There has been a lot of discussion lately about our policies for bans and illegal alts. There is so much confusion going on that I felt like it would do some good to go over why we do things the way we do.

Bans

Moderators and Admins on Forumwarz have the ability to Ban accounts from playing. If your account is banned, you may no longer log in to play the game.

Why would your account be banned? Mainly for these reasons:

– Breaking the rules in Flamebate. The rules for each forum are stickied at the top.

– Vandalizing the Wiki.

– Creating Illegal Multis (see below)

We are often lenient with bans. If you are banned, there is a link when you log in to contact us via email to appeal your ban. Generally, unless you did something really terrible, we will unban you on a first offense after a short amount of time.

This led to some confusion — how long does a ban last? Why has player x been unbanned while player y is still banned?

New Feature: Temporary Bans

We now have the ability to ban accounts for a specified time frame. If we do this, when you log in you will be presented with the date when your ban will expire. At that time, your account will automatically be unbanned.

If your ban is temporary, there is no need to appeal or wait for an Admin to get around to unbanning you. Just wait it out!

We also have the ability to ban you permanently (known as permabanning). If you don’t see a date when you log in, consider yourself banned forever.

New Characters, a.k.a Alts

We let anyone who wants to play Forumwarz create one character for free and play all the way through Episode 1. If they want additional characters (known as Alts, short for Alternates), they must purchase them in the “Support Us!” section.

Why do we do this? The main reason is to support our growth. Each new character represents a lot of potential server time, and we balance that out with a minor cost (right now it’s less than $5 for unlimited play). Remember our bandwidth and development time isn’t free!

When you purchase a new character through us it’s tied to your same login so you can switch between them easily.

Illegal Alts

Some people want to play Forumwarz as a new clbum or from the beginning, but don’t purchase a new character from us.

The reasons for this are varied: some people don’t have the cash. Some don’t have credit cards (look into Visa gift cards!). Some have something against Paypal. Some people will just avoid paying, or don’t think the game is worth supporting (even if they use it a lot!). Others do it so they can abuse the forums and other players.

Whatever the reason may be, a certain percentage of our user base ends up signing up for a secondary, or tertiary (or even DOZENS) of new accounts using new e-mail addresses and pbumwords.

We call this “Illegal”, as it breaks our rules. It eats our server time and is not paid for, and is a bannable offense. If we catch you using multiple accounts, we will ban you.

When will we ban an Illegal Alt?

We have tools to analyze your usage habits. If we catch you actively playing on multiple accounts all of your accounts will be banned: it’s as simple as that.

I have noticed some confusion in the community about this: to my knowledge we have always banned people using multiple accounts once it has been proven. If you believe that we have missed someone, please bring it to our attention.

What if I’m not actively playing both?

Generally, if you are not actively playing two accounts within a short time period, you will not be banned.

For example, you create an Emo Kid, play for a day and decide the game sucks. Then you come back a month later and create a new account to play as a Camwhore, and never touch your Emo account again. We don’t consider this actively using multiple accounts and you will be fine.

This also applies to people who have had all their accounts banned. There have been people who have been annoying and been banned repeatedly, but keep popping up with new accounts. Since they are not actively playing multiple accounts (their previous ones have been banned and therefore receive no activity), we usually let them start fresh, but on thin ice.

You can consider this a second chance — let’s say you came to Flamebate and posted Goatse in general discussion. You’d be banned right away. But if you came back with a new account and played by the rules, we’ll let you stay. The thin ice part means that if you break ANY rules, we’ll permaban you for it.

The idea is that hopefully people will get sick of being banned repeatedly and will want to join in the community properly. If they stick to the rules, we let them do so.

Bear in mind that there is now a Level 4 Minimum required to post on Flamebate. We’re hoping that requiring players to advance in the game for a short while will weed out those who come back over and over repeatedly to annoy other players.

So that’s pretty much all the information I can think of at this time. Post any questions / comments / etc in this thread!

Something_Witty Posted:

Will users under level 4 still be able to view IDC and Flamebate though? And does the level restriction also apply to INCIT and Domination?

They can still view IDC and Flamebate, they simply can’t post. They are not banned from Domination, although I don’t see how much impact a level 4 could make Log in to see images!

INCIT will not work unfortunately, either, as it is a target for abuse.

Something_Witty Posted:

Also, is this ‘thin ice’ rule a temporary thing, or effectively a permanent stigma?

It’s until we forget about it. Strangely that’s never come up Log in to see images!

Something_Witty Posted:

There’s already been a few people effectively permabanned because of the old system of ‘only trout can unban, when he feels like it’ (though they weren’t prolific posters, nobody will miss them and no doubt you were busy and/or forgot Log in to see images!

For the record, I and everyone else at the top of this main Flamebate page under “Moderators” can unban now as well. So if you know someone personally who should’ve been unbanned long ago (legitimately) but was just lost, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

I’m also offering a limited amnesty to people with illegal multis. Until let’s say Monday morning US time, you can Tubmail me with the one account you wish to leave active, and I’ll ban the rest. After that, the one won’t even be exempt.

FAIL Posted:

Is the lvl limit just that you have to have a lvl 4 guy on your account but an alt could be less?

Yes.

MC Banhammer Posted:

This just in!

For all of you who choose amnesty. And this includes Monkey With A Gun!

ET can move your illegal alts onto your main account. All you’d have to do is pay him the normal cost (3 BP) and send him a tubmail asking him to do it. In effect, making your illegalities legal, without losing any of their stats, history, etc.

In my opinion, this is a fantastic deal. I urge you to take him up on it.

Is this for a limited time, or can I wait until I have BP again?

(It’s an account that I haven’t used since way before I made this one, but I wouldn’t mind being able to use it again)

Cool. Is the level 4 minimum going to effect forumbuildr at all?

MC Banhammer Posted:

It’ll never effect it. And currently it doesn’t affect it, but it will; it’s in the queue.

Log in to see images!

Orb Posted:

I’ll have BP again at the beginning of August, but until then… I don’t log on to the account ever, so by ET’s admission it doesn’t count as an illegal multi. If I cant get the BP but continue to ignore the account, no foul, right?

That’s how I read it, yep. Just stay away from that other account until then. If you want to be sure you’re safe, I could ban that one and you could just ask to reactivate it when you go through with your plan. That offer holds for anyone else, too, at least until amnesty is up.

Orb Posted:

It could effect a change in it.

Heh. I suppose. Sorry, crayon, that and the incorrect use of “its/it’s” drive me nuts.

Oh ****, I just told people how to troll me.

MC Banhammer Posted:

Heh. I suppose. Sorry, crayon, that and the incorrect use of “its/it’s” drive me nuts.

Oh ****, I just told people how to troll me.

Their are no rules on correct spelling in affect as of now, right?Log in to see images!

MC Banhammer Posted:

That’s how I read it, yep. Just stay away from that other account until then. If you want to be sure you’re safe, I could ban that one and you could just ask to reactivate it when you go through with your plan. That offer holds for anyone else, too, at least until amnesty is up.

That works just as well. The account is Jerrit.