Guide to avoiding bans
Welcome to the Guide to avoiding bans, Like the name suggests this guide can help with avoiding getting banned. That does not mean that this guide will teach you how to do ban evasion successfully.
Rules
Every SS13 server has it's own set of rules to accompany it and all players that play on a given server are expected to know and abide by the rules that they enforce. It is always highly recommended that you read a server's rules before you start playing on one. Doing this can be trivial to avoiding small or large rule breaks, if you ever find yourself being unsure of what to do, or if what you want to do is allowed within the rules you can always ask the admins for a little clarification. The quickest way to reach out to them is by pressing F1 and writing an A-help with your question.
Acting in good faith is also a great thing you can do to avoid getting into trouble. You and your character don't always need the upper hand or best gear in every situation. The latter of which especially applies for antagonists.
Doing things just because they would seem funny can depending on what you did also result in a ban. For example: Killing the clown without provocation or starting your own Revolution without being a Revolutionary are two great examples of "Funny" things you could do that might result in a ban.
Just always try and act in good faith and don't try to maliciously bend the rules to your own will.
Bwoink!
If you do break a rule, or an admin just wants to have a chat with you to ask some questions they'll PM you. This PM will show up in your chat and a sound will be played on your end to notify you that an admin is trying to get your attention.
An example is provided below.
Getting bwoinked is not always a bad thing but it is always expected that you work along with staff when they do reach out to you, be it for information gathering regarding something you were involved in or if you were the troublemaker. Try and always remain calm and respectful to the admin on the other end, even if they are the one that's yelling at you.
Never under any circumstance should you try and lie to staff, be this in an Admin PM or on the discord, You are only putting yourself at a disadvantage by doing this and they will have more ammunition to use against you to justify your ban if you broke any rules.
Appeals
So you got banned, what now?
Most bans can be appealed, but this depends entirely on the severity of the rules broken, the duration of the ban or how much time has passed since the ban in the case of Permabans. Someone who joined the server to just kill people and disconnect the moment they get bwoinked has a very small chance of getting their appeal accepted. People who evade bans or break other community rules (Depending on severity of the latter) share the same fate.
If you do decide to appeal your ban here are a few tips that can make your appeal a bit nicer:
- Acknowledge that you broke the rules and Identify what rule you specifically broke.
- Aim to improve your future conduct and mention a way in which you will be doing such.
- Watch for grammar and spelling errors in your appeal. This will greatly help in having your appeal be taken more seriously.
- Don't be too brief or too lengthy (This depends on a case by case basis)
If you do believe that you were banned on unjustified grounds you can mention this in an appeal but it is key that you remain respectful. If you start calling the admins ego tripping fascists you wont be getting very far and you can start all over again with writing another appeal.