How to Report in Games
Abuse of the report system will result in a warning or ban of your account.
There are basically 3 different forms you will see when you report in Gaia's Flash Games and environments, depending where you are reporting from. To better help you, we've created a small tutorial.
Games
Jigsaw, Slots, Cards, and Fishing
Sometimes, when looking for a room, we find one that is not quite so ToS friendly. For the purposes of this how to section, let's pretend that the highlighted room below is a room that is in violation:
Simply click the room to highlight it as shown, and then click the REPORT ABUSE button at the bottom. The following will then show up:
Click Go, and that's that. Please remember to only report names that violate the Terms of Service though. If you get an 'undefined' name, click cancel and go back and re-highlight the name you wish to report, the room listing probably shifted a bit after you clicked it before clicking the report button.
However, room names aren't the only offensive thing in games, and are less often reported than the actual chat inside. Once inside a room, you will see everyone's avatars lined up along the puzzle line, slot machines, fishing docks, or card tables. These are clickable, and give you a few options if someone is disturbing you:
If the user is merely annoying you, you can use the ignore feature, which will prevent you from seeing anything they say while they remain in the room until you stop ignoring them. When you click the IGNORE USER section, a message stating
Now ignoring [Username]. will show up in your chat window. If you'd like to see the user speaking again, simply click their avatar once more to see this:
Click it, and a message stating
No longer ignoring [Username]. will show up in your chat, and you will once again be able to see what the user is typing in game.
However, sometimes users are actually doing something that violates the Terms of Service. In that case, you would select the REPORT ABUSE option. Pay attention to the name in the little box though, you want to make sure you are reporting the right person. When you select REPORT ABUSE, you will see the following (In varying forms depending on the game):
Please read this carefully and follow what it says. You really can get in trouble for reporting when there is really no reason to be reporting. Click okay to go to the report "form" :
Here you see the name of the offender, a reason drop down box, and a Notes section. First select a reason. Is the person flaming? Select strong language. Is the user talking in a sexually explicit way? Select Mature Content. Are they asking for your password? Select Account/Password Scam. Are they hacking the game? Select Cheating. Something else? That's what Other is for. Once you've made your selection, you can do the following:
As the picture says, a little explanation can go there. No need to copy the chat log, that is sent with the report. Click go, and you will get a report number. It would be a good idea to keep this in case you ever need to contact a mod regarding the report.
Pinball
The Pinball game, being newer, has a different style to it, so it deserves it's own section. First thing you might note upon entering the game and testing this out is that you cannot click on the users' avatars. Instead you have a section for Report and Ignore near the chat window:
As before, if a user isn't actually breaking ToS, but you really don't want to hear what they have to say, or they're lagging your game with talking, you can choose ignore:
Simply select the name of the user you wish to ignore and click IGNORE. However, be forewarned:
You currently cannot stop ignore a user in pinball. To be able to see what they are saying, either you or them will have to leave and re-enter the game room.
If they are violating ToS though, you can click the REPORT ABUSE button:
Pretty much the same as other games here, just with a new look. Again, note that you will have to select the user you wish to report from the drop down menu.
Flash Environments
Towns, Rally, Hollywood, and Sponsored Worlds
All of these are what we call Flash Environments. These areas require Flash Player, just like the games, but unlike the games, they do not have a specific purpose. They are more of a giant, scenic hangout place. However, no matter where you are hanging out, reporting is typically the same. You have two options when in Flash Environments to report:
The first shows how you report a user by clicking on them. This can be tricky in Flash Environments though, because people don't stay still very long. In that case, you can always use the report button, the second image shown. This is located at the bottom of your window, just to the right of the chat box. The only difference between these methods is that the first one fills in a name for you in the report box. But wait, not so fast, there's something you need to see before you fill in the report:
As before, it's a warning to reporters. Please ONLY use the form for things that break the rules. Here there are examples of what each violation in the list is. If what you are reporting falls in one of those categories, or is sexually explicit, click CONTINUE and you will see this:
The picture is fairly self explanatory. Select a reason (It won't let you report without one), fill in the offender's name if you clicked the button at the bottom of your screen, and fill in any notes you might need. As the window says, a log of the chat will be sent, so you don't need to copy the chat into the Notes box.
And that is that. Not very hard, just please make sure to only report when someone is breaking the rules
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