Safety Features in VTT

I looked around and couldn’t see this discussed previously, but do we know if there are any plans to implement safety features into the DNDBeyond VTT?

By safety features I mean x card or veils and lines type safety tools for dm’s and players. I’m trying to move my campaign over to DND Beyond from another VTT and this would make the transition easier. 

I doubt it, mainly due to how varied such safety tools are and how equally varied their implementations can be

I think this would be a very good idea. I don't have access to all the 5.5e materials, but I do so in the Basic Rules that there is the "Game Expectations" form, as well as some guidance on how to handle when a topic comes up in game.

Limits in Play. Since D&D is improvisational, the game can go in unexpected directions. It’s helpful to have an agreed-on signal that players can use to communicate that a limit has been violated, allowing you to adjust quickly. That signal might be a gesture (such as crossing the arms in an X or raising a palm in a “stop” gesture), a code word or phrase, touching or lifting a designated object, or anything else your group agrees on. Players should also feel safe to say “stop” and pause the game until the issue is resolved. 

I think it would be beneficial for maybe a few simple tools to be available to address this. As Davyd said, there are many different ways to handle these types of things at various tables, but I don't think it would be bad for there to be a "base level" functionality within D&D Beyond.

Firstly, the Game Expectations form could be something that players fill out on D&D Beyond when they join a game. This information can be kept in the "Campaigns" portion of D&D Beyond, and would function as an extension of the DM's Private Notes (because I'm guessing people might want their personal limits not to be shared with other players). This way the DM would have easy access to the information. Perhaps there could even be a summary or bulleted list on the DM's page in the Campaign manager to see all of the Sensitive Elements in one place, and all of the Hopes and Dreams in another list, etc.

Secondly, they could add a "Stop" or "Pause" button to the VTT that players can press that would flash a large red X on the DM's screen if a sensitive topic came up. I know a lot of groups will use Discord or other things for communication while playing so potentially they could just message the DM, but this might be a good option just to have. This could also be useful even for in-person groups if people are also using computers with VTT for maps and such, as they could hit the "Stop" or "Pause" button and the DM would see it, while still being discrete to the other players.

Given the availability of instant and private communication via discord, phones, and more this seems like a large amount of work just to do something everyone can already do but in a slightly different way. If you're in person, then you have physical gestures and cards, and can also still use your phone to text the DM discreetly. 

Literally everything you could possibly want to use it for, you can already do right now very easily, very conveniently and very privately/discreetly if needed. What is the benefit for the already overworked devs implementing this? You're talking months of dedicated work, minimum, for something you can already do.

Well, hell, we can 'already do' D&D without a VTT at all. If the DM is using the VTT, the quickest way to alert them someone needs a pause is to have an alert in that program, not hoping they'll interrupt their elaborate (accidentally too graphic) description to go see what that discord notification was about.

Quote from Cyb3rM1nd >>

Given the availability of instant and private communication via discord, phones, and more this seems like a large amount of work just to do something everyone can already do but in a slightly different way. If you're in person, then you have physical gestures and cards, and can also still use your phone to text the DM discreetly. 

Literally everything you could possibly want to use it for, you can already do right now very easily, very conveniently and very privately/discreetly if needed. What is the benefit for the already overworked devs implementing this? You're talking months of dedicated work, minimum, for something you can already do.

 This is an interesting take. No one is saying "force the devs to work through the night! No weekends or holidays until the safety tools are complete!"

It's simply a request. Technically everything on D&D beyond is "extra" and "unnecessary" for playing D&D. Want to make a character? We already have paper and pencil. Want to post on the forums? There's already Reddit. Want to use a VTT? There's already Roll20. Want to keep DM and Player notes? There's already Google Docs. Want to keep track of equipment? There's already Google Sheets. Want content? They already print books. Why add condition markers to the VTT? We can already write on the top of a piece of paper "Poisoned" or "Paralyzed". By that metric, everything the devs do here is "overworking them" for no reason. We can already play D&D, we don't need anything else. Just... interesting.

I mean, people make requests here all the time, and even very popular ones don't get acted on. We never got the promised Sidekick creator using Tasha's Rules. Never got Dark Gifts added to character sheets. And these were not 3rd party creations.

It's not bad or wrong to request things from the devs just because they are working hard already. No one is forcing them to do anything. It's just a request people put it out there to see if it gains any traction or attention. It's not maliscious.

The fact that these things are included in the Basic Rules (like the Game Expectations form) I think signals that it would make sense to make it a useful digital tool. Something that would be helpful to DM's to be able to easily and quickly reference when making content without having to flip through several different sheets. The "X" button would be useful to quickly pause play without having to see a notification in a different window or something. Would it be perfect, or always the best option, or whatever? No, of course not, but we shouldn't let "perfect" be the enemy of "good".

I don't know if this is helpful, but I use Google Forms to do a lines and veils survey, based on the MCDM form. This works well for me.

The yellow and red cards might be relatively easy to implement and possibly very useful, especially if they can be whispered to the DM in some very apparent way. 

The practice I've seen, lacking that, is to call out a phrase in house rules that can indicate a problem, a safe word if you will.

Personally, I think that in this day and age where remote play and hybrid play is increasingly common, and the primary demographics using D&D Beyond are typically digital native -- it makes sense to at least consider Safety Tools.

Why it matters...
No one is suggesting that they need to be mandatory, but even the presence of such tools can encourage the playerbase to be conscientious and kind to each other. I suspect that most folks in the TTRPG community have heard horror stories about Players and DMs who take narratives down dark or unwanted narratives unexpectedly. Very often, this "nastiness" gets reported because of miscommunications about narrative expectations or insufficient tools for folks to respectfully step away from a situation they aren't personally comfortable with. But D&D Beyond can help communities be more resilient by making Safety Tools an option.

On a personal note, my experience has been that game tables (online and off) where safety was specifically called out (even for very dark themed games with edgy content) were more often respectful, positive experiences. Games where Safety was not called out were much more prone to player/DM harassment and harm.

So how to implement?
Safety tools don't have to be complicated, and there are many ways to implement these. Some examples of this can be seen in tools like AlchemyVTT.

The most basic way (from a software development standpoint) to tackle this may be for the Campaign page to have a special section called out where a DM can enter Safety warnings/info about the game. And to get this info in front of a player reliably, D&D Beyond could offer:

1. DM's an option to enable a Safety Tools/Info pop up whenever
   1. a player creates a new character
   2. joins a campaign with an existing character
   3. open the VTT maps
   4. the DM clicks a button to trigger the pop up on Character Sheets and/or Maps VTT views
2. Players an option to also dismiss the Safety Tools/Info pop up for a campaign until its content is changed

That's a low barrier way to get started. WotC could expand options from there, offering quick setup for DMs to add "X Cards", or other popular safety tool options that could function as Toasts on the Character Sheet and Maps VTT UIs, etc. But however they'd like to slice it, this would be a nice feature that could really encourage D&D games to be a positive, healthy social experience for everyone.