Overhaul of the Fair Ban System

[Miyoko]

''Our ban system has transitioned from a permanent ban system to an automated timed ban system where the ban length and rule number will be listed in the ban reason. These bans will automatically expire at the time given in the ban reason, for that reason we will not be accepting ban appeals for any timed ban. You should be aware however that some rules still carry permanent bans and these are listed below in bold.The length of your ban are the following:1st Ban - 24 hour ban
2nd Ban - 48 hour ban
3rd Ban - 1 Week Ban
4th Ban - Permanent Ban (Requires Appeal)
This will reset every six months from your last ban to give players a clean slate for continued good behaviour, it should be recognised however that staff may use their discretion to determine if players are using this system to their advantage to facilitate their breaking of rules. Repeated offences of the same rulebreak will escalate up the scale faster. If you receive a 24 hour ban for RDM (A1.2 & G1.2), get unbanned and RDM a second time within 6 months you will move to a 1 week ban.''

I personally think this system is flawed.

1. The escalation to a permanent is way too early

It can be more like

• 1st Ban: 24 hours
• 2nd Ban: 48 hours
• 3rd Ban: 1 week
• 4th Ban: 1 month (instead of permanent)
• 5th Ban: Permanent ban

2. While the system escalates based on repeated offenses, some offenses are more severe than others. For example, if a player accidentally breaks a minor rule like spamming or minor trolling, it might trigger an escalation to a 1-week ban. However, if the same player breaks a more serious rule like RDM (Random Deathmatch), the escalation may be justified, but the system which is put in place doesn’t differentiate between minor infractions and major ones.

3 Reset.

Instead of waiting six months, you could shorten the reset period to 3 months or even 2 months. This would give players a reasonable window to show improved behavior while still allowing them to "reset" their record periodically. But players have to be active more or less, not constantly offline but also maybe entering for a time once or twice a week.

• 1st Infraction (Month 1): 24 hours ban, record logged.
• 2nd Infraction (Month 2): 48 hours ban, record logged.
• Clean Slate (Month 2-3): If no infractions during the next month, reset the record.
• This would create a more "clean slate" that rewards consistent good behavior.

Rather than having a hard reset for everyone after a fixed period, the reset could be linked to the severity of the offenses. For example:

• Minor Infractions (e.g., trolling, spamming): Reset after 1-2 months if behavior improves.
• Severe Infractions (e.g., RDM, exploiting): Reset after 3 months.

4. Individual Case Review

After a certain number of infractions and people who abuse the system can be placed into a 6 month cooldown then. The time frame staff can do it is also with no time frame as the unban appeals. (only in extreme cases 6 months should be justified)

5. Blacklist for System Abusers

Introducing a blacklist system where players who are caught exploiting the ban reset system are added to a "watch list" for future offenses. If they try to evade bans or abuse resets again, their penalties can be further escalated with much longer ban periods or permanent bans.

But of course Cheating should be a permanent ban instantly.
Exploiting depends in which form should be a month.

Also Staff should have more freedom in giving bans if someone is on a permanent ban 6 months cooldown Staff should STILL be allowed to give a ban of like 1 day or 2 days, if the person who did it showed good behaviour in the last months. If someone rdms for the 100th time. It can be a perma. But RDM can happen. Especially when someone gets an unban and is on a 6 month cooldown. This system is just unfair to the people who commit to roleplay. To the Server. And then because they lose their temperament once after some months they are back to a perma. With unlucky cases not being able to get unbanned because the door is getting closed instantly after few bans.

I don't support fragging or win mentality at all. But I think this system ensures way more fairness.

I think it's way more important that Staff members have more flexbility in giving bans to players or just giving them a warning instead even if they got a warning already, if they commit in showing good behaviour, rather than being forced and more or less having no flexibility of giving out punishments than ''You got banned 5 months ago, you RDMed but you were never toxic, didn't have a decline in RP, and after all you are just a good person, yeah but sadly still perma''

 

[Chris Loveridge]

The rules are there for a reason and do is the FBS.

