Tales of a Minecraft Newb & Herocraft Supporter

[Maximillion_V_Midn]

I have had more than my share of interesting experiences, on Minecraft as well as some other places (which won't be named by name, in any of these posts). Unlike most, I have only been a Minecraft player since Summer 2015, and Herocraft was my first Multiplayer server.

I have learned many things during my time doing MCM:

• Some really foul people out there know how to exploit a Server Mod's/Admin's/Staff's blindspots, and grief/instigate you, yet when you get banned, they live to Troll and Instigate another day.
• Aforementioned Trolls actually have (if you Google it) a "Head Count" of all the people they've gotten banned, the server names, and the names of their targets.
• When someone says Stop arguing, or bans will be handed out.....EVERYONE chatting, even if it's about Materials, Blocks, Architecture or your favorite HBO Show, is likely to get banned/muted.
• Even if prompted to apply for staff, if you do so, you get treated like some grasping, conniving chump who probably can't chew gum and walk at the same time without talking.
• Server Staff often do their best to maintain order, but their own impatience - after being tested by Mojang's majority clientele of prepubescent Trolls-in-training - often sabotages their efforts. More good people than problematic ones wind up banned, and nobody can figure out why the "Community" is still so user-unfriendly.

I have been - in essence, all the semantics aside - banned for being griefed, muted for someone else trying to bait me, Warned for using /Help for topics Staff said /HELP was for, and more.

I don't think most of the Staffer's meant for this to happen, but they operate as best they can on the information they have, and - sadly - Mojang hasn't really done all it can to provide Server Owners with more tools to more carefully moderate and administrate their Private Servers.

For some, when they think of Herocraft, they think of a Fantasy Medieval MMO-style Minecraft Server, one of many they spend time on, during the week.

For me, I can't play Minecraft without thinking about Herocraft, as I first joined HC about 2 weeks into my first buying/playing Minecraft, so even playing Single Player makes me think of Herocraft, and aspects of the gameplay, and social interaction, I truly enjoyed.


This, and more, I hope to talk about in this thread. There will be NO inflammatory, baiting, flame-baiting, instigating (etc) posts made in this thread, by me nor anyone else. This is just a place for people to glean insight, perspective, and just see what the world is like, through the eyes of somebody else, and the perspective of someone else's life experiences.

 

[Maximillion_V_Midn]

When I first joined Herocraft, I got caught up in the stress of being on a server that had virtually 0 trees, inflated market prices, and people only being willing to buy things for decimal amounts (0.001 souls, 0.01 souls, etc). I voted every day, but most of my Souls went towards buying, and re-buying arrows and bows when I kept getting sniped by people moving money between factions via the Bounty System. I remember defending MunchlaxHero, because - despite all of his notoriety - he had actually logged in after a week hiatus or so, and someone was dogging on him, and making "internet humor" with him (ie: being rude, and going "lol" and "lol" because today's Gamer Subculture encourages troll-humor), and I was like "Hey, maybe he deserves to log in and get some respite from the teasing, eh?"

BOOM! @LarryDeCable slaps my first Bounty (first amongst hundreds) on me. From then on, having maybe an hour or two to play a day, my ENTIRE time online would be - for months to follow - me trying to find someplace to go and do Minecraft at, and level my character at, without being sniped. Quite literally, every literal second of my Herocraft experience, unless LarryDeCable and Co. were offline, was spent trying to evade people trying to claim my bounty.

1. I never had money for new gear
2. Never having gear, I died VERY easily.
3. I had homes made of Stonebrick, Prismarine (at one point), and even managed to get some Quartz once.... and people would STEAL it, all in the name of "claiming a bounty", and I'd get shouted out of /HELP and /PE for reporting it.

But it wasn't all bad! I had A LOT of people who would come when the Bounty Abuse occurred, and would come to my rescue. I had multiple Town invites, and had a number of people - particularly the fine folks in Haven - lend me arrows and leather gear, so I could go ahead and try and get a few minutes of leveling in, before I had to log out for the day.

