Our servers have rules that are put into place to maximize the experience for the majority of players. Although we try to put such rules in place to make everyone happy, that isn’t a realizable goal, and some players may be happier elsewhere. We understand.
Who are the people who determine these rules, in order of input?
• Owners, who contribute the vast majority of the time, effort, and energy, that goes into keeping our servers running.
• Donors, who contribute money to the financing of the servers. We are certainly more interested in their inputs than those who do not donate for obvious reasons.
• Users who post suggestions in our forums.
Who pays for the servers?
• We have been operating servers for more than 5 years, with anywhere from 4-14 servers operating at any one time. The costs can be very high for such an operation, and most of that cost is borne by the owners. To put it in perspective, the minimum we have ever spent per month is about $50, or the equivalent of 20 keys in TF2! And the maximums, when running 14+ servers, is much higher. Remember that when you are using our trade servers to increase your personal game wealth; it might be nice to help out the servers with a donation periodically.
Why was I banned?
• Chances are you broke one of our rules, as minimal as they are. A few are banned for exceptional reasons, like verbal threats or attempting to hack the server (which are not specifically listed as against the rules - Some things are so obvious we don’t bother to list them).
• Our admins are instructed to kick or ban you, at their option, upon your first violation of the rules. Again, the rules are so minimal, we don’t feel it necessary to give you multiple warnings. You already had one warning, and the list of rules, when you read the MOTD upon entering the server. Sometimes the admins will warn you, but this is rare and not to be expected. And we actually discourage our admins from giving verbal warnings, as we have found it doesn’t really help.
• Our admins are also instructed NOT to engage in any verbal discourse, or explain their actions. We found it doesn’t do any good, and just further disrupts the server. Any insistence on an explanation will result in a ban, as it is disrespectful of the admin, and of course disruptive to the players.
• We also run a wide variety of anti cheat/anti hack/anti griefing tools that may ban you automatically for infractions they discover.
What do I do if im banned?
• You can always appeal it, but we have found most appeals don’t seem to include what is necessary to get unbanned. Most bans for steam games are only for 7 days or so. Some are longer, and for severe infractions there can be permabans. If you are banned for a week or so, its probably best to just wait the time out, and use that time to reflect on what caused you to be banned.
• If permabaned (the only option on most non steam games, such as Killing Floor, due to the poor admin tools available), you might want to appeal after a few days of reflection on your actions. We do note that most people who appeal do nothing more than try to justify their actions, instead of just doing a mea culpa and promising not to do it again. We frankly aren’t interested in your justifications; you broke the rules. We would rather have an admission of the bad behavior and your promise to never do it again.
What if I don’t agree with your rules?
• If you donate time, energy, or money, we will listen, as you are our target audience. If not, you will probably be happier elsewhere.
Who are the people who determine these rules, in order of input?
• Owners, who contribute the vast majority of the time, effort, and energy, that goes into keeping our servers running.
• Donors, who contribute money to the financing of the servers. We are certainly more interested in their inputs than those who do not donate for obvious reasons.
• Users who post suggestions in our forums.
Who pays for the servers?
• We have been operating servers for more than 5 years, with anywhere from 4-14 servers operating at any one time. The costs can be very high for such an operation, and most of that cost is borne by the owners. To put it in perspective, the minimum we have ever spent per month is about $50, or the equivalent of 20 keys in TF2! And the maximums, when running 14+ servers, is much higher. Remember that when you are using our trade servers to increase your personal game wealth; it might be nice to help out the servers with a donation periodically.
Why was I banned?
• Chances are you broke one of our rules, as minimal as they are. A few are banned for exceptional reasons, like verbal threats or attempting to hack the server (which are not specifically listed as against the rules - Some things are so obvious we don’t bother to list them).
• Our admins are instructed to kick or ban you, at their option, upon your first violation of the rules. Again, the rules are so minimal, we don’t feel it necessary to give you multiple warnings. You already had one warning, and the list of rules, when you read the MOTD upon entering the server. Sometimes the admins will warn you, but this is rare and not to be expected. And we actually discourage our admins from giving verbal warnings, as we have found it doesn’t really help.
• Our admins are also instructed NOT to engage in any verbal discourse, or explain their actions. We found it doesn’t do any good, and just further disrupts the server. Any insistence on an explanation will result in a ban, as it is disrespectful of the admin, and of course disruptive to the players.
• We also run a wide variety of anti cheat/anti hack/anti griefing tools that may ban you automatically for infractions they discover.
What do I do if im banned?
• You can always appeal it, but we have found most appeals don’t seem to include what is necessary to get unbanned. Most bans for steam games are only for 7 days or so. Some are longer, and for severe infractions there can be permabans. If you are banned for a week or so, its probably best to just wait the time out, and use that time to reflect on what caused you to be banned.
• If permabaned (the only option on most non steam games, such as Killing Floor, due to the poor admin tools available), you might want to appeal after a few days of reflection on your actions. We do note that most people who appeal do nothing more than try to justify their actions, instead of just doing a mea culpa and promising not to do it again. We frankly aren’t interested in your justifications; you broke the rules. We would rather have an admission of the bad behavior and your promise to never do it again.
What if I don’t agree with your rules?
• If you donate time, energy, or money, we will listen, as you are our target audience. If not, you will probably be happier elsewhere.