Unban Appeal - _Jack - GTA RP

[_Jack]

Server: GTA RP
Character Name: Marcus Stone
Steam ID: 76561199580194969
Ban ID (just the numbers): 20635
Ban Reason: G3.1 - Meta
Why do you think you were banned: I was banned back in June last year for Metagaming. This is because upon my departure from a law firm I was working very closely with, I decided to message a few players with the intent of letting them know that I'd be leaving and they're welcome to join me on future adventures. I did this because at the time, I was struggling to come up with a way in game to express my reasons for leaving (due to some of them being influenced by OOC situations) and saw it best to try and explain the situation in full instead of disappearing. I now realise that this was metagaming and in no way did I mean to promote this or mean to entice other players to metagame - for that I apologise and realise how low of a standard that has set me at within the community.

Shortly after my ban, I raised two tickets. The first I raised trying to find more information out about my ban being genuinely unsure about my punishment reasons. I asked for said reason, but due to staff policies I was unable to learn more at the time. The day following this, I learned of a situation that I'd interpreted as three of my friends being questioned regarding the situation, and I'd interpreted one of these tickets as a request to view my private messages - I realise now that I'd completely misinterpreted this ticket, and that the anger misdirected in the ticket I raised trying to contact management was unprofessional and unneeded.
Why should we unban you: Since my punishment, I'd had time to reflect on my reason for punishment and I now understand vividly why the metagaming rule is in place and how I offended it. In addition, since my appeal over the Christmas period, I've had time to look back over my own copies of the transcripts from the ticket and other relevant conversations and come to the conclusion that most of my behaviour within said tickets and interactions was unprofessional and unneeded.

I hope it's understandable that being a long term member of the community, I was upset in the moment that I'd lost my position I'd worked hard to build, via no fault other than my own. I feel that whilst I did act out of turn, and I did abuse the ticket systems as an opportunity to try and exploit the system early, I feel that I have had a clear enough time away from the community to learn more and understand the reasons behind my time away.

If I was given the golden opportunity to return to this community, I'd commit once again to try and become a dedicated & helpful member of the community, pursuing most of the similar goals I had previously such as legal roleplay with a focus on bringing as much back into the game as possible to create real immersion and fun within the city, and making contributions to the police's training programs to ensure new players find the experience accessible and enjoyable. I hope that these commitments and ideas contribute to an outcome where I can rejoin the community, this time in a better light.

Finally, I'd like to directly apologise to PsianaRama, C_date, Stavik and the other staff for the time they've had to spend dealing with my appeals and quarrels in the tickets including having to deal with my misdirected and unfair placement of upset and angry feelings. I realise where this has put me, standings-wise, within the community and I am hoping that this appeal, along with an unwavering commitment to return to be a better and stronger member of the community means that I will be permitted a chance to prove myself worthy of said chance.
Please confirm that you have read the unban appeal process and rules: Yes

 

[Mason Edge]

Hello @_Jack

Hope everything is going well. There are a few things I want to go over in this appeal that need to be addressed.

I'm not too sure if I am misinterpreting your appeal but it comes across as you don't fully understand that messaging players OOC about leaving a law firm, complaining about it, and then inviting them to join your newly created one is in breach of G3.1 OOC Information as you're influencing their IC actions. I geniunely don't understand how you didn't recognise this as metagaming at the time especially when you're DMing multiple people asking them OOC to join your firm.

Additionally, after the ban was placed your attitude towards staff was horrendous. One thing that was raised by staff in your last appeal was: "Created a private discord to share screenshots of your ticket contents cropped without the full context and tried to rally a group together to collectively spout shit over the RPUK staff team." which hasn't been covered in detail within this appeal. My main question would be what was the goal of this?

With that in mind I'd like to ask a few questions;

• Can you explain why (G3.1) OOC Information exists and how metagaming can negatively affect the roleplay for others?
• You messaged 9 players OOC recruiting them to join your new law firm after leaving your previous one. Can you explain why you thought it was acceptable to reach out to players OOC for this purpose, and how you now understand this is a breach of (G3.1) OOC Information?
• To quote a response to your previous appeal: "Created a private discord to share screenshots of your ticket contents cropped without the full context and tried to rally a group together to collectively spout shit over the RPUK staff team." - why did you think this was acceptable at the time and what was your intentions and goals from doing this?

