The Way Bans and Temporary Bans are Handled

[Ekaterin 0]

I’d like some to offer some feedback on the temporary banning process.

I know this is not the correct place to post a ban appeal, but a close friend of mine is leaving because he’s sick of dealing with private servers where the GMs don’t follow their own rules. What can I say, he’s been burned on other servers in the past.

Anyway, the friend in question got in an argument during a battleground and called someone a Nazi. Was this rude? Yes. Was it against the terms of service? Arguably. But the response from the GMs was to give him an account suspension without telling him why, either in an email or in-game whisper. In fact, we’re not even sure if the Nazi comment was why his account was suspended, but it was the only thing he could think of that would possibly warrant a response. He doesn’t even know how long the suspension is for!

According to the server rules, these are the behaviors that warrant an account suspension:

-Scamming;

-Lying to, or attempting to deceive Elysium staff;

-Abuse of in-game bugs;

-Organized killing for farming rank and/or honor;

-Griefing on World Bosses.

On the other hand, what he did, “Racist or offensive sentiments”, falls under the warning category, except in the case of repeat offenses and after a warning has been given.

Now I’m not looking to start an argument about whether calling someone a nazi should be against the rules, because at the end of the day that doesn’t matter. The server admins have the right to decide what is and is not allowed. Where I have a problem is the lack of professionalism by the GMs not following their own posted rules and procedures. My friend should have been given a warning by a GM, after which he would apologize and move on with his life because he is a reasonable person. Instead, he received a ban with no explanation.

There are a couple of obvious responses to this. You might argue that we’re overreacting to what is after all a temporary punishment, but many of us have had terrible experiences on other private servers with GMs overstepping their authority and banning people for minor infractions and with no explanation. People are not going to want to invest time into a character or a community if they’re afraid they’ll lose it because they ran afoul of some guy on a power trip.

In addition, I understand that this is a free server that is staffed by volunteers. That doesn’t mean the GMs should not have clear guidelines to follow for what I imagine is a pretty common occurrence, and be held accountable for their behavior if they “go rogue” and ban people without proper cause.

Just because the server is free doesn’t mean we shouldn’t all strive to make it the best experience possible, and part of that is giving constructive feedback to the gamemasters. I have the highest respect for you guys and I’ve had great experiences with GMs helping me with bugs in the past. But ultimately people will vote with their feet if they don’t think the server is being run in a fair way.

[Hudson 16]

It's the banned player's responsibility to post a ban appeal to find out why they were banned. Until they find out why, this entire thread is just speculation.

[Guest]

See https://forum.elysium-project.org/topic/48126-policy-on-bans-and-temporary-bans/