Spiral Knights - Unnecessary bans

Unnecessary bans

11 replies [Last post]

Sun, 10/23/2011 - 20:29

Engie

Mods, you need to chill out. I have been banned twice now, both for dumb reasons.

The first time, I posted a picture of me wearing some unreleased armor on the forums. The link was very plainly labeled "Spoilers" to warn players, and all the equipment was PUBLICLY AVAILABLE in the game files. I can kind of understand this ban, but the models were PUBLICLY AVAILABLE, from the client itself.

I have just been banned for 2 days for messaging a player "You are a (homophobic slur)" once. And that ain't against the ToS. When you attempt to report a player, it says "If X has been offensive or harassing and has not stopped when asked, click here to file a complaint." I sent one message to him, ever.

Here are some other dumb bans I found:

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/27072
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/14049
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/22862
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/15304
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/26258

Also, where are these mystical warnings you told us about, Eury?

So, uh, yeah. Chill out, stop giving out unnecessary bans.

GM note: Edited post to remove the word which from OP's description is likely the cause of his suspension. If it's filtered in-game, it should be filtered on the forums, and bigoted slurs of any kind are not acceptable in Spiral Knights. While one is curious as to why the OP felt using a homophobic slur is ever appropriate under any circumstance, to clarify our position as per our TOS:
You agree not to do any of the following prohibited actions:...upload, post, email or otherwise transmit through Spiral Knights any material that (i) is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable.

As per our forum policy, "DO NOT" Post exploits, spoilers, or other sensitive information about the game. This includes all material not currently included in the game, even if it happens to be in the game file. If you felt the need to mark it as a spoiler, one can therefore assume that you believed it to be a spoiler.

Hopefully that addresses your questions as to the legitimacy of any action. I recommend familiarizing yourself with our forum policies and terms of service. As a rule of thumb, they boil down to "be polite". Conduct yourself in-game as you would face-to-face with people, and in all likelihood the situation won't arise again.

Sun, 10/23/2011 - 20:57

Tantarian

Lol

>Break rules
>Complain about bans
>Don't even complain properly, but openly in a public thread
Maybe you should read the rules more carefully.
I predict a third ban for making this thread.
Hm, it seems [delicious meatballs] is wordfiltered but the derivates are drop on use. Weird. I'd expect them all to be the same.

Sun, 10/23/2011 - 20:58

Poetry

You agree not to do any of the following prohibited actions:

"3. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit through Spiral Knights any material that (i) is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;"

"10. "stalk" or otherwise harass another; or"

You transmitted a personal message to a player, referring to him by using the f-word.

Sun, 10/23/2011 - 20:59

Richy

He already got pwned by a GM.

He already got pwned by a GM. I suspect a Eurydice.

Sun, 10/23/2011 - 21:06

Engie

@Tantarin

There is nothing wrong with opening a public thread about a public issue.

@GM: By that logic, the person I insulted should be banned too, as he's a self-righteous boast, and that isn't polite. Maybe you should ban Tantarin, too, as he's being rude. I'd still like to know why I've never heard of anyone get a warning, like Eury mentioned. My first ban was something that a GM, you, had to clear up. For that I should have been given a warning, and had the picture edited out of my post. That seems a lot more logical than "OH MAN HE POSTED SOME STUFF THAT WE PUT UP FOR DOWNLOAD BAN BAN BAN"

Would you mind validating those other dumb bans, please? Can you tell me why nobody was given a warning? Especially those who were doing nothing that was mentioned in the ToS.

Sun, 10/23/2011 - 21:24

Tantarian

It's not a public issue, it's your private issue.
Also I can be "rude" which I'd rather dub as "straightforward" as long as I don't directly insult you or similar.
Read the rules again.

Sun, 10/23/2011 - 21:33

Engie

@Tantarin

Try reading what you're typing out loud, you're being rude.

And when the mods hand out unnecessary and incorrect bans to their players, and they refuse to warn them before banning them, that's a very public issue.

Nothing I posted in that reply was against the rules, so why should I read the rules again?

Sun, 10/23/2011 - 21:45

Buckdida

In response to your

In response to your links...
Reasons for bans:

1st: Spamming
2nd: GM impersonation (This is against the rules in just about any online game, never do it, even as a joke.)
3rd: Joking about underage (under 13 in an online game? Prettt much against the law. OOO is required to take some action, and WILL err on the safe side to avoid legal action from the minor's parents. You *do not* joke about that.)
4th: Swearing/vulgarity
5th: Spamming

All of those are quite clear, and easy to infer from the first post where the person is complaining about a ban that was legitimately made. All of those things are against the ToS. And it's not like the mods go, "Herp derp, there's a complaint, let's ban this guy," there are chat logs and mails that they can look through and review before taking action. I'd be surprised if they didn't do so- it's bad form to ban someone without evidence.

As for the 6th link, your warning *is* the ToS, which you agree to before you start playing. It's a rough policy, but one that does work. And, "Be Polite," is a paraphrase for the rules, not necessarily what the rules ARE. You're just tying to be "smart"- trust me, that's one of the fastest ways to annoy a mod.

However! I will agree with you that it's silly OOO puts things in the game files that aren't supposed to be for public viewing yet- at least, without protecting them in some way. If they have ever looked at what happens to Valve games, they'd know this isn't a good idea. In fact, Valve has had to start encrypting game files that they needed to ship out in order to keep people from digging though them and spoiling them to others. *This doesn't mean that spoiling things is allowed or okay to do.* In the forum policies, it specifically says don't post spoilers of unreleased content. Just take a moment to stop and read those links the GM gave you.

Ah well, live and learn, right? You should tread lightly, or next time you just might get a ban that sticks for good. Don't tell mods to chill out- it's not an easy job, especially with a community this large. Are they perfect? Nah. Nobody is. But when someone gets banned more than once, it might not be a mistake on behalf of a mod. Just something to think about.

Sun, 10/23/2011 - 21:53

Tantarian

Ugh

Thankfully you're not the one that judges what is rude and what not, since your criteria is not good.
Break the rules, get banned, there's nothing to complain about here.
And given this thread was moved to the graveyard (as expected) I'm out of here.

Sun, 10/23/2011 - 22:10

Engie

1st: Spamming If he wasn't in

1st: Spamming
If he wasn't in the trade channel, he probably didn't know how. Rather than banning him, they should have told him about the trade channel.
2nd: GM impersonation (This is against the rules in just about any online game, never do it, even as a joke.)
True, but it's still a dumb ban. The mods probably saw the mail and banned him without knowing the context, which is completely understandable.
3rd: Joking about underage (under 13 in an online game? Prettt much against the law. OOO is required to take some action, and WILL err on the safe side to avoid legal action from the minor's parents. You *do not* joke about that.)
Pretty much the same as above, you make a good point. There's not a snowball's chance in hell that some kid's parents would take legal action on OOO, though.
4th: Swearing/vulgarity
Not even close. He made a joke in poor taste, but it wasn't offensive or deserving of a ban. He shouldn't even have been warned, this ban is just straight up wrong.
5th: Spamming
That's stretching the definition of spam in an MMO. Once a minute isn't excessive, it's not scrolling the chat box or getting in the way. Should've been warned.

As for the 6th link, your warning *is* the ToS, which you agree to before you start playing.
No, did you read what was posted? "you will get dinged with warnings and, if you persist, eventually suspension time."
Eury is obviously not talking about the ToS here.

Sun, 10/30/2011 - 16:31

#10

Gwenyvier

1) If you're spamming people

1) If you're spamming people normally tell you to take it to trade channel before they'll report you for spamming, as it's a fairly common occurrence. If you don't read it and go "How do I use trade channel?" and just continue spamming your stuff, or are spamming it so fast you can't read anybody else's stuff, then it is a lick on you.

2) First rule of online games is you do not pretend to be a GM, 2nd rule of online games is you do not pretend to be a GM! Period, at all, end of story. You do not pretend to be a GM, even jokingly as it will get you banned. Context does apply, but they can only go by the information provided, and if it's one mail then you're out of luck.

3) "There's not a snowball's chance in hell that some kid's parents would take legal action on OOO, though." Wrong, the reason that the clause is in ALL ToS is because it has happened before and is to cover the company's butt. It is the same reason that you see stupid warnings on things... "Caution: Do not leave driver's seat while cruise control is in use." in a RV owner's manual! Why? Because somebody was stupid enough to do it. You have to have a written thing saying no 12 or under players, and enforce it when you get reports of one, or you can get screwed. Probably not actually by the parents, but by the slime lawyer that talks the parents into suing you out of greed.

4) If you're going to be saying something inappropriate, but that the ONE person you're talking to will get try sending it in a private chat, so you don't get reported. It's not that hard to go "people will probably take this the wrong way... maybe I should say it in private". Its the same as if you're telling an inappropriate joke in real life about a certain race. Near the end of the joke a group of people from that race show up... are you going to still say the last part all loud so everybody can hear? Or are you going to say it quietly to your friend so they can get the laugh but you don't insult everybody around you?

5) See 1. Spamming in local (unless in Haven 1 by the AH, where is is deemed acceptable by the general population) or zone will get you reported. Don't do it. The trade chat has a 30 second cooldown for a reason. Saying the same thing over local/zone chat is spamming.

6) OP from that topic "I was having a conversation with someone in the game when a bystander told me not to swear and reported me for offensive chat, and the next day I had a warning on my account for crude language." That is the dinged with warnings that was mentioned. Directly relates to the ToS and Eury's post.

To the OP, ToS (I think, I'm not checking) and forum rules say not to post spoilers of unreleased content. In other words... DON'T DO IT! Slurs for sexual orientation I believe fall under offensive language. You say something that is bad enough, even once, and I believe it can get you a nice temp ban. Would you go up to somebody random on the street and call them that particular f-bomb? Probably not because you'd get decked, the ban is you getting decked... only it takes less time to heal then the black eye the person rl would have given you.

~Gwen

[edit] And this was so not in the Graveyard when I first started writing. C'est la vie.

Sun, 03/18/2012 - 07:38

#11

Evointent

some bans[tht i am with]

some bans[tht i am with] should be for abusive things and vulgar or smething and underage but LOL the thing i HVE noticed is NEVER JOKE AROUND,OR ELSE.........

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Unnecessary bans