 

[_Jack]

Hey Mason. Thanks for taking the time to review my appeal.
Everything is well with me, thanks. Hope the same is with yourself, and that you had a happy start to your New Year?

Apologies for the confusion - I've written up some more details below.

Can you explain why (G3.1) OOC Information exists and how metagaming can negatively affect the roleplay for others?

G3.1 (OOC Information) is a rule set by this community focussed around the RP/FiveM server and the point of the rule is to ensure immersion for other players.
It specifically prohibits using information gained out of game (or OOC: Out of Character) for gain within a roleplay situation to ensure fairness and equality throughout the community.
If someone was to use outside information, it could lead to forced roleplay scenarios that negatively affect other player's experiences and thus make the game not very fun to play for some people. It is also extremely likely that offences of this rule would break or intrude on existing roleplay stories which players may have spent a long time planning and executing.

You messaged 9 players OOC recruiting them to join your new law firm after leaving your previous one. Can you explain why you thought it was acceptable to reach out to players OOC for this purpose, and how you now understand this is a breach of (G3.1) OOC Information?

To be completely honest with you - and I know this is what you're likely to hear with almost every ban appeal - at the time, I didn't intend for this to be the message portrayed at all.
I completely understand now - after looking back on the situation, how it has affected my standing within the community and how it has made me appear.
Regarding why I did it - at the time, I was extremely active in a law firm, and because I was leaving it due to OOC reasons, I was struggling to come up with a roleplay story to explain this. Due to this, I came up with a alternative reason for leaving, and to avoid conveying mixed messages I told people that they were welcome to join me in the new law firm and to make them aware of this.
The intention here was to uphold the integrity of the in game story, because I was incredibly devoted to the law firm and it wouldn't have made sense for me to leave out of the blue, and I didn't want to overengineer a reason that didn't feel immersive. After looking back, I now understand how it was perceived, and although the intention of doing it was at least good in some part, I completely understand how I have failed to uphold the community rules and how this has affected my standing within the community. I hope that learning from this mistake is something that the RPUK team are willing to let happen, and let me prove myself once again as a top contributor to the server with high quality roleplay and contributions therein.

To quote a response to your previous appeal: "Created a private discord to share screenshots of your ticket contents cropped without the full context and tried to rally a group together to collectively spout shit over the RPUK staff team." - why did you think this was acceptable at the time and what was your intentions and goals from doing this?

Part of this statement is true - I planned to reply to it, but the previous appeal had been locked by the time I'd seen the message.
I did create an external Discord, this is correct. There were screenshots of tickets, that is also correct - but to provide full context, there was no intention from myself in getting any players to rally anywhere. I can understand how, after reading back through some of the messages, it can be interpreted this way, but as explained below I hope it makes sense as to why I did this.

Hopefully understandably, at the time of my punishment, I was upset at what'd happened. I had quite a few people that had noticed the ban, and were asking me what happened. At the time, I saw it easier to explain myself once, and invite others to read it as they saw fit. In my first, and most original message in the channel inside of said Discord, I posted a FULL transcript of both tickets, explaining my point of view at the time, and why I thought I'd gotten into that position.
As I said in the first ticket I raised on the night of my ban, I was unaware of my punishment until a little while after my ban (after this channel in the Discord had been and gone), so I admit I did reach far out with my assumptions as to why I was punished, but none of this was intended to harm the relationship to the staff team of any other players. This was simply to coordinate a response to the multiple people asking what'd happened, so that I was sure my story would be complete and to avoid bias in any situation, as I was sure if I was to appeal, I'd have to explain this.

I still have an archive of the channel, and I'm more than willing to share this with you - but no other people remain in that Discord anymore. It was cleaned up in mid July after the curiosity died off, and most members have since moved on or left the Discord because it was a friends Discord and that served no purpose beyond this for them. Some remain as my friends, because it was also my friends Discord - and still is where I join calls and play games even today.


I apologise for the confusion, and I hope that this helps to resolve some of this.
I genuinely do have good intentions if I was to return, and I am hoping that I will have the chance to prove this if given the chance to return to the community.

 

[Mason Edge]

Hey @_Jack

I'm doing good thank you. So reading this I'm hoping it's geniune and not just saying what you'd think staff would want to hear, if it is geniune then it's great to see some thought and reflection to what led you here and you taking accountability. But I'm still not convinced.

