Why Staff Issue Punishments

If you ever feel a certain staff member has treated you unfairly, feel free to make an Admin only ticket and Asaii will be happy to hear you out privately. You can do that in #smponline-info in the Discord.

Punishments are not intended to be any kind of personal attack or otherwise aggressive gesture by the issuing staff member. We try to stick to lesser punishments when possible (warnings, verbal warnings, mutes). However, some situations arise where a player needs to be removed from the server temporarily to either defuse a situation or provide time for the individual to reflect on their own actions. Access to SMPOnline is a privilege (even if you're paying!) and temp bans serve as forced breaks to remind folks of that.

We often issue permanent or long tempbans *hoping* for individuals to appeal so we can have a dialogue with them. Dealing with community issues is often complicated and it's better if we can have discussions with the banned user in a consistent environment. It's even more important that it's along side of other staff members so that we can discuss and make the most appropriate decision going forward. It's much easier to make the right call when things have had time to settle and everyone's weighed in. An appeal doesn't have to be an *appeal*, you're allowed to simply have a discussion with the team about your ban if you'd prefer. Though, please be honest upfront. It goes a long way.

And, of course, a permanent ban is not strictly, truly permanent in all cases. We do make exceptions - we like to see people improve themselves. 

While we understand that some users feel like some matters are easier solved with a "chat" in game rather than a punishment of any kind, please recognize that (1) our staff team are chill people volunteering in their spare time and don't have a vendetta against you, and (2) incorrectly issued or poorly justified punishments of any kind can be appealed and removed (our staff can make judgement errors, after all). We're not issuing "punishments" as a put down or because we don't like you, it's just our way to clearly signal to you that we're serious and want your behavior to change. We're trying to avoid repeat issues for the community as well.

Something important to note is that interactions within Minecraft are very hard for us to fully capture, let alone fully control. It's far easier for everyone, players and staff alike, to remove themselves from the game and have discussions through Discord tickets directly. This allows for others on the staff to monitor interactions with the added benefit of automatically retaining a transcript of the full interaction. It also gives more experienced staff an opportunity to jump in and correct things if anything's being done improperly.

If you're ever unclear on what's allowed, please simply ask in a ticket for a clarification or don't do it. We're issuing punishments in hope that you'll be more mindful in the future and understand the expectations from staff, not to piss you off, so please just ask us in a ticket if you legitimately don't understand a warning or anything else. Pestering staff in game about a punishment will only cause issues. Don't drag it into the public chats, in game or here. Nobody likes that.

Our top priority as a staff team is to ensure that we're maintaining an inviting and fun atmosphere on SMPOnline. We sometimes will temporarily, or permanently, remove users from the community in an effort to maintain that. We've even temporarily muted or banned individuals in the past before to give them time to "cool off." 

As far as I'm aware, our staff team has been pretty accurate in making justified punishments, though sometimes we get the severity or punishment length a little wrong. Though, it's hard to recognize problems if they're not reported to us. Please let your thoughts be heard as individuals in tickets if you feel we should do something differently or made a wrong call somewhere with you.

Punishment Types

We do not have a standardized system for issuing punishments, such as a "3 strike rule" or anything along those lines. However, there are a few common types of punishment that can occur when rules are broken. All punishments noted here are logged and reviewed by other staff, as well as periodically by server management.

Kicks

A momentary punishment that is only logged. These may sometimes be issued alongside warnings for certain rule violations, such as avoiding our AFK kick. In general, though, these punishments have no direct consequence and typically will not lead to a ban on their own. 

Mutes

Can occur in both text chat and voice chat. Sometimes are permanent, sometimes are temporary. You may have to contact staff to remove this type of punishment if it doesn't expire after a few days. These punishments are usually only issued against players for conduct issues, such as mic spam or mild toxicity.

Warnings

A temporary punishment that expires after 30 days. These are issued for minor infractions and do not have any consequence on their own. Receive 3 warnings and you will be kicked for your "final warning." After 4 unexpired warnings, you will be automatically permanently banned from the server. If you're warned while offline, you will be notified via a chat message upon logging in.

Temporary Bans

A temporary punishment that restricts you from logging into the server, expiring in varied amounts of time. More severe rule violations typically receive longer temporary bans. Multiple temporary bans are uncommon unless extremely unrelated and over a large period of time. If you receive one of these, it's very likely your next punishment will be a permanent ban. This is especially true if you repeat behavior you were temporarily banned for.

Permanent Bans

A permanent punishment that prevents you from logging into the server. This is for the most severe of rule violations, typically when players show some sort of deliberate malicious intent. Often, these are issued against cheaters and griefers. However, these bans may be issued for more behavioral reasons, such as toxicity or general misconduct. These are also issued, as noted in the Warnings section, after 4 unexpired warnings.