Let's pretend you're in a position of power (A GM maybe?) in your favourite MMO.... be it Star Trek, WoW, City of Heroes, Conan or whatever; and you receive a ticket/help request from a player saying something along the lines of:

Quote:

A player named Bob from the guild "Bobs Playas" called me a newb because my shield broke half-way through the dungeon! Please ban him! Thanks, Jimbo

What is your response to this player and why?

Baring in mind that most MMO's these days would require a certain degree of anonymity (you can't approach Bob and tell him of Jim'bos claims because that would escalate the situation) and tact.

I look forward to your replies... both the serious and the less-so.

Both are rather childish in my eyes.
In-game language and behaviour are not always, but very often, hard because of the granted anonymity. And banning some because that would just be over the top.
I cant stand real ninja'ing but smack talk is a part of my daily dose of mmo.
My answer would be to that guy to learn a lesson and repair before hand so these things dont happen again.
The name calling isn't nice either but nothing to ban over. Hopefully he/she will remember to have 100% gear next time.. Because it is in fact stupid to let a shield break in the middle of a fight just because "I forgot" especially if its a tank business.
"Newb" might just have been a kind of "power word" in the heat of battle.. Nothing more to it.

My 2c.

I think you missed the issue a little bit.

See it as, <Moaner> is being insulted by <Flamer> for <Stupid Reason X>.

I'm wondering how GM's and their counter-parts cope (discipline) with such behavior/acts/etc.

(The issue of the shield and what-not was simply to put a direct example infront of you.)

Obviously the GM's can't just turn around and say "You're both idiots, shut the hell up and move on."... I'm wondering what they can say and why.

DY357LX said:

Obviously the GM's can't just turn around and say "You're both idiots, shut the hell up and move on."... I'm wondering what they can say and why.

Why not?

In all seriousness, the very best that a GM could do is say "I'm sorry, but that's not a bannable offense".

I would say that, I wouldn't care more about some mouthing another..
How many times has Stump called another prick, asshole, dumbfuck etc etc.. Many other has the same way called ppl things for not doing their job online in a raid or like it.
I don't find it wrong to say both are in your words pricks.
The shield user though, shouldn't whine about it to the gm.. Its not like getting punched in the face, or harassed with sexual wording all the time..

I think Tal's answer is pretty close to what I'd do too.

(These situations are unavoidable. Play with other players and for the meantime use the games' /ignore function to block any further unwanted communications from abusive players.)

Raylene - They shouldn't moan about it GM's... I agree but they do and even worse.. they expect action to be taken.
(Which is why I created this topic, to see who takes what actions and why.)