If you look at the bans that happen is because roleplay is ruined for other people involved in the situation. Majority of bans are included in the FBS. It's the severe ones that are permanent and require a unban appeal.

Exploiting should stay a permanent ban. It's cheating the system and is unfair on those who are in this server to roleplay properly.

Now the 6 month cooldown I could agree with reducing that by a few months but at the same time I can see why it is there. If you end up in the unban appeal section then you have seriously screwed up. Be it racking up multiple bans over the 6 month period or doing something completely stupid that results in a perm.

FBS cooldown being 6 months isn't normally an issue since most people learn from their mistakes but there are those that keep doing the same rule break causing them to receive the perm. I am all for second chances and sometimes if it's warranted giving a third. However a fourth chance is taking the Mick. Hence the FBS is a permanent on the fourth rule break.

The lowest I could potentially see the resets being is 4 months but very unlikely. No doubt the staff/management team when discussing the FBS system coming in talked extensively on it and came up with the solution.

2 solutions to the above could be keep the FBS at the current number of bans but reduce it to 4 months or add in the month ban to the list and keep it at the 6.

Like I said though. Any changes would be extensively discussed amongst the staff team and unlikely to change as the current system has protected the way that the roleplay flows on this server.

 

[Miyoko]

The rules are there for a reason and do is the FBS.

If you look at the bans that happen is because roleplay is ruined for other people involved in the situation. Majority of bans are included in the FBS. It's the severe ones that are permanent and require a unban appeal.

Exploiting should stay a permanent ban. It's cheating the system and is unfair on those who are in this server to roleplay properly.

Now the 6 month cooldown I could agree with reducing that by a few months but at the same time I can see why it is there. If you end up in the unban appeal section then you have seriously screwed up. Be it racking up multiple bans over the 6 month period or doing something completely stupid that results in a perm.

FBS cooldown being 6 months isn't normally an issue since most people learn from their mistakes but there are those that keep doing the same rule break causing them to receive the perm. I am all for second chances and sometimes if it's warranted giving a third. However a fourth chance is taking the Mick. Hence the FBS is a permanent on the fourth rule break.

The lowest I could potentially see the resets being is 4 months but very unlikely. No doubt the staff/management team when discussing the FBS system coming in talked extensively on it and came up with the solution.

2 solutions to the above could be keep the FBS at the current number of bans but reduce it to 4 months or add in the month ban to the list and keep it at the 6.

Like I said though. Any changes would be extensively discussed amongst the staff team and unlikely to change as the current system has protected the way that the roleplay flows on this server.

What about the staff doing bans on their own when they see better behaviour from a person? Because 6 MONTHS is still a lot. Don't get me wrong the system is good - okay but i still see some flaws in it. Especially with the side that staff cant determine themselves if they give someone a permanent ban again after lets say 5 months and 29 days have passed and some mistake has happened like a little frustation in the OOC chat. Which didnt result in behaviour insult or anything but just frustation.

 

[Chris Loveridge]

What about the staff doing bans on their own when they see better behaviour from a person? Because 6 MONTHS is still a lot. Don't get me wrong the system is good - okay but i still see some flaws in it. Especially with the side that staff cant determine themselves if they give someone a permanent ban again after lets say 5 months and 29 days have passed and some mistake has happened like a little frustation in the OOC chat. Which didnt result in behaviour insult or anything but just frustation.

I see the validity in that. There will always be flaws in everything that gets done. There's no such thing as a perfect system sadly.

All that can be done is improvements to systems. It's up to the staff/management on how they do that.

 

[Donny]

Nah, its not hard to not get banned ngl (as someone who has been permed) and if you "tot up" all the way to a perm then somethings going wrong...

 

[Miyoko]

Nah, its not hard to not get banned ngl (as someone who has been permed) and if you "tot up" all the way to a perm then somethings going wrong...