Overall, my experience was 60% good, but the "good" of Herocraft was SO DAMN GOOD, it literally kept me coming back, even though there were people trying to ruin the experience for me.

Unfortunately, when we talk about the "toxicity of the Community", certain people take it personally. @Kainzo, hard as he works in the community, takes every criticism of the server as a criticism of his work, even though he isn't the problem 99% of the time. The problem is, Staff are so busy trying to work on the server, provide the player base with a satisfactory experience, that it's like FOOTBALL!

You have Trolls playing Defense, barricading and occupying staff with their gripes and complaints, while the Offensive Trolls are going in, griefing, terrorizing, and doing petty stuff....and when players /PE or /HELP about it, the whole scenario was maneuvered to look like the victim was to blame.


I don't think this is a situation that cannot be fixed. @LordZelkova and @TimForReal have been very supportive, trying to do their best to help me when and where they can, but they're two Staffers, and they already have their plates full.

I resolved, if my Ban Appeal went through, I would just stick to myself. I'm about 12 TIMES better at Minecraft than I was when I started playing Herocraft, and don't even need the Economy to have a fun time. Plus, my architecture is PRETTY NEAT, not just crappy dirt houses lol.


So what did I learn? The Staff are often too busy to protect and defend EVERY victim of terrorism and instigation. However, in between being griefed and looted and Bountied, you CAN make secret little getaways to go and level, or farm, or mine (etc) during the Bounty cooldown period.

I'm smarter than I was, and I just hope I'll get a chance to PROVE that, by being given a fair shot at playing Herocraft, actually knowing my stuff this time around.

Shoutout: @TimForReal, @LordZelkova, @Nightmear, @Rhakotis, thanks for always being there for me, hearing me out, and getting to know me on more than a superficial level. I know most of the people I met on Herocraft are rooting for my Return, and - regardless of the outcome of my Ban Appeal - I want to let you all know that I TRULY appreciate the love and support you've given me through all of this.

Of course.... I am not entirely blameless. However, if asked, I'll own up to every bad thing I've done, because rather than being ashamed or in denial about it, I see it as a mistake and a learning experience. I know better what to do and what not to do, and it's made me a better person.

 

[Maximillion_V_Midn]

Actual Infractions: [1] Counter-Griefing (Staff didn't respond well to my Report, so I enacted "Street Justice"), [2] Advertising (I advertised my MC Realm, although it was just because I wanted someone to do 1+1 Coop with me, and didn't think that counted, but I still did it).

Alleged Infractions: [1] Disrespect, [2] Arguing after being asked to stop

Actually....

That's it! Even if you add my "alleged infractions" to my "actual infractions", there weren't that many. Even so, the things I DID do wrong, I don't ever intend to do again, and everything I had complaints about in the past, I've found LEGAL, Politically-Correct methods around.

 

[J2BH]

At first I was going to skim through this and give my ignorant opinion, like most would
But i decided no, I would read through all of this and give my honest response. And I will be honest, it differs greatly from the ignorant response I wouldve given

This is one of the most tragic, and utterly specific story i've ever seen on a new player. To have to play through the game in constant fear of dying is something no player should have to go through. I do question however, why could you not level in t3/4 dungeon? where pvp is disabled?

I also am starting to see your point on staff-player relations. I believe if the server truly cares about justice, staff should keep neutral relations with all players and prevent catering. In all server I've been on, all who applied for staff understood that rule when applying.

@Admins @Moderators
I may not be at liberty to say this, but I believe you should all thoughtfully and thoroughly read through this entire post, there could be a few things learned here. I've never seen a player have such a horrible experience on the server. And just to think, this is the only player who had the dignity to post about it. It's saddening to think how many players had worse of an experience and left because of it.

 

[xexorian]

I've seen this situation and scenario and have actually been in this situation many times before. However, unlike him, I was already staff and did not break any rules for street justice. Though, that is quite funny, and the griefing rules have been changed considerably since he was banned (I think, I would have to check.)

