[niknakflak] MrMacaroli – Perma Metacomm

[MrMacaroli]

Byond account and character name: MrMacaroli / Philip Tenant
Banning admin: niknakflak
Ban type (What are you banned from?): Banned from Sybil/Bagil
Ban reason and length: Metacommunication with GoatOTG2 and Troop203 / Permanent (?)
Time ban was placed (including time zone): 2015-06-18 4:41 AM (EST)

Your side of the story:
This ban came to us as a big surprise, since I, GoatOTG2 and Troop203 were limiting our communications to helping a new player (Troop203) to learn the game; we picked a low-stress role with intent to pull him in through IC actions, and kept all IC actions/activities limited exclusively to that.

We were chefs in the kitchen. There was little enough that OOC information could have done to modify the role for better or worse, and the absence of any change in behavior (except heading in there en masse and doing our jobs really really poorly) should support that we were communicating controls and what was going on (why he slipped on the floor or why he couldn’t put his shoes on) to a new player in a busy ship.

If coordination even on that level is barred and prohibited, I apologize (this is my second day as well) and I’ll be more mindful of remaining completely closed off OOC to prevent this. If something else occurred that also broke the rules, I’d like to know about it as well.

Why you think you should be unbanned: I don’t think any of us expected or understood the gravity metacommunication was treated with here and in general until this ban hit and we got the opportunity to delve into this a little. We’re all not that far in learning the game and made a big mistake in our excitement to get a friend involved too.

If any of us are unbanned, we’ll work to pick separate rolls and keep exclusively to the theme and atmosphere of the ship; no communication until after the round ends (even for instructional purposes, that’s what the new player guide and faffing around is for) and separate roles IC to ensure we’re anonymous to one another if we do decide to play together. Collaboration should happen naturally and through IC actions, not because we think it would have been a smoother landing experience. We were in the wrong.

[NikNakFlak]

I don't agree with the fact that you tried to keep everything IC when teaching the new guy, this is what I watched you for. You said almost nothing to each other and I was about to talk to you guys went you all went braindead at once. That's the reason the ban was put in place, simply because you all logged out.

That being said, being new still doesn't give you an excuse to break the rules. Metacommunications are always a fine line with new players as it's a very easy way to teach someone but admins don't know how far the communication goes, therefore we usually tell you to keep it all in character.

It's a fine law concerning this rule: IC information should be kept out of OOC channels and vice-versa. (IE: do not talk about the current round outside of IC communication methods, and do not break the fourth wall in the round.)
Doing this privately (steam/IRL/skype) will generally lead to immediate permabans for all involved parties. Especially when used to gain an in game advantage

I'm going to un-ban all of you, as you are right, the meta communication was mostly harmless, on an empty server, and definitely to teach a new player over say gaining an advantage. As I stated above, metacommunication is never allowed as admins have no way to tell what you are saying to each other and for the fact of logging out. Just make sure in the future to actually teach all things ICly and you should be fine. It doesn't state this anywhere in the rules, but it's also a good idea to shoot an adminhelp to tell the admins that you are teaching a new guy. The reason for this is it lets us know what you are doing vs what we see if just three guys wordlessly running around, and it also gives us a chance to help out.

With all this in mind, I've unbanned all three of you as I read the #supportbus messages from one of the other guys and this is more or less a pretty harmless case in all respects. Make sure you give the rules a read over and enjoy the server.

[MrMacaroli]

My bad on the misunderstanding, I thought we were banned because of the chefwork on Sybil, not the mute stuff on Bagil while we worked him through the basics. Thank you, and it won't happen again.