Official "rules for the game"
 

Is there anywhere that these are laid out? As in, bannable offenses, the process GPs must follow before banning a player, etc.

If these do actually exist and it's a server-specific thing, I'm more interested in iClassic than anything.

Would be nice to see something like this if there's not one already. I know zone has one --> http://graalians.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24091

They definitely need to be documented and laid out somewhere.

Does anyone ever use the "Help" button in the main menu anymore? It would be beneficial to have the rules listed there, and in other places in-game (ex. Balamb).

I will admit that I am asking because I am butthurt that a friend of mine was recently banned for the strangest reason, without warning, but there seem to be a lot of weird gray areas and exceptions and the gist of it should all be laid out somewhere I guess. I feel like a lot of people wouldn't do stupid things if they felt as if they'd definitely be banned for doing it, so maybe making it clear would prevent a lot of bans.

As a GP on iClassic, I thought I'd throw together a list of most bans players can receive. As a disclaimer, no one is responsible if you try to work around these and complain when you get banned for something you probably should have.

All bans administered are given an offense level based on how often a player has committed said offense in a given amount of time. The higher the offense, the longer the ban. In each offense type below, I will include the consequences of each offense: 1, 2, greater than 2.

Game Disruption

• Players who attempt to interrupt any type of event going on in the server. This could include intentionally lagging in spars, modem-tapping in events or at towers, blocking areas of interest to news updates, etc. This also includes players who encourage other players to break any kind of rule.

Warning, 1 Week, 1 Month

Boosting Statistics

• Players who boost their statistics through illegitimate means. This is for players who are boosting their spar wins/losses and PK kills intentionally and illegally. If you are banned for this, your stats will also be cleared in the respective area.

Warning, 1 Week, 1 Month

General Harassment

• Players who evade the swear filter and direct this foul language at other players. Essentially, players who harass other players verbally.

Warning, 1 Week, 1 Month

Inappropriate Behavior

• Players who are slightly offensive (in some text-based manner) but not severely.

Warning, 1 Week, 1 Month

Severe Vulgarity

• Um. Kind of self explanatory. Don't do it. lol.

1 Month, 3 Months, 6 Months

Inappropriate Solicitation

• Players who are clearly asking for sexual activities/favors. Don't do that, ew.

3 Months, 6 Months, 12 Months

Distributing Personal Information

• Players who distribute private, personal