Some of the things he mentions - like the bounty cooldown period, and the actions I've seen him mention from larry are all known to me, as I was around for most of it. I knew he had been placing craptons of repeat bounties on players, and the reason why we have the cooldown for bounties is to prevent harrassment such as this.

I would have a lot more to say but, he pretty much just spilled his story out and I don't really want to add onto this post as it would be offtopic.

 

[J2BH]

I've seen this situation and scenario and have actually been in this situation many times before. However, unlike him, I was already staff and did not break any rules for street justice. Though, that is quite funny, and the griefing rules have been changed considerably since he was banned (I think, I would have to check.)

Some of the things he mentions - like the bounty cooldown period, and the actions I've seen him mention from larry are all known to me, as I was around for most of it. I knew he had been placing craptons of repeat bounties on players, and the reason why we have the cooldown for bounties is to prevent harrassment such as this.

I would have a lot more to say but, he pretty much just spilled his story out and I don't really want to add onto this post as it would be offtopic.

Very weird isn't it? How hes describing issues that would have existed in the past but have changed since then. Yet he's joined a couple days ago. What's up with that?

 

[LordZelkova]

Very weird isn't it? How hes describing issues that would have existed in the past but have changed since then. Yet he's joined a couple days ago. What's up with that?

Old user, new forum account.

 

[TimForReal]

Here's the problem I have, not only with this whole post but your overall attitude.

- You still feel you did nothing wrong.
Counter Griefing is grief, it doesn't matter what you think the outcome of a PE is - you broke the rules. You tried to be a vigilante and got punished for it, it was massive grief not justice.

- You spin all of your posts to make you come off as the victim, case in point some of the responses above feeling sorry for you.
You've been muted several time, banned in game, and forum banned. 99% of your forum posts are targeted to belittle the staff or the server and mostly get deleted, you're extremely disrespectful.

I'm not in a hurry to unban you at all, you haven't changed. If the staff here is so bent on targeting, why even try to still play here? I don't know if you're a good fit for the community to be honest.

 

[Ledino]

I don't know this dude. But me and my family were faced with similar discouragement from playing. I personally play because I enjoy the economy and combat system, my family continue to play simply to interact with me, not with any real joy from herocraft.

We didn't face bounties, but were faced with continual murder by the same players. The base they had worked on just so happened to exist in a period with a grief rule change, it got obliterated. And instead of condolences or silence, was met with staff mockery. These kids are 14 years old. Hell I was upset, I can only imagine the emotional state of a younger player faced with such behavior.

To top it off they were victim of a bug as a direct result of the tnt patch, that cost them 2k+ souls. They were reimbursed 1k, after spending three people's time of 1h+ trying to figure out how their LWC locked chest got jacked.
I don't blame them for quitting, it was a bitter taste compounded by the social atmosphere and response of staff.

Granted all this happened to around 30~ hours of work. Not much, but like the OP, play time is limited (try 2-4 hours on weekends for the most part). The way it went down was not pleasant and not within the realm of what any player should experience.



Sucks that you got PVP'd, no problem with that though, part of the game. What really sucks is the staff not properly fixing the situation (griefing). Maybe they did, and you are just a jerk who over reacted and went about breaking rules. But from my own recent experience, I am very inclined to side with you on this story. I don't agree with the disrespect, one should never be disrespectful. However, I can see how one might be pushed to such extremes by the way my situation was handled.

(On a side note @Kainzo was actually very professional and helpful for the most part.)

@TimForReal knows you better than me ( I don't know you at all). You claim "Of course.... I am not entirely blameless. However, if asked, I'll own up to every bad thing I've done, because rather than being ashamed or in denial about it, I see it as a mistake and a learning experience. I know better what to do and what not to do, and it's made me a better person."
He claims that's not true. He's probably biased based on your past disrespect. I don't agree with Tim's opinion of never belittling staff, as if any and all staff are ordained by some higher power. Staff should be working to serve players (my opinion). Staff should be highly scrutinized as their behavior and actions have an amplified effect on player experience. However, much the same way you were bullied, continual harassment will not fix the situation. If you called them out on it and you really wanted to play, the best bet is to sit back and wait for them to repeat the mistake. At which point you have just cause to join in with the next person who was wronged in pointing out the poor staff choice.
Wish you luck and hope you grow as a person, here or elsewhere.

