Laser9 - Staff Report: Enforcement Action Taken - Segrain
What’s your BYOND key:
Laser9
Round ID:
22943
Your character name:
Jake Richards / ZED
Their BYOND key:
Segrain
What are you reporting?:
Enforcement Action Taken
Description of the incident:
This report concerns me receiving an unjustifiable permaban from Segrain. My xeno name is the one that’s relevant to the round, but I included my human name as it’s a total permaban. To sum up what happened in-game, I played a lurker who acted mostly neutral towards a CLF survivor who was being hostile towards marines. There was a runner who pounced the survivor and slashed them a few times. I claimed that the survivor was mine and that I was using them, and the runner left. As the survivor appeared to not be overtly violent to me, I transported them around the map and gave them chances to pick up various equipment, while teaching them about some of the equipment in LOOC and how to use it effectively. I happened to run into the rest of the CLF surv team (single synth and another surv) who were engaged in some kind of discussion (maybe an interrogation?) with several marines. They saw I was holding the CLF surv with me, and I left with that surv while attacking some marines who were roaming behind. While going around the map with the surv I made several stops at where the CLF team was holed up in order to keep an eye on them, and there were a few periods of time where I may have left my captive surv with them temporarily. I tried to make it clear to the other survs ICly that I was simply using them as I see fit, and that I was not an ally with them (as well as implying that I’d kill them all if they cause me trouble). I also saw the synth shocking doors, so I tried to avoid angering them too much as I knew they could potentially stunlock me (either with nearby doors or pounce blocking) and kill me. My overall IC intention was to be able to pit the captive surv against some easy marine targets, and then dispose of them (probably kill/capture) after marines are wiped, although I never actually ended up doing any of that, and spent most of the time roaming around the map and just engaging in RP. The captive surv eventually appeared to be unresponsive (possibly AFK or dealing with staff), and not wanting to ruin their round by immediately ditching/killing them, I put them next to the other survs and kept watch to see if they become responsive again so I can continue my plan. I was then PMed by Segrain, initiating my discussion with them on what was happening (during this discussion I ceased messing with survs so I can more efficiently communicate with Segrain). One important thing to note is that I wasn’t ordered to immediately kill or capture those survs. If I was (by either the queen or a hive leader), then I would have done so, as I’d be required to.
That’s basically the relevant information on what happened in-game. This is to the best of my memory, as I can’t remember every specific detail. Regarding my conversation with Segrain, I tried to be as polite and friendly as I can, as I always am in staff PMs. From my perspective, Segrain seemed to be quick to adopt a hostile and accusatory tone towards me, and seemed to imply that I was either lying to them or hiding information from them. I invited them to ask about anything and did my best to answer all their questions. I tried to be brief in my answers as I didn’t want to take up Segrain’s time unnecessarily (as I do with any other staff members) and I suspect this might have been misconstrued by Segrain as me hiding something though I never had any intention to do so. I explained how I like to help other people have more fun and interesting rounds by RPing with them and creating situations that could be a break from the usual monotony of a round. I inquired as to what was wrong with my actions and if I could improve them, and Segrain informed me that they had consulted with management and would be issuing permabans to both me and the surv that I had, and that I had engaged in metagaming/metacommunication. I didn’t have much of a chance to address metagaming/metacommunication before they applied the ban.
What I’ve written so far is just to describe what happened in the round, including my interaction with Segrain. The rest of this report will describe my reasons for submitting this in the first place.
