Dealing with ban appeals

[merijnvdb]

Dear everyone,

as much as I enjoy playing on Nostalrius and browsing the forums,
what concerns me a bit lately is how nostalrius deals with ban appeals.

Some people do their best to make a case to prove they have not done anything against the rules, and often there are quite a few people who know them, believe them and support them.
The GM's response to this usually consists of one sentence, basically just telling them "nah ain't gonna happen, create a new account kid". Not only do I think it would improve their authority if they'd put a bit more work into such posts, perhaps by providing a screenshot which proves the breaking of rules (in the case of illegal gold transactions for example), it'd also create a less hostile relationship between friends of people that have been banned and the Nostalrius organisation. (even if they are mostly wrong, people tend to believe their friends, whom they've known for a long time, rather than a GM that doesn't take the effort to get involved in a ban appeal topic). If it were just about a week-ban they should not bother, but we're talking about tons and tons of work that people put into a character that are annihilated. Of course most that get banned are banned for good reasons, but I have the feeling more and more players are getting the feeling the banhammer is swinging too rigidly, and that the ban-system is developed to strikes large areas, but unintentionally also victimises some innocents now and then.

TL;DR?
If GM's would put more effort in providing just a bit of proof when they deny a ban appeal it would be more fair towards those banned and their friends. A solution to this does not have to be too time-consuming.

Regards,

Merjin

[Vorfidus]

If they provided evidence or reasoning as to how they detected them, then people would find ways to work around it. I'm referring to account trading, gold buying, and hacking bans. These are the most common and I'd prefer if their methods would remain unknown.

[merijnvdb]

That's a very sound argument, however I think if given some effort there are ways to provide proof without giving away too much information, even if just a small screencap of a username/gold illegally transmitted.
Of course this would not be substantial proof in the true sense, but it'd give more credibility to decisions taken by GM's.

[Vorfidus]

Eh. Most of the bans are taken without retaliation. The few who decide to contest are the ones who think they were too clever and tried to cheat the system. They get caught, and then wonder why. It doesn't bother me. Besides, if they gave some amount of proof, players would end up asking for more and more.

[Pokeypointy]

The ones that really are innocent and persistant with their case get revaluation and bans rescinded. That being said, the vast majority of appeals are from liars who won't admit to breaking a rule even after clearly being caught.

[merijnvdb]

Can they Pokey? The appeals they maked get a one-line response and the topic is closed again, without any proof being provided.

[Xylon666Darkstar]

Those that get appealed/reevaluated are done so privately.