Hello,
I would like to appeal a ban that happened to me. It is important to note what occurred prior to the ban for obvious reasons, so I will elaborate.
I began by pulling up my servers list and joining the |LMC| Firing Range !No Attacking! (LMCgaming.com) server. I immediately notice that there are only two people on the server. There were two Iraq players in the game, no marines, and no one else. So, I decide to join the marines and it resets everything (Game Commencing) and it brings all the players back to the spawn like usual, resets the timer, etc. After the countdown to start is finished I see one of the Iraq player’s shoots his teammate and turns towards me as if to shoot as well and I shoot back at him thinking he is spawn killing everyone. Before I can type anything in chat explaining my actions I hear his microphone say, “Hey, he’s my friend and he is away from keyboard. He won’t be bothered if I shoot him.†I immediately reply in chat, “Oh, ok, I am sorry.â€Â
I then go grab a sniper rifle and ammo-up and begin to head for “outsideâ€Â. I go “outside†and head my way down to “Câ€Â. I turn around like I normally would to see if I was being watched or fixing to get shot, but I’m not. I make it to an ammo box between the spawn and “C†and I scope the exit to see if he was following or going to shoot me. I see that he is coming “outside†of the building to shoot me and I quickly start firing away, but I miss through his disco dance-like motions and he runs back towards the “insideâ€Â. Right before he makes it to the “inside†I shoot him. What had happened was he jumped and I shot him in the air, but the sand bags were in front of him and he would not have made it inside on the first jump to begin with and his body falls dead “outsideâ€Â. Immediately I hear on his microphone, “hey, I was insideâ€Â. I type clearly in chat and refute his argument, “no, you were not, I shot you outside and your body is clearly outside as well.†He obviously doesn’t want to hear what I have to say about it and continues to try and argue with me about what is outside and tries quoting the rules to me, which are spamming as he speaks, and which I already knew in the first place. I continue my way to “C†after I had said my peace and he then says something to the effect of (his microphone was cutting out), “I’m getting an adminâ€Â. I don’t argue with him and I think to myself, Hmm, more company would be nice and the administrators can be nice as well to observe the players and pal around with. I also thought it would be nice to have an admin here who could settle the dispute this guy had with me.
I continue to say nothing in chat and I wait to see where he is with the sniper scope. He had run back into the spawn area and gone away from keyboard. After he had said what he had to say about getting an admin someone else joined the server and immediately starts spawn killing him and his away from keyboard friend. At first I say nothing, because the server rules have not spammed yet and maybe he was new to the server. The spawn killing continues and I talk to him about it, but I see he is “outside†and trying to come and shoot me in “C†to where I am. So, I shoot him “outside†instead. He spawns and continues to spawn kill both of the other team players on Iraq side. I assume both of the people he is spawn killing are away from keyboard, because they say nothing. Meaning, the one guy I was talking to alt tabbed out to get an admin. I sit in “C†and just continue to scope the exit and see if anyone comes outside so I can practice sniping on moving targets, which is not against the rules.
About the time the new player was spawn killing for a third time two people join who were obviously administrators and had different names than usual. They joined the server under different names than usual to see whatever they were expecting to see, continuing. They were not using their usual LMC tag names. They were “under the radarâ€Â, so-to-speak. I knew one was obviously an administrator right away, because the name said “Ms. T†and they both had joined at the same time so the other had to be as well, but I had nothing to hide anyway and I continued to wait in “Câ€Â. The person who had joined continued to spawn kill and he gets banned for spawn killing I assume.
A little while after this all happens I hear “Ms. T†say something on the microphone, but it was very choppy and it immediately cuts out and I didn’t understand a word of it. The only thing recognizable was the fact that the voice was female. I type in chat that her microphone is not very good and she says “I don’t careâ€Â. Then I see 3 people standing on the “edge†(wood) through my scope as I wait in “C†behind a wall. Then “Ms. T†says, “If I have to come back I am going to be pissed.†No one says anything on microphone or in chat and then “Ms. T†leaves the game. The other incognito administrator who hasn’t said or done anything that would imply he or she was an admin just waits incognito for something to happen.
