Un-ban Appeal - CC Joseph Tadworth - 04/06/18 (Unbanned)

[Tadworth]

In-game Name
CC Tadworth [CO249]

Steam ID
76561198018599051

The date of your ban.
04/06/18

Member of the team that banned you.
Aiden / Ciaran

Reason given for your ban.
Exploiting

The Server you initially were banned on.
Server 1

In your own words, please type why you think you were banned.
https://clips.twitch.tv/AbstruseLachrymoseGoldfishGrammarKing
 

Why should we unban you ?
Well, to start off with, I was completely unaware that the decamp script was exploitable, I never knew it was even possible to avoid it or circumvent its effects until I was banned for it today. I'm not the kind of person to exploit bugs in RPUK at all. I've helped in the development team for at least a year and a half now, and the last thing I'd ever do is try to unravel all the work the lads have put into developing the server alongside me in the past, it would be a massive disrespect from me to them to even think about doing that, nevermind do it in front of a live stream of 25+ people.

REMOVED

I was completely unaware that this issue with the decamp script had occurred until my chat on stream had said about it, at which point I was lying on the floor dead. It was too late for me to do anything about even if could have.

I left the clip and VOD up of my stream as a "what the fuck" moment, and I didn't expect anything to come of it. I'm entirely honest about everything I do on RPUK and I'd consider this place a home, I've put literally thousands of hours into developing this place and helping to make it what it is, from developing an entirely custom donation system to developing Police Stations on the map, making the computer run with what was Rath's unused factory system and making a PoliceBot that has now done over 1,000,000 automated actions on members of the Police to just help it keep ticking over. I've been in the police for three years and have always worked to make both it and the server as a whole the best that they can be, anybody who knows me well will tell you that.

I started streaming to help to promote the server and for my own enjoyment, I love seeing RPUK growing and flourishing and being a part of that process is absolutely amazing, I can only say that being banned is already something that I'm not exactly proud about, and am extremely disappointed about, I hope I get unbanned and am able to continue everything I have listed above and am able to remain part of this extraordinary community.

Cheers,
Tadworth

Please confirm this unban request is for you.
Yes

I have read and understand the unban appeal process
Yes

Please confirm you understand there is no timeframe for your appeal.
Yes

Before you submit this form please confirm you have fully read the rules click here
Yes

 

[Alfred]

You have a lot of time on the server and you are very well aware of how our server should work. If as you thought this was unusual moment why would you not mention this to Staff or at the very least back off from the fight? 

 

[Tadworth]

You have a lot of time on the server and you are very well aware of how our server should work. If as you thought this was unusual moment why would you not mention this to Staff or at the very least back off from the fight? 




 

I didn't notice it'd happened until after it had. I didn't try to use it to my advantage like I said I didn't realise it'd happened. If I had realised that the script hadn't taken effect I would've done exactly what you say I should have and would've backed off from the fight, however, I was dead within a few seconds of exiting the vehicle anyways (as shown in the extended clip below) and didn't down anybody as a result of any of my shots.


In regards to not reporting the issue to staff, due to me not having any tangible impact on the outcome of that particular firefight it wasn't something that I thought was of particular importance, I do now, however, realise that I should've reported this issue to the staff team at the earliest possible opportunity, and would certainly do this in hindsight if I had the opportunity to now.

 

[TinyBigJacko]

I didn't notice it'd happened until after it had. 

This concerns me greatly. Surely all cops - especially those of such high stature as yourself - would be 100% expecting to see the decamp holstering script firing at the point of exit from the vehicle. And the absence of that script firing, would have been as alien and as unusual as you appearing outside the vehicle in a pink ballet-dancer's tutu with an umbrella poking out yer asshole! Yet you did not miss a beat; you were unfazed by it, and to all intents and purposes, it looked like you were expecting no decamp script to fire. You just carried on blissfully, seemingly totally unaware of a situation that failed to present itself; a situation that you would have been primed to expect, and would have planned your vehicle-exit around, given all your cop training. This does not add up, imho.