 

[J2BH]

Here's the problem I have, not only with this whole post but your overall attitude.

- You still feel you did nothing wrong.
Counter Griefing is grief, it doesn't matter what you think the outcome of a PE is - you broke the rules. You tried to be a vigilante and got punished for it, it was massive grief not justice.

- You spin all of your posts to make you come off as the victim, case in point some of the responses above feeling sorry for you.
You've been muted several time, banned in game, and forum banned. 99% of your forum posts are targeted to belittle the staff or the server and mostly get deleted, you're extremely disrespectful.

I'm not in a hurry to unban you at all, you haven't changed. If the staff here is so bent on targeting, why even try to still play here? I don't know if you're a good fit for the community to be honest.

I think it's important for you to read through this entire post before saying that. Because he did in fact, take blame for his actions and understood them. He did not make this post to justify or ameliorate himself. I see that this person made this post to share his experience, rather than a post for sympathy. Even though it may sound it, all of these events (Untill proven untrue) are true, no matter how you interpret them.

Most villains are manifestations of pure torture

 

[Maximillion_V_Midn]

- You still feel you did nothing wrong.
Counter Griefing is grief, it doesn't matter what you think the outcome of a PE is - you broke the rules. You tried to be a vigilante and got punished for it, it was massive grief not justice.

As @J2BH mentioned, I admitted to doing wrong, and have said that I have no intention of repeating my transgressions.

@Maximillion_V_Midn
I am not entirely blameless. However, if asked, I'll own up to every bad thing I've done, because rather than being ashamed or in denial about it, I see it as a mistake and a learning experience. I know better what to do and what not to do, and it's made me a better person.

- You spin all of your posts to make you come off as the victim, case in point some of the responses above feeling sorry for you.
You've been muted several time, banned in game, and forum banned. 99% of your forum posts are targeted to belittle the staff or the server and mostly get deleted, you're extremely disrespectful.

1. I don't 'spin' posts, I write, detail for detail, what's happened, as I experienced it, play-by-play. Can I help it if we have players with empathy, who see another player's honest account, and can put themselves in the other player's shoes? I actually admire that, because it's a trait I possess as well. Is it your intention to shame me for recounting my experiences, honestly, and without any intent to guilt-trip or point fingers? I am not accusing you, I am asking you, because your "spin" comment, and use of the term "victim", and "feeling sorry", comes across like you're shaming me because I told my story, and others can see where I'm coming from. I don't think you're the kind of person to do that, which is why I'm asking for context, rather than assigning my own.

2. I have no quarrel, whatsoever with being punished for grief. I did my Time, I did my Ban Appeal through the proper channels, and was pardoned for it, and never did it again, not even once. I don't think I deserve a trophy or award for this, I simply recognize that I did wrong, and did the necessary soul-searching to correct the behavior in and of myself.

I'm not in a hurry to unban you at all, you haven't changed.

I. What was meant to change? Everything I got in trouble for, I stopped doing. Whether this is still true or not, there were a lot of "unwritten rules" that weren't 'common sense', and it takes a serious case of Trial-and-error for ANYONE to get. I haven't repeated any of the infractions that got me kicked/banned/muted previously.

II. Please notice, you too are misinterpreting wholly respectful, but honest accounts of past incidents, as "targeting Staff", "belittling staff or the server", this is actually one of the biggest things I'm talking about: There is a bias, from staff who endure endless abusive from toxic players, so much so that they begin seeing harmless, informative feedback as an attack. Remember when you agreed that Kainzo, being under as much pressure as he is, rarely has a moment's respite, and doesn't feel like tolerating people's antics? You endure much of the same, Tim, and you too are making the mistake of reading too much into my words, man.

