Predatory Advances

So, as a new player, I am frankly astounded at the amount of predatory behavior I've seen - at least five people have tried to proposition my character. One person has followed my character around, giving her unwanted gifts over and over. One has repeatedly invited my character to an Inn. One has just sent repeated tells about how my character looks (I do not have a slutty desc). 

This is absolutely uncool. 

New players should not be subject to this sort of treatment. It's really unappealing and disgusting. Is there anything I can do to stifle this sort of behavior? 
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Comments

  • Horkval doesn't work, but simply saying no usually does.
  • It's an uncomfortable situation, and it rather mirrors RL sexual harassment - I'm new here. I don't want to make waves. I don't want to raise a fuss. Maybe I'm just imagining it. Issuing someone is so...harsh.  I don't want to be responsible for someone being banned. 
  • Qwyn said:
    It's an uncomfortable situation, and it rather mirrors RL sexual harassment - I'm new here. I don't want to make waves. I don't want to raise a fuss. Maybe I'm just imagining it. Issuing someone is so...harsh.  I don't want to be responsible for someone being banned. 
    That's why you warn them first, after that they are begging for it.
  • What's ok to issue, though? Like, if someone is sending vaguely-creepy tells or giving my character gifts, they aren't breaking any rules. If I issue, I'm the one over-reacting. 
  • Qwyn said:
    What's ok to issue, though? Like, if someone is sending vaguely-creepy tells or giving my character gifts, they aren't breaking any rules. If I issue, I'm the one over-reacting. 
    Anything they persist on doing after you've told them off sounds about right. I wouldn't worry about making waves or being fussy. Anything that makes you uncomfortable is simply not cool.
  • SkyeSkye The Duchess Bellatere
    edited January 2016
    These people are really disgusting. Personally I'd just totally name and shame. Especially if you've settled in with a city and House, your House superiors can be very helpful for this sort of thing as well. Your own city and housemates are best of course, but if you're looking to broaden your horizons you can also hit any older characters up too. Quite a lot of us ladies don't appreciate these Minia-stalking creeps.

    Acting like not a newbie helps too. If you're new to Achaea but not new to IRE, when you demonstrate a certain amount of quick competence at the game, some of these predators tend to leave you alone. At least that's how it feels sometimes. Hardly anyone ever hits on my alts even when they're walking around Minia. :expressionless:




  • Yall have hit one nail on the head - I'm new to Achaea, but not to IRE, so my honed MUDspidey senses tingle when weirdos get weird. That said, I still feel very uncomfortable issuing or shaming people for being...I dunno. Sexual? This is a really uncomfortable issue.
  • Aesi said:
    That's the point. No one should be able to make you feel like that. Ingame or out. No means no in Achaea too.
    Ideally yes but - and my edit maybe addresses this more from a woman's perspective - a lot of people don't respect no and also know how to manipulate and lay on guilt trips to try and make people feel like they shouldn't report or should continue interacting. So sometimes "just say no" works and sometimes it is more difficult than it sounds. 
  • Qwyn said:
    What's ok to issue, though? Like, if someone is sending vaguely-creepy tells or giving my character gifts, they aren't breaking any rules. If I issue, I'm the one over-reacting. 
    Pretty sure those count under sexual harassment as per HELP HARASSMENT. Reading that might help you learn about some of the tools at your disposal. Bringing it up with authority types may help too if you really feel uncomfortable handling it on your own.
  • SkyeSkye The Duchess Bellatere
    edited January 2016
    I'll be honest. I don't know if this happens in other IRE games but the sexalt and newbie predator thing in Achaea is practically an epidemic. You only need to go to the Minia Archway, or south of that, or to the brass lantern inn to encounter (allegedly) female characters with sexually suggestive descriptions and very little worn. They get male clientele but they also like pretending to be lesbians.

    There was a time when there were stories of these sorts of characters actually belonging to an actual organised prostitution ring in the game and would cater to these predators (who probably from then on assumed that anything out of Minia was fair game). It got so bad that at least one House would actually ban their novices from hanging around the Archway for fear of them being mistaken for hookers or moonlighting as one.

    Of course players are free to roleplay as slutty as they want, but when the bulk of these are hanging around newbie areas, I think it really affects the image that the game intends to convey. Especially for genuine new players who are barely settled in and one of their first interactions are with someone whose motto is "A satisfied customer is the best promotion." and it's not Sarapis. >_>

    There are actual adult MUDs for that sort of thing. :/ a place where one can feel free to add 'has a dong with the girth of a beer can' in their public description and not get banned. I just wish they'd take their shenanigans there.



  • I bet I know who this guy is...
    Give us -real- shop logs! Not another misinterpretation of features we ask for, turned into something that either doesn't help at all, or doesn't remotely resemble what we wanted to begin with.

    Thanks!

    Current position of some of the playerbase, instead of expressing a desire to fix problems:

    Vhaynna: "Honest question - if you don't like Achaea or the current admin, why do you even bother playing?"


  • I've always dealt with this by using broken English which works most of the time. On another character, I was trapped in a sub house with no visible exits, I just asked for a brazier and told everyone who it was and warned the city he was applying to.
  • I guess I'm a little late, but that type of behavior is completely unacceptable. If you've made it clear that you want nothing to do with said character, and that their attention makes you uncomfortable, then you should almost certainly name and shame, ignore, and issue. Ask'em, tell'em, make'em. If you've told this person," hey, I'm not comfortable with this, could you ease off?" or something similar, and they persist, they on't deserve second or third chances. Now, if you've coyly resisted him, etc., then it may be a little different, but you know whether or not you've done that, and it doesn't sound as if you have.

    Basically, there's no excuse for that type of behavior, and no one would ever consider it stirring stuff up or causing a fuss if you did everything in your power to protect yourself and prevent actual newbies from ever encountering that stuff.

This discussion has been closed.