Haywire
Escaped Convict
- Location
- England
Hello, i'm Haywire (formerly known as hatchingdraggon) and an issue with the ban system and rules has recently been brought to my attention. I have been a part of this community for a while now and it''s something that has always bothered me but I've always been nervous about talking about it..mostly at risk of being told the usual "If you don't like it, you don't have to stay here." Well, I do like it here and I don't want to leave but that doesn't mean I dont think some things could be done better. So, i'd like to explain why I believe the ban system is poor and how it can be improved.
The Current Ban System
As of right now, the ban system is simple. You break a rule once, you appeal and if you can prove you understand what you did wrong and apologise for it you'll likely get a second chance. If you break the rules again, you're gone forever. Seems fair right? It's a good idea when you put it that way..but this system will cause people to get banned permanently when they really don't deserve it. Here are two scenarios, both result in the player getting permanently banned:
Scenario 1
Josh has been on the server for one month. He got bored and angry so he bought a gun and started killing people in kavala. He was banned and a few days later he appealed saying how sorry he was and that it won't happen again. He got unbanned and 3 weeks later he got angry again and started killing cops randomly. Josh was then permanently banned from the server.
Scenario 2
Jake joined the server back in the early days when it was still starting up. In his early days, he was silly and didnt read the rules. He broke roleplay in voice chat when he was asking people to help him fix his lag and he got banned for doing so. He appealed after reading the rules and was unbanned not too long after. Since then, Jake has been in both the Police and Medics and has contributed a lot to the community over the years. However, over a year later Josh was having a bad day and someone triggered him in chat. He responded in chat calling that person profound names and was clearly getting annoyed. Jake was permanently banned from the server.
Scenario 1 showed a case where the current ban system works well by giving players a second chance however scenario 2 shows that over time people will make mistakes and that doesn't necessarily make them a bad person nor does it mean they are unfit to play on the server. Now, it's all very well complaining about something but if I want to make this point mean anything I want to suggest an alternative ban system.
How I think bans should be handled
Here's the thing. I think it's fair to say that swearing at someone in chat is not on par with mass RDM, therefore I want to suggest a severity system. There would be severity 1, 2 and 3 offenses that would warrant different punishments. For example:
Severity 1 (minor offenses) - Offenses in this category would receive an official warning from a staff member. If the player continues to break these rules after being given a clear warning they will be banned.
- Swearing in chat / Flooding
- Threats to report
- Minor / accidental breaking of roleplay in voice
Severity 2 (major offenses) - These offenses will warrant an immediate ban. Staff are not required to warn players breaking these rules and can ban them immediately.
- RDM / VDM
- Breaking Rolepaly
- Any other rules broken that impact the experience of others
Severity 3 (extreme offenses) - These offenses will warrant an immediate ban (maybe even a community ban without appeal)
- Hacking / Exploiting
- Serious abuse to another member of the community and/or staff member
- Threats to DDOS / actual ddos attacks
So what does this achieve? Having a system in place like this means that people will not receive a ban for making a small mistake. Whilst I understand that it is undoubtedly tiring and difficult being an admin I don't believe that the players should have to pay as a result of that. It's important to understand that everyone makes mistakes, everyone has bad days and understanding that not everyone who breaks a minor rule is on the same level as someone who RDM's for their own amusement is absolutely key. Giving someone the benefit of the doubt could potentially mean not removing them from the server they love just because of a silly mistake.
The best part is this would not be difficult to implement at all. Simply organise the rules into their levels of severity and begin enforcing them slightly differently depending on how serious they are.
Final Thoughts
So you have read this far? I really appreciate that, thank you. I would love to hear the honest opinions of other players and staff about this. I want to note that this is in no way supposed to be a negative rant about the community, I love this community, it's a suggestion of how to improve it.
That being said, if you're in the process of writing "If you dont like it here, go away" or "Ugh..not another one of these posts" please don't bother. Perhaps there's a reason why so many of these posts are popping up?
