Banned? Wha...?

[SpookyGuyWithAGun]

So I'm really happy to find there's a South African Battlefield 2 server, and I join up, read the ROE, log in and it's good times. Been playing there for about two weeks maybe, even joined the forums (but found I can't post). Made a few friends, earned some seriously nice rankings and unlocks, been having a blast. Played all morning on saturday, logged off and went about my weekend, sat down sunday night to play a bit of BF2 before bed and *PLANK* "You have been banned from the server for excessive teamkilling or by a server admin."

Oookkaaay? Now I'm assuming this is some kind of perma-ban because since then I have not been able to log into the servers for BF2 or BF2 Special Forces, on all servers. I've also noticed that I cannot post at all on the SGS forums.

Kinda curious as to why.. I've made sure not to break the ROE, I don't go teamkilling for the hell of it, hell I even stay away from attack choppers and jets just because it's just not safe anymore with people getting so tense about others 'stealing' vehicle spawns. If I get invited to be gunner, I gun, if not, I'm outta the airfield. I play nice, I play fair, so.. why?

I can't use the ban query system seeing as how I can't do anything on the forums.. it seems the admins on the forums haven't updated the members lists to allow posting etc in some time. The last member who could post joined in early August or something, so.. yeah. :/ I tried emailing them and got an auto-response for both the forum query and the ban query saying something to the tune of "turn around time is about two weeks."

Thing is, I suppose I could try play on other servers, there are plenty out there. It's just the not knowing why that's driving me insane. A perma-ban on all the servers isn't something to take lightly. I'd like to ask that if anyone here knows why I was banned and so suddenly, and while I wasn't even logged into the game.. could you just let me know? Did I upset someone? Do something wrong? Did the Admins perhaps get the wrong person?

I don't know if I know any of you but this is the nick I use in-game. Please, if you could let me know I would really appreciate it as I can't seem to get hold of any of the server admins nor can I post on any of the SGS forums.

Thanks.

Spooky

[stoke]

From http://games.saix.net/rules_of_engagement.php :

9 Ban Period

1st offence = 1 month (if appology is received to gamesmaster@saix.net the ban period may be reduced to 1 week)
2nd offence = 3 months
3rd offence = 6 months
4th offence = permenant

[edit ... i.e. your best bet is to contact gamesmaster and ask]

[SpookyGuyWithAGun]

I did.. and *might* get a response in about two weeks. I don't even know what to apologize for because I don't even know why I was banned.

Man I hope it's not a month. That would really suck.

I suppose a lifetime ban would suck even more though.

[schitz011]

Spooky...

The reason you are banned is due to swearing over global chat. The excessive teamkilling msg is a generic one cooked up by PB.

Currently you have a 30 day ban, however as this is your first offence it will most likely be reduced if you send in an apology to gamesmaster@saix.net

Game bans do not carry forward to the forum, so check you are actually registered as you can't post otherwise.

I would highly suggest you do not post a thread like this there though, but rather just e-mail the given address...

[SpookyGuyWithAGun]

Swearing? Hmm.. I can't recall... must be the irish blood. :o

If that's the case then I do apologize, yes. I'll send an email immediately, and I also apologize to any of the other players I might have offended.

Thank you very much for letting me know, I appreciate it.

Won't happen again.

[xrapidx]

I would highly suggest you do not post a thread like this there though, but rather just e-mail the given address...


Why?

[schitz011]

cause every single week we have someone come onto the SGS forums moaning about why they are banned and the answer is always the same:

gamesmaster@saix.net

and yet they usually keep posting about why are they banned...

Going onto the forum to request a ban reduction is not the way to go.

Imagine if every week here someone asked what was so wrong about telkscum? Would get annoying wouldn't it?

[xrapidx]

I suppose.... but maybe they should consider letting people know why they're banned by email or something... then they wouldnt need to ask?

[schitz011]

When you log in to an SGS server it will tell you are banned...

