Thread: Request unban

My character name is Karak. My steam ID is STEAM_0:1:3918317

I am banned from CS:S servers 184.173.90.91:27015 and 184.173.90.91:27016.

Last night I played for a couple hours. There was an active admin at one point... he was not talking about me or to me, but I disagreed with how he treated another player. I suspect he was the same guy who cursed a guy out (not me) via voice chat. If he truly is admin, it was very unprofessional conduct. I doubted he was until, at the beginning of the next round, this same player ("Sphinx" think his name was) was slayed before the buy period was ever over. Not only did I disagree with the way Sphinx was talked to, but I was also observing him at the time of the alleged bad conduct. I do not believe he did anything remotely wrong. This bothered me very much, but I did not say anything or get involved. In fact, my power died IRL shortly thereafter lol.

Later in the night, I was slayed by an admin for "not following the call." I certainly wasn't the only one on the server this was happening to. In my opinion, the admin was acting a little overbearing, but it wasn't anything too crazy. I disputed this allegation and tried to detail over voice communication why I was following the call, but no one made a big beef and we all just moved on. I had explained why I did what I did, and most seemed to accept that as a reasonable explanation. Perhaps I made a mistake, but I did not do it with the intent of breaking the rules. I plainly am aware of the rules and at all times do my best to follow the rules. It was simply an error in strategic judgment, not an act of selfish play.

I do not have a history of ignoring calls, of course. There were no other issues with the admins the rest of the night. In fact, the player I suspected of being the admin and I were joking around as the last round I played was over.

We played the last round, won a close game, I typed gg and logged off the server for the evening. I was not kicked from the server. I quit of my own volition during a map change. I tried to join either CS:S server today and was notified I was banned from both.

I can't imagine why I would be banned, especially since I peaceably left the server last night.

I am not a trouble maker. I have never been banned from any server or forum before in my life. Because of my profession, I'm just a natural stickler for rules.

I play SC2 at a competitive (amateur) level, and I also contribute to online poker coverage under this pseudonym. I carry a reputation with the name "Karak" and would not want to create any trouble to soil it. IRL I am a lawyer in his late 20s. I'm not a bratty drunk kid. I might joke around, but it's always clear I am being coy. I always try to follow the calls and play as a team player. I very much enjoy playing on this server.

I note that as part of the instructions I am supposed to explain why I won't break the rules in the future, but please accept the above as my explanation. Unless there is some rule I am completely unaware of that I broke (and I've read all the rules), I aggressively refute any allegations of rule breaking amounting to a ban. I have never been threatened with a ban.

I will openly admit sometimes I occasionally make strategic mistakes, but that's just part of playing the game... like many other players. When it comes to following the call, I always always ALWAYS do my best.

I did try to issue the "stopsound" command while in a game (I remembered it from CS 1.6 a long time ago when I was actually good at the game) last night, and it denied me that. Was that possibly a problem? I also use a piece of software to remap the buttons on my mouse to make control groups in SC2 easier to use. It's like the software that comes with Logitech mice. Is it possible that flagged something?

Please unban me so I can continue to enjoy your server. I cannot understand why I was removed, and I'm sorry if there were any misunderstandings that led to it. It's ironic this happened now, because after having to refresh for 20 minutes last night to get a spot on the servers, I was considering purchasing a slot today haha.

Edit - re: Who banned me?

Since I was banned after I logged from the server for the night (unless I am misremembering something... it was late... I'm 99% sure I just logged at the end of a game, though), I'm not sure who banned me. I don't want to create drama re: the admin and the Sphinx issue, especially if I'm wrong about who it was, so I didn't want to name that guy. He was joking around with me at the end of the night, so I simply assume he didn't randomly ban me after I logged off lol.

Welcome to the TeamPlayerGaming forum, thank you for posting with the necessary information, it's unfortunate your first post is in the banned forums.

You were banned for not following the call. You were warned a couple of times not to do so. You were slayed and started to argue. Admin disrespect is not accepted on TPG, will not be tolerated.

You want to add anything before I present your case to the CSS admins?

