[H.I.] - Various Issues, Admin Presence, Gamer Expectations, Proper Channels

Hello,

I've had gamers add me on Steam over the last 2 days, and contact me in general, regarding some concerns on H.I.

The concerns cover all of these things, and more:
- the gamers want another admin for H.I.
- the gamers feel that the admins are inconsistent (who bans who for how long and why)
- the gamers feel that admin(s) are not suited for H.I. or that they're not being represented

We are not here to police the gamers or police the community. There has never been 100% admin occupancy (all games, all hours,) except perhaps when we first started and the game was very new. Expecting this is very unrealistic. So, when I am told that "there was no admin on the server, gamers got tired of the low karma, so they left!"... I am being told "business as usual." My team and I have no way to control/affect/quantify how the gamers react to new players, their karma-related issues, or anything else. How a gamer reacts is how they react. With admins on the servers, I guarantee you'll still see karma issues and other H.I.-specific things.

Please note we do not have a formulary, we do not calculate ban times like insurance underwriters. Sometimes, a gamer who is banned for TK'ing will be banned for an hour by admin A. The same gamer could do the same thing on the same server, and be banned for 4 hours by admin B. This does not mean admin A or B is wrong, nor does it mean the other is more strict, or whatever. This simply means that these are 2 different individuals issuing the bans. As always, if you feel a ban is unfairly imposed, or feel that it's worth discussing, or even negotiating away... then follow the usual channels. Even in seemingly pronounced examples, where a 1 day ban is issued for something that other gamers seemingly get 1 hour for... trust me when I say, there are reasons. We factor in a lot of things, previous bans, how intense the issue is (will they likely cause more trouble after a short 1 hour ban is over?,) # of times gamer broke the same rule before... and more. Anyways, seemingly inconsistent ban times are only that! Seemingly so! If you feel something is wrong, (or as I was told yesterday,) that an admin is abusing their influence... follow the usual channels.
- If a gameserver moderator, gameserver admin, forum moderator/admin is to be reported, come to a Root/Head admin
- If a Root admin is to be reported, consult a Head Admin
- Contact myself or Marvel via PM on the forums to do this
- If you are reporting me, contact Marvel

H.I. is busy, yes... and we have several types of admins who frequent the server. We have map editors, pathing, actual developers, gameserver moderators/admins, and more. You can not expect 100% monitoring, auditing and policing from ANY form of admin. That makes things un-fun, people panic and do stupid things they'd never otherwise do, and things are more tense when there is policing-style tactics used by admins. At the end of the day, every single last admin here is a gamer, just like you guys, and joins the servers just to play also. I'm saying 3 things, here...
- Yes, it is realistic and reasonable to request another admin on H.I.
- If you feel you are up to the job or are right for the job, you are allowed to contact us about it for consideration (If you have been previously dismissed from consideration, we need to re-examine the "why's" if you want to try for it again)
- Stay mindful of your actions

Ban submissions on anything other than rules-related issues are not helpful and no action is taken with them. This includes hear-say or "he said she said" declarations about how much of a jerk another gamer is... includes accusations that require evidence (but none is given,)... and includes admin abuse accusations. Again, please use the structure mentioned above if you think an admin is abusive. If you are saying someone is committing TK or ban-worthy gamer infractions, we'll need some kind of screenshot or CONCLUSIVE proof. Saying "so and so did this and so & so was a witness," at best, is non-conclusive. The converse is true, also... Garbage in, garbage out... if you provide us with what is needed, we will always act.

I think this covers everything right now. Again, please stay mindful of your actions and approach, and if you want to contact us regarding any matter above, or me directly... please do so via forum PM or on Steam. The "CONTACT" button at the top of the page is current w/ an admin list, including my info.

Thank you,