Muted Chat Helper Plugin

March 23, 2018

From macsforme: https://forums.bzflag.org/viewtopic.php?f=114&t=19911&p=175466#p175466

A new experimental plugin is being deployed to LeaguesUnited servers. This plugin arose from the predicament of players who are on the mute list and therefore unable to communicate with others to arrange matches or communicate with their team about match strategies during the game. This plugin will allow muted players to send certain pre-determined messages (including public messages, team messages, and private messages), which should mitigate some of the communication difficulties faced by players on the mute list. This concept is based on the "chat wheel" feature found in certain other games, that allows you to send quick pre-defined messages to help you and your team play better.

Upon joining game servers, the affected players will be greeted by an explanation of their muted status along with a list of available slash commands which they can use to send specific messages. The slash commands can be sent to the public, team, or private message channels, and will send the indicated message to that specific destination.

It should be noted that being placed on the mute list is a consequence which still results in the loss of general social chatting in the game. While this plugin is not intended to mitigate the deterrent effect of being on the mute list, we feel that it benefits the league to facilitate as many matches from these players as possible, along with critical team communication during the matches, despite their muted status.

It should also be noted that our existing rules regarding player harassment and match disturbance will be enforced, including the use (or spamming) of these slash commands to do so. Whereas this effort has involved a significant investment of time from multiple developers both inside and outside of the league in order to provide a benefit to muted players, any abuse of these commands will be considered an insult to these developers' goodwill, and in addition to the standard player penalties, may result in restrictions on the use of these commands, the removal of certain messages from availability, or the removal of the plugin entirely. Please be respectful of these new abilities.