in the decades I've been online.

Normally this sort of behavior in other communities is triggered by actual provocation, but in this case it happens for no reason at all. It occurs even if I type a friendly two character message like "ty" in system chat directed at a different player. I basically can't communicate with other players in high traffic systems in system chat at all without triggering a massive tirade from this group.

What bothers me most is not their toxic comments towards me (since those don't actually harm me in any way), but the harmful rumors they spread about me to other players in the game, and the impact that it has on my gameplay (such as them suggesting new players to block me, which breaks instancing for me and is already bad enough with the game's buggy netcode). The amount of hateful and abusive messages that they scroll in the chat also makes it difficult to follow conversations with other players. The chat window scrolls so fast from their messages that I miss messages from other players in the chaos.

I wonder if perhaps it would be worth coding a quick plugin that acts as a chat overlay covering the in-game comms panel, but with filters to filter out chat messages from toxic players. Not sure if that's actually possible with the API the game exposes, however. I guess that's something I'll have to look into if this stuff continues and Fdev does not take action against these players (which I suspect they won't, given their track record concerning handling abuse/TOS violations in the game)
 
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Tyres O'Flaherty

Tyres O'Flaherty
Hope you're keeping screenshots of the abusive text.

If it were me - and this is just my opinion and what I would do - if flip them a mental bird, block them and switch to solo or player group mode.
 

Esteban

E
I definitely would suggest that you simply block this single- or small group of- players. You don't need to put up with abusive stuff that detracts from your enjoyment of this game. Your game time is there to enjoy, not necessarily to make that kind of sacrifice.
If you then find actual evidence that your action has caused a situation that you don't approve - due to some sort of instancing problem or other - this is a wholly reversible step. Who knows, after a while of being blocked, perhaps they won't notice (or won't resume their behavior) if you unblock them.

If they're truly abusive, I would also consider reporting them. What they do in other games isn't FDev's concern, but in this one, FDev may issue a warning. This could potentially head off your concern that they may simply inflict their bad behavior on someone else (a valid and conscientious concern) if you were to block them.
My opinions. #1: Enjoy the game.

Happy travels, CMDRs.
 

dreyone

D
Thanks for the suggestions but I just don't want to break instancing for myself by blocking them. Blocking them would prevent me from doing combat with them, or instancing with anyone else that is in their instance.

Also, I may be wrong about this, but my understanding is that blocking them still won't prevent them from sending me messages in system chat, or seeing my messages.

I've been reading some documentation on the game's API and apparently it may be possible to implement my own custom chat overlay using the player journal, so I may end up just having to code my own chat widget for the game with an option to ignore certain players so I can use system chat without seeing their text.

I really wish Fdev would implement this into the game itself instead of forcing people to code their own chat block feature, though.
 

dreyone

D
Yeah I have the journal files containing all their abusive messages. I also have a few screenshots from them in-game. Fdev should have access to all this data regardless, though (I think)
 
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