CA Evangelos [developer] 20 hours ago
Steam Moderation Guidelines & Maintaining Healthy Discussion
Hello everyone! I need to take a moment to clarify some of the recent (and ongoing) actions being taken here on the Steam discussion boards.
Steam has long been a space where we’ve allowed people to create the space they want to talk and discuss the game. Unfortunately, over time, discussions have grown increasingly off-topic (i.e. less about the game itself, more focused on other games or the call for new games), unconstructive (critical without offering solutions, or solely aimed at creating arguments), focused on attacking or calling out specific individuals (CA Staff, influencers, or members of the community), rooted in speculation (rather than focusing on your experiences with the game), or otherwise violating the clear standards of discussion outlined by the Steam Posting Guidelines:
Criticism is AND WILL ALWAYS BE welcome—and we take an active role in helping to ensure that your voices and experiences are shared with our Development Teams at Creative Assembly to help inform where we commit our energy to bring improvements to the game.
However, focusing entirely on the criticism without offering constructive solutions, thoughtful commentary, or including others in the conversation doesn’t service the role of these forums. Likewise, masquerading abuse by hiding it within otherwise valid commentary about the game DOES NOT make the post valid. In these instances, you’ll see moderators from the CA team or Steam stepping in and taking action to help provide a constructive space for the majority of the audience—the people who are here with good intentions—by removing those who instead come here to be disruptive.
To help you all to understand more about how we moderate, in addition to the general Steam guidelines, there are several Total War-specific actions which will lead to moderation:
Clear attempts to derail constructive conversation. If you disagree with someone, come to the conversation with a position and directly relate it your own experiences with the game. Use those experience to help shape what you want to say. Always maintain empathy for the people you’re engaged with, particularly during passionate discussions. Butif you’re here to be disruptive and behave inappropriately to others, you will no longer be welcome in this community.
Responses aimed at undermining other players’ enjoyment of the game. You may dislike the game. You may post about problems with the game. You may even criticize the game (constructively). You may not criticize others for liking the game.
Doomsaying, calls for boycotts, or spreading misinformation. Our official channels are focused on building a better future for the game. Doomsaying, calling for boycotts, or starting arguments based on misinformation contributes nothing to our community, and will result in our moderation teams stepping in to remove the content or individuals from the forum.
Calls for new Total War titles. (Off-Topic posting.) This forum is to discuss WARHAMMER III. Comparisons to other games can be made as long as they are related to your commentary about WARHAMMER III.
If you’re keen to share more general thoughts about Total War and where you’d like to see us move towards in the future, then don’t be shy to share your thoughts over in our CA Community[community.creative-assembly.com], where it’s better suited.
Again: being angry or being critical in your posts is perfectly fine, but there’s a need for it to be done in a way that is respectful of other users of this forum, and which shows you want to be a part of this game and community as opposed to being an antagonist of it. The right to discuss is a privilege—it is not an entitlement you earn by playing the game—and in our official spaces, we will prioritize the ability of those who demonstrate that they can converse and disagree thoughtfully, constructively, and inclusively over those who aim to disrupt, derail, and diminish those contributions.
As a final note: arguing publicly about a warning or ban is not acceptable behavior and will be removed. If you feel a moderation action has been mis-issued, you can reach out to the Steam or SEGA Support[support.sega.com] teams depending on who issued the ban or warning.
