Reasons for Ban

[Royalpain]

I got three days of ban a week ago for harassment and language. The problem is that I don't even curse to begin with. I submitted an action review request, and after a few days, the only thing they said was you got a ban. They didn't explain what I did wrong or how to prevent it. I tried to talk to GMs in the game, and they all keep saying we can't tell you what you did wrong because it is against our policy. With their new Social Justice Warrior policies, I won't be surprised that the only reason I got a ban is that I disagreed with someone. The only thing I asked is to tell me what words I used and what I was doing for them to ban me, so I won't repeat it.

[Emmanellain]

I got three days of ban a week ago for harassment and language. The problem is that I don't even curse to begin with. I submitted an action review request, and after a few days, the only thing they said was you got a ban. They didn't explain what I did wrong or how to prevent it. I tried to talk to GMs in the game, and they all keep saying we can't tell you what you did wrong because it is against our policy. With their new Social Justice Warrior policies, I won't be surprised that the only reason I got a ban is that I disagreed with someone. The only thing I asked is to tell me what words I used and what I was doing for them to ban me, so I won't repeat it.

Seems like the ToS claimed their first victim, is it a permanent ban or a temporary? I hope you didn’t lose all your work

[Royalpain]

Thankfully it was for only three days. I stopped talking in NN or going on roulettes since that what I was doing when I got the ban. I'm not sure if disagreeing with people there was the reason for all of this

[Shlinkx]

We had people who would stalk others around, say disrespectful things in the shout chat, and they didn't get a single ban. The GMs we have here are like another level of not caring about the game. People get a ban for no reasons, and many who break the rules like cheat, fraud, or harass won't get punished at all. It is true what people say that GMs only care about money. I'm guessing that they still ignore you about losing your house as well and won't answer any of your tickets. If what you said last thread is true then I'm guessing this thread will get deleted as well. Best of luck and don't give up until you get your answer

[Jaywalker]

Honestly from what you described this seems like a situation where some GMS are behaving unprofessionally. It makes a bad impression for them and hurts community trust overall. My advice is to make an appeal to technical support or otherwise go through internet/other professional avenues. Especially if you stress you are not looking to cause trouble, have not been looking to cause trouble, and are basically being punished at random as far as you understand they might be more likely to help. You can't even make preventative measures going forward if you don't know what offended in the first place.

Be persistent and polite while reaching out to multiple representatives. Hopefully you'll reach someone who can help. Punishment doesn't mean anything if you don't even know what it's about.

I like to think most GMs are just people trying to do their jobs as well as they can, but I'm sure there are exceptions to that because there are exceptions in every field. Hope you can resolve this! Seeing someone handle things with clarity even if they don't remove the three day ban would speak way better for them.

[Oopsy]

I understand why the GM doesn't tell you.

If you harassed some one and got reported... Lets say you called some one a "big green lug" (1000x worser ect) and the GM tells you that you said "big green lug" and got banned... You think back... Who did i call a big green lug? Well there was that one person... in my school who i saw in game... or there is that one guy in your FC... And you just happen to know their contacts out side of the game through one method or another....

Next thing you know you are harassing them outside of the game.

You might not be that type of person or maybe it was just over use of the F bomb that annoyed some people in limsa. The GM's don't have any way to tell. Even if they did have a way to tell if you would behave, if they tell you but not some one else who they believe would misbehave that person may think it is not fair. In these cases it best just to have a blanket policy with protecting everyone in mind.

[Doozer]

I seriously doubt you're giving all the information because whenever someone comes to the forums going "I got banned and I never did anything" it always turns out that they did. And since you whine about "Social Justice Warriors", it's safe to assume that's the case here.

I've literally never been banned or even got a warning for disagreeing with someone in all the years I've played, so you probably crossed a line. Maybe stop to consider what you say next time.

[MistakeNot]

I seriously doubt you're giving all the information because whenever someone comes to the forums going "I got banned and I never did anything" it always turns out that they did. And since you whine about "Social Justice Warriors", it's safe to assume that's the case here.

I've literally never been banned or even got a warning for disagreeing with someone in all the years I've played, so you probably crossed a line. Maybe stop to consider what you say next time.

Well, the OP isn't actually claiming he never did anything. He is saying he don't know what it was he did that got him banned - and thus don't know what to avoid doing in the future.

[Blokeymon]

Well, the OP isn't actually claiming he never did anything. He is saying he don't know what it was he did that got him banned - and thus don't know what to avoid doing in the future.

The first two sentences read:

I got three days of ban a week ago for harassment and language. The problem is that I don't even curse to begin with.

>I got banned for language

>I don't curse

Sounds like he's claiming he never did anything to me.

[Jaywalker]

Do want to say that while above points by Oopsy and Doozer seem fair (if either of you read this just wanna say, it was wild to write that with your SNs lol), this seems like a situation where it depends really heavily on the character of parties involved.

If everything OP said is taken at face value, it is a problem. Speaking from personal experience, I have honestly seen people who got falsely accused and penalized before--although not here. That was a big part of why a lot of fans got so alarmed by the updated rules. With too much subjectivity and vagueness, there's room for potential abuse of authority by oversensitive and intolerant people. Sometimes folks twist words to launch serious (but unfounded) accusations against anyone they just don't like, which in turn exploits and weaponizes the good intentions of people who seek to protect victims.

Additionally, with too much subjectivity and vagueness people can't even take preventative measures or stay within bounds effectively because what is considered unacceptable versus acceptable isn't made clear in any consistent way.

If what OP described isn't taken at face value though (like what you two talked about, if OP did actually get nasty and someone was totally justified in reporting) I think you guys have fair points. Idk if having multiple witnesses in a party who are equally possible of having reported might reduce the chances of identifying the offended party?

In general I think having a better block system that's in the hands of players/doesn't require GMs to make so many judgment calls while enabling players to avoid people they don't like would help. It could prevent prospective retaliation better too, although to Oopsy I'd like to raise the point that if someone starts harassing outside of the game that becomes a legal concern and beyond what SE is or should be responsible for. At that stage the person being harassed has responsibility to go to the authorities, because 1) harasser could also be targeting others with illegal/obsessive behavior 2) unfortunately false accusations are a real problem and innocent until proven guilty remains important for this reason. I don't think most players are likely to try out-of-game harassment though, that's super extreme.

Imo it's important to have a clear boundary between someone acting slightly abrasive and a ban-worthy offense. Also more clarity in rules about what would be considered allowed or not. Not how it is currently, but would be nice.

For OP's specific situation the three day ban might be unavoidable, but Royalpain if you sincerely don't know what's going on it's worth raising the point as a concern I think. At the very least it could alert people that this is an issue.