Registered Member #191
Joined: 2:06:27 pm GMT 07/31/04
Posts: 443
Just a quick question (or three) with regard to banning players from the server and the process(es) involved. I did a quick search of the fora and the FAQs on the topic with mixed results. There's a bit about Thain's "Golden Rule" (don't ruin/mess-with others' fun) in the FAQs and some old forum threads (c. 2005-2007) about exploiting game mechanics or bugs. Heck, I've probably broken both those "rules" numerous times myself over the years I've played here (disrupting another player's "immersion" with OOC behavior, finding "easy" ways to avoid nasty NPCs/monsters or to get that "phat lewt", meta-gaming, etc.)
Hence my questions.
1. Do the Admins/DMs have a clear or working list of what is a bannable offense or is what constitutes an offense simply at their whim in the moment?
1a. Is OOC behavior enough to warrant a server ban?
1b. Are warnings issued to the offending player(s) before a ban is issued?
2. My search revealed that server bans are (or used to be) voted on by the Admins/DMs. Is this still the case? Or can a single DM now "swing the Ban Hammer" at their own discretion?
Forum Admin Registered Member #623
Joined: 6:43:48 am GMT 10/01/05
Posts: 4996
Hey Zhymm,
So to start off, we don't really post our ban guidelines publically because they are the same as our rule guidelines. It's not something our players should need to be concerned with. Second, there isn't really a hard guideline because player behavour doesn't fit nicely into specific baskets. Someone could have all the best intentions, but their actions are ruining the fun for others. Someone could have terrible intentions, and log on with only the intent to distrupt or 'troll' but their actions are subtle and not easily punished if going by hard guidelines. We react in both cases, issuing warnings and discussing matters with players one on one to resolve issues.
To answer your questions directly;
1) The working list is the same as our rules. There is no 'whim of the moment' in bans. Bans require multiple warnings over a long period of time. The only time we will ban someone on the first offence is for illegal activity.
1a.) OOC behavour is usually the only thing that leads to a ban. Someone's in character behavour is never considered. Breaking rules, being a jerk, trolling/griefing players are all OOC choices someone makes.
1b) A player will always get warnings and multiple clear indications their behavour needs to change track. We keep this recorded on the DM boards so that we can make decisions based on data. Having a serious warning does not follow you around forever, too! Those warnings fall off naturally as player behavour changes. We make efforts to note when we see someone turning a new leaf, as well.
2) Bans are voted on by the staff as a whole and we want a 2/3rd majority. The only exception is for illegal activity on our boards or in game.
To sum up; Players who have been banned have been misbehaving for a longer period of time. There's never a crystal clear line of when enough's enough. Players who have received warnings and have continued misbehaving will be banned. If you are at all concerned about your own standing on the server; don't be. If you were in trouble, you would know, and we'd be working with you to correct any problems.
I'll cap this off by saying... ban votes are rare, for Thain. Our ban list of non-bots is under 20 people in 15 years. There have been a couple of high-profile ones, or ones that came later than they should, but a ban is our absolute last choice when it comes to player punishment.
Forum Admin Registered Member #623
Joined: 6:43:48 am GMT 10/01/05
Posts: 4996
No problem I'm happy to be transparent where we can with our processes. I will leave this thread up for now because others might be curious too! While it's a rare process there's no real documentation on the public boards what we do.
If anyone has any other questions about this or other ways the staff handle issues, please don't hesitate to talk to us or post here. We will never discuss specific instances (out of respect for those involved) but we can always give general information.