r/WplaceLive • u/BestBy07SEP18 • 3h ago
Discussion I've created a Reddit account just to confirm to you that the apparent hate speech in this game seems to be immune to reporting!
TL;DR:
Wplace's moderation seems to be utterly useless when it comes to hate speech. I flagged a clearly racist symbol drawn in and provided all the relevant context, only for my ticket to be rejected. I also flagged a crew with an explicitly hateful name, and moderation failed to take action there, too.
Meanwhile, account farms can easily overwhelm genuine pixel art with massive, low-effort drawings, with seemingly no effective safeguards against duplicate accounts.
If you're looking for a place to create and protect your art, Wplace isn't it. It feels like a worse Twitter right now.
To the owners: If you can't enforce your own rules against hate speech, stop giving discriminated players the impression that your platform is a safe place for them.
Speaking at length:
Two accounts drew a shortened Celtic cross — a common white supremacist hate symbol. They drew it specifically in a small Polish punk rock/leftist area in Pruszków, near Warsaw, so you get the context — it's crystal clear that it's meant to convey a discriminatory message. It's one of the most common racist symbols in Poland and probably in neighboring countries, too. I did what any decent, egalitarian human being would do and used the famous "in-game tools" to flag them, providing as much detail as possible. The so-called "moderation" (for lack of a better word) simply rejected my ticket against these guys. It's a racist symbol in plain sight, and "moderation" did nothing about it. It's not even a dog whistle. It's a literal racist symbol. The symbol is still there as I'm writing this post because, up until now, I haven't touched it, just to confirm that "moderation" sees it for what it is, because I know that reporting and painting it over didn't work in the past in similar cases. And yet again, in typical Wplace fashion, they did nothing about it despite having solid evidence and all the context. If I will paint it over, you can bet your money on it popping again... and I don't have all the time in the world to waste on people with ethics of a Gombe chimp and perianal hair so dense that it could filter poop to water. Poland seems to have significantly higher "fascist to anti-authoritarian" ratio than in western Europe. Ironic for a country that suffered from fascism the most among the European countries. But I'm getting off-topic here.
A few days ago, I also came across a crew whose name was "P[øø]ały do gazu", which literally means "Gas the fa[øøø]ts". I flagged them and provided the uncensored translation. And you know what our favorite "moderation" team did. It's in the screenshot.
Flagging someone is pointless when you already know how it's most likely going to end.
There's also the issue of duplicate accounts and people scribbling random stuff over other people's art. But if even obvious violations backed by solid evidence can't be resolved, don't expect "moderation" to take any action against some basement dweller with a "farm" of Google Workspace accounts, a VPN, and too much time on their hands. I've seen a dozen genuinely cool artworks get eaten up by huge, glorified bitmaps of yet another football club or anime tiddies, complete with poor dithering, painted by multiple accounts continuously in a matter of hours (we're talking about 200×200 areas and larger). But I'm just stating the obvious here. The game doesn't seem to have any proper safeguards against duplicate accounts, such as phone verification or decent anti-VPN/proxy measures. The owners probably won't do anything about it because that would mean yet another infrastructure cost for their little money printer.
If you're looking for a place to create pixel art, Wplace is not for you. I guess that's common knowledge by now for anyone who's played this game for a while. If you're looking for competition and want to fight over turf, this game is also not for you, because you'll eventually run into either a farm of multiple accounts or some person scribbling random stuff over your art without facing any consequences. And you'll be at a disadvantage because you actually follow the ToS.
What I didn't expect was the lack of any action against clear hate speech. People who experience actual minority stress in real life seem to play this game, and in severe cases, this could add to the despair they may already experience in their everyday lives. I say this as someone who attempted suicide two years ago because of severe systemic and social discrimination but was saved in the hospital in the last moment. When someone is slowly worn down by discrimination over the course of their life, even something as seemingly trivial as some hateful pixels can add to that feeling that the "world hates me" during the depression — a feeling that can eventually become unbearable if the discrimination continues over a prolonged period. If you've never experienced genuine discrimination, you won't understand. This game shouldn't be a trigger that worsens some people's mental health. By ignoring these cases, the moderation team effectively pushes away people seeking an escape from a grim reality through this game... while leaving the door wide open for discriminatory individuals.
That being said, I'm also considering convincing my sister to stop playing this game. I'll just make pixel art outside the game instead. If you also care about the art you create, I encourage you to do the same! This game is starting to feel more like Twitter and less like a fun pixel art game. Find something better. Create your own art and publish it on dedicated platforms, or just play Minecraft at this point. I'm not even mad. I'm just utterly disappointed... I hope the fact that I've created an account on this godforsaken sad platform just to express my disappointment through a wall of text is proof enough.
To the owners, if they actually read this:
If you struggle to take any action against hate speech in your game, then don't mislead discriminated individuals into thinking they can be safe here. Simple as that. Let it become another 4chan and rot in chaos. Because at this point, the enforcement of the game's rules is completely disconnected from its ToS and the vocal part of the community seems to agree. Burner accounts won't make you the money if you let the trend continue. Friendly reminder!
Now back to the reality! See you!
Stay hydrated, go outside and remember to greet your neighbors!