I didn't try to use it to my advantage like I said I didn't realise it'd happened. If I had realised that the script hadn't taken effect I would've done exactly what you say I should have and would've backed off from the fight, however, I was dead within a few seconds of exiting the vehicle anyways (as shown in the extended clip below) and didn't down anybody as a result of any of my shots.

But you did use it to your advantage! You cannot say that simply because you didn't win the fight, that you got no advantage out of that script not firing. You played on, when you should have stopped.

In regards to not reporting the issue to staff, due to me not having any tangible impact on the outcome of that particular firefight it wasn't something that I thought was of particular importance, I do now, however, realise that I should've reported this issue to the staff team at the earliest possible opportunity, and would certainly do this in hindsight if I had the opportunity to now.

You're telling me that as a Chief Constable, and a developer here, the significance of a decamp script not firing, you playing through as if nothing had happened, on a live stream, and with someone calling you out on it moments later (and no doubt you seeing that someone had clipped a video of it, and/or presuming that someone would bank it to YouTube), is not of tangible importance... just because nobody else died or lost out?

I have to call BS on that. You are not so naive to assume this incident would simply have "gone away", if left alone to fester in stream-land, surely? 

I put it to you that you were already struggling to account for the keyboard-clicking noises and the firing-rate change indications that are clearly visible at the point of exit from the vehicle, and that you knew if you came to staff first, you'd probably still be banned for exploiting anyway... so you left it quiet in the hope that nobody on the stream would dob you in. Which of course was about as likely as you not knowing about the exploitability of the decamp script, which I know darn well you knew about in advance. 

Just what were you doing tapping keys like that at the point of exit, anyway? There is no plausible reason for any kind of keybashing at that stage of the proceedings anyway. No keypresses can be buffered-up or added to the end of the decamp holstering, in order to 'speed things up' or 'get ahead', and the only likely outcome of such 'mashing' is the possibility of causing the script to fail to fire. A huge risk, if your mashing was simply absent-minded fat-fingering (which I would not have expected from such a well-trained and long-standing CC as yourself). And if it wasn't simply absent-minded fat-fingering, what was the intention here, exactly?

Think very carefully about whether you want to persist with this line of claiming innocence and ignorance, in the face of such blatant evidence, and your implausible logic. Currently I see no 'reasonable doubt' here to indicate this was an honest mistake, but if by some sad miracle it was, your actions afterwards show nothing but contempt and disregard for the rules, because you thought it 'didn't matter' or 'wouldn't come to anything'... which frankly, is almost as bad. You know better than that... you are not a noob here!

 

[Tadworth]

This concerns me greatly. Surely all cops - especially those of such high stature as yourself - would be 100% expecting to see the decamp holstering script firing at the point of exit from the vehicle. And the absence of that script firing, would have been as alien and as unusual as you appearing outside the vehicle in a pink ballet-dancer's tutu with an umbrella poking out yer asshole! Yet you did not miss a beat; you were unfazed by it, and to all intents and purposes, it looked like you were expecting no decamp script to fire. You just carried on blissfully, seemingly totally unaware of a situation that failed to present itself; a situation that you would have been primed to expect, and would have planned your vehicle-exit around, given all your cop training. This does not add up, imho.




4

I was 100% expecting the decamp script to fire when I exited the vehicle, that's why I took all the usual precautions when stopping the vehicle. I moved the vehicle to a direction that would keep me safe from anybody who had stopped either behind me or to the side of me. I may not have noticed the script firing, but I still left ample time should it have fired for me to have gotten my weapon out, the time between me exiting the vehicle (26 seconds into the extended video) and starting to shoot (31 seconds into the video) leaves ample time for the decamp script to have fired and for me to be ready to shoot, I didn't exit the vehicle and immidiately start shooting, if I had done then I then think I would've noticed that the script hadn't taken effect.

But you did use it to your advantage! You cannot say that simply because you didn't win the fight, that you got no advantage out of that script not firing. You played on, when you should have stopped.




1

As I said previously, I did not exit the vehicle and immediately begin to shoot, there were at least 4-5 seconds between me exiting the vehicle and starting to shoot, I do not disagree with you that this issue could have given me an advantage in this fight, however as I stated previously I didn't try to use the decamp scripts failure to fire to my advantage (especially considering I hadn't noticed that it hadn't occurred). I had waited an ample amount of time upon exiting the vehicle for the decamp script to have taken effect and been completed anyways, as I had expected to happen.