First of all, thank you for your time in reviewing my petition and ban. Does this necessarily pin you as the admin who banned me, or is it a group effort to respond to petitions? If any of the information below is incomplete or you require more, please let me know.

In response to your question:

Absolutely. Why was I not banned while I was actively on the server? Why was I only warned once? Why did this admin wait hours after one initial slaying with no other warnings to ban me? How did I not follow the call playing on the CT side the entire next round, helping the team win?

The only warning I got was a slaying that happened well before I quit for the night. I was never threatened with a ban. I explained why I didn't follow the call in that round. No one continued the conversation. There were no other warnings. I was only slayed ONCE that evening, and I continued to play for hours following that. If this is the same admin as the guy who cursed someone else out and then slayed him at the beginning of the round, then I certainly question whether or not my ban was proper.

I also do constantly follow the call. Like I detailed in my first post, I'm not just a jerkoff who wandered onto the server who doesn't know how to follow calls or rules. I'm an adult. I play games competitively. I've never given you guys issues in the past and have played here for a long time. I hope some of your other admins will recognize me (although I try to keep a low profile on the server) and be willing to back up my assertions. I certainly understand if that is not possible.

I would like to apologize, but I can't even think of what this ban would be for. I win a game on the CT side 15-14, log off for the night and wake up banned for not following the call?

Of course, perhaps, it is possible there is a rule or doctrine common on the server which I either misunderstand or am not aware of. If this is the case and I was violating it, I will certainly take responsibility and apologize. The issue here, is, there was no obvious nature of what I was doing wrong. I'd love to just apologize, promise not to do it again and come back and play, but I don't want to just fabricate something to say sorry for. It would be much better if I knew the specifics of the situation and the nature of my play which the administrator found offensive.

I am more than happy to have a personal conversation with the admin who banned me to clear up any misunderstandings. I can be contacted on Skype (Karak2p2) or Twitter (@Karak2p2) and will speak at the time and on the medium of your best convenience. I am certainly willing to listen, understand what I did wrong and apologize but, at this current time, I do not know what I did wrong. I made a mistake a few rounds later when I got stuck on a door. The same player who had previously cursed someone else out accused the wrong person of committing this error. It was me, not this other guy. I spoke up on voice chat, said it was my fault and apologized. IF that's what led to my ban (60 minutes later), then that seems a tad silly, especially since it was just a lack of game skill, not following rules.

I do still want to be a patron of this server, but I can't understand what I've done wrong in this situation. I have no qualms about apologizing for mistakes (as noted above) as long as I know what they are. This is the only server of this type I am aware of (other than TacticalGamers, which went dormant long ago), which is why I'd a) like to properly appeal my ban and b) support it as a patron.

Edit - as an afterthought, even if we assume I did grossly violate a rule, is a permanent ban really the only punitive measure available here? Are temporary bans ever exercised?

Absolutely. Why was I not banned while I was actively on the server? Why was I only warned once? Why did this admin wait hours after one initial slaying with no other warnings to ban me? How did I not follow the call playing on the CT side the entire next round, helping the team win?

You were banned after a review of the chat logs for back talking an admin. I did not see your back talk in the server, and after checking the logs later for something else came across it and acted accordingly. If I had seen it in the server you would have been banned on the spot.

The only warning I got was a slaying that happened HOURS before I quit for the night. I was never threatened with a ban. I explained why I didn't follow the call in that round. No one continued the conversation. There were no other warnings. I was only slayed ONCE that evening, and I continued to play for hours following that. If this is the same admin as the guy who cursed someone else out and then slayed him at the beginning of the round, then I certainly question whether or not my ban was proper.

The slay was a warning to follow the call. The ban was for arguing with an admin in game. As I said, if I had seen it in game you would have been banned for it. I see no reason to treat it differently because I saw it while getting chat logs for a different ban.

I also do constantly follow the call. Like I detailed in my first post, I'm not just a jerkoff who wandered onto the server who doesn't know how to follow calls or rules. I'm an adult. I play games competitively. I've never given you guys issues in the past and have played here for a long time. I hope some of the other guys who recognize me that are also admins will step up and say this.

