Funny story:

So I was busy doing my GM thing when Meskurra sends me a PM asking if klingons are supposed to be able to go onto a fed ship. As long as I have been playing STO going on bridges has been cross faction, so I said yes. Meskurra then asked me to teleport to them to check something out.

I GM-magiked myself over and saw the "bridge of death." Turns out that players had been sending in stuck tickets because they could not get out, which was how we became aware of the problem. Meskurra was there teleporting everyone out who asked.

At first I was in awe because that was the type of pvp I have been wanting in STO, then I was not happy because of all the extra work it was giving us.

To get on the bridge you have to be specifically invited. If you accept an invite then you are consenting to what happens. So joining a cross faction bridge for pvp is not considered being griefed.

Then I hear talk about not being able to leave the bridge. If people were trapped on a cross faction bridge than I was going to have a HUGE problem. To the tune of removing everyone involved from the game. I did some investigation and found that if you stood by the door you could leave, even if you were in combat.

At that point I was ok with everything. Maybe I got there too late, or I left too early but once I asked for them to stop blocking the exit they did. I sat there invisible for quite a while and waited for them to block the exit again so I could action them (If I am expected to sit and baby sit for that long I better be able to ban someone) but they did not. Everyone in the zone who asked was teleported outside.

Now the best part about this story is that during the shenanigans a dev came over to ask me some questions. I showed him what was going on and told him how badly I wanted it to be real. His response was, and I quote:


Quote:
O.o!!!

Then he continued to explain to me how cross faction bridges were a bug that was fixed forever ago. Apparently the bug some how snuck back on but was never looked at again because it had been fixed.

Long story short cross faction bridges are a bug and will be fixed in the future. The only act of griefing in this bridge situation was blocking the exit, which stopped when asked.

PS: I'm hurt that you would show a quote of mine with a typo. I thought we were pals

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyronea
Firstly, thank you for a long and detailed response on this issue, and although I am not entirely satisfied by your answer I do appreciate it being given.

If I may ask, what does the self-destructing in Earth orbit qualify as, out of curiosity? Does it constitute some sort of griefing or interfering in other's play, or does it simply qualify as annoying yet still within the rules?

Now I know my name is yellow, which is going to have my words shine like truth, but this is going to be my opinion on how I look at things while on duty.

I consider griefing to be harassment that a player can not escape from in game. Logging off doesn't count because that is you escaping out of game.

With our one server system we have build into the game one of the greatest tools ever to grace an MMO: the "change instance" button.

"Change instance" will get you around 90% of the bugs in STO. Including all the griefing.

Someone is blocking a room on earth spacedock with cover shield? Change instance and you are free to move. People are blowing themselves up on sol space? Change instance and it is clear skys.

This does not mean that we want cover shield to be able to block social areas, or that we like having the ability to blow yourself up and hurt your fellow faction. It is our job to make sure stuff like that can not happen in our game, they are issues we need to fix.

What this means is that players can avoid these behaviors. If it is not a situation where you are trapped you should submit a ticket, change instance, and go on your way. Or change instance, submit a ticket, and go on your way, depending on how you feel.

You should always submit a ticket for these types of behaviors so we can research the situations accordingly. Tickets are the fastest way you can help inform us of bugs that hinder the enjoyment of players.

Considering that the exploding ships can so easily be avoided I would consider it more along the lines of exploitation of game mechanics then griefing, and action according to that.

You are right BUT somewhere in the forum I saw a list of abilities which put you into combat, ramming speed for example..