You're telling me that as a Chief Constable, and a developer here, the significance of a decamp script not firing, you playing through as if nothing had happened, on a live stream, and with someone calling you out on it moments later (and no doubt you seeing that someone had clipped a video of it, and/or presuming that someone would bank it to YouTube), is not of tangible importance... just because nobody else died or lost out?

I have to call BS on that. You are not so naive to assume this incident would simply have "gone away", if left alone to fester in stream-land, surely? 

I put it to you that you were already struggling to account for the keyboard-clicking noises and the firing-rate change indications that are clearly visible at the point of exit from the vehicle, and that you knew if you came to staff first, you'd probably still be banned for exploiting anyway... so you left it quiet in the hope that nobody on the stream would dob you in. Which of course was about as likely as you not knowing about the exploitability of the decamp script, which I know darn well you knew about in advance. 

I understand your point of view here completely, I knew that the video had been clipped (I can see a list of all the clips of my stream as they happen, and I regularly go through them, along with watching the reruns of my VOD's with people who missed the streams). Twitch.tv allows these clips to be deleted by the streamer at will, and in the situation where you describe that I 'expected to be banned for exploiting anyways, even if I had reported this to staff team', it would've made much more sense for me to delete both the clip and the VOD, and never allow anyone to see either of them again, if I were to be 'leaving it quiet' then it would've made more sense for me to intentionally make it impossible for this to become an issue or be reported, which highlights the fact that this is not what I was trying to do.

I respect and understand your opinion on the matter that this could be a possible reason for me not going to staff team, but I promise you, the situation you stated above is not one that has occurred in this situation.

Just what were you doing tapping keys like that at the point of exit, anyway? There is no plausible reason for any kind of keybashing at that stage of the proceedings anyway. No keypresses can be buffered-up or added to the end of the decamp holstering, in order to 'speed things up' or 'get ahead', and the only likely outcome of such 'mashing' is the possibility of causing the script to fail to fire. A huge risk, if your mashing was simply absent-minded fat-fingering (which I would not have expected from such a well-trained and long-standing CC as yourself). And if it wasn't simply absent-minded fat-fingering, what was the intention here, exactly?




1

You'll note that this issue has only ever happened once, during my entire lifetime on the community I have never experienced an issue like this, I have been told by others that this issue with the decamp script does occur at certain points, especially when the server is lagging (due to the number of people in one area, such as at HM Treasury robberies), however, I personally have never experienced it myself. I have 18 hours of videos currently saved on https://www.twitch.tv/jtadworth/videos/all, all of which depict me playing on Roleplay.co.uk, and in none of the other videos has this been an issue or occurred as a bug, I still could not tell you to this moment why this issue occurred in this particular situation (except for the reasoning I stated in my original post, which I was told at a later point by Ciaran).

The key pressing I agree does sound preemptive, however, my initial intention upon exiting the vehicle was to move right (as is shown on the stream, my first movement upon exiting the vehicle is to the right), you'll note a slight pause between me exiting the vehicle and actually beginning to move, I believe this was indeed me fat-fingering the keys, in an attempt to get ahead in moving the the right position aside my vehicle where I would have a view of both the target and would be in the best cover, (you'll note that when I move away from this side of the vehicle [the best cover] I am shot and killed), as opposed to by drawing my gun any quicker.

 Think very carefully about whether you want to persist with this line of claiming innocence and ignorance, in the face of such blatant evidence, and your implausible logic. Currently I see no 'reasonable doubt' here to indicate this was an honest mistake, but if by some sad miracle it was, your actions afterwards show nothing but contempt and disregard for the rules, because you thought it 'didn't matter' or 'wouldn't come to anything'... which frankly, is almost as bad. You know better than that... you are not a noob here!

