[AGRIP-discuss] Important - Competition Guidelines and Privacy

[Matthew T. Atkinson]

'ello,

I am writing on a couple of important issues.

Issue 1: I have noticed some swearing going on during multiplayer games.
Quake is a 15 and therefore anyone who's playing is mature enough to
handle this (within reason!)  I would like to suggest, however, that
people suffix any swearing that is meant only in a friendly competitive
way with a smiley so that the recipient knows it was only meant that
way.

I'm not tyring to lay down the law; I just wanted to bring this up
because although both Sebby and I consider ourselves quite liberal, we
need to ensure that players are not going to feel threatened.  We
appreciate that for many people swearing in jest is all part of the
game-playing experience and don't want to curtail that (again, within
reason!)  We do want to ensure that everyone (especially our younger
players) won't feel uneasy about playing online, so ask that you bear in
mind what you say.

That's enough about that; my experience of this group so far is positive
and I don't want to lecture anyone.  I will say that if anyone has any
reason to feel unhappy about their online experience at the hands of
other players, PLEASE, PLEASE contact us at mail at agrip.org.uk and we'll
do our very best to sort it out.  Pretty much the only thing we won't
condone is downright nasty behaviour to other players.  I anticipate
this situation won't arise, but the above has to be said.

Issue 2: Your privacy.  In the UK we have a law called the Data
Protection Act (1998) which requires that if we store information that
could be used to identify people we have to go through a lot of steps to
ensure that this information is used lawfully and fairly.

In the case of AQ (the stats system), we DO NOT store anything like
enough data to identify any of you.  All we store is your player name
and any associated frag data (so that you can see your efficiency,
previous kills, who likes to nuke you and so on via our web site).  This
means that (a) we're not subject to the DPA and (b) that's not a problem
because there is no way anyone could trace our data back to you if they
broke into our server.

So, the summary is that it's all good -- I just wanted to let you know
that this was the case, so that any potential concerns you may have
could be allayed.

Please DO NOT disclose your player names on this list -- it is archived
and therefore would be subject to the DPA if you did.  I would have to
spend a lot of time removing mails that contained player names if you
did and I am very busy so please don't :-).

In the future, the stats system will need to be improved so that we can
stop people impersonating players they aren't.  This may need the
storage of a password (almost certain) but I can't see any reason yet to
need any more information.  We will let you know and ask your permission
if this changes, but I hope it won't.

OK, that's it, boring bit over :-).  If anyone has any queries please
post on or off list.  Seriously, we want everyone to be able to enjoy
this.  I don't like posting about negative things but felt it was time
we ought to clarify things to ensure everyone's happiness and maximum
enjoyment.

best regards,


-- 
Matthew T. Atkinson <matthew at agrip.org.uk>