[a_friendly_tree] - [naughty crayon usage]

Ban Appeals
1

SS14 account username: [a_friendly_tree]
Ban reason: “Wrote the N word in crayon.”
Date of ban: Feb 6 or 5’th.
Length of ban: Permanent.
Events leading to the ban: To give context, I’m a rather new player and I found out about spacestation through Seth’s video.

Before I wrote in crayon, I was playing normally - I had been spending a lot of time on this game recently and my friend wanted to know more about it to see if he was interested.
I sent him Seth’s video, because that is what first interested me about the game.
He watched the video, and pointed something out to me that appears at 1:59 in the video. Someone evidently wrote ‘that’ word in crayon in his video, clearly visible on the right side.
See-

My friend thought this was hysterical and asked if you could do that in 14 as well - I told him probably, and he thought the unlimited nature of the game was pretty cool. He asked me to stream, and so I did.

After a while of streaming, almost as if fatefully, a clown dropped some crayons on the ground - Directly in front of me.
Keep in mind my friend had just watched Seth’s video, it was still fresh in his mind - And so, he proceeded to egg me on to recreate that moment. Apparently, I’m susceptible to peer pressure because I found a somewhat isolated corner of the station and wrote it. 

Honestly, the only reason I did it is because I was trying to make my friend laugh. I felt I was in an area that people wouldn’t visit, and that gave me the freedom to do what I wanted.
If you look at my username and think “Wow, that seems really out of character” - that’s because it is. I do not harbor views like that. I grew up around family like that, and had to get away from it - So I’m very secure in my views.

Reason the ban should be removed: It was a moment of “old-internet” behavior I was egged on to engage in. Nothing like it will ever happen again. 
If you look at my communication logs you’ll find that I regularly add to the matches I play rather than take away from. I have genuine and great interactions with every player.

I realize my ban is associated with hardware and IP.
I work with these systems. I could readily avoid this ban, I say this to show you that this appeal is done in good faith.
I am not a malicious individual, and if you take a risk on me I promise I can show you that.

2

34 minutes ago, a_friendly_tree said:

I work with these systems. I could readily avoid this ban, I say this to show you that this appeal is done in good faith.
I am not a malicious individual, and if you take a risk on me I promise I can show you that.

Were your ban evasion attempts done in good faith?

3

Just now, Chief_Engineer said:

Were your ban evasion attempts done in good faith?

I think you should define “ban evasion attempts.”

If one defines simply reconnecting on another account as attempting a ban evasion, then I’d say that’s not a valid opinion to hold.

I had no idea “how” I was banned from playing - Did the rules state I was prohibited from playing on different account?
Did the rules state I was prohibited from making another account? 

An intellectually honest person would consider that I have no way of knowing any of this.

I think the point of view that I was ‘attempting to evade a ban’ stems from the perspective that I’m a malicious player, and I’d say that’s an imagined bias that fails to take into account the banned players perspective.

I mean that with sincerity, I’m not attempting to be confrontational.

4

“Ban evasion attempts” could be defined as making multiple attempts to connect using multiple accounts and methods to attempt to bypass the ban and it would still be an accurate description of what you did. The rules do very explicitly state that you’re prohibited from attempting to evade a ban. An intellectually honest person could not present any definition of “attempting to evade a ban” which excludes your actions. An intellectually honest person could also not say that you had no way of knowing the rules prohibit attempting to evade a ban because they are displayed on your screen before you are allowed to play for the first time on the servers. They are also available outside of the game and the fact that they are is made clear near the start of the version available in-game.

So to expand on my question, were the multiple attempts, using multiple methods, at ban evasion made in good faith? Additionally, was your claim that you had no way of knowing about the rules all players are shown when connecting for the first time, and given the opportunity to reread at will, both in-game and out of game, made in good faith?

5

To further reiterate this perspective:
How should the banned user know how severe the ban is?
Am I only unwelcome on this account?
Am I unwelcome on other accounts?
The only way to find out is to test that, which is obvious to the banned user - but not to the individual doing the banning.

Consider, again, how this typically works for nearly every free multiplayer game - If you get banned on one account, you have the option of making another. You lose all your progress, but that’s the consequence of your actions.
How should I be expected to not extend that same logic here?

6

11 minutes ago, a_friendly_tree said:

I had no idea “how” I was banned from playing - Did the rules state I was prohibited from playing on different account?
Did the rules state I was prohibited from making another account? 

An intellectually honest person would consider that I have no way of knowing any of this.

From our server rules:

Attempting to evade game bans will result in an automatic appeal-only permanent ban that is only appealable after six months. Attempting to evade job bans will result in an appeal-only permanent ban. (YOU WILL GET BANNED MUCH WORSE THAN YOU ALREADY WERE)
 

Our stance on ban evasion is quite clear and I think an intellectually honest person would be able to recognize that.

You may appeal no sooner than August 7, 2023 (or six months after your most recent attempt at ban evasion) with a voucher of good behavior from another SS13 or SS14 server.

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