I take your point as you put it to me, I'll persist with telling the truth, as I have stated to every person who has spoken to me about this incident, I didn't intentionally bypass the decamp script, and I certainly wouldn't lie to you or anybody in the staff team, especially considering (not being a noob here), that lying would never help a person to get unbanned, and never will. The above practically outlines all my reasons for why I'd like to you have reasonable doubt, but I'd just like to give one more. I've been here for four years, I've never once been reported on any level, whether it be on the forums in the form of a "Report a Player", through the Police as a Police Complaint, and any small suggestions staff have made to me about how to change how I play the game or follow the rules, I have always taken on board and made the relevent changes, this is no exception, I've learned plenty from being banned about what I should do if something like this occours, and it has been clearly outlined to me by members of the staff team that I should've reported this issue to staff, and if I'm honest, I wish I had reported this to staff now, I've given my reasons for not doing so, and even though clearly inadequate, I know that fair well myself, I'd say that I've learned plenty from this situation alone about how the server works.

I've always known the rules, I've always kept myself up to date with them, and have always taken an active interest in new rules that have been created, especially when they may affect the dynamics of the server, I don't have any disregard for the rules, in fact I take quite an active part in making sure I have exactly the opposite of that.

Like I've said previously, I've made an honest mistake in not reporting this issue to staff team when I noticed that this issue had occurred, and have explained my answers to all of your questions regarding how it occurred or why it happened how it happened. I'd just like to say I'm not trying to make excuses for my actions in not reporting this issue to the staff team like I say I realize that I really should've done so now, and would like to sincerely apologize for not doing so.

I've helped develop many parts of this server, be it in game development, web development, teamspeak editing, graphics design, you name it I've given it a go, and it's always been my intention to put my 100% full effort into everything I do in this community; be it into the Police, where I've always worked for the enjoyment of everybody, ensuring to plan enjoyable operations, which involve all sorts of specialised units, to attempting to help and guide people who have made mistakes in their judgement or would like some furher mentoring; to in development team where I've always worked to develop the best user experiences for our players on the forums; to my graphics development, where I have put literally months into developing certain skins for our vehicles, or advertisements/billboards around the map. I've always given my full commitment to this community no matter what it is that I've been doing, and my intention, if I get unbanned, is to continue to do all of these things, for the enjoyment of everybody around here.

 

[TinyBigJacko]

OK, I've reviewed all the evidence in a lot of detail, along with assistance from a jury of your peers, @CC Joseph Tadworth

We believe there is sufficient doubt over whether you intended to cheat, but it is clear that whether wittingly or unwittingly, you defeated the decamp script from running.

Similarly it is clear that you did not use that advantage to its maximum possible, neither by predetermined action (approach and location) nor by angle to the shooter or maximising your time-to-first-firing.

For these reasons, you will not be perma-banned without appeal.

You have, however, knowingly avoided reporting this incident to staff at the first opportunity, and cannot deny that you were made aware by your stream-chat, even if you weren't aware of it at the time. There is some question over whether, as a highly-trained cop, you should have spotted the script-failure straight away, but we cannot presume that you knew it would happen.

The main point is, though, that you should not decide for yourself whether this kind of thing is unimportant, set-aside by events or lack of advantage pressed, or the fact that 'nobody else has said anything or made a report'. A person in your position must always assume that someone is going to either blackmail you about it, or make trouble for you, and you must always seek to get ahead of things and bring it to staff attention URGENTLY, with a full explanation. Even if this means risking a ban at first glance.

We have considered what should be an appropriate sentence, and compared your 'poor-judgement' here, with similar incidents involving failure to make 'self-reports' or notify staff, and for breaking the decamp script unwittingly. The decision was that you should spend a week out of the server and away from all of your development and police positions.

That has now happened, your sentence has been completed,  and as a result, you will be unbanned today.

I must give you fair warning that if this sort of thing happens again, there will be no quarter given. If we discover that you are, in fact, playing this tactic in order to gain any sort of in-game advantage, then you will be removed permanently. Similarly, if you fail to report glitches or unwitting exploits that may be construed as having negative impact on gameplay, or have ramifications for you, the Altis Police, RPUK Development, or the community's reputation as a whole, then you will be reprimanded at the time and dealt with accordingly.

Notes will be kept on your player-file as is normal practice.