Nobody here is on the offensive. I don't know who is going around deleting posts, but there has been no negativity, no namecalling, no harsh criticism, no degrading remarks, no belittling, no insulting, and no flaming whatsoever.

If the staff here is so bent on targeting, why even try to still play here?

As I said, more of my experiences were positive than negative. In fact, most of the rules that have changed on the forum are now so cut-and-dry, it's impossible to misinterpret. I now know, if I build an unprotected house, it's subject to looting/demolition. My issue was never with Raiding and Looting, but with double standards that no longer exist.

I don't know if you're a good fit for the community to be honest.

You can never have too many honest, polite, and respectful players who genuinely love Herocraft, and it's Community. I may lack some of the "Warrior Spirit" that many PvPers have, but I am by no means brittle or toxic, and can roll with the punches as deftly as the next guy.

@TimForReal, Herocraft has apparently changed a lot since I last played on the server. There's no more "gray area" about grief on unprotected soil, and all I ever asked for was "a concrete rule that isn't left to interpretation", and we now have that. I asked for players who cared for each other's well-being, and we have that too.

I wanted staff who were willing to keep a discerning eye, so they could see each player on an individual basis, rather than through the unintentionally bias-tinted shades of an exhausted Staffer who's had to put up with more than his/her fair share of grief and harassment, and is just downright sick of it,.

I am not, to-date (February 2nd 2016), a rulebreaker. I am not self-entitled. I am not hostile, I am not combative. I have always advocated a sense of Brotherhood and Comeradery everywhere I have went, and this interest has not waned in the slightest.

I am not simply UUID #3b0c980abcc744f89d6d940dcdc20e77. I am Ryan Dickson (aka Maxim_V_Midnight), a Herocraft and Minecraft fanatic, a lover of people, a visionary who tries in every conceivable way to improve the communities he's involved in through peaceful measures, and who is ready to come back to the Minecraft Server that started his Multiplayer Career, and defined Minecraft as a whole for him.

 

[joshtsai]

I've been watching from the outside but I can say with 90% confidence that no post in this thread has been deleted. Keep it on topic and it will continue to be this way.

Carry on.

 

[Krayte_XIII]

Errm... if the rules and such have been through so much change, if implemented retroactively then he really hasn't done anything wrong. Counter-griefing is allowed now... Although I'm biased because anyone that gave Larry some of his own medicine is A-ok in my book. Also, I don't understand the point of keeping him perma-banned... if he acts up again, ban him again. Like... it's not rocket science. It's been months since he played. Don't ya think that's long enough mate? If he manages to step on everyone's toes somehow again, then give him a temp boot again. Takes a whopping inconvenient 5 seconds. I doubt that'll happen considering how black and white the rules are now... but ya get my point.

 

[TimForReal]

I think it's important for you to read through this entire post before saying that. Because he did in fact, take blame for his actions and understood them. He did not make this post to justify or ameliorate himself. I see that this person made this post to share his experience, rather than a post for sympathy. Even though it may sound it, all of these events (Untill proven untrue) are true, no matter how you interpret them.

Most villains are manifestations of pure torture

Actual Infractions: [1] Counter-Griefing (Staff didn't respond well to my Report, so I enacted "Street Justice"), [2] Advertising (I advertised my MC Realm, although it was just because I wanted someone to do 1+1 Coop with me, and didn't think that counted, but I still did it).

Alleged Infractions: [1] Disrespect, [2] Arguing after being asked to stop

Actually....

That's it! Even if you add my "alleged infractions" to my "actual infractions", there weren't that many. Even so, the things I DID do wrong, I don't ever intend to do again, and everything I had complaints about in the past, I've found LEGAL, Politically-Correct methods around.

I did read through the whole thing, you're not as familiar with this player as I am and I stand by my statements. They aren't alleged infractions, they ARE infractions. This player has been muted/ign banned/forum banned, and every step of the way belittled staff and the server. It's unnecessary and disrespectful.

