Windows10Laptop
Active Member
As time goes on and more players join Loka, there is also no surprise in seeing an increase in player count, and therefore alts. For some reason, it seems that many banned players would rather alt than write a sincere, apologetic appeal on the forums. In response to that, rules on alts were tightened, and have become the way they are now. One prominent addition was the "vouch" system, where someone suspected of being an alt could have 2 other unbanned, active players vouch for them not being, well, an alt. While this system is probably the current best way to not blanket ban players based on suspicious IPs or locations, I believe it can be improved. Also, yes, I'm partially making this post because some of my friends were affected, but these are small parts of a larger underlying problem.
So I'm sure most of you know (or are) someone who vouched for a person that turned out to be an alt. Following the unveiling of whoever the player actually was, those who vouched for them are (currently) permabanned for assisting ban evasion. I believe that the current punishment, while fair in some cases, doesn't allow enough distinction between cases, those cases being the voucher knowing the player they vouched for is an alt, and the voucher not knowing the player they vouched for was an alt. To put this into a real world perspective, suppose you crash into someone's car because your brakes failed. You should still get punished, because you bear the responsibility of not checking on your car's condition. Compare that to a case where you crash into someone else's car on purpose. Since there is clear intent in the latter case, you should get treated far worse, because you intend to cause harm. Obviously Loka alting is nowhere near the same gravity, but my point still stands, it would be nice to see a way to differentiate between those who intend to cause harm to the server, and those who caused harm, but didn't intend to. This is why people who report bugs/dupes despite having used them are usually treated better than those who attempt to hide them and lie their way out.
Despite the staff asking for confirmation from the vouchers and explaining the possible consequences, people are either too trusting, too new to the community and it's dark sides, do not understand the potential risks (language barriers amongst other things), or aren't able to even envision the possibility of the person they vouched for being an alt. To somewhat prevent such people from being taken advantage of, and getting punished for that, I am suggesting the following:
Instead of instantly permabanning any voucher that advocates for someone that ends up being an alt, for the first offence, and the first offence only, tempban them for 2 to 3 months. If they ever repeat this, as in vouch for an eventual alt, permanently ban them as is being done now.
This would serve as a mix between a punishment and a warning (2 to 3 months isn't anything to laugh at), as people who unknowingly vouch for an alt still retain some kind of responsibility for their action. The tempban, coupled with the immediate threat of a permanent ban, the loss of trust from staff members, etc... Would, I believe, discourage any honest player from vouching for an account without knowing for certain they aren't an alt. I do agree that there is no possible way to know if a voucher truly knew the person they vouched for was an alt or no, and I suggest not to do anything about it. Punishment for vouching for an alt will come either way in the form of the tempban, and for those who do it a second time, a permanent ban awaits them. Those who think "ah its fine i can help my friend alt once because it's just a tempban anyway" inherently believe that their friend will get caught and will most probably help their alting friend in more ways than a vouch (therefore shooting themselves in the foot and rightfully getting permed for assisting ban evasion).
This change would bring some net positives to the server, at the cost of very little. There would be less appeals related to unbans for vouches, so a (even very little) lightening of the workload for the staff, people who get taken advantage of in this fashion would not have to suffer the same consequences as people who willingly vouch for alts, and players would be more inclined to trust one another (which is what the vouch system relies on anyway)
TLDR: make vouching for someone who turns out to be an alt be punished with a 2-3 month tempban ONLY if this is the first time it happens. (and permban the voucher if it happens again)
(i've made similar suggestions under another post but I thought it'd be better to have this be standalone)
So I'm sure most of you know (or are) someone who vouched for a person that turned out to be an alt. Following the unveiling of whoever the player actually was, those who vouched for them are (currently) permabanned for assisting ban evasion. I believe that the current punishment, while fair in some cases, doesn't allow enough distinction between cases, those cases being the voucher knowing the player they vouched for is an alt, and the voucher not knowing the player they vouched for was an alt. To put this into a real world perspective, suppose you crash into someone's car because your brakes failed. You should still get punished, because you bear the responsibility of not checking on your car's condition. Compare that to a case where you crash into someone else's car on purpose. Since there is clear intent in the latter case, you should get treated far worse, because you intend to cause harm. Obviously Loka alting is nowhere near the same gravity, but my point still stands, it would be nice to see a way to differentiate between those who intend to cause harm to the server, and those who caused harm, but didn't intend to. This is why people who report bugs/dupes despite having used them are usually treated better than those who attempt to hide them and lie their way out.
Despite the staff asking for confirmation from the vouchers and explaining the possible consequences, people are either too trusting, too new to the community and it's dark sides, do not understand the potential risks (language barriers amongst other things), or aren't able to even envision the possibility of the person they vouched for being an alt. To somewhat prevent such people from being taken advantage of, and getting punished for that, I am suggesting the following:
Instead of instantly permabanning any voucher that advocates for someone that ends up being an alt, for the first offence, and the first offence only, tempban them for 2 to 3 months. If they ever repeat this, as in vouch for an eventual alt, permanently ban them as is being done now.
This would serve as a mix between a punishment and a warning (2 to 3 months isn't anything to laugh at), as people who unknowingly vouch for an alt still retain some kind of responsibility for their action. The tempban, coupled with the immediate threat of a permanent ban, the loss of trust from staff members, etc... Would, I believe, discourage any honest player from vouching for an account without knowing for certain they aren't an alt. I do agree that there is no possible way to know if a voucher truly knew the person they vouched for was an alt or no, and I suggest not to do anything about it. Punishment for vouching for an alt will come either way in the form of the tempban, and for those who do it a second time, a permanent ban awaits them. Those who think "ah its fine i can help my friend alt once because it's just a tempban anyway" inherently believe that their friend will get caught and will most probably help their alting friend in more ways than a vouch (therefore shooting themselves in the foot and rightfully getting permed for assisting ban evasion).
This change would bring some net positives to the server, at the cost of very little. There would be less appeals related to unbans for vouches, so a (even very little) lightening of the workload for the staff, people who get taken advantage of in this fashion would not have to suffer the same consequences as people who willingly vouch for alts, and players would be more inclined to trust one another (which is what the vouch system relies on anyway)
TLDR: make vouching for someone who turns out to be an alt be punished with a 2-3 month tempban ONLY if this is the first time it happens. (and permban the voucher if it happens again)
(i've made similar suggestions under another post but I thought it'd be better to have this be standalone)
