Social Gaming Community Lays Down the Law
Posted by admin on 20th August , 2008
Cellufun, has five million members on its mobile games community and portal, so they have found a novel way of keeping everyone in check. How? I hear you ask. Well by establishing virtual law enforcement of course including, Judge, Jury and executioner.
The ‘lawmen’s’ job is to stem acts of virtual anti-social behaviour, bullying and inappropriate content on the community.
“When you’ve got a community as big as ours, there’s a need to uphold a mutually agreeable value system,” says Stephen Dacek, COO and State Governor of Cellufun. “With our new justice system, our community now has a self-ruling mechanism that can grow and evolve at its own pace.”
An advance code of conduct system is in place on the community. Users can flag up any questionable posts, blog entries or other user communication as inappropriate. If a particular user has a large set of allegations made against them, then they get ‘processed’ by the justice system.
Once they have enough negative reps, experienced players (or citizens) are chosen at random to sit on the Jury, presented with the evidence, and then they vote anonymously as guilty or otherwise. At the same time, the accused can attempt to defend their honour on their profile page.
If found guilty, punishment ranges from, a ban on posting blogs for a set number of days, to banned private messages. Essentially their account is frozen. But, they can still play the games on the site. Once sentenced, convicted players avatars are shown behind bars, and wearing prison clothes.
“The Courthouse and Jail add a new element to our virtual world,” adds Cary Torkelson, VP of research and newly appointed Mayer at Cellufun. “This system serves to engage the community on a whole new level. It serves a vital purpose in keeping Cellufun a fun, vibrant, and safe place to play games with friends.”