His response to his ban appeal when I commented on it..

There are countless posts I could pull examples from, but there's no point in doing that. I'm still on the fence about this.

 

[TimForReal]

I don't know this dude. But me and my family were faced with similar discouragement from playing. I personally play because I enjoy the economy and combat system, my family continue to play simply to interact with me, not with any real joy from herocraft.

We didn't face bounties, but were faced with continual murder by the same players. The base they had worked on just so happened to exist in a period with a grief rule change, it got obliterated. And instead of condolences or silence, was met with staff mockery. These kids are 14 years old. Hell I was upset, I can only imagine the emotional state of a younger player faced with such behavior.

To top it off they were victim of a bug as a direct result of the tnt patch, that cost them 2k+ souls. They were reimbursed 1k, after spending three people's time of 1h+ trying to figure out how their LWC locked chest got jacked.
I don't blame them for quitting, it was a bitter taste compounded by the social atmosphere and response of staff.

Granted all this happened to around 30~ hours of work. Not much, but like the OP, play time is limited (try 2-4 hours on weekends for the most part). The way it went down was not pleasant and not within the realm of what any player should experience.



Sucks that you got PVP'd, no problem with that though, part of the game. What really sucks is the staff not properly fixing the situation (griefing). Maybe they did, and you are just a jerk who over reacted and went about breaking rules. But from my own recent experience, I am very inclined to side with you on this story. I don't agree with the disrespect, one should never be disrespectful. However, I can see how one might be pushed to such extremes by the way my situation was handled.

(On a side note @Kainzo was actually very professional and helpful for the most part.)

@TimForReal knows you better than me ( I don't know you at all). You claim "Of course.... I am not entirely blameless. However, if asked, I'll own up to every bad thing I've done, because rather than being ashamed or in denial about it, I see it as a mistake and a learning experience. I know better what to do and what not to do, and it's made me a better person."
He claims that's not true. He's probably biased based on your past disrespect. I don't agree with Tim's opinion of never belittling staff, as if any and all staff are ordained by some higher power. Staff should be working to serve players (my opinion). Staff should be highly scrutinized as their behavior and actions have an amplified effect on player experience. However, much the same way you were bullied, continual harassment will not fix the situation. If you called them out on it and you really wanted to play, the best bet is to sit back and wait for them to repeat the mistake. At which point you have just cause to join in with the next person who was wronged in pointing out the poor staff choice.
Wish you luck and hope you grow as a person, here or elsewhere.

I'm sorry that you had an unpleasant experience. Unfortunately, I do not know which staff member(s) you refer to that handled your situation nor was I online when the TNT system was implemented. You also have no past petitions opened in game for me to reference.

This is a hardcore server and there is a group of players who like to PvP. With that said, there are simple ways to deal with being camped that I'm sure most people don't understand.

• Don't encourage them to camp you.
  • Don't message them
  • Don't complain in public channels
  • Take a break, they'll lose interest

 

[xexorian]

In my opinion, we should earn the respect of the players, within the context that we are allowed to help them. If that isn't enough, it can easily be seen in a negative viewpoint. People rarely understand the regulations we as staff have to follow as well. For one, we try to get as little involved as we can. Personally, I go ingame sometimes and mess with people I like and who remind me of old citizens. But, I usually don't ever take anything overboard other than tickling them with feathers with KB 1000, and occasionally letting them punch me with my thorns armor on and tell them, hey dont hit an admin! Hahah.

As for the other stuff, before arguing, I must remind all staff that we also reserve the right at any time as moderators of the community to simply mute, slay, kick, or ban people. And, as a rule of thumb we generally give people 3 chances (severe offenses) before taking a perm ban stance on said behavior.

