A better Vote Abuse Punishment

Since yesterday banned users can no longer vote, thus automatically 7 days lose of voting if you're caught vote abusing.

 

So I've told this to quite a few players already, but I'll make it official.

At the end of the day, as an administrator, I am personally here to help players, not to ban or frame them. Despite being the only developer working on the source code for nearly a year now, this server is not about me, but it has everything to do about the community. Alone, I can say that I've easily put in at least 3000 hours into this (which is already more than a full time job would be over the course of a full year), and I don't earn a cent (to be quite honest, I've probably lost money from some of the stuff I had to buy when we first started, but that's not important at all).

I don't play a legit, not because it's something I don't want to do, but rather because I personally believe that as long as there is still work that needs to be done, my time should be spent on those things. I choose to put in the work because, everybody here shares a common interest, and I try my best to provide a high quality product that links together those players with that common interest. I've met players from all over the world, ranging from the age of 10-50 and I take pride in the fact that I've been able to make a difference in people's lives regardless of how small it may be. Some may only be here for the gameplay and few hours of fun, but I know that the majority of players are here because of the connections that they've been able to make with others (friends, spouses, complicated relationships, etc). At the core, this is the big picture of what MapleLegends is for.

It is because of this mindset that I choose to give second chances. Would it save me exponentially more time to just permanently ban everyone? Yes. However, I am understanding of why people do certain things. I don't consider vote abuse to be in the same category as hacking or packet editing. Have I tried all three before? Yes. The major difference, in my opinion, is that while hacking and packet editing explicitly give you an advantage (whether that be through easier/faster leveling, access to unobtainable content, or just allows you to be a massive douchebag who enjoys ruining the game for others - seriously you have to be a massive dick to packet edit), vote abuse only provides an implicit advantage. In many cases, I do believe that players may not even be aware of the fact that they're doing something wrong when they abuse the voting process. I felt the exact same way when I first started playing private servers. I can honestly say that at the time, I simply thought I was helping the server out by voting more often and getting it more popular, while also being able to look good on both of my characters.

Had I been permanently banned that time, I probably would never have stayed in the private server community long enough to get to where I am today, which contributes to the fact that I am more understanding about everybody else. I see a lot of me in those players. At the end of the day, the goal of the ban is not to shame anyone. It is simply an avenue through which I hope a lesson is learned, not just on our server, but also in life. It's not like I haven't personally tried to take shortcuts before in life. I can tell you that when I was younger, I once tried to cheat a system and got caught doing it. Lost about $200 which was a lot to me at the time. What bothers me now however was that after I got caught, rather than admit that I made a mistake (which I knew I did), I tried lying to cover it up, which is never the right approach. As I said earlier, my goal as an administrator is to help players, and in order for me to do that, I need players to be comfortable being honest with me. I've read so many appeals over the past few days that I have pretty much heard the same story 50 times. While some of them are true, the majority are clearly not. Our logging is detailed enough that it is very easy to check whether or not a player's story is true or false. In fact, pretty much every appeal from a player who has at the very least been truthful and has not abused to a severe extent has had their ban lifted (although NX has been wiped of course). In my mind, if players learn their lesson, the ban has served its purpose, which is why I lift it early. If players keep denying and trying to convince me that our clear proof is not correct, then I think that the extra days away are still needed to reflect on it.

At the end of the day, the community is the most important aspect of MapleLegends. I do consider every player to be an important piece of the puzzle. Each player is connected to another in an intricate web and if one piece is removed, it does cause a ripple effect across the whole web. Additionally, if I choose to act like I'm royalty (shots fired Johnny!) and permanently ban everybody for something I've personally done when I was in the same situation, then I would consider myself to be a hypocrite. That's why MapleLegends is the land of second chances.

 

What Navi said is pretty much how I handle things as well.

There's quite a bit of people I gave a second chance, one mostly known would be @LunchBox, which was banned and kindly asked me for a second chance, while showing and promising he wanted play on the server. His account stayed banned, but his MAC + IP ban got lifted, thus given a second chance. Now he contributed a tool that a lot use now. Without the unban, it probably never came to be.

I hate banning people. Some people already know I am on the kind side regarding punishing abusers on minor offences (ex: Harassment). I like to talk to the person first and not just go ban happy because someone said "asshole" once to someone, unless its something major (ex: family insults, death threats).

There's so many other choices you can do than just ban. No one is perfect and everyone has issues with things. Some get angry easier, some have difficulty with communicating, etc. You need give those users a chance too. Some may had a bad day and blew up on someone. It happens. Instead of instant reporting him, try understand the person may had a bad day or try find out why he did that to you for no reason. Once you understand the reason you may actually feel bad for the person.

As a community manager I've already met a lot of people, some very interesting people, and I love talk to such people, because I can learn what goes on mind on such people, learning understand why people act like that, etc, which is why I am overall also a very talkative person in-game. I've been Administrating/GMing 5 years in total now (4 years being in a different game), and I don't regret anything of it. I've learnt a lot, and I will take it all with me. How much money did I got out of it? Nothing. I don't do this for money, I have a real life full time job; that's where I get my money. I have enough to buy myself a pet turtle. That's all I need.

I am the same as you guys. I play this game to make friends, and to have fun. It may not look like it, but I already met a lot of fantastic people in this server, and I am very glad to have met you all. The past days I am not that much in-game, but that is simply because I took a small semi break, while still working behind-the-scene.

I know this is not really related to vote abusing, but after Navi's post, I wanted get it out of way.

Last but not least that wrap everything up is pretty much a quote in the ban appeal sticky:

This 100% applies for me and Navi. When you appeal your ban, tell the truth, we know everything you did. If you tell the truth, the chance is there we consider a second chance, or an earlier unban, once you have accepted the things you have done wrong, and promise not to do them again.

This is all I want get out of way for now.

Its now 4:17 AM and a Monday and I haven't slept yet. I really need to now, but I am probably already dead once I have to wake up at 8 AM

~Kim