How To File A Proper Player Report
You may be surprised that there is a proper way to file a report, but the basic fact is - the more organized a report is, and the more information it contains, the better off we are on acting on it. Follow these three relatively simple steps to ensure your report contains all the information a DM could ever need.
Step One: Do You Really Need A Report?
The first thing you need to realize is this report is going to the DM team. Coming to us should be the
absolute final step in your dealings with this person. For some things this is easy: someone blatantly breaking a rule, someone trolling in town; but for some it is not. If you are having an argument with someone, or a rough time with a friend
do not report them right away. When a DM steps in on a report like that the most common option is to tell the two people to stop contacting each other
indefinitely. This means you're cutting off that person for good, no going back. So before you report someone be sure to ask yourself:
"Am I 100% sure I want this person to never speak to me again, or get in trouble/potentially be banned?"
One other thing to consider: A reported player usually is not banned straight out unless they're doing something -very- bad. Do not expect a player report to end in a banning, or even to ruin their day. If you are reporting a player out of spite just to get them in trouble, stop right there. You're reporting for the wrong reasons, and likely wasting our time. That can damage your reputation as much as the person you're trying to get at! (Think of it like the little boy that cried wolf - eventually your reports might not be taken seriously! Nobody wants that.)
Step Two: Proper Screenshots
Not chatlogs. Not screenshots of the web client. Not screenshots from skype. Screenshots of the game client open, with the full chat window displayed. One thing to note is, while skype conversations and web client stuff may seem important
we cannot do anything with it unless it is in game and on the server. This means if someone is harassing you on skype from the server we cannot stop them or punish them for it on sinfar - you are able to block and ignore people on your own on skype, and if someone is doing something to bother you there - block them. This also counts if you are -only- on the web client. Unless you are in game, being harassed, we cannot do anything. Sorry.
Screenshot examples:
Example 1:
This is a poor screenshot. Some of you may say: "But DM Corruption, why? You can see the harassing tell right there, Miuo is obviously being super mean to you!" - but there's two major problems:
1.) It's edited: Someone could have rearranged this screenshot to change how things look. Sometimes, unscrupulous people will do this to make themselves look better in a situation they might have brought upon themselves.
2.) It doesn't show the entire conversation. See above.
Example 2:
This screenshot is better. Notice it shows the entire chat log, - however, it is still poor. While in this instance the conversation is relatively easy to follow, in longer cases it may become difficult to follow what progressed in the incident. The best option is down below.
Example 3: The Good Example
Image 1:
Image 2:
Notice now both images are labeled as to which is the first and which is the second - and both images are of the FULL WINDOW. Accomplishing this is rather easy and free.
HOW TO UPLOAD IMAGES EASILY:
Step 1: Download GIMP -
http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
Gimp is a free to use image manipulation program. Think of it as Microsoft Paint's big brother. It has no ad-ware, no weird stuff, just straight up gimp, and it won't do anything bad to your pc. (Those of you on macs or linux have to find your own stuff, running weird backwater operating systems like you do =P)
Step 2: Open GIMP and Open your IMAGE and take the screenshot.
Navigate to your nwn install folder. In there is a folder called "screenshots". Go back in game, and press the PrtScn button on your keyboard. This will take a screenshot and a file will appear in your screenshots folder likely called something like "sinfar_welcome_0000.tga" this is your screenshot. Drag that file right onto GIMP's open page and it'll open up just fine. That or use File -> Open in GIMP to navigate to the folder and open the image that way.
Either way once you have the file open you have two options:
The most common option is to click file -> Export As, and save the image as a viewable picture. .JPG is the most common here.
Just click the little + next to "Select File Type" to open that bottom window up, and click on JPEG image. After that, just hit the blue circled export button and it will save the file as a .jpg which anyone can view.
Then just upload that .jpg file to any image host of your choice and link it in your report.
The easier method:
Open the image in GIMP. Hit Ctrl + A to select the entire image, then Ctrl + C to copy it. Open up imgur.com in your web browser, and then on the main page hit ctrl + v, then upload it. Link the image from there. This is the method I use.
Step 3: Have all of your information be clear and concise:
The final step is to make sure all the information you provide to the team tells a clear story of what went on from start to finish. If your story jumps around a lot make sure the entire thing is labeled clearly on time frame - so we know what happened, and when it happened. Make sure all of your information is as detailed as you can possibly make it, the more info you have, the better we can help you.
