Defining Server Rules

NiGHTS

Please use this thread to define a set ruleset to follow on the server that we can use to enforce. To start the discussion, please see the quote below:

If someone is going to try to administrate the server we'll want a definition of rules. Is it acceptable to destroy vehicles in spawn? How about killing people in spawn? Obviously hackers are going to be kicked(right?). Are these things immediate kicks? Do we give warnings? When will you ban people?

QCH

No base camping... That is for vehicles AND players. Any complaints of this happening will be warned. Repeated offense, kicked. Return and do it, Ban.

Hackers, if proven and not just someone complaining that a guy is too good to be for real. Notified then Kicked, guy returns, ban.

I know some servers kick someone if they are using mortars from an area that cannot be hit (non vehicle maps)

I'm fine for IC folks on each team... if we see a large number of guys that seem to be from one clan, we can pose a "clan vs clan". For now... I'm not opposed to clan stacking since we have a varied skill level and I know I was getting owned by some folks that were not IC folks.

NiGHTS

Wasn't so much 'opting' for different teams as that was the way we ended up. It would have taken quite some time for us to switch teams the normal way and we didn't want to force-move.

I read over this in your first post, just went back and looked - what's the issue with force moving? I'd not considered it last night, but if it's something we can do, it would definitely make it easier for people to get on the same team - arguably the game's weakpoint.

If I've got 3 people in the server, 2 on one team and 1 on the other, is forcing moving them to the side with 2 really that bad?

Canti

No destroying vehicles in base, no killing in base. I don't even think that's debatable, no server I've ever played on allows it.

pigflipper

No griefing, no base rape, no base vehicle rape, stay out of uncaps, do not mortar from uncaps, and from there same rules as IC TF2 server. Warning for first offense, kick on second, ban on third. Hackers = immediate perma ban since PB hasn't been updated in weeks and lots of hacks are out now.

Also, some maps other than the crappy ones in the rotation? Kharg non rush and Firestorm cannot be played right now.

BlackHawk

I'd personally allow killing people in uncap if they're shooting from it. Plenty of ways to get out of the uncap with teamwork.

Tushon

No griefing, no base rape, no base vehicle rape, stay out of uncaps, do not mortar from uncaps, and from there same rules as IC TF2 server. Warning for first offense, kick on second, ban on third. Hackers = immediate perma ban since PB hasn't been updated in weeks and lots of hacks are out now.

Also, some maps other than the crappy ones in the rotation? Kharg non rush and Firestorm cannot be played right now.

I like this set of info. I promise, I wanted to play last night but I decided that staying committed to exercise plan and then completing my folding on ubuntu article and talking about Team 93 was more important.

Cliff_Forster

I've been playing online shooters for a long time. I've been of the unpopular opinion that if you are not modifying the code, you are not cheating. Base camping, yeah, it's a little underhanded, but it's not exactly a strategy you can't counter with a little thought. Just camping in general became such a huge issue in competitive shooters, when Infinity Ward set out to do the first Call of Duty game they decided the post death kill cam was mandatory on all ranked servers. Camping issue solved, expert snipers had to move from kill to kill and most people felt it made for a better game. If your displeased about the balance of how the game plays and cheap exploits, your issue is not with the player, it's with the developer. Petition them to fix the game in some way. Maybe death by auto sniper for hanging out in one place too long, but in my mind banning someone for playing without modification to the code really isn't fair, and it's super hard to enforce as well.

I'd focus more on dealing with the disruptive personality's. Slurs, mic spamming, offensive sprays, I think they are good easily enforceable rules that set the tone for what kind of server you want to keep. Anything that has to do with the competitive balance of the game, complain to the developer if you don't like how it plays. If a player is not modifying the code in some way to gain an edge, I don't believe its cheating, or a behavior that is reasonably enforceable by server mods.

Just my two cents.

boasist

I'd personally allow killing people in uncap if they're shooting from it. Plenty of ways to get out of the uncap with teamwork.

Agreed.

QCH

@cliff_Forster I remember when Blackhawk spawn locked 5 or 6 of us in BF1942:Desert Combat Mod. He was that frick'n good at flying choppers. He would just strafe us and it became no fun. When the skill of the camper is that much better than the average and kills you seconds after spawning... no. If folks want to hunt anyone that leaves spawn in a heavily contested game, sure. I went for almost 5 minutes straight of dying before I could even run 3 steps. I tried to spawn in a jet... DEAD. I spawn and run to a tank, DEAD. Spawn and dive in a building, HEY, I lived... then the building collapsed and I died. Now if a guy is camping in his base and taking shots from there hoping to be protected by the spawn camping rule, I am all for a quick sortie into the base to wipe out the guy and going back to the actual battle.

There are maps that the base/spawn is so close to the battle and the battle is so one-sided that that is the only spawn spot... it may be the only battle to fight. I can agree that it is within the spirit to keep them from coming out.

As for the "complain to the developer"... Sure, put in a complaint and wait weeks/months/never for anything to be done. On our server, just plain easier to post the rules and everyone can have fun.

pigflipper

Cliff: play and you have a say, otherwise, bugger off.

I'd personally allow killing people in uncap if they're shooting from it. Plenty of ways to get out of the uncap with teamwork.

Yes, there are plenty of ways to do so, if everybody on the team works together. Problem is that with pubs, you don't have that 99% of the time and people start bailing, which presents another problem, auto balance does not seem to work on our server.

