Player loyalties and admin treatments.

[YoCo]

Say an admin using playstv catches 3 rulebreakers (if only) over a 4 hour restart they've then got to close their game, meaning can't be on for the beginning of the restart. Cut that 4 hour video down into the 3 clips, upload the clips, send the report. Reports don't get actioned for at least 24 hours, then an admin makes a decision based another admins decision? Turning a process that takes 5 minutes and making it longer, for the purposes of review? I take it you'll give these volunteers their time back in some other fashion because you've just doubled the amount of reports going in, as well as tripled the time it takes to issue a ban?

The thing you forget is that unban appeals are bottom of the pile of admin activity, if there are a dozen reports to be reviewed and actioned the unban appeals then take even longer to process. This does not make the waiting time any better, especially if the report outcome is the same as if I would have banned you 1 day previously, except the fact you've wasted a days worth of appeal time by having to reply to my report.



 

well a process that takes 5 minutes, turning it into one that takes 20 mins (to upload footage and report) is far better than a person being banned for something they wouldnt neccessarily be banned on report for. and having to write out an unban and then wait a week or more to be unbanned.

as for the doubled the amount of reports and tripled the amount of times. My suggestion would also very considerably remove the amount of inconsistency within the staff team when it comes for bans, And i think that is a significantly better option.

you say that staff team spend their own times, but so does every member of the community, just by playing the game they contribute to the server. 

And I dont forget that they are bottom of the pile of admin activity, its precisely the reason for my suggestion. Admins can be rather over zealous with their in game impromptu bans, but yet it takes a long time to get unbanned. 

But anyways, i appreciate your response. And understand their is no view to change this in the future. 

 

[Coco]

The thing you forget is that unban appeals are bottom of the pile of admin activity,

Considering this and also the big dip the server has taken in activity, how would the staff team feel about now bringing in timed bans (1day/3day etc) instead of permanent bans for small rulebreaks. I feel it’s a shame for the community when an active member can’t play for 2-3 weeks due to the fact they did something stupid when having a laugh with mates or something similar. This would also cut down the workload staff have to do while also punishing the player if their actions were bad enough to warrant a ban. What your thoughts?

 

[Jasonnn]

May as well throw a little something into this while I'm viewing it, I ain't gonna quote all the things that have been said nor am I going to write a two thousand word essay on how the ban system won't change! 

The facts are that the rules are in place for a reason, they are to keep the server in line and to ensure everyone is playing safe and enjoying themselves at the same time. You mess up, you get banned! Write an appeal, don't be sarky about the fact you got banned as it's just a cry for attention. Honesty works, don't try to come up with a lie as to why you were banned as it won't work and I've watched it fail countless times on ban appeals..

Now moving on!

Yes, being banned for vaulting over a gate may seem like a shitty reason to get banned (Read from recent ban appeal.)  but who's to say you're not gonna use that to an advantage at a later date? Or a hobo sees it and thinks that's how the server works? Vaulting over walls, gates and etc to gain an advantage.

Regarding the points and "One fuck up a month" thing. I've played on servers where they have point systems and the odd "Meh I didn't see it so no repercussions." And that just -in my opinion- ruins Arma Roleplay servers completely as nobody cared if they got points as it only resulted in a ban if you got so many. The system we have works, why change it? You write up an appeal to show you're genuinely interested in the server, If you fucked up enough to get a perm ban without appeal you've obviously shown you're not worth keeping on the server.

Probably makes fuck all sense but yeah. 

 

[WhoisDan]

As a former staff member you should be more than aware the benefit of hindsight and extra information, there's often more to a situation than it appears from the outside, in the past as it turned out you should have been banning people for running over their mates... they were exploiting the fact it healed you to 100% They had codewords for it, so it couldn't be caught in reports. Though I agree with the point of a more consistent opinion, but with a team triple the size that was going to be an inevitability, but one we constantly try to mitigate.

I'm not talking about people using the health exploit. A perfect example I've seen is when a bunch of guys were having a competition of how far they can make their friend fly by ramming them with a car. It was all consentual, everyone was having fun, no one was getting hurt and nothing was being exploited, and all of the drivers in that competition were banned for VDM. Situations such as that- where nobody's getting hurt, it's not being used for anyone's advantage, it all just a bit of fun- there is no reason at all to ban in my view.

As for UnluckyGeorge he falls into the same category as LIRIK and EvalBetty for more recent examples, they all got excused for rulebreaks because they brought traction to the server, and the tradeoff of new players, entertainment value and memes (Ram Ranch) made it worth it. That's not to say we ignore streamers ChloeLock was pulled aside and kicked off to read the rules for breaking NLR. 

That's a poor reason to let people off. Don't get me wrong, George is my mate and I've always agreed that he should be able to bend the rules since he's not using it to his own advantage, but to give exceptions only to streamers and Youtubers for bringing more players is basically making it a popularity contest. Only the most popular kids in the playground get to bend the school rules- how is that fair? And how is it fair to then ban new players who have seen what those streamers have been doing, assumed it's OK to do those things, only to then find themselves banned because they're not one of the blessed few who have enough viewers on Twitch to get a pass on the rules?

Considering this and also the big dip the server has taken in activity, how would the staff team feel about now bringing in timed bans (1day/3day etc) instead of permanent bans for small rulebreaks. I feel it’s a shame for the community when an active member can’t play for 2-3 weeks due to the fact they did something stupid when having a laugh with mates or something similar. This would also cut down the workload staff have to do while also punishing the player if their actions were bad enough to warrant a ban. What your thoughts?

As much as I do get why people question why we only have perma bans here, it's really the only type of ban that works. By making bans permenant unless appealed, they are forced to at the very least come to the forums to get unbanned, where they will find out what they did wrong so they can avoid doing it again. 

 

[Entropy]

I'm a living example that honesty in permanent unbans can go far, and that the admins can be very lenient and accepting in giving long-term players chances. I've got some heavy bans on my record but i was still allowed to come back and play - something i never actually thought would happen.

Only thing i agree with here is the In-game banning of players doing very minor rule breaks - sometimes unintentional or for the fun of the game, like Dan said - and then having to wait 1 - 2 weeks to be unbanned.

I feel like posts like this wouldn't appear often on the forum if this wasn't a recurrence. I don't believe anyone has a problem with permanently banning those on the spot mass breaking rules, exploiting etc. However, banning on the spot long-term players for minor things and then ( since ban appeals are bottom priority ) making them sit out the server for 2 weeks is quite harmful to the playerbases mindset. Which is most likely why we see these posts occur over, and over.