Thanks a lot for reading,
Haywire
EDIT: I realise that now after a 3 month period your first ban is voided which is a really good move. However my point still stands that minor and major offenses should be handled differently.
The Current Ban System
As of right now, the ban system is simple. You break a rule once, you appeal and if you can prove you understand what you did wrong and apologise for it you'll likely get a second chance. If you break the rules again, you're gone forever. Seems fair right? It's a good idea when you put it that way..but this system will cause people to get banned permanently when they really don't deserve it. Here are two scenarios, both result in the player getting permanently banned:
Scenario 1
Josh has been on the server for one month. He got bored and angry so he bought a gun and started killing people in kavala. He was banned and a few days later he appealed saying how sorry he was and that it won't happen again. He got unbanned and 3 weeks later he got angry again and started killing cops randomly. Josh was then permanently banned from the server.
Scenario 2
Jake joined the server back in the early days when it was still starting up. In his early days, he was silly and didnt read the rules. He broke roleplay in voice chat when he was asking people to help him fix his lag and he got banned for doing so. He appealed after reading the rules and was unbanned not too long after. Since then, Jake has been in both the Police and Medics and has contributed a lot to the community over the years. However, over a year later Josh was having a bad day and someone triggered him in chat. He responded in chat calling that person profound names and was clearly getting annoyed. Jake was permanently banned from the server.
Scenario 1 showed a case where the current ban system works well by giving players a second chance however scenario 2 shows that over time people will make mistakes and that doesn't necessarily make them a bad person nor does it mean they are unfit to play on the server. Now, it's all very well complaining about something but if I want to make this point mean anything I want to suggest an alternative ban system.
How I think bans should be handled
Here's the thing. I think it's fair to say that swearing at someone in chat is not on par with mass RDM, therefore I want to suggest a severity system. There would be severity 1, 2 and 3 offenses that would warrant different punishments. For example:
Severity 1 (minor offenses) - Offenses in this category would receive an official warning from a staff member. If the player continues to break these rules after being given a clear warning they will be banned.
- Swearing in chat / Flooding
- Threats to report
- Minor / accidental breaking of roleplay in voice
Severity 2 (major offenses) - These offenses will warrant an immediate ban. Staff are not required to warn players breaking these rules and can ban them immediately.
- RDM / VDM
- Breaking Rolepaly
- Any other rules broken that impact the experience of others
Severity 3 (extreme offenses) - These offenses will warrant an immediate ban (maybe even a community ban without appeal)
- Hacking / Exploiting
- Serious abuse to another member of the community and/or staff member
- Threats to DDOS / actual ddos attacks
So what does this achieve? Having a system in place like this means that people will not receive a ban for making a small mistake. Whilst I understand that it is undoubtedly tiring and difficult being an admin I don't believe that the players should have to pay as a result of that. It's important to understand that everyone makes mistakes, everyone has bad days and understanding that not everyone who breaks a minor rule is on the same level as someone who RDM's for their own amusement is absolutely key. Giving someone the benefit of the doubt could potentially mean not removing them from the server they love just because of a silly mistake.
The best part is this would not be difficult to implement at all. Simply organise the rules into their levels of severity and begin enforcing them slightly differently depending on how serious they are.
Final Thoughts
So you have read this far? I really appreciate that, thank you. I would love to hear the honest opinions of other players and staff about this. I want to note that this is in no way supposed to be a negative rant about the community, I love this community, it's a suggestion of how to improve it.
That being said, if you're in the process of writing "If you dont like it here, go away" or "Ugh..not another one of these posts" please don't bother. Perhaps there's a reason why so many of these posts are popping up?
Thanks a lot for reading,
Haywire
EDIT: I realise that now after a 3 month period your first ban is voided which is a really good move. However my point still stands that minor and major offenses should be handled differently.
Last edited by a moderator:
