The reason why our ToS needs to change

I am going to preface this by saying that I'm overall very pleased with the way the server is moderated. I have disagreed with a few bans, and called for some things to become actionable, but when I look objectively at the size of the server and the amount of not OK stuff that goes on (a very small amount), it's actually quite amazing that everything is as chill and drama free, relatively speaking, as it is. It is a far cry away from most other games and even other MS pservers.

So in light of that, I think topics like this are hard to address. On one hand, harsh punishment is not needed in an environment where most people are not belligerent or consistently breaking rules. On the other hand, I have to wonder how much of the atmosphere of the server comes down to strict moderation. That being said, I rarely see people I know getting banned unfairly or even really interacting negatively with staff. So I don't understand why some people feel that there needs to be harsher punishment and more punishment or, similarly, that there is a lot drama and bans going around. I really have to wonder what people are getting up to that they get involved in this stuff

I have to disagree with this point. Outright inconveniencing people, repeatedly, and handicapping their ability to effectively play the game could be just as effective as a permanent ban. It's more work for GMs, which is a totally valid reason to not take this approach, but it does allow people a second, third, fourth chance. I think Alyosha had a good idea: just cap it out at a month or something but require less evidence and allow less leeway for repeat offenders.

 

More policy. More things to manage. More rules to follow. More reasons to be concerned about some unsolicited ban. When you have the ability to rule case by case, complex policies only make things difficult for all parties.

 

why only answering a single point? There are so many other stuff being discussed. The effect of skarmory on the game was nothing like what Project used to be in 2016. You could check in his tribute, how important he was to the community. However, this is not the main point of the discussion. Staff can't use leaks from private discord to permanently ban people, leaks that weren't meant to be shared. This creates a hostile envoriment of permanent sense of persecution. If staff chat gets leaked won't there be any community harsment ban material? I bet that it would. The same goes to any private discord of friends. Not talking about boss, MapleLegends or dm discord. Staff can't act like north korea and police what people say inside their homes at the mercy of informers. This rulling brought more bad feeling in the community in geral than good as you could notice criticism comming even from your own staff members and so many other players who can't swallow what happened

 

For starters, I think it's really easy to not harass or bully others. If you are consistently being accused of such actions then perhaps you are contributing to the problem. However, I do think the wording of subsection 3.3.3 of the ToS is less than desirable. My main, and really only issue, being this line specifically:

2. A series of repeated actions or recurring behavior across various platforms or different points in time
​

I find it completely unreasonable to try and police actions outside of the MapleLegends platform. As per the Terms of Service, the MapleLegends platform is defined as:

MapleLegends Platforms = Collectively referring to the MapleLegends Discord, MapleLegends Forums, and MapleLegends Server (in-game)
​

I think that it's entirely fair to hand out bans and other infractions for those individuals harassing others within the MapleLegends platform. Policing outside the jurisdiction of that platform is dangerous. In an era of "fake news" and artificial intelligence, it's becoming harder to decipher what is legitimate and what is not. If you are accepting evidence from any platform then I feel like that can lead to more "false positive" infractions and general deception.

Why does the legends staff care what people are doing outside of their platform?

 

While understanding and semi agreeing with any form of harrassment would be punishable, I respectfully disagree that more things to manage would cause a loss of active player base.

The TOS is a foundation or a form of agreement that we all have to follow. With that, I also assume that all staff agrees to deal with all the details that comes with it, since they posted it officially. So I don't think it's not something that a player has to deal with while playing the game and quit the game.

I just hope I understood the point you made correctly.

 

I understand and agree that 'having a good impact on community' isn't a pass to harass. The point is what staff is considering harrassment. I just broght Skarmory topic to discuss more of the points that are beeing presented on the post as a general

 

I agree with this stance. I would like to add that harassment that carries over into the ML platform even by referring to it with probably malicious intent should still count (e.g. you call someone a racist slur in the guild discord and then ingame you tell them "i still stand by what I said in the guild discord" that's still messed up and should result in an appropriate consequence.)

 

I don’t know entire story of either skarmony or Project, but just become one was “accepted” in the past doesn’t mean it should be now.

I, however, do feel that the tribute for him is not a true reflection of who he is and what he did. Before that thread came out, all I knew of him was: 1. He was a very dedicated player and pushed the boundaries of BM. 2. He was at the core of many conflicts with many players.

Personally I have nothing against him and neither can I say what I heard about him was the only truth. I’m sure he was a nice and caring person to some. But at the end of the day, his behavior got him to where he is now.

There probably was a reason that he was banned and you were not, as you also did a lot for the community. Whether the ban was reasonable is up to interpretation. You don’t have to agree with it, but unless you can convince the staff otherwise, you are going to have to accept it.

 

What I wanted to mean is that it's not about looking at one's contribution to the community. It's about having fair and reasonable rules. Skarmory was permanently banned on all of his mains for community harassment due to leaks from his own guild discord. However, he didn't have enough strikes to justify a permanent ban at that time. What I'm defending here is not just about Skarmory; it's mainly about staff rulings that can affect any player. It's about an overly moderated game environment by the staff, which results in a significant sense of insecurity among a large part of the players, even from Staff members who didn't agree with the decision

 

I’m sure it does. I’m neither a guild leader, strong, or host anything. So I won’t know the drama that comes with it as you say. But the things I hear about has nothing to do with either of those facts. Details I won’t go into here, but if you’re interested you can message me.

 

Retired staff is not obliged to keep on behaving in a professional manner, so they can (more) freely express their own personal opinions and no longer have to be completely objective. Their personal opinions as retired staff do not reflect the way staff thinks or is related to how current staff handles their things. It is what it is, a personal opinion.

Now the other part of your reply I do agree with. I wish people would atleast try to resolve issues themselves before running to the forums for a report. Sometimes its a simple misunderstanding solved in mere minutes. Saves everyone time and a shitty mood honestly! Unfortunatly once reports are made, regardless of how petty, staff has to do something with it (which could also end up in "this isnt enough to act on, report closed" kind of response). Its not ideal, but theres not much that can be done about it really.

 

I can see your concern, and I agree it can be unclear in the ruling. Was there no strikes prior to his permanent ban? This is a simple question for staff.

 

Very much agreed...

...with this statement.


I honestly don't think that people should be accounted for their actions outside of ML platforms, unless the affected party is being harrassed within ML platforms or the issue is being dragged into one of these platforms.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that people can freely harrass anyone in anywhere, but every platform has their own internal ruleset along with the platforms' own TOS.

I believe the confusion here can be corrected by stating this in a more clear way in the TOS, because I believe 3.3.3 can be interperated as something happening outside of ML still binds players within here, which I believe is not the intention of that section.

 

he had 1 strike in ea part of the ruling. 1 harass, 1 griefing and 1 mass griefing. At the time the rule would require 3 bans in one section to proc a permanent ban