To start off, I was very surprised that Segrain would be handing out permabans for what has happened. Regarding my ban reason, it is for metagaming/metacommunication, and I disagree that those would apply, and that my actions would be more closely related to xeno roleplay standards. Regarding metacommunication, Segrain said I was teaching the surv about the equipment in LOOC. However, in the rules, teaching game mechanics is explicitly listed as not metacommunication. I enjoy teaching other players about items and how to use them, as well as effective tactics. I’m thinking in this situation, the fact that I’m teaching someone on a different team than mine is factoring into Segrain’s interpretation of the rules, but I don’t see any rule saying you can’t teach someone who’s not on the same team as you. I’ve had multiple situations in the past where people would be throwing molotovs at my character, and I would give them tips in LOOC on how to make them more powerful. I never had any issues around that. Regarding metagaming, the only thing I could think of that Segrain is linking to that is me knowing where some of the good map loot is, but that’s just public knowledge, and rounds always start off with survs rushing to grab the loot and xenos rushing to melt it, so I don’t see how that would support a ban. My ban note also mentions I prevented other xenomorphs (plural) from killing/capturing the surv, but in fact there was only a single runner I ran into in the beginning, as I have previously described. The note mentioned me returning the surv to the rest of its team unharmed, but I never had any intention of just leaving them there so they could simply join their team.
Regarding the permaban itself, it is extreme overkill. I don’t believe that Segrain used proper judgment, and I find it very hard to believe that they followed the proper investigative procedures, which I’m sure involves checking playtime and notes. I have several thousand hours of playtime (I believe a bit over 100 of which as observer but I can’t remember that exactly), and in all my playtime I’ve only had 2 notes from years ago (unless there’s confidential ones I can’t see): 1 for being near the frontline as a larva, and 1 for putting a monkey inside wired barricades as a surv. That’s it. Any staff member should be able to see that history and conclude that I’m a generally well-intentioned player. I do like to engage in more roleplay than most people, and I do like to give other people opportunities to RP in order to create a fun experience. As far as I knew, my playstyles were generally well-received and welcomed by other players who were receptive to it. Even disregarding the RP aspect, I enjoy playing in unconventional ways and using unusual tactics to achieve objectives. Also, outside direct gameplay (though I don’t expect most in-game staff to know this), I’ve probably submitted more bug reports than just about anyone else, as well as making a few minor codebase contributions. The only reasoning I’m mentioning that is just to show that I’m not the typical kind of person to get slammed with a permaban.
One other point I have about Segrain applying a permaban, is that I know that there’s a ban escalation system in place, and that permabans are usually given to players who are evading existing bans. That makes me think my permaban is ridiculous, as I’ve never been banned before and have a negligible note history with more playtime than a lot of other people. Segrain also mentioned that they consulted with management on this. I don’t know to what extent management was consulted. I also don’t know what the implication of that would be in terms of other staff members being involved or who this report is against, but I’m leaving that up to whoever handles this report to sort out.
Regarding handing out bans in general, I’m under the impression that they’re applied when a player is unwilling to change their behavior. If Segrain wanted me to make changes to my behavior, all they had to do was simply tell me. I even suggested to them that if I had indeed broken a rule, they could clarify what I can’t do and leave me a note (I suggested this before they ever mentioned anything about banning me).
I thought I had a decent reputation in the community and I find it hard to accept a permaban like this. If this permaban really is justified, then I’d like a brief statement as to why it is, and I’ll accept it and leave. If my permaban does get changed/removed, then I would like to ask that the permaban for the CLF surv player is also reconsidered, as that would only be fair. I’m not sure if that’s technically outside the scope of this report, but I figured it’s worth a mention since it’s part of the same incident.
To whoever is handling this staff report, I appreciate you putting in the effort to do so, and I appreciate your time. I apologize if this is a bit long. I don’t enjoy filling out this stuff; I just wanted to make sure to include relevant info. Feel free to ask me about anything.
Have a nice day.
Evidence:
You should have access to any relevant server logs and info. I am also including my ban message here:
Banned by host: Reason: Metagaming, metacommunication. As lurker prevented other xenomorphs from killing/capturing a CLF survivor, proceeded to personally devour said survivor, carried it around the map for 30 minutes, pointed out to it assorted loot and explained what good it is via LOOC, then returned said survivor to the rest of CLF team unharmed. When questioned, tried to justify it as “kept them around so they can continue shooting marines”. Expires: PERMANENT By: segrain