By: Sawtooth_ Issue: Too many times I see someone do or say something wrong and immediately get threatened with being banned. I believe its a bit childish on the moderators side to jump right to that, and I also see that the person who caused the issue can over react as well, making things even worse. So here are a few suggestions. New ideas: This will be long, so grab a cup and smoke em' if ya got em'. I am a new comer to ECC although I'm in my very late 40's and Ive been a gamer for many many years. I am perplexed at how many accounts come and go through ECC. its like a revolving door. I think some of the problem may be that the staff's only response to inappropriate behavior is to ban someone or give them a warning of being banned. Not only is that threat used far too often, ( I think I counted 7 times with different players in a 4 hour window) it is often used too aggressively, when it doesn't need to be. I know that I wouldn't want to risk any money Ive invested into a game in which I could be banned for any reason at any moment. Nor would I get involved in heavy role playing if the people I'm trying to pull into my game are going to shut me down completely. And, I more than likely would go away to other games /servers and have nothing good at all to say about ECC, even if I knew it was my fault to begin with. Therefore, Id like to offer some ideas that might help ECC retain its accounts and promote a steady growth rate. (Please note that I will refer to accounts rather than players as I see that some of the people who've been banned are coming back with different accounts and others have multiple accounts, therefore are really the same player.) Banning or the threat of being banned: This should be a last resort. it should not be the first thing you do. If an account does something wrong- chat abuse, stealing/griefing etc., then they should be offered a chance to make things right and to pay a penalty prior to coming back to good standing. It takes a bit of coding, but here are the alternatives I am suggesting. #1)Fix the chat system, and then remove the ability to even chat at all for a while. If a player abuses chat, then take it away from them. You can also suspend or remove TS privileges for a while. The chat system is really what makes the multi player part of this game. Turning it off for that account for a while should give them time to think about what they did and work their way back to being able to use it again. Chat ban for weekly increments depending upon the severity of the issue. (May also consider actual chat rooms rather than different colors for different chat areas. I don't think its working all that well. Also- remove the cuss words from the chat, then the players can't cuss eve if they wanted to. Last nights chat was like a drunken sailors convention.) #2) revoke the abilities to use any or all feature packages for a period of time. #3) Jail (this is my favorite!) Another game I used to play had a jail. Rule breakers would be sent to a little 10X10 room and await a moderator "discussion" about the bad behavior. It could take hours to have this discussion (mods would leave you there for a while so both sides would cool down) The account may have to wait until the next day to talk to an admin, and in that discussion the admin would dole out any of the following: Chat bans for x weeks sit in jail for x days (real life days) *Jail with hard labor* Jail with hard labor includes giving the player a task to complete while serving out their sentence. An account may only have to do the labor part to get out, or they may have to serve time AFTER doing the labor. EX1) A double chest is filled with cobblestone. (54*64=3465 items) The player has to craft the cobblestone into walls, then fill a second chest with the walls. There is a total amount of walls to go through. say 100,000. or for really bad people, 1,000,000(several hours) EX2) Have a blind area surrounding them, have items spawn randomly, and fill the chest with those items until its full. in Either case, have the mod empty the chest and they can do it again as many times as their sentence was set for. Now, just because that task is complete doesn't mean they are automatically brought back into the game. they can still have time to finish, or come back with a chat ban in effect, or even other sanctions. #4) The public ban appeal forum needs to be private. No matter how much money I spend on a game, I would not have it held over my head and publicly humiliate myself by begging my way back in just for the amusement of others. I have more respect for myself than that and would move on to another game or server. In conclusion: I believe that if these things (or similar) could be instated rather than to threaten people with being banned right from the start, then more accounts would stay active here for a longer time. I think it would continue through word of mouth and invite more people to play this server. Thanks for your time
This is economy. So although punishment is harsh many of them come for good reasons. You don't get banned instantly. Most likely the players that you see get banned have been warned several times and or griefed and so fourth. As for the Jail that just gives more work to staff upholding jail and it is easier for staff to abuse jail and mute.
Actual explicit threats to ban on first warning? This is the first time I've heard/seen of that in 2 years. The last person I saw doing that got demoted pretty quickly. You might not realize how many times we have to warn some people. I know some people who would get warned multiple times in an hour, and still don't get banned. If anything, we're not harsh enough.
Ok, then why is it being said? just the fact that it is said so often leads me to the suggestion. Don't get me wrong, I am not a trouble maker. but I have the experience of working with different games and different groups of people to know that these type of suggestions are positive solutions to maintain a good community. When you are in an admin position, there are many things that need to be done other than just to watch chat, and you don't have time to answer everyones questions at the snap of a finger. I know, Ive been there. Try this. Do a word count on haw many times the word "ban" comes up in 1 hour of chat. If there are other alternatives to bad behavior, they are not being brought up at all. My suggestions add other possible solutions. And honestly, I don't see any lazy or abusive staff members staying on as staff for very long if they were to abuse any of these, too many ways to communicate any concerns of being ignored. These suggestions enable staff to have more leeway in their disciplinary actions ( chat ban is a really good example. quick, temporary, and effective in maintaining the family atmosphere) I will say that it takes organization, and dedication to make it all work, and I have no clue about the code necessary, but it is just some suggestions.
I've searched through all the chatlogs from the last 5 days that radthorne (my bot that's always online) has collected, and not a single instance of staff threatening with bans has been found. The closest thing was "-1 would ban". 90% of the word "ban" is from users. To be more exact, the word "ban" was mentioned in 107 messages over the course of 3 days, from the 28th of august through the 31st of august. Of which 12 were mentions by staffmembers. I can't see what exactly it is you're referring to.
You know, it all was only a suggestion. people can either take it, or they can leave it. I saw last night all the cussing, all the chat horseplay and bantering, and many times the word "ban" came up. It came up enough for me to reply in chat about it. It doesn't matter to me if it was users or not. I especially don't understand the nickname thing. People will abuse it to death, and there's only one solution which I'm sure no one wants. anyway, again, its a suggestion. Thank you for your thoughts though.
If someone gets banned for the first time they get unbanned 99% of the time if the just put a little bit of effort in the appeal. On ECC a ban isn't as crucial as it is on other servers.
