My recommendations: make report requirements stricter - Orly's ideas are good. AdrenalineMimes comment about non-comp games being harder to get people to report with multiple reporters required? So what? Reporting in non-comp should imo be restricted to -intentional trolling-, and preferably a reoccuring thing. I've been reading reports, and a LOT of the reports I see people get punishments for could JUST as easily have been argued to be unfocused, tired, dumb plays rather than intententional violations.
Why do we need to punish people? Yes, in competitions your plays should be up to a certain standard, but ranked does not need any moderation aside from the obvious troll/harassment moderation. There are 3000!!! reports every month! 3000!!! There aren't that many players active in a competition anymore (if there ever was). This number alone should tell you something is not right here.
but the overall point is simply that the report system as is doesnt function as well as it needs to for the current size of the site, amt. of mods/admins, and the basic intent of the game.
the rulebook and its many implications incites players to report at the drop of a hat. it not only encourages deviancy in those who dont respect rules, but it also draws players into the notion that it is a catch-all solution to things they don't like that happen in the game.
mind you, i'm not saying it's a bad system. all i'm stating is that it could be improved upon.
yes im aware permabans are gone, sorry for putting it that way. i mean that anything over a month-long ban, except for extreme cases, should be done away with. bans that last more than a week should be given out only to clear repeat offenders who are consistently reported.
and if not 3 players, then 2. it will still reduce the report load tremendously and filter out a crapload of unnecessary reports
and if you're worried about the leniency affecting serious games, just have a separate way of banning from goldheart games for a longer time period.
@requiring multiple reporters: this would help the mods, but i feel like in a lot of non-comp games, it's a very small number of people who know the rules or care to report anything, so a lot of violations would go unpunished.
so that kinda brings up a question: if someone breaks the rules but nobody reports them - should they be punished?
or in a more extreme case: if everyone in a game thinks someone definitely did NOT ruin the game, but a mod does, should the mod still punish?
I want to reiterate that the issue is not "mods vs users." The issue is the report system.
You want to fix the problem?
Require 3 players from the game to report a player in that game. Only 1 needs to file, but 2 need to post/confirm the report in the reports section (or equivalent functionality). Require 2 players for any appeals.
Require 2 mods to check each report.
Remove all permanent bans and replace with month-long/equivalent. Only perma ban from forums or for cheating.
Report overload eliminated, impartiality achieved, and player-base secured. Easy, done and done.
deletedover 10 years
Peta would unironically make a steller mod but he's not allowed to be one because he used to be a gunslinging cowboy