Those 'severe offenses' are usually
1) (This is one of them, but also a ZERO TOLERANCE rule, straight to perm ban) advertising other minecraft servers or services that herocraft provides for you while you are here. This includes generally advertising other teamspeaks, servers, and networks. Rarely, I think maybe once, I saw someone banned for advertising another forum, and those circumstances were due to imitations / intellectual property rights violations. (pretty much - stuff that still falls under advertising.)

2) Mass griefing / vigilante justice (accept things that have happened and move on. This is the majority part of staff disrespect. When we make a decision we usually do not make it lightly, most decisions are talked about within the mods, admins, or with kainzo who are online at the time. Since we cannot all wait to be online we usually take seniority within staff ranks into account and hear out what other mods+senior staff have to say.)

3) Spamming unnecessarily / flame baiting / extremely negative behavior. While subjective, this is generally a rule of thumb to not be 'severely' toxic in ways that are, also subject to interpretation. Spamming chat about how anyone who plays a specific class is bad and needs to get good after being asked (or told) by staff to stop is a good example of the type of behavior which is subjective. Other topics rarely surface, such as those mentioned by Tim up above. Just remember, staff reserve the right to deny you our online services.

4) Abusive behaviors -- while not normally banned for this, occasionally we find certain behaviors ban-worthy, such as people stalking each other or revealing real life information or harrassing players real life phone numbers. Things like this, if proven to staff, are bannable offenses. We do not encourage real life bullying within the community - everyone should respect the fact that PVP is PVP and it should remain in game and not supercede that scope.

That's most of what I have to elaborate on to all of those who want to listen. (Most of this is my own personal take on how we manage things, as I said staff run informally as a democracy within the ranks. And while we try to communicate these issues internally sometimes--more often than not we are not all online at the same time a decision needs or should be made and so we leave it to each member to make a fairly educated guess on how to enforce the rules within the handbooks of each rank (that's an actual thing.) and within the scope of the rules we've set forth as a community.)

 

[Maximillion_V_Midn]

The implication of further infractions aside, it sounds like I did a decent job of expressing how my Herocraft experience was making my feel. Poor choice of wording, but no matter how I look at it, it looks like a player is really tired of being griefed, and nobody doing anything about it. It doesn't look like your generic "Aminz r unfair, i r a viktim" the Staff are probably used to seeing.

That was then, though, and this is now. I don't know about you, but I can't say that I've never said something, in a moment of agitation, that went no farther than mere words, and was never meant to.

After that post, I was messaged by @LordZelkova, who said that if someone griefed me with lava again, to come to him, and he'd look into it and see what could be done. Despite that little bit of light, harmless sass (in the screenshot), that one griefing incident was the first and last. In fact, seeing that somebody did care, warmed my heart so much, all the bitterness and hurt I'd been harboring up to that point practically melted away, so rare is such a gesture. I don't say this about Herocraft, so much as in life in general, offline and online alike.

It can't be overstated, how much that one message touched me, or how easily it delivered me out of the clutches of despair.

I addressed "Communicating Properly" in a thread I posted under my initial name of Xarxu, which went a little like this:

XARXU (my old username)
Nobody asks for elaboration, or asks you what you mean. I don't know if it's because they think they already know, or they feel it makes them look "weak", but asking for elaboration will prevent most of the conflicts I see around me when I'm Online. A little benefit-of-the-doubt goes a long way, especially since words are wind, and letting someone know how their actions made you feel is a positive thing, and won't leave any cuts or wounds.

You can't stop every troll from trolling, but suppress the kneejerk reflex to start administering Bans, and you might spare the people who'd get caught in the crossfire, nobody the wiser but them. I mean, the little people count, even the ones we might otherwise never think twice about again, right?

Of course, this doesn't entitle me to run my mouth without using my brain. Haven't you seen, from my posts recently by themselves, that I'm taking the extra measures, and making the extra effort, to choose my words more carefully? When I felt like I wasn't being properly listened-to, I communicated that this was my impression, rather than an irrefutable fact. For all I know, I am being listened-to, even though it doesn't appear that way.

It goes both ways.