Then on the SGS forums (which are listed in the game info window) there is a whole section on what to do if you think you are banned, hence, please dont post in the general forums with a trillion excuses..

As far as letting people know, they are more than welcome to ask any admins or via the supplied addy..

TBH most people who get banned are time wasting spaniards who can't be bothered to read the ROE or listen when an admin asks them to stop doing something.. Seems Spooky made a little mistake using a naughty word, but his attitude on discovering that was well handled..

Most people who post publicly Re bans get very shirty and full of kuk quickly..

BF2 uses a PID system where any player can check any existing bans in seconds... So no need to e-mail peeps.

[j4ck455]

Sounds like the person or people behind gamesmaster@saix.net have a god complex and egos that need a serious deflation :rolleyes:

[Freshy-ZN]

Yet it told him he was banned for excesive TKing or something which turmed out to be not the case at all. He also got no response from the admins I think he said as well. So I think he was perfectly justified in asking here. He actually found out the real reason on this thread and was happy, no thanks to SGS.

SGS are the ones full of kuk here as you call it.

[Razer0]

schitzo is an admin for SGS BF2, which is why he is helping him :P


Sounds like the person or people behind gamesmaster@saix.net have a god complex and egos that need a serious deflation

Its not that he has a god complex, its that he has 50million cs kiddies asking why they were banned :P (jokes, I dont know why) but people get a ticket and have to wait in line like everyone else for an answer. Its not like we get paid for our services you know :rolleyes:

[j4ck455]

schitzo is an admin for SGS BF2, which is why he is helping him :P



Its not that he has a god complex, its that he has 50million cs kiddies asking why they were banned :P (jokes, I dont know why) but people get a ticket and have to wait in line like everyone else for an answer. Its not like we get paid for our services you know :rolleyes:OK, here is a suggestion, properly inform people when banning them as to the real reason why they are being banned and your workload will reduce drastically :rolleyes:

[Gary Waterworth]

OK, here is a suggestion, properly inform people when banning them as to the real reason why they are being banned and your workload will reduce drastically :rolleyes:


Lets see ...
Sounds like you have never been an admin.

Trust me , you can give a CS Kiddie as many explanations as he wants. He will always want 10 more reasons in triplicate on R200 notes. He will also expect you to wipe his arse for him while trying to explain to him why he needs to use common sense and manners on the servers while during all this time having a prima dona complex.

The easiest is just to ignore them until they use the recommended channels for communication.

I have been an admin on SGS , so I do know what I am talking about.

[xrapidx]

Yeh... the ignore policy.... that always works, all South African companies subscribe to it.

[j4ck455]

Lets see ...
Sounds like you have never been an admin.

Trust me , you can give a CS Kiddie as many explanations as he wants. He will always want 10 more reasons in triplicate on R200 notes. He will also expect you to wipe his arse for him while trying to explain to him why he needs to use common sense and manners on the servers while during all this time having a prima dona complex.

The easiest is just to ignore them until they use the recommended channels for communication.

I have been an admin on SGS , so I do know what I am talking about.The whole reason for the existence of this thread, is that SpookyGuyWithAGun was not properly informed as to the reason for the ban in the first place, what I suggested is that SGS admins should learn to communicate properly, maybe the SAIX monopoly power humming through the servers is the source of this god complex :rolleyes:

[stoke]

OK, here is a suggestion, properly inform people when banning them as to the real reason why they are being banned and your workload will reduce drastically :rolleyes:You want the admins to call him on the phone? Oh .. no phone number. You want the admins to email him? Oh .. no email. You want the admins to use cajun mind-reading techniques? YEA! Damn ... forgot to send them on the mind-reading courses.

A simple email to gamesmaster@saix.net will do the trick. The email addr is listed in the SGS ROE, and when the game starts you are directed to go read the SGS ROE.

OR

When you try to connect to the server, you can see the SGS logo, the SGS logo says go to http://games.saix.net.
The second link on that site is the ban query system.