My complaint last night was getting shot in the uncap as soon as I spawned, not even enough time to move before I was dead; completely ruined that particular round for me. If I had been allowed to get into the air in the jet or helo or in one of the LAVs, yeah, thats different, but I was being shot on the deck before even getting into an aircraft. This game is about having run, not about "realism", thats what HC servers are for and why we are not running one.

Another problem that we ran into before getting onto our server was same team griefing via C4 and jeeps. If you have not encountered this, trust me, you will see red when someone on your team kills you just as you get into a vehicle or runs you over with a runaway jeep right as you spawn. I was killed twice by my own team putting C4 on the helo then detonating it right before I could hit "E" to get in, so frustrating.

QCH

so THAT is what griefing means... Yeah... kick and also cut a nut off.

Tushon

blatant TK'ing should be instant kick w/ reason (i.e. tell them why, but still insta-kick rather than warn) and if they come back for round two, perma-ban.

RyanFodder

blatant TK'ing should be instant kick w/ reason (i.e. tell them why, but still insta-kick rather than warn) and if they come back for round two, perma-ban.

They need to come back ... and do it AGAIN. People should see that admins have power, and then be given the opportunity to learn.

Lets all remember that we want people to perceive our server as a nice, friendly, welcoming place to play. We want more people to join us, right?


I'm all for getting teams set up, especially to make squads. My problem last night was if we were to have 8 IC people on a team vs 8 pubs, it would have been a slaughter, skill levels or no. That, and 8 people in vent would have drove me crazy.

Later, when the server was full, I wouldn't have minded swapping teams except that by then you guys were all being jerks about it, and I wasn't feeling like giving in, especially when I came up to explain myself and got shit.

Jimmy had a great idea: use skype for squads, and vent for inter-squad chat. If we get another IC game setup, I'd like to try that. Hopping channels in vent sucks.

Speaking of vent - should we broadcast the vent info when the server is full? Anyone have a problem with that?

NiGHTS

I guess I missed the giving shit part - I think a few guys were having a good time about it and it was taken the wrong way.

I'm not sure what prompted the Ventrilo server from needing a password, but something must have happened. I would assume publically giving out the information and password again would allow whatever it was to happen again... anyone have any insight on why it's set up the way it is?

I'm not resisting Skype, but I don't really see what it fixes... maybe I'm not fully understanding? Wouldn't you still have to alt-tab and call your new squad on Skype? That doesn't save any time over clicking into a new channel, right? ...what am I not getting here?

boasist

I may be able to setup a vent server for us all. So we can then have 2. Or teamspeak. I'd have to take a look and we'd have to test it out.

TiberiusLazarus

Vent has a password because without one various groups of (typically) asian people would randomly hop in and fill the server. The server is limited to 25 (maybe 50) people total. It has been said elsewhere that it is fine to give out the information.

The reason to use skype and vent is to allow squad communication without a lot of background noise from the other squads. The 4 people in a squad join a skype call with just them. Everyone on the team would also be in vent with push-to-talk for cross-squad communication. In my eyes this would keep comms clearer.

tl;dr Skype for quick voice comm with people you should be working directly with; Vent for less often team talk

primesuspect

Absolutely feel free to give out the password to any and all people you are playing with. As Jimmy said, it's only PWed to prevent flashmobs from taking it over

Tushon

Regarding vent and squad vs team voice:

Is it possible for a sub-channel to hear everything in the channel above it as well? I know you can setup bindings to PTT for different channels (so you'd have one for your squad channel, probably whatever your default for CURRENT CHANNEL, and then have one for PTT to the BF3 channel - this is rather trivial and there are at least two ways involving PTT keys to accomplish this), but that wouldn't solve the hearing the "main channel" issue. I'm not sure if there is a way to set a channel to broadcast to all sub-channels, and can't investigate it currently. Something for the Vent admins to look at, perhaps.

The problem with adding skype to the mix is then you have to have everyone on Skype friends and alt-tab out anytime your squad changes to setup new call. You also have the problem of having pubs who don't have skype being denied that part of the experience. I would encourage a vent-only solution if possible.

NiGHTS

I'll begin compiling the ones we agree on, and highlighting the more controversial ones for a vote sometime today.

RyanFodder

Nights and I reviewed the map rotation list. The server is now on a "Conquest Small" rotation.

Based on this discussion, can we please add the following in-game admin messages?

"Join our community at Icrontic.com"
"Talk with us on vent: voice.gameservers.com, port: 4505, password: icrontic"

primesuspect

Make the landing page message icrontic.com/bf3 so that new people can get an intro to what we're all about.

pigflipper

Why conquest small and not regular conquest? I can understand not going with Conquest Large cause some of the maps are just too big for 32 players, but small?

NiGHTS

There is no regular conquest. It's either small or large.

pigflipper

Ahh, ok, thanks for clarifying.

Is it possible to switch to Rush if, for say, we had a clan match? How much of a hassle is it?

NiGHTS

Just a click away on ProCon, not a problem at all.

BlackHawk

I'm going to suggest TeamSpeak and TeamSync. Everyone connects to presumably our TeamSpeak server and it'll automagically move you to a channel based on your team or squad. The TeamSync part is server side I believe. A godsend on some pub servers I've played on.

boasist

I added the icrontic.com/bf3 message, so can someone update that page to include our scheduled times?

Looking good elsewhere though. Thanks

boasist

So anything get finalized? I'd like to implement a few things on the server and want to see what the end result is here.

Thanks.

boasist

Hmmmmm

QCH

What are we waiting on?