You were following the call for the most part. The inferno map and the previous 2 maps had a lot of people skating out on rushes and skirting the calls, that's going to lead to less warnings and more slays/bans.The call you were slayed on was a reverse around the world on inferno...T's were to go alt mid to apartments, through the gate or window and back down mid to banana. At the very end of the round after the rest of your team had gone A and attempted a plant, you were sitting near balcony in apartments.

I am more than happy to have a personal conversation with the admin who banned me to clear up any misunderstandings. I can be contacted on Skype (Karak2p2) or Twitter (@Karak2p2) and will meet and speak at the time and on the medium of your best convenience.

There is no need for that. This is the correct place for this to be addressed. The long and short of it is that back talking an admin in game is a distraction to the server that we do not tolerate. Can we be sure that it won't happen again?

I will await your reply before putting your vote up.

I appreciate your time replying to my post.

Re: the specific incident. I thought I was supposed to go apartments according to the call. Actually until right now I didn't realize it was an around-the-world, haha. Sometimes you don't hear an entire call or you have your headphones off... you know the drill. It obv happens and I understand I wasn't banned for that specific incident.

Suddenly I realized I was alone with one other fellow on that side of the map and... we were also the only other people alive. So I tried to crawl around and get some picks so I could work over to the ban. In the course of this, I was slayed. I didn't understand why. I contested it publicly, as I thought this was appropriate. I then communicated over voice why I thought what I was doing was OK and received no other communication, so I assumed the issue was settled.

If I was rude, out of line or offended the admins, I certainly apologize. That is never my intent. I simply wasn't aware that publicly contesting a slay was against the rules. I see it is, so I certainly apologize. If I had received a warning in game or notice that my communication was inappropriate, I certainly would have ceased it. That's why I was so shocked by the ban, it seemingly came from no where. If I know what I did wrong, I can fix and/or explain it. If I just get banned... I don't know what to do other than how I've presented myself ITT.

So I can best avoid doing it in the future, is it possible for me to see a transcript of precisely what I said? I don't recall the words I used outside of the voice communication. And, to be clear, is providing any public explanation or defense of the actions I was taking inappropriate?

I'll be honest: one of the main reasons I so openly defended myself is what I had witnessed earlier on the server, with regards to the "Sphinx" incident. It had rubbed me the wrong way all night (I even considered making a complaint, but decided not to stir the pot), and perhaps, as a result, I was over-sensitive to the actions of the admin, although you are not the guy who engaged in such behavior. Hopefully you can understand this.

Finally, the conversation continued and was concluded with further explanation over voice chat. I just found it a little surprising to be permabanned from the server with such swiftness and lack of forewarning after being a player here for a while... based on a few lines I typed into chat during the game viewed out-of-context and after the fact. Thus my defensive posture in many of these posts. I hope you all find that explanation sufficient! Sorry for the verbose nature of my posts; it's hard to turn the you-know-what switch off from day to night :-P.

Thanks!

Jul 13, 2012 10:48:52 pm	explain to me how that was not following the call
Jul 13, 2012 10:48:44 pm	are you kidding me?
Jul 13, 2012 10:48:42 pm	i was following the call

I put your vote up, it will not take more than 3 days, stay tuned.

Does that normally amount to a bannable offense? Or was it given this situation? I am relieved to see the chat, however. I was afraid I may have forgotten that I said something more inflammatory to the admin, which is of course never appropriate no matter what the situation.

That said, to complete the context: someone responded via voice chat explaining it (didn't state that it was an around the world IIRC, but did say that the call was to be in banana). I responded explaining what I was doing. A few people said "ok" and the situation was resolved. I would hope that when viewing the situation in the full context, my intent was clear, and I am sorry for the perception I created. I now understand that there is a more proper venue to contest admin actions (as I've found on these forums, which I hadn't read closely before) than during the game.

Arguing with an admin in any way is not accepted. I understand your intentions may have been good, but there is a better place for questions, and it's here. If you have any issues or concerns, or even suggestions, browse through our servers, and post accordingly.

By the vote of the TPG CSS admins, you were unbanned. You should be able to rejoin once the server restarts in the morning. Let me know if you have trouble reconnecting let me know.