Harrassment and bullying on Howrse

Here at Ultimate Howrse, LucyLou and I enjoy helping players, giving advice and news as well as seeing all the chat and help our readers share in the Comments sections. Generally, everyone is polite and friendly but sometimes we receive comments that are rude, offensive or unkind. Fortunately, all comments that are sent to Ultimate Howrse have to be approved by us before they are published. Now we are pretty easy-going here, but occasionally if a comment is too nasty or impolite then we simply delete it.

And this brings me on to Howrse. We were asked by a player to write about bullying and harrassment in the game, and how to deal with it. The player concerned had themselves, been subject to harrassment whilst playing Howrse and so wanted to help other people who had similar experiences.

So here is our advice for dealing with bullies on Howrse:

• 99% of the time, people who send you offensive or threatening emails do not know you in 'real' life. You are just a name on an online game. They know nothing about you - where you live, how old you are or even if you own a horse or not. So these emails/messages are often sent to loads of people in order to get a response. It's often just attention-seeking. They don't know you! So always ensure you do not provide any personal information on your Profile. If you do, that's your choice, but it's safer to keep your private life, well, private.

• When you receive a nasty email, Howrse has two brilliant ways of dealing with it. Firstly you can simply report the sender. I've done it loads of times - but ONLY if the email breaks the rules set down by Howrse of course. This is what it says on your Private Mail page: "Never use personal messages to send advertisement or spam. If you encounter an abuse please report it by using the link Report an abuse located at the bottom of each message." And believe me, Howrse DO take action against players. They will (and do) dock the karma of offending players. Very satisfying to see! The second thing you can do is to block the offending player from sending you any more emails. Next to each email you get is a simple link, underneath the Report an Abuse link which allows you to block the player - for ever, if you like. 

• Now players are also harrassed in their forums. The forums don't have the same 'report' and 'block' features that you find in Private Mail, so what should you do if someone is leaving nasty messages? Well you can report them to a Moderator. I've done it before and the person had karma docked. Players who post offensive things in your EC forum are rather stupid because other players can see what they're writing. You simply need to ignore it - let them keep writing their silly, attention-seeking messages, and inform a Moderator.

• Myself and LucyLou are adult players, so have seen plenty of times when people have tried to bully or intimidate someone. It is important to remember, that, unless you actually know these people in real life - there is NOTHING they can do to you. To be honest, much of this sort of thing (not all of course) comes from younger players who are just behaving immaturely. I ignore most of the stupid or offensive rubbish that arrives in my Inbox on Howrse. But as soon as something becomes unacceptable, I just hit that Report an Abuse link, and get on with playing the game. I never get into a discussion - that's what these immature people want. Ignore and report is my advice. 

• But what if, on those rare, rare occasions, you DO know this person in real life? Well, again, because they are not especially clever, you already have something to help you - their bullying, harrassment is right there, in writing. Whenever someone emails you or posts in your forum, they are leaving evidence. Proof of what they have said. So, if you know this person in real life, tell your parents/guardians or someone you trust. Show them what's been said and let them help you sort it out.

• Bullying and harassment from an unkown person is often scary because you imagine all sorts of things about who they are and what they are going to do. In reality, they are probably a girl or a  boy who is actually rather insecure and can only make themselves feel better by sending nasty emails to a heap of people, just hoping to get a reaction. If they get a reaction it makes them feel like they have acheived something. So ignoring them is a simple and brilliant way to deal with them. They CAN'T do anything to you. They just need to grow up and realise that they will get so much more out of life when are nice and kind and respectful of other people. Just like here on Ultimate Howrse!

• Finally, if you find that you are still worried, scared or upset by things that people may be saying to you on Howrse, please tell someone, such as your parents. It's always better to share your concerns because it makes eveything seem so much better. Remember, Howrse is just a GAME and you have every right to play the game however you want - as long as you play by the rules and treat others how you want to be treated.

I hope this helps any of you who have had problems whilst playing the game. Now as this a sensitive subject, we ask that you don't send comments for publication as we won't be publishing them. This is only because this article was written to give some help to those who need it. It is not really a Howrse-related subject but we felt it was an important issue that LucyLou and I wanted to address.

So play Howrse, enjoy the game and HAVE FUN!

Patsy