I know it's not hard to not get banned I've been banned too for something really stupid easily avoidable.

But I think I see a valid reason still that staff should also be able to have more freedom within giving bans. Like when someone does RDM after 5 months he'll still be permed even maybe after showing constantly good behaviour, so instead of sticking to the system it can also be a staff decision how long the ban might be which maybe doesn't instantly jump to a perm.

The current system is good but I maybe thought the addition of more freedom in this might be good too.

 

[Joe Scrub]

I dunno about the FBS as a whole but a couple of the punishments seem a bit out of proportion to me.

For example a 1 day ban for blatant RDMs is sort of nothing, especially considering you need a 3 to 5 min clip and the time to put the report in.

And the punishment for logging while downed (as opposed to blatant combat logging in it's more traditional sense) seems rather harsh to me.

 

[Miyoko]

I dunno about the FBS as a whole but a couple of the punishments seem a bit out of proportion to me.

For example a 1 day ban for blatant RDMs is sort of nothing, especially considering you need a 3 to 5 min clip and the time to put the report in.

And the punishment for logging while downed (as opposed to blatant combat logging in it's more traditional sense) seems rather harsh to me.

For me RDM is not RDM like you can't generalize it, there are trollers just stabbing you at pillbox, or just a simple misunderstanding which made you get killed or make you kill someone which imo should be decided by staff what the penalty should be and not a system which you're forced to follow. A bit more freedom for staff to decide about the penalty when they see it fit is kinda important to me to ensure more fairness in general for people showing good behaviour after they came from a perm ban or people who are close to. Which also maybe reduce the unban appeals pretty much.

But I think combat logging should give a month ban atleast when someone does it but not perm. I'm all the way up for maximum punishments of a month. But it depends if somebody does it to save a Rifle. Or if the person really had no time.

Maybe in general remove the 6 month FBS fully and let it be the mercy of staff members to decide what the penalty is. I do trust them to make good decisions to be fair.

 

[Chris Loveridge]

Maybe in general remove the 6 month FBS fully and let it be the mercy of staff members to decide what the penalty is. I do trust them to make good decisions to be fair.

The FBS is there as a guideline for staff. Maybe keep it as a guidance but not a set in stone thing

 

[Miyoko]

The FBS is there as a guideline for staff. Maybe keep it as a guidance but not a set in stone thing

So more of a play field for staff to decide whether it's gonna be a perm 1 week 1 month and so on I like that idea. But yeah maybe a radical change like "removal of the whole system" is a bit too much but I still think they should get more room to decide about it and not like currently where the system is literally set in stone it has to be like that and not different

 

[Kieffer]

Nah, its not hard to not get banned.

Sigh

 

[Nikolai]

much but I still think they should get more room to decide about it and not like currently where the system is literally set in stone it has to be like that and not different

who has stated it's set in stone?


staff have other tools to use, speak to them, warn them and so on, not everything leads to a ban despite you breaking rules, staff discretion and all that.

 

[DomT]

Too much autonomy or deviation from a system would lead to complaints from banned players about “It’s not fair! Why did I get a week ban when so and so only got a day for basically the same thing?!” Which I’d imagine would be a whole new headache for our already busy volunteer staff team.

Expecting a lesser punishment because the clock on your previous bans/warnings is close to resetting says to me that the individual wants to break rules and is simply counting down the days until they can do it again and not be harshly punished.

All members of this community attest to having read and familiarised themselves with the rules as well as being adults prior to joining the server. It shouldn’t be hard to hold ourselves accountable for following the rules and keeping ourselves in check.

 

[Miyoko]

who has stated it's set in stone?


staff have other tools to use, speak to them, warn them and so on, not everything leads to a ban despite you breaking rules, staff discretion and all that.

For me it feels like it every time i look at the report section that all the time only the FBS is being followed, instead of staff doing their own decisions, which looks for me like that the FBS is set in stone and that no alternative punishments can be given out. But I can be wrong too.

 

[Miyoko]

Too much autonomy or deviation from a system would lead to complaints from banned players about “It’s not fair! Why did I get a week ban when so and so only got a day for basically the same thing?!” Which I’d imagine would be a whole new headache for our already busy volunteer staff team.

Expecting a lesser punishment because the clock on your previous bans/warnings is close to resetting says to me that the individual wants to break rules and is simply counting down the days until they can do it again and not be harshly punished.

All members of this community attest to having read and familiarised themselves with the rules as well as being adults prior to joining the server. It shouldn’t be hard to hold ourselves accountable for following the rules and keeping ourselves in check.

Well, my point was just more autonomy to the Staff about decision making. Making them able to not follow the FBS but also determining on their own if the person who got reported is truly deserving the perma or not. I do see the point that people will complaint 100% but in that case it should be as it is now, people trying to do tickets in Discord just get closed and bans which are not perma are not appealable. Which should fix the problem still.

 

[plantboots]

An automatic 1-month appeals cooldown for combat logging seems overly harsh imo. For every player that is banned, they have friends that will leave the server with them. There are some really good RPers that have made a silly mistake, often their only rule break in years, that will end up permanently leaving the community as they will have found a new server before they have a chance to appeal. I think it should be dealt with on a case by case basis and your history and past behaviour should influence when you're able to appeal.

We should care more about retention. A lot of people will say good riddance, but I think it negatively impacts the community as a whole as it doesn't only remove that single player from the community.

 

[Maverick Delta]

An automatic 1-month appeals cooldown for combat logging seems overly harsh imo. For every player that is banned, they have friends that will leave the server with them. There are some really good RPers that have made a silly mistake, often their only rule break in years, that will end up permanently leaving the community as they will have found a new server before they have a chance to appeal. I think it should be dealt with on a case by case basis and your history and past behaviour should influence when you're able to appeal.

We should care more about retention. A lot of people will say good riddance, but I think it negatively impacts the community as a whole as it doesn't only remove that single player from the community.

As much as I agree and have always said more needs to be done for player retention and currently someone who joins the server for the first time won’t quickly understand the benefits of the community over others.

The issue being rules like RDM can have genuine accidents, rare but with 100% good intentions you can shoot too early for example.

Issue being nobody clicks F8 Quit or an other form of closing the game down by accident. It is a clear rule break that both ruins any further RP potential brings OOC aspects to save your gear from potential loss ect.

Don’t get me wrong would I prefer in cases where it is 3am and someone logs off to be taken with a pinch more salt yes. But people who combat log 99% of the time either don’t think they will get caught or don’t care it’s a big F U to the rules imo.

 

[plantboots]

As much as I agree and have always said more needs to be done for player retention and currently someone who joins the server for the first time won’t quickly understand the benefits of the community over others.

The issue being rules like RDM can have genuine accidents, rare but with 100% good intentions you can shoot too early for example.

Issue being nobody clicks F8 Quit or an other form of closing the game down by accident. It is a clear rule break that both ruins any further RP potential brings OOC aspects to save your gear from potential loss ect.

Don’t get me wrong would I prefer in cases where it is 3am and someone logs off to be taken with a pinch more salt yes. But people who combat log 99% of the time either don’t think they will get caught or don’t care it’s a big F U to the rules imo.

I agree with people being banned for breaking the combat logging rules, my only argument is with making every person wait a minimum of 1-month before they're allowed to appeal.

 

[Maverick Delta]

I agree with people being banned for breaking the combat logging rules, my only argument is with making every person wait a minimum of 1-month before they're allowed to appeal.

Exactly,

My point being it’s not really a rule that can be broken accidentally. You knowingly log off the server, if you have a OOC issue you can create a ticket.

This rule doesn’t just effect the person committing it, it can directly impact other people’s ability to RP situations ect and effect many aspects of the RP.

If you chose to purposely break a rule there should be more punishment than if you accidentally break a rule.