You say you didn't intent for that message to be portrayed like it was at all but reaching out to multiple people expressing your issues with your former law firm and then directly inviting them offering them a guaranteed position within your law firm if they wish to follow - how are we supposed to interpret that? You are offering people positions within your law firm OOC. There isn't anything to misinterpret you are trying to actively fill slots within your law firm by getting employees OOC due to your OOC issues with the former law firm.

Now if this was all done IC trying to convince them to leave their current law firm for your own, it would be interesting RP but as you've mentioned you couldn't come up with a IC reason as to why you left. This is not an excuse for the actions made by yourself. Now what you might have not realised at the time by doing this, you were influencing their decisions IC through OOC means and I'm glad to see why you understand this is an issue now.

Could you respond to the following;

• You’ve explained that you reached out to players OOC to avoid leaving the law firm “out of the blue". What could you have done differently to avoid using OOC information to influence IC decisons? If we went back in time, how would you have handled differently now?
• You admitted that your anger towards the staff team was misplaced. How would you handle a similar situation if given another chance if you were upset with a staff decision?
• With all of the comments you've made against the staff team, why are you appealing and wanting to come back?

 

[_Jack]

Hey Mason!
Glad to know you're doing well

I agree with you on the above points. I understand the way it was interpreted, and I can't say anything further to defend it because while I might not have meant to break a rule, I did - so that's why I'm here. As for the reflections:

You’ve explained that you reached out to players OOC to avoid leaving the law firm “out of the blue". What could you have done differently to avoid using OOC information to influence IC decisons? If we went back in time, how would you have handled differently now?

For this, there were definite ways I could have gone about it differently. Looking back on it - I wish I didn't even message them at all. I wish I'd spent a bit of time developing the story out to lead to my leaving - instead of letting the OOC issues get to me and 'throwing my toys out of the pram', or better put - making a rash decision to leave. If I'd have done this, I could have led it through proper roleplay, and left on my own. Meaning I could have instead built the firm up to prove that I have what I said I was going to have, and then inviting people to join it IN roleplay. Because of the way I played things, nobody won because a bunch of people ruined relationships in RP to follow me, only to find out they wouldn't be able to carry on with me because I went about it in improper ways.

To me, that would have been the best way to go about it because it also means people aren't stuck with a tough decision when I have nothing to back up my claims, as it were. Another way to have gone about it would have been developing them coming with me into the story, but given the difficult position that would have put them in - I should have opted for the above story, instead of taking the other 'easy way out' which was to message them all on Discord and explain it OOC.

You admitted that your anger towards the staff team was misplaced. How would you handle a similar situation if given another chance if you were upset with a staff decision?

Since my ban, I've had time away, that time has lead to me developing other skills. I've recently registered my 2nd business as a legal entity, and I've picked up running again.
My ban took place in the evening, which developed into a situation spanning multiple tickets until 1am that next morning. If this were to happen again, to put it bluntly - I'd just go on a run.
At the end of the day, whilst the situation was upsetting in itself, it wasn't at any point worth wasting the staff team's time that I did - or handling it the way I did. If I'd have gone for a run, or done a few bits of outstanding work on some code I maintain for example, I'd have had time to clear my head and plan my appeal in a cordial manner. With a clear head, I don't doubt I could have named the reason for my ban with a little bit of research into my recent activities. It wasn't clear at the time, but it was pretty obvious when I figured it out.

Whilst I very much hope there won't be a need for a 'next time' - this is how I'd go about it. At the end of the day, I've realised that actions have reasons - so sometimes I just need to take a step back and work it out before misplacing anger and blame for no reason.

With all of the comments you've made against the staff team, why are you appealing and wanting to come back?

I'll be blunt. I miss the community, and the quality of roleplay that there was. I took a break from FiveM for a while, and whilst it was good for me, I'm looking for a return because I genuinely enjoy the time I've spent with the community. I've made some great friends on RPUK who I still talk to... and meet up with... even though I'm currently banned.
I'd put any comments that have been made down to misplaced anger, as described above. I didn't ever intend to cause harm, so I really hope it can be given the understanding that it was just a way for me to try and explain to others how I felt. It was wrong - and I do apologise. As above there won't be a need for a next time, but I know what I'd do to avoid this in the future.

I appreciate this introduces a factor of emotional instability, as I was made aware of. I'm hoping that my descriptions in response to quotes 2 and 3 above help you feel confident that these descriptions of said instability are not the person I am now, and that I've matured in a way that's beneficial for the community.