I'm still fallible, and I won't say my jokes are always funny (or in good taste), or that I'm always the most eloquent when I speak, but I can say that I am a work in progress, and I have come a long ways since that Ban from Herocraft.

@TimForReal, you keep saying you know me. I have no doubts that you have seen me around the forums, or you have seen me in chat when I was on Herocraft. But do you really know me? There are some, on Herocraft and elsewhere, who do, and they wouldn't believe for an instant that I was the kind of person who was combative, confrontational, or a toxic person to be around. And I'm not.

They'll tell you I may talk too much, may not realize I may be giving the wrong impression with my choice of words.... but they will also vouch for my integrity, honesty, how often I've said "I'm always willing to give somebody a clean slate", even to people who have really hurt my feelings, and they will tell you that, if my worst enemy Online was out on the street without a dollar to their name, I'd do everything I could to make sure they had a roof over their head, and had a safe place to stay the night.

They would tell you that I don't believe rules are made to be broken, and that - even when offered a Hack Client to use for a separate server - I refused to, simply because that's not the vision the Owner had when they created that server, and it was not my place to go and [mess] their stuff up, and/or unbalance the game.

That is who I am. @LordZelkova recently mentioned that the name "XARXU" has a lot of negativity associated with it, which nobody bothered to tell me (I guess they assumed, if I'm such a bad person, I know, or it goes without saying). I don't doubt that, in a sea of complaining players (who won't even stick around, and don't listen to anything anyone says), my complaints about griefing (etc) didn't help me get pushed in that ever-growing "Worthless Noob" bin, but the reputation associated with the name XARXU may as well be speaking to the character of somebody else, for the impression it's left.

 

[_Trains_]

There is one thing I do not understand from this. Why make a new post explaining this? Why not just re-post this on your ban app?
Did you post this as a regular forum chat, since regular people can't talk on ban appeals?
Was this all in an attempt to gain the people's respect, in order to have a hoard of herocraft regulars backing you up, so you can get unbanned?

If I was put into the shoes of a staff member, I would feel guilty reading this. I would feel terrible, and that it was such an injustice that he was banned. Unfortunately, there are other stories that weren't revealed from your post.

You're not as familiar with this player as I am and I stand by my statements. They aren't alleged infractions, they ARE infractions. This player has been muted/ign banned/forum banned, and every step of the way belittled staff and the server. It's unnecessary and disrespectful.

What does this mean? I do not know. What were your real motives for posting here? I do not know.

But, the one question I want you to answer is:

Why did you make a post on this? Why are you making this statement?

 

[TimForReal]

The implication of further infractions aside, it sounds like I did a decent job of expressing how my Herocraft experience was making my feel. Poor choice of wording, but no matter how I look at it, it looks like a player is really tired of being griefed, and nobody doing anything about it. It doesn't look like your generic "Aminz r unfair, i r a viktim" the Staff are probably used to seeing.

Perhaps you're not clear on our policies here. Grief was handled case by case and to the staff members better judgement. Rollbacks do not occur for minor grief as they dupe items. Player were not banned for minor grief, they received warnings based on where they were at in the disciplinary steps. Did you ever even PE the grief? It doesn't seem like it, here's a SN of the closed PE's I posted from your last ban.

So, from the looks of this - you didn't even attempt to report the grief at all. How can anyone even begin to help you, if you don't help yourself?

I don't have much else to say on this topic, I'll make a decision here shortly on your ban appeal.

 

[FaZeAlpine]

Perhaps you're not clear on our policies here. Grief was handled case by case and to the staff members better judgement. Rollbacks do not occur for minor grief as they dupe items. Player were not banned for minor grief, they received warnings based on where they were at in the disciplinary steps. Did you ever even PE the grief? It doesn't seem like it, here's a SN of the closed PE's I posted from your last ban.

So, from the looks of this - you didn't even attempt to report the grief at all. How can anyone even begin to help you, if you don't help yourself?

I don't have much else to say on this topic, I'll make a decision here shortly on your ban appeal.

dad you are savage