Ban Appeal Options

[MrSpooks]

Hi,

I was banned a few days ago from your 64 player server. I think I, and a few others TKd an admin. I was just goofing around at the end of a losing match. Never had a problem on the server before, never intentionally TKed an admin before. In fact this is the first time I've been banned on Chivalry and I've been playing for years.

I apologise if I pissed the guy off, and I won't do it again. But a warning would be have been nice before the insta-ban. Either way, I'm sorry and I'd like to play with you guys again.

Hope there isn't any hard feelings.

Steam ID: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Mrspooks1

Thanks,
Karl

[MrSpooks]

You might be wondering why I’ve literally written a short essay; well it’s because I’ve never been banned from anything before. I know I can’t prove that to you, but I’m being honest. This is why I made the appeal, because while I know it’s just a game it still reflects badly on me. I want to apologise and make amends. I want to correct my mistakes. I can’t do that while banned, so buckle down because below are the problems I have with my permanent ban.

1. What happened?

For every ones benefit I’ll reiterate what happened before I was banned. The map we were playing on was Outpost, we were at the final stage at the match and I was playing on Agatha. The match was not going well, I had recently returned to playing the game and I was playing really poorly. Towards the end of the match, some others and I began goofing around at the spawn. We were stabbing each other and random players. I saw what appeared to be an AFK Man-At-Arms standing outside the spawn and I TKed him with a short sword. Why did I do this? Why do people do stupid things? Usually, it is for no good reason. I remember being quite bored and frustrated and at the time I found the goofing about amusing. About roughly a minute before the end of the match and just after I TKed the MAA that turned out to be Darwin, (I didn’t even know it was an admin until it popped up in the scrolling text) I was immediately banned.

2. The Warning, (or lack thereof).

A verbal warning is commonly used on gaming servers; it’s fine for sneaky monkeys not to have one. However I was initially shocked after the ban that it came without any warning or words from the admin.

If Darwin had given me a chance to apologise even in-game with a verbal warning then I would of stopped what I was doing and apologised, and we would not be here.

As Bucket pointed out earlier in the thread, a verbal warning is not necessarily needed as the player is informed of the rules on the message you receive upon entering the server. There is a problem with the M.O.T.D warning; only racism is specific with a permanent ban. Intentional TKing is a rule but it is vague and unspecific about the cost of breaking such a rule. This opens the door to arbitrary bans, which in some cases, as seen on this appeal forum, may be temporary or in my case totally permanent after a single offense. The issue is not that the rules aren’t clear, the punishment is not clear.

I had to go hunting within the SM policies PDF to find the exact ruling on intentional TKing, which states; “a player intentionally TK’s they may be warned, kicked or banned.” (2. Server Rules). I was not warned, I was not kicked; I was immediately banned outright, permanently. Sure, this could be justified as Darwin’s choice of punishment but as punishment for a first offense, without a chance to make amends or any verbal warning, I would say a permanent ban is heavy handed and off-the-cuff, especially when a temporary ban is also an option.

3. Not very pleasant, or professional admin conduct.

I realise this is the Internet and sneaky monkeys isn’t a professional body. It is a clan of gamers who play a game. However by running a server for free you are essentially running a service. Your service is monitored by admins who are expected to follow a set of rules, have the power to ban and make decisions; therefore you have an element of governance and punishment. You have this appeal forum for appeals to said punishment. So when I wrote an appeal I was expecting at least the base level of professional behaviour from the Sneaky Monkeys team. I have seen the admins be professional and polite! I have seen them be so even in the face of abuse from other banned individuals and rise above the casual trolling!

However I have not been afforded the same response towards racists and trolls, my only response was:

The ban stays (same goes for the other two guys of the group who also got banned after they hunted me down) kthxbye

This is neither a constructive or professional response as seen from other admins. It does not give any valid reasoning for my ban, nor does it inform other admins of what actually happened so they’re unable to pass judgement. ‘kthxbye’ is actually just rude, now I didn’t come here expecting sunshine and roses and I am open to banter, but when I’m looking for a valid response from the admin who banned me I expected more. I wouldn’t treat Darwin or any other staff members like this, so I do not want to be treated like that back.

“If you are acting as admin, please try to keep personal abuse to a minimum
and keep matters as fair and mature as possible when performing admin
duties.” -6. General Admin, SM Policies.

4. Genuine apology not considered.

I’ve made several apologies in this thread, I’ve admitted my guilt and have given reasoning as to why Darwin, (or the team), should accept me back. I’ll reiterate them here:

• I have learnt my lesson; I know that I was being foolish and not fair person to play with and for that I am sorry.

• I want to prove to you that I am a fair person to play with. I can’t do that while banned.

• I want to rebuild trust. I don’t enjoy hostility and I detest the culture of abuse on the Internet, I want to be friendly with the admins and set an example to players.

• I believe in second chances. Forgiveness is one of the best human traits. I don’t want to sound pious, but when someone genuinely wants to make amends for what they did then I would let him or her do that.

Because the team must refer to Darwin as per the rules my apologies or my appeals, to my knowledge, have not been adequately considered, as Darwin is nowhere to be seen in this thread. If he can respond to this post stating his side of what happened and why he thinks that a permanent ban is justified for this case then I might let the issue go and move on. In the meantime Darwin hasn’t and I must take ‘kthxbye’ as my response. Therefore I am going to continue this so long as the thread remains open and my questions, and issues remain unanswered.

If you got to the bottom of this, I thank you for your time.
All the best,
Karl