Disclaimer
Normally, I wouldn’t leave a disclaimer in front of a suggestion. However due to the circumstances and the situation that this suggestion is using, I would like to address some things important and relevant.
Further Disclaimer - I’m not justifying or defending ANYONE who is banned’s actions. I’m just speaking my mind about the impartiality and lack of communication in some aspects, which can be seen as important to some (and especially me).
I do not speak for anyone but myself. Everyone has thier right to an opinion, decision and whether they agree with their punishments they handed out, or not.
Initially, I thought about submitting this to the senate, however I feel like this is a sort of suggestion that needs to be seen further than the senate, simply as it is a significant issue in the community.
Firstly, Impartiality
In both NYC’s initial ban time (see the ‘communications’ area for discussion about issues about how it’s now unclear what the result of another suggestion related to this was). Comparing this to 4K606’s ban, where a similar offence occurred on a smaller scale. It is clear to me, even if the inital ban time for NYCEmpire still stands (it’s unclear apart from a ‘banlist item’ which I literally had to search for, since nobody knows the outcome of the alternatively linked suggestion.
But, assuming (bad choice, I know, but I’d rather focus on the case on where NYC was banned for defrauding the Government of 19 Million Forsals. He was supposed, as a result of communicating honestly with server staff (see below), should have received approximately 10 years punishment time instead of 51 years (as was the estimated standard by Satan, and alongside loss of assets). Instead he received 2 weeks, simply on the basis which seemingly is ‘he cooperated well, didn’t know what was happening and worked hard on various projects around HelloMiners’. While I can see, and accept the first two as a good basis, and reject the third as a ‘Well he should have thought and asked prior’ scenario, 2 weeks seems unreasonable.
Unfortunately, the situation deepens when we find that 4K606 was banned for defrauding a player for a lesser amount, resulting in nearly 8 times the ban time NYCEmpire got. I understand if he didn’t cooperate, but considering that NYC committed a worse offense, and got less time for it, whereas 4K606 got more, is really unacceptable. I would not be making this an issue if NYC got the 10 years (or even 1 year ban would’ve been fine) that he should have gotten.
Therefore, this makes it seem that the server staff, when making judgements about punishments, tend to favor new players who ‘don’t know the rules as well’ or ‘worked hard on something’. All players, should at least read the rules, and try to understand them to the best of their ability (asking questions if they don’t know or understand a section of it, too). Personally, I’m cool if they don’t understand, but when a player joins a server (in my opinion), they agree to the server rules.
Secondly, Communication
Unfortunately, in the case of NYCEmpire’s ban, there seems to either be no clear communication as to whether his bantime has chanegd or not. Nobody has responded on the suggestion clearly as to whether it has changed or not, or updated the bantopic which clearly states ‘2 weeks ban’ compared to the punishment list reference stating ‘see bantopic’.
I can understand if staff has been busy trying to get the server active, but good, consistent communication is key, especially if a player has been banned and has to rely on a forum post to identify the reasoning.
Conclusion
Now, this suggestion might seem chunky, and essay like, also seemingly pro-players, however I feel like punishments should be performed in a ‘Blind Justice’ methodology. It shouldn’t matter if you like the player or not, how hard they worked towards something, or how well they understand the rules. The latter, by joining, they agreed to the rules, and also using these as factors for reducing bantime, is not really making sense or keeping to the rules created by the server staff.
Also, the lack on communication or updates from staff, even a small ‘bantime increased’ message, and minor change to the topic, would have sufficed. I’m not saying they should go unpunished, that is the opposite of the point I’m making. I’m just asking for a consistent, good communication, and consistent, good punishments while following the rules as closely as possible (not letting nitty things like that, which go against the rules imo when it comes to deciding punishments get in the way of keeping justice on the server fair).
Further Notes
Once again, I apologies if this seems like me being on a specific side. I’m just an outsider from both situations commenting my opinion on what should have been done.
And once again, I do not speak for anyone, or disagree that what has happened was bad. I’m just pointing out some flaws I’ve spotted in the moderation process through reading bantopics.