LauraM

They are when they're around me

Ok, thank you! Brownie points for an instant reply

...delete my forum profile completely? Anyone know?

Re. Macca's comment: Says the person who announced his departure and then couldn't bear to say goodbye... (From the girl who quit permanently, only to rejoin a few months later!) Oi Macca, why have you removed the "Missing LauraM" from your profile >.<

I don't believe that moderators are necessary or desirable. There needs to be the safety net of knowing that what goes on between players and the conversations they have are private and free from snooping. Options exist to deal with problems, such as blocking players or reporting problems to the developers. That said, the developers do need to enforce the rules more tightly that everyone agrees to abide by when signing up. For example, there are players who operate with the names of real people in the public domain - this technically breaks the rules - not to mention players who use offensive names. While these are few and far between, they do exist - the player who has a name associated with rape for example, who also goes round telling others he will rape them - this is unacceptable in every respect and should be dealt with. But enforcing the rules and having constant observation by mods are two different things.

Yeah unfortunately the MASSIVE tits gives it away Macca

Unfortunately from previous experience I know all too well that *some* male players have created females for their own selfish purposes and have abused the trust of other gamers, including getting into full-blown online relationships and have drained their female 'partners' emotionally in the process. I know of at least three separate occasions where this has happened. Maybe for some the motivation is to be treated differently as I have no doubt that genuine female players are interacted with in an entirely different way to male players - at least, this is my assumption based on how people behave in real life, and I can't see 3dx being any different as its simply just a microcosm of RL society and human behaviour tends to be the same in many ways whether it is real or in-game. That said, I disagree entirely with the other threads where players have attempted to 'out' guys playing as girls, where this is purely speculation and suspicion. Mercifully, it is becoming increasingly easy to spot the fakes on 3dx. The warning signs are often the same.

Doors and windows locked, curtains closed, sniper despatched to adjacent apartment block.

Macca Macca Macca Macca Macca. Does that count as 5 votes?

PLEASE come back!!! I miss you!!! No one to keep me in check anymore!! Well you know I can't before the end of August at the earliest...

Well I've been following this debate for a while now and the various opinions. What is clear is that no solution will please everyone but that is just like real life stuff, like what's on TV or who runs the country. On reflection I do have one very simple solution: those who can fight off the trolls, who can be totally un-bothered by them, who can see through a liar and a cheat when faced with one - these people remain on 3dx. Those, like me, who find it harder, either grow a thicker lining and play on or simply leave. That way all those players who play fairly - of whom there are many - aren't disadvantaged by the behaviour of a few. And the more I think about it, the more logical a solution that seems. For now, I'll sit on the fence and wonder whether to return to 3dx in time... I have to say, being away from the game is absolutely a breath of fresh air - I hadn't appreciated how totally addictive it is. And when I think I can balance real life and play more fairly, I may return. <<HUGS Macca >>>

Snow is great until next door's dog pisses in it :/

SageStoner - no you are not the person I speak of, I will agree to make that clear! Report? What for? The current system of multiple avatars is a licence for freaks and weirdos to piss people around. While the facility exists, such behaviour is, by default, made acceptable by the devs. As others have said, the 'Ignore' button is seen as the all-encompassing solution to the problem. However, we don't tend to use the ignore button against people who we know and trust - at least, not when we don't realise that such people are not who they say they are. People can be utterly convincing as I have discovered to my cost. To those who argue the current system of multiple avatars is fair, how many of you have walked in my shoes? When you've been treated like I have, made to feel and look like a fool, forced to question and doubt everyone's good intentions and cornered to a point where you have to leave the game, then - only then - turn round and tell me that multiple avatars is a good thing.

Haven't read all of this thread, just the last couple of responses in particular. I guess when I joined 3dx I was aware of the problem of a limited number of sad, malicious thoughtless individuals using multiple or fake avatars to treat other players with disrespect and to deliberately cause upset, as a close friend of mine suffered this way last year. Being of sound judgement - or so I thought - I reckoned I'd suss these people out and not fall foul of their heartless tricks. So it was a bit of a shock to discover that one of my closest friends here had not only been playing as a girl when in real life (s)he is nothing of the sort but also persisted with some sort of charade by playing as a guy as well, thus making the deception twice as bad. In other words, my two close friends, one male one female, were in fact one person who happened to be a man. Despite claiming to know the error of his ways, and still trying to claim to have had some sort of road to Damascus moment, he remains an active player today. His posting about this can be found not too far up this page. What really gets me is the legacy this leaves. I have been cornered into leaving the game, causing genuine sadness to my friends here, because since the deception I found that I couldn't trust any new players. If someone approached me, I immediately began to question their motives. Several unknown players tried to make convo with me and I immediately questioned to myself if they had ulterior motives. So I quit. The offender, meanwhile, continues to play as if nothing has happened. A bit of honesty, a vacant apology here or there, a proclamation of intense inner turmoil that he upset other people through his actions - but 3dx goes on for him. The victims - and I was not the only one - leave. The offender continues to enjoy the benefits of 3dx. This hardly seems fair. What is the solution? A strictly one avatar account, as with 3dchat. It won't stop this deception completely but it will go a little way to remedying the problem. Neither will it stop those who choose to run two accounts. But it's a start. Strength in numbers is also important. Running multiple avatars for the purpose of abusing the trust of other players should be made morally unacceptable and those should be shunned by the community until they realise that their continued presence on 3dx is neither fair nor wanted.

Slap