Next, someone else joins the game while I am still in “C†and this new player kills the away from keyboard guy who had been in the game from the start. I type in chat, “Ms. T is going to be pissedâ€Â. The new player immediately gets slapped and the incognito administrator reveals his or herself as an administrator and says “don’t kill insideâ€Â. His or her point was made and the game continued as usual, but no one was chatting or using their microphone and no one was target practicing or playing for that matter. The administrator and the guy who had summoned the administrators were just sitting “inside†on the “woodâ€Â. Time goes by and I want to liven up the mood, because I had never heard Trouble on the microphone before even though I had played with an LMC Trouble a couple of times on this very same server, but I heard the faint female voice on the microphone and I immediately thought to myself, Hey, that’s a women’s voice and I have heard KaubaiBoi talk about his wife on several occasions. Maybe that was his wife, I thought. Time continues to go by and nothing happens. No one is disobeying the rules and everyone is basically waiting. It’s just the incognito admin, the now silent guy who argued with me in the beginning, and me. Also, the away from keyboard friend is still away from keyboard. I get the feeling my accuser is waiting for something to happen to me, but nothing does.
Time still continues to go by and I type in chat (addressing it towards my accuser), “Ms. T was probably baking cookies and now you got her all discombobulatedâ€Â. The silence still continues. I get the feeling I’m not wanted, but I get no reply of any kind in chat or through the microphone. I continue to sit in “C†and the incognito administrator and my accuser are sitting on the “wood†and the away from keyboard friend is still away from keyboard. So, I continue to try and break the ice and liven up the mood and type in chat, “I would be willing to bet Ms. T was a Mrs.†I didn’t get to finish typing out my next sentence, which was going to be, “because I think that was KaubaiBoi’s wifeâ€Â, but I immediately got a reply from the incognito administrator in chat saying, “and there it isâ€Â. I typed in chat, “there what is?†and the next thing I know I was banned for “otherâ€Â.
I don’t panic, because I knew I didn’t get to finish my statement and obviously it could have been taken the wrong way without further explanation and could have been perceived as out of context. So, I then do what anyone else would do in my situation. I go to LMCgaming.com and try to find out how long and for what reason I was banned for. I pull up the website and see the link to source-bans on the homepage of LMCgaming.com and proceed to click it. I then look at the ban lists and I don’t see my name. I then look for the person that was banned before me. I don’t see their name either. I think, ok, maybe it has not loaded yet or something. I go grab a drink of water and start rehearsing what happened and what I might say if I had to put it on the forums to plead my case. I stroll back to my computer and check again, nothing. Although I am still banned. So, here I am now, pleading my case.
The whole event, which ultimately leads to me being banned was about 20-30 minutes long. I got no warning of any kind and broke no rules I’m aware of (unless free speech and joke-chat is off limits) and I got banned for what I can only assume is talking about an admin in their absence to try and liven the mood up from what had happened and try to encourage more conversation. It was late and obviously the administrators had been pulled away from something they were doing to settle something, which could have been originally resolved through discourse or through vote kick/vote ban. So, clearly people were tired and maybe they didn’t want to talk. I can understand that. I myself was a little tired.
Maybe I am wrong and there was something I did, but I can’t see what it was other than chatting. If so it would be nice to see what that was in writing of some sort and the length of said punishment, be it finite or permanent. I would hope it was due to a misunderstanding and will not be permanent. I enjoying practicing sniping on the server from time to time and have no intention of throwing all that away over a small misunderstanding. I have spent an hour thinking about what happened after the ban and another two hours writing and proof reading this and somehow I post this at 4:30-ish a.m. PST. If anything, I have learned to type full sentences while in a game and not type like I was on AOL instant message or some or chatting program, so what I was typing would not be confused as harsh or derogatory words about administrators I’ve played with on numerous occasions and respect. I would also hope that every word I wrote here will be read, because I would do the same if it were reversed.
This event took place July 19, 2010 between the hours of 12:00-1:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. Any information regarding other steam nick names, steam ids, etc I would gladly divulge this information via an email or message box to an administrator, but I would prefer to keep said information off public forums for personal reasons and out of respect for the others involved and their privacy.
Thank You.
