this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2024
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I run two (very) small servers for BeamNG, and I try to keep greifers at bay and provide a welcoming experience for everyone, stay active and informed, etc. A few thousand players have connected in the last 14 months, and I've only had to deal with a few people, which is nice, though I'm on sporadically so I have a couple admins and a report system via discord.
When you connect, you get a motd that is just the rules of the server and the special zombie mode instructions, for those that want to play that. It lists in no uncertain terms what bullshit won't fly, where to get help, where players can self-police the server (vote kicks), and even my username at the bottom, as I want to be available for all. We use a mod that controls abilities for players, and different tiers get different color nametags in the UI that everyone sees; a random player is blue, mods are yellow, admins are orange, I (the owner) am red. The server also lists off a 'be nice, and report issue' as well as the discord link in chat every 30 minutes, all in addition to a summarized version being in the server description. I cannot make it any more obvious that we don't like jackasses.
There were 4 players on late last night and so I decided to hop on and see what they are up to. I spawned in and drove over as they were all at one location, and said "hi hi :)" in chat. Someone responded with "fuck you n*****". Son, are you actually fucking braindead? That's a rhetorical question ofc; so after some consideration, they got a 14 day ban.
I'm still too nice, but almost all other servers are unmoderated, uncontrolled wild-west situations, so I don't come down hard unless they don't take the hint the first time, or if they question or disregard my authority - perma banning one such player a few months ago as they tried to sound like a badass keyboard warrior in front of others, was a smackdown I thorally enjoyed. I also say in the rules that appeals aren't guaranteed here, the mod/admin/me gets final say and it stops there.
Makes me question the reading comprehension of some players.
Lots of people don't tend to read things like MOTD or server messages. It all just comes in as a distraction to click through to get to the game.
They tried to get on today (yesterday technically now), three times, along with a player who was present when this occurred (that I did not ban, they said nothing). I wonder if they connected the dots as to why they was immediately kicked after connecting every time.
I have seen literally no other servers running motd - the mod to do it is horribly broken, and I took the time to fix it for my servers - so you'd think a box with white-on-black text and an orange button would cause a second or two of pause. Maybe in a couple weeks they will find the time to read.
Instant permanent ban from me for that. I would salt the fucking earth where that seed grew. I'd go through logs to see if they had friends.
I should have just did a permaban when looking at it objectively, but I'm trying to balance being inviting and lenient with being safe and welcoming, so I give most players a second chance after X among of time. I like having the ban hammer, but I would rather not use it. A deterrent, really. If the one temp ban scares the four into not being little shits, I've done my task.
As time has gone on, my temp bans have gotten longer - first was, what, 48h? Then a couple for 7d. 14d is the longest (temp) ban I've handed out.
Leniency is good, and speaks well of you. I tend toward a zero tolerance policy on sone things - there are other servers, the lesson can be taken with them and applied elsewhere.
But if you're willing to put in the time to teach, then that is good.
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