Blizzard, looking to reduce the inappropriate behavior of players in the open world MMORPG World of Warcraft, will soon roll out a new silence penalty to offensive gamers.
The silence penalty will serve as a punishment to gamers who use abusive language in the game's chat functions, with players being the subject of multiple reports falling under the Abusive Chat or Spam categories to undergo investigation.
If the reports on the gamer's abusive chat practices turn out to be authentic, the player will receive a silence penalty on his or her account. The silence penalty does not completely prevent the player from talking to other users on World of Warcraft though.
As detailed in a blog post by Blizzard announcing the punishment, the main targets for a silence penalty would be on the general chats. Silenced players will not be allowed to participate in instant chats for party, raids and battlegrounds, and they will also not be able to join global chat channels such as General and Trade.
In addition, silenced players will not be allowed to create events and send out invites, with in-game mail and War Game party invitations also blocked off. The user will also not be able to update premade Group Listing or form a new list for a premade Group.
Lastly, silenced players will not be able to engage in a duel with someone unless it is the other player that initiates it.
That is a lot of limitations placed on interactions with other World of Warcraft players, but silenced players will still be able to access certain means of interaction such as whispering and replying to the whispers of their friends. They may participate in chats of raids or parties that they create or join, and as long as there is a moderator at hand, they may also chat on global channels. Silenced players will also be able to sign up for pre-made groups and share quests.
A player who has been punished with the silence penalty will be under the limitation for 24 hours. If they repeat the offense, the length of time will double to 48 hours, with the doubling of the length of time continuing for each succeeding offense. After just five offenses, the silence penalty will last for 384 hours, which is 16 days.
The silence penalty will be rolled out as part of a pre-expansion patch in preparation for World of Warcraft: Legion, which will launch on Aug. 30.
