Decreasing playerbase

[Earl_Vencar.:LLS:.]

Only two players (old regulars) are currently permabanned - eMaxx and bombom. Unbanning these two habitual rule breakers won't attract new players. And with regards to banning in general, quite simply we very rarely ban nowadays - several warnings are always given before a ban is implemented.

I've compiled a list of maps that I believe we can remove from the cycle - these maps are those I've identified as having a combination of being rarely played, and generally unsuitable for BW. I'll list them all here for discussion:

Adia
aim_map_ut2k4
AMDK-JardinPublic
DM-Antediluvian
DM-BE-Octane2k12
DM-Betalus
DM-Camping2k4_fix
DM-CBP2-Archipelago
DM-CBP2-Griffin
DM-Comet
DM-CrookedForest-Lite
DM-DC-Canal[F]2k13
DM-DG-ThePOD
DM-DownFall
DM-EternalDeath
DM-FlightUnleashed
DM-ForestOfLostSouls2k13
DM-Gestalt
DM-GodComplex
DM-GreenValley
DM-GridlockLP
DM-IceToxin-2K4
DM-Island-Arena[SXDT]
DM-Mourning2k13-gravfix
DM-Perseverance-2004-SE
PhilaeIsland
DM-RAG-DragonLP
DM-RU-RedSquare2k4
DM-Sae
DM-SiberianStrait
DM-Terrigen
DM-Thuliac

[Greedisgood]

I support unbanning bombom and emax. Bombom was fun to play with/against and even spectate. Have no idea why emax was banned, he never bothered me and seemed like an overall smart player. Rules are a little bit too rough for a pocket community. Besides, portal camping is not really that horrible and can be countered once you are aware of it (shields, blocks, entering with a dodge-jump, taking alternative way and killing the camper etc). Pretty much like bombs and blind by the way.

And some observations from the old maps which were modified to reduce spam; We had a chance to compare the gameflow before-after and in my opinion the before involved much more coordination between the players, some bizzarre spammer empathy with all these bodies flowing into one corridor to dive into aoe... it was beautiful. Some players might be actually missing that sacred ldg atmosphere. Others didnt have much trouble with backstabbing them anyway.

[Definitelynotjay]

I don't think reversing bans will help. I believe that being a bit more lenient forwards offenders would help the most. Also it seems to me that the problem lies with the game rather than the community. A community can only thrive if people are playing the game.

[Calypto]

Instead of removing those maps, I suggest creating a custom freon gametype to list those maps separately, like CTF. Some of those maps are actually fun; unfortunately they are too big to play nowadays. I also suggest to leave the small maps where they are, they are great for when the server has very few online players.

The problem with having a separate list is that confused players will not know how to switch back, however.

[Stanky]

Only two players (old regulars) are currently permabanned - eMaxx and bombom. Unbanning these two habitual rule breakers won't attract new players. And with regards to banning in general, quite simply we very rarely ban nowadays - several warnings are always given before a ban is implemented.

I've compiled a list of maps that I believe we can remove from the cycle - these maps are those I've identified as having a combination of being rarely played, and generally unsuitable for BW. I'll list them all here for discussion:

Adia
aim_map_ut2k4
AMDK-JardinPublic
DM-Antediluvian
DM-BE-Octane2k12
DM-Betalus
DM-Camping2k4_fix
DM-CBP2-Archipelago
DM-CBP2-Griffin
DM-Comet
DM-CrookedForest-Lite
DM-DC-Canal[F]2k13
DM-DG-ThePOD
DM-DownFall
DM-EternalDeath
DM-FlightUnleashed
DM-ForestOfLostSouls2k13
DM-Gestalt
DM-GodComplex
DM-GreenValley
DM-GridlockLP
DM-IceToxin-2K4
DM-Island-Arena[SXDT]
DM-Mourning2k13-gravfix
DM-Perseverance-2004-SE
PhilaeIsland
DM-RAG-DragonLP
DM-RU-RedSquare2k4
DM-Sae
DM-SiberianStrait
DM-Terrigen
DM-Thuliac

I agree that many of the larger maps you've listed could be removed and no one would care, but some of the smaller maps (for example) Adia, aim_map_ut2k4, AMDK-JardinPublic, DM-Camping2k4_fix and DM-Terrigen are maps that are fairly regularly played by people who are up late at night or who live in the US after y'all have gone to bed, and we are forced to play with bots. Reason being, they are maps that bots can navigate without getting stuck or confused. I'd rather not play with bots, but with the decreasing player base. there's not much choice.

If you must, you should focus on maps that have been listed for about 2 years, but haven't been played more than 150 + times. My recommended approach would be for you to just add every map you have and see what happens... it couldn't get any worse, could it?

Also, IMO permabans shouldn't be applied to anyone that isn't blatantly cheating. I enjoyed trying to pry people like BomBom out of their lair... it was an interesting challenge... much more interesting than dealing with a long range sniper/camper, which you apparently think is just fine. I never experienced an issue with eMax, so I'm not even sure why he was even banned.

[Capaco]

emax has always placed a tent near teleports and was camping and waiting...
i dont see this really as a problem

[Azarael]

When we had the luxury of removing people for abusive strategy, the reason he was banned is because camping in front of a teleport with a machinegun is a free kill.

This just means I have to theoretically code around this obstruction rather than use the banhammer to deal with it, but again - no time.

So I can take this to mean that we only support making at most 14 day bans on the BW server for anything?

[ehihehih]

Change the rules of permanent banning (Emax ... bombom). It's too much to ban them for life because they camp! even if he is a recidivist, take a week at most each time.
permanent ban only to those who use cheats or something very serious.

I want to reply to this: we leave 4 chances per annoyance category for people to understand. If they are dumb enough to do the same mistake over again, they are hopeless. They break the rules, they pay the price. Permaban can seem extreme too you, but after 4 trials what do you want to expect from them. We're already generous compared to other servers I think...

ok..but...if u receive 4 fines for "no parking", u don t lose your driver's license for life...
...7 days ban maximum for camper and little things...

Ok to add old maps
Ok to remove map no play

[Earl_Vencar.:LLS:.]

In my opinion, ban stages should remain uniform between all servers. It's not like we regularly deal out bans anymore (4 BW bans in 2015, 1 of which was recinded and includes Oska's mute ), and after 6 months we lower the ban stage anyway (if we remember!)

[Calypto]

That's because everyone was banned or there is no one to ban anymore.