There has been some confusion over our policy concerning the banning and kicking of players. Hopefully, I can clear up some misconceptions that some players have with these rules.
We are determined to keep the {HW}HALO game rooms as clean as possible for our members and guests. The only way to do this is to kick players who we believe will return to play the game as designed and ban players who we believe are only wanting to disrupt our game rooms.
Every member in {HW}HALO has an investment in the clan. This means that each and every member wants to keep the rooms trouble free. Every member of {HW}HALO has moderator privileges with the authority to kick or ban problem players at their discretion. Moderators do not have to ask anyone for permission before taking action but sometimes they do discuss it with another member before they boot someone.
Now, let me explain how we decide who to ban or kick. As I explained above, every moderator has the authority to eject any player who in their opinion is causing problems during game play. During the course of playing the game when the action is fast and/or hectic, the moderator has to make a decision as to the type of disruption that is taking place and who is responsible. Then the moderator has to take time to type the correct command to access the game server. A list of players is then obtained so a number that is assigned to each player can be chosen. New commands are then typed so the offending player can be booted from the game.
All of this has to be done very quickly and as I said, mistakes have been made. There have been several players kicked or banned by mistake. I have done both. I will apologize to the player I kicked when he returns and I write down the name of the player I accidentally banned so I can remove his name from the ban list as soon as possible. There have also been several instances when {HW} members have been kicked and even banned.
You may dispute the ban through our forum or e-mail. Any player who feels that he was unfairly banned can contact me and discuss their banned status.
Kicking a player is a good way to get his attention. Players who are kicked can immediately return and are allowed to stay if they agree to stop their disruptive behavior. This happens very frequently and very few of these players resume what they were doing when they were kicked. Returning players who do continue to cause problems are then banned.
Banning a player is usually done when the player, for example, continues using profanity after being warned. Profanity is a serious offense in our game rooms and our moderators have reached the point now where they just ban a player without a warning. We have found that warnings tend to bring more profanity and even insults to the moderator. We do have female members and guest players and several minors in our game rooms. They do not need to have to see filth scrolling across their screen while playing the game.
We have been criticized by some guest players for not addressing profanity. We can't catch all of it especially during a fast game. When I have several opposing players coming at me I don't have time to stop and correct a problem. I usually do that when I am respawning after being killed.
Another reason for banning is team harassment. If you are unclear on what I mean by this then let me explain it to you. When a guest player enters one of our rooms and begins throwing plasma grenades on his own teammates to disrupt their ability to play or shoots a vehicle away to prevent a teammate from using that vehicle, that is asking to be banned. This is usually done by players who have grown tired of playing Halo normally and now entertain themselves by going from room to room to cause problems or by players who join one side to create havoc to assist their buddies on the other team.
There have actually been several occasions where such a player was banned and one or more players on the other team began complaining about the banning of the first player. This shows that not only were they in voice communication (which is allowed) but that it was planned for him to disrupt his team for their benefit. When a player is kicked or banned it only shows that he quit. Only the moderator knows that the player was booted from the game so they obviously were talking to each other.
Another good way to find yourself on the ban list is to change teams so you can take the scorpions to the other team then rejoin that team. If your skills aren't good enough to fight your way down and capture a scorpion then you need to go practice some more. Do NOT come into our rooms and do this. I have banned players on my own team for doing this. This is totally unfair to players on both teams. If you have to cheat to play in our rooms then we don't want or need you.
We have put a lot of time and effort into building this clan and we don't intend to allow clowns tear down what we have built. We have guest players who return over and over to play in our rooms because they know we work hard to keep them clean and fair. We owe it to them and to each other to maintain control over our game rooms.
We are not perfect. We realize we make mistakes. As I stated earlier I have provided several way for guest players to contact me to resolve any issues that concern their participation in {HW}HALO game rooms. Use these options if you wish to return after you have been banned.
To those of you who have no desire to play by our rules stay out of the {HW}HALO game rooms. You will be caught and banned. There are plenty of other rooms for you to play the idiot in.
Greg {HW}Keller