Looking forward to your responses

 

[Mason Edge]

Good evening @_Jack

You've put a lot of effort into your responses so far and shown you've understood what went wrong and how you would go about handling situations differently in the future.

Due to the nature of this ban and the actions you decided to take after the ban was placed, we need to be convinced this wont happen again if given another chance.

Could you answer the following;

• You created a Discord server and shared ticket screenshots, some of which were cropped out. You have mentioned in your appeal that the intention wasn't to rally players but it still raises concerns. Why did you feel that was an appropriate way to address your frustrations?
• You've said you want to return because you miss the community. If you’re allowed back how will you ensure your contributions will be positive?
• You've got a relatively record and in the time you were on the server prior to this ban only had 1 kick for loitering around emergency buildings. This shows you can follow rules so why didn’t you step back and pursue an IC exit at the time instead of resorting to OOC messages? What made that decision feel acceptable in the moment?
• What can you do to ensure that future frustration or setbacks wont cause you to act out OOC or try to influence RP outcomes?

 

[_Jack]

Hey Mason,

Thanks. I understand that - I'll answer the questions below:

You created a Discord server and shared ticket screenshots, some of which were cropped out. You have mentioned in your appeal that the intention wasn't to rally players but it still raises concerns. Why did you feel that was an appropriate way to address your frustrations?

At the time, I was receiving quite a few DMs from players I knew. I didn't want to send them all a copypasta and I didn't want to have to keep reviving the situation in my mind after I'd explained it to the 6th person. Instead, I took to making a channel in my pre-existing friends server and posted a message containing my full overview of events and the two complete ticket transcripts so that I could avoid re-answering the same inevitable questions from curious parties. At some point, some images may have been shared (with or without context) in the discussion between interested parties, but in my original message I posted all of the complete information I had, aimed as an explainer rather than a rally/exposee.

You've said you want to return because you miss the community. If you’re allowed back how will you ensure your contributions will be positive?

In my first appeal in December, I said that if I was allowed to return I'd try my best to re-join some of the scenes I enjoyed being in before I left, and push for it to be 'revived' in a roleplay sense.
When I was a Managing Partner for the short time that I was, I received feedback from newer players that the solicitor roleplay scene was too much paperwork and not enough (ic) meetings or in-character roleplay. Using my software skillset, and experience in this roleplay field, I have a drive to come back and create an enhanced version of what I had before, with the intention of streamlining things as much as possible. Some ideas I had for this were templating reusable documents and trying to promote meetings and interactions in game as much as possible, opting to use discord only for the permitted 'case tracker' use, rather than a direct client communication method. While this does make things 'slower' in a sense, I believe it can massively contribute to enhancing roleplay in the area.

I think that this would be a massively positive change because it would hopefully bring back the real spirit of roleplay in the courts scene from what I was experiencing mid 2025, and that it may make the experience more exciting for others to enjoy too.

You've got a relatively record and in the time you were on the server prior to this ban only had 1 kick for loitering around emergency buildings. This shows you can follow rules so why didn’t you step back and pursue an IC exit at the time instead of resorting to OOC messages? What made that decision feel acceptable in the moment?

I'm gonna be honest, I don't know. Looking back, it would have been so much more painless to do it IC.
At the time, I was already struggling with the idea of making my own firm, and I think I used the OOC issues I had as an excuse to kick start it a bit too early.
This lead to poor planning and a very poor execution on my part, and thus I saw it fit to cut it as quickly as possible so that I could move on.
It's obvious to me now that this wasn't the correct way to go about it, and seeing how this situation impacts both sides of the coin, if this were to ever happen in future, I'd do my best to protect the integrity of the story in game, to make sure that I make a clean exit, and instead of rushing a plan - maybe I let go of what I have if I'm not enjoying it, and then work on a plan for a new story quietly instead of trying to rush and pull as many people as I can with me, if that makes sense.

What can you do to ensure that future frustration or setbacks wont cause you to act out OOC or try to influence RP outcomes?

I think I answered this in quote three in part. I've come to the realisation now that certain stories don't last forever and it's never worth blowing up relationships with people because you're not enjoying where you are. I've learned that it's more important to step back and take a break to avoid misplaced feelings and to make sure that a new well-crafted story can be created. I think I'm at a position now where I understand the cause and effect of these actions, and I've learned from this mistake. As you said, with my limited punishment history I'm very much hopeful that this will be the only issue I ever have, having learned from this there won't be any repeats, that's for sure.

Cheers