Sometimes things are REALLY available and in the open.

[j4ck455]

You want the admins to call him on the phone? Oh .. no phone number. You want the admins to email him? Oh .. no email. You want the admins to use cajun mind-reading techniques? YEA! Damn ... forgot to send them on the mind-reading courses.

A simple email to gamesmaster@saix.net will do the trick. The email addr is listed in the SGS ROE, and when the game starts you are directed to go read the SGS ROE.

OR

When you try to connect to the server, you can see the SGS logo, the SGS logo says go to http://games.saix.net.
The second link on that site is the ban query system.

Sometimes things are REALLY available and in the open.No I mean the message displayed was incorrect and that the correct reason for the ban should have been displayed as that would have been proper information and communication from the SGS admins, and would cut down on their workload having to respond to emails sent to gamesmaster@saix.net, unless forcing people to email apologies to gamesmaster@saix.net is part of the whole god complex thing :rolleyes:

Read Freshy's post.
Yet it told him he was banned for excesive TKing or something which turmed out to be not the case at all. He also got no response from the admins I think he said as well. So I think he was perfectly justified in asking here. He actually found out the real reason on this thread and was happy, no thanks to SGS.

SGS are the ones full of kuk here as you call it.

[schitz011]

99% of people who get banned never query it..

Also it happens that Spooky got banned for language when going through the logs. If an admin were present at the time the spooky would have been told he was being banned for saying '****' Also when you get banned online you can see what it's for in the messages at the top.. Oh and the warnings that the admins will give you..

We have no control over the PB messages when it handles our bans.

There is a two week turnaround time on ban quieries and while I may not agree with that, he is more than welcome to contact any of the admin (who addresses are public) to find out whats going on.

Stoke is right. How can we, once someone is banned, get hold of them? Forums? Not everyone uses the same nick and we have no way of knowing their e-mail address either..

For every person like Spooky who is grown up about the whole thing there are ten more who feel the need to flame the admins when they get banned. The ROE is not difficult to follow, so why some people find it so hard I have no idea..

Those of you who follow BF2 on Saix will know what happens when someone starts being stupid about their ban publicly..

In the past the quote 'SGS provide servers for free etc..' has been used and while I don't feel IMHO that this is an excuse for anything, what I do feel it means is that no one is forcing a gun to your head to play there. There are currently 12 BF2 servers active in SA (http://www.bf2monitor.com/index.php?submit=1&sort=hostname&server=&player=&map=&gamevariant=0&version=0&army=0&country=ZA&numplayers_gl=1&numplayers=&maxplayers_gl=1&maxplayers=&ping_gl=1&ping=&freeslots_gl=1&freeslots=&mapsize_gl=1&mapsize=0&updated_gl=1&updated=&ranked=2&voip=9&friendlyfire=9&autobalance=9&battlerecorder=9&password=9&punkbuster=9&novehicle=9&tmp=1189062003)

If you feel like you don't like the way that you have to behave when playing on SGS then you have other options.

If spooky is happy now that he knows why he has been banned and has sent off an apology then great.

However, if people are having issues with bans, they never actually get hold of an admin or SGS peeps to find out why. RTFM.

[GavinMannion]

This really sounds like a system that could do with some improving.

Also why would a ban query take two weeks to be handled? The guy said a naughty word and has now apologised why can't the ban be lifted instantly? Why can't you say naugty words online? Shouldn't he have just received a warning instead?

[stoke]

@Gavin
- the admins cannot tell punkbuster to display a message of their choice, he was bannen when the logs were examined, so he was not online to talk to.
- the 2 week turnaround thing is just a safety net, most of the time answers and actions are quick
- how can and admin issue a warning to somebody they have no means of communicating with? This is why the "punishment" is staggered, as posted before:
1st offence = 1 month (if appology is received to gamesmaster@saix.net the ban period may be reduced to 1 week)
2nd offence = 3 months
3rd offence = 6 months
4th offence = permenant

Under the circumstances, this is pretty damn good, and has resulted in a clean and fun playing experience.

[SpookyGuyWithAGun]

Woah.. I just logged on again and was rather shocked to see all this. I never meant for this it to go this way.

The thing is you have to look at it from both sides I guess. As annoyed as I was for being banned and not knowing why, I understand that it's usually a case of merely just asking why. I've run, and still run, many game servers online and I know it's not the easiest thing in the world to do, especially when it's not a fulltime thing, and more a hobby than anything else. I can empathize with the SGS admin team because I've been there. You get so many queries in a day from folks who flame you or only function on half a brain etc, and all this, first and foremost, takes a back seat to life/work/girlfriend/wife/kids/family/sleep. They're running a free game server, be it as a hobby or just out of the love of the game, and frankly, they ARE doing the rest of us a favour there. I for one am desperate to get this ban lifted purely because I can't play anywhere else due to international servers having horrible latency. Few people can see that though, and you get the kiddies and TK'ers and downright troublemakers and other no-brainers who go do something stupid, and *knowingly* so, end up getting themselves banned and then flood the admin mailbox with what basically just amounts to harassment. The admin team isn’t getting paid for this, so why should they put themselves in the firing line of some angry ten year old with a bad attitude? On one of my old servers I actually had some guy flaming me in admin mail and on the forums, telling me how he was going to sue me because he was banned for breaking some pretty serious server rules.

Now on the other side of things, the most frustrating thing in the world is not being able to find answers. I understand the turn-around time of two weeks, as mentioned above, but when you get that on top of not being able to post and request help in the forums, send PM’s to admins, or use the ban query system, it gets incredibly frustrating. I don’t know if it’s just a glitch in the system or not but I can’t do anything on the SGS website. When I click on any of the neat looking tools they have there (ban query, cd-hash viewer, etc) I get a login screen that I can’t get through no matter what I put in there. I can’t post at all either, haven’t been able to since I joined, which was about two weeks ago, if not more. That’s really the only reason I came here to ask if anyone could help me. It was a stab in the dark in the hopes that someone here might be an admin or know an admin and care enough lol. I sent two emails off the day I got banned. One querying the ban to the games master, and the other querying the inability to post to the forum master, and I’m still waiting for a response, then again it hasn’t been two weeks so I’m not going to harass anyone about that. :p

I’d stay stick to what you’re doing, as you’re doing it well. My only suggestion would be to get a few more admin people on the mail and forums side of things. Maybe try (and I know this isn’t easy) to stagger those admin guys so there’s at least one person watching mailboxes and new forum joins at any given time.

One thing I’m curious about however. Why do you have your forums set to not allow posting until an admin gives a new member posting rights? The only reason I can think of is the threat of spam crawlers and forum bots, but wouldn’t a little human verification on your sign-ups solve that? You guys have a huge line of people waiting to be given posting rights and to some degree I can understand how bad that looks from the users’ points of view.

Ultimately a lot of people don’t realize that something like this is very much a pet project and can fall down at any given time. Give the owners/admins/creators enough reason to start hating said project, and they’re gonna just drop it like an ugly blind date. Then where does that leave us? On the flip of the same coin however, the owners/admins also need to realize that they invited the outside world into their pet project. Don’t be bad party hosts and neglect your guests. ;)

Anyway, just my thoughts on the matter, minus all the Irish sailor-language of course. *grins*

[Toxin]

Why can't you say naugty words online?

While I totally agree with you there are some problems with this. There are players online who are no older than 10. Even tho, I might add, BF2 has an age restriction (I think it's 16, not sure tho). The idea is to protect them. :rolleyes:

The scenario thrown around is this:

Little Timmy is playing online when someone types out a naughty word in the global chat. Timmy then repeats this word in the presence of his parental units who in turn get themselves into a nice hissy fit. After finding out where he heard the word, they complain/sue SGS who are then forced to shut down the servers.

Personally, I think this scenario is utter crap. The parental units wouldn't have a leg to stand on since the game has a age restriction on it.

From my side I wouldn't want a swarm of players trying to out-naughty word the other. And let's be honest now…… what would it help to actually type out the naughty word in the first place? Why go through all that effort? Helloooooo………. lame……. :p

[SpookyGuyWithAGun]

Hey.. just got a reply on my ban and forum query.

Four day response time. Guys that's a LOT better than the "two weeks turn around" you state on your site. Maybe you should just rephrase that. People read "two weeks" and they tend to freak, even if it is stated that it's the maximum. lol.

So I now know exacty why I was banned and, admittedly, I deserved it. I said a nasty word in frustration while referring to my microphone that suddenly stopped working while I was playing as Commander. Sometimes, when you're shooting people in the face with shotguns and bombing them into the nine hells with jets and the like, you tend to forget that you shouldn't be swearing 'cos there are kids around. (Oh the irony of the human race.) On the same lines as Toxin's logic, what kinda parent lets their kid play these types of games at such a young age? Some people shouldn't be reproducing.

I can now post on the forums too! Thank you again for your help guys.
schitz011.. muchos gracias!

[schitz011]

NP Spooky..

TBH I said '****' over global my first round and got kicked (back in the day when it was an autokick only and admins didn't troll the logs) learnt my lesson. Read the ROE.

I swear like a trooper when I play BF2 but not over global chat. It's kinda pointless anyway as there are far better ways of expressing yourself ;)

Toxin, you are right BF2 carries a 16 restriction. Of course however there is no way a server can enforce this, as how can you check? While I have no problem with swearing, there are some people (adults) who do, so I guess one has to allow for this.

After all we (SGS) want to make the servers an enjoyable place for all.. Another thing is that I've been online a few times when someone has lost their rag and started being rather graphic and disgusting (was calling a female admin all sorts of foul things) and if you allow this sort of language it can devolve really quickly, especially given the age of a lot of players,,

Anyhoo I'm glad that you had your issue sorted. I know it's not the best system in the world, but for the moment it's the best we have.

[SpookyGuyWithAGun]

Yeah I know what you mean. I swear something fierce when playing BF also. The missus gives me funny looks and the cats tend to leave the house. I usually don't type it or voice it on the comms though so this was just one of those 'idiot' moments I tend to have sometimes.

Anyway, I'll see you all on BF2 again when the ban is over, but for now, I'll be getting my butt kicked in BF2142. Minus the swearing. :p

Is it just me or is BF2142 a lot more deadly than BF2? I feel like a newbie again playing this.

[Razer0]

Yeah I know what you mean. I swear something fierce when playing BF also. The missus gives me funny looks and the cats tend to leave the house. I usually don't type it or voice it on the comms though so this was just one of those 'idiot' moments I tend to have sometimes.

Anyway, I'll see you all on BF2 again when the ban is over, but for now, I'll be getting my butt kicked in BF2142. Minus the swearing. :p

Is it just me or is BF2142 a lot more deadly than BF2? I feel like a newbie again playing this.

Rofl dude... your dogs must be at your side when you swear, like the mans best friend that they are :p

2142 is a lot slower than bf2! I think after a while of playing you will discover that :) But in all honesty, nothing gets more deadly then a rape session at TV by the MEC chopper :eek:

Good to see you made it on the forums! Come say hi in the BF2 section :)

[schitz011]

But in all honesty, nothing gets more deadly then a rape session at TV by the MEC chopper :eek:



True, that thing is a lawnmover.. Myself and U2M were in it yesterday on Shaqi over Alleyway and holy crap the guys were just dying like flies..

[DagegeN]

You want the admins to email him? Oh .. no email. You want the admins to use cajun mind-reading techniques? YEA! Damn ... forgot to send them on the mind-reading courses.


Every BF2 account must have a legit email ... so dont tell me the game host can not get hold of that email ??

[killadoob]

just remember do not even say FFS on the sgs server

actually dont type anything that could be taken as a swearword

[DagegeN]

just remember do not even say FFS on the sgs server

actually dont type anything that could be taken as a swearword

and dont even say VarkSteaks :eek::D:cool:

[schitz011]

Every BF2 account must have a legit email ... so dont tell me the game host can not get hold of that email ??

No, EA has that info, not SGS and it's unlikely they (EA) will give it out...

If you haven't read the ROE and you get banned, it's not up to the admins to make contact as it's your own fault you got banned.

The ROE is very simple and linked every time a map loads up.

[Jonny Two Shoes]

just remember do not even say FFS on the sgs server

actually dont type anything that could be taken as a swearword

Fiddlesticks :mad:

[Voicy]

I agree with Schitz

I was banned for typing a deliberately miss spelled swear word
'dw00s' to a fellow clan member who owned me with the chopper. There was no hatred going with it, but it still wasnt right.

It's different to shout out something obscene that will make puppies cry, but typing it is not a spur of the moment reaction. I was wrong too and there are a lot of kidlets playing an over16 game. But we dont want them to go to bed, because we like pwning n00bs, so its probably better to shoot someone in the face than to type silly comments.

As for the SGS admins, I was put on a 90 day ban for my offense, and by following their right channel i managed to get it reduced. It took a while, but they always replied and weren't hateful towards an offender.

Sure we can all make comments about them and improving their service, but its like playing in your neighbour's pool, without having to pay the maintenance or keep it clean... sure we all bought the game, but we're not paying them for the use of their servers or their time to admin it correctly.

... if something is for free, we can't really complain about it. can we ? And luckily the Internet is not a democracy, so there are no rights to be violated.

kbi, got n00bs to teabag.

[Razer0]

Thanks Voicy :) Its people like you that make our jobs easier. Its the problem with some of the veterans who've played the game since day one and still feel they are above the law

[Freshy-ZN]

I want ID numbers attached to nics. Im tired of the excuse that there might be kiddies around when its a age restricted game.

[ghoti]

Since we have over priced under peforming bandwidth telkom has to sponsor the local game servers... if other people could more readily afford the bw for game servers I am sure SGS might be a lot less popular.

But in their defence the smacktard level there is pretty high... so if you keep to a good clean game plan, you should not have any issues.

[werries2]

Thank goodness that newer games have language filters installed and there is no bans on this kind of language slips.

[schitz011]

if other people could more readily afford the bw for game servers I am sure SGS might be a lot less popular.

.

There are AFAIK around 12 or 13 servers now in SA running BF2/AF/SF/EF..

SGS however is the one most people know about ;)

IIRC a ranked server will cost you around R800 p/m.. Not cheap, but also not hediously expensive (not sure about BW costs though ;) )

[Nth0862]

Do they ban your account or CD key?

[WiseCrack]

both

[4cer]

Sounds like a God Complex to me...

I mean if the parents are letting hem play a 16 game, what do they expect.. thats like letting a 13 year old play with a gun, then when he shoots himself sue the manufacturer.

If its an all age game i understand...

And anyway.. the 14 year old kids i know swear more in a night than i have in my life.. so don't punt, corrupting them bull.

I can understand if someone does it excessively.. but if someone says ***** over the microphone, once in a night... big whip. go to a 10 year old movie.. you'll hear worse.

If they where mature about it, they would ask the people to not do it first.. then if they carried on give them a ban...not.. HAHAHA i have power.. you broke a rule.. lets give you one month of Ban.

Welcome to Sa

[Nth0862]

Sounds like the person or people behind gamesmaster@saix.net have a god complex and egos that need a serious deflation :rolleyes:

Must be a nice job. I don't like you so I'll ban you forever. All that power over people.
I'd like that