Fair play: how to mute, report and block in NPL Cricket League

An online game is only fun if the people in it behave. We built the tools for that into NPL Cricket League from the start, and we put them where you can reach them in two taps. This guide shows what each tool does, what happens after you use it, and how the matches themselves are kept fair.

It describes the build we are testing now. Details can change before release; if they do, we'll update this page.

Three tools, two taps away

In a lobby, tap any player's name. A small menu opens. The safety options are:

• Mute. You stop seeing that player's chat. They are not told, and nothing else changes. You can unmute them the same way.
• Report. You tell our team that something is wrong. More on this below.
• Block. The strongest option. A blocked player cannot join your lobbies or send you invitations, and you cannot join theirs.

Use mute for someone who is merely annoying. Use block for someone you never want to play with again. Use report when a rule has been broken.

How to report a player

Tap the player's name, then Report. You are asked what happened:

• Abusive chat
• Cheating
• Offensive name
• Child safety
• Something else

You can add a short note with details; it is optional. Then tap Send report.

Three things are worth knowing:

1. The player is not told who reported them.
2. Their chat is hidden for you straight away, as if you had muted them.
3. A person on our team reads the report. Nothing is decided by a machine.

What we do with a report

Our team looks at the report together with what the game recorded about the lobby or match. If a rule in our community rules was broken, we act on the account. Depending on how serious it is, that can be:

• a suspension: the account cannot play online until a set date;
• a closure: the account is closed.

A player whose account is suspended or closed sees a screen that says so, with the reason and, for a suspension, the date it ends. If they think we got it wrong, that screen tells them how to write to us. Practice mode stays available to them.

We do not publish names, and we do not tell you the outcome of a report about someone else. That is to protect everyone's privacy, including yours.

Chat is limited on purpose

Most talking in the game is done with one-tap lines ("Nice shot", "Well bowled"), voice commands and emotes, which cannot be abusive. You can also type a short message of your own. Abusive words in typed messages are masked before anyone sees them, and there is a limit on how fast anyone can send messages.

Keeping the matches fair

Fair play is also about the cricket.

• The server decides every ball. Your phone sends what you did: where you aimed, when you tapped. Our server works out what happened and sends the same result to everyone. A modified app cannot change a score. We wrote about this in how the server decides every ball.
• The toss is flipped on the server, not on a phone.
• Unusual patterns are marked for review. To keep matches fair, we record when each action in an online match reaches our server and how quickly your connection responds. Our system marks patterns that look wrong so that a person on our team can look at them. Nothing is done automatically. The privacy policy says exactly what is kept and for how long.

Children's safety

Reports about the safety of a child are treated as the most urgent kind. Choose Child safety in the report menu, or write to us directly. Our child safety page explains what we do and how to reach us.

Your account, your choice

You are in control of your own account too. In Settings, Account you can change your username and email, and you can delete your account. Our delete account page explains what is removed and the few things we must keep.

The short version

• Annoying? Mute.
• Never again? Block.
• Broke the rules? Report, and a person will read it.

Thank you for helping us keep the game a good place to play.

NPL Cricket League is still in development. Pre-register and we'll tell you when you can play.

NPL Cricket League is a game by Lacspace inspired by Nepal's T20 franchise cricket. Team names identify the franchises; crests, kits and players in the game are our own, and players are fictional. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by the Cricket Association of Nepal, the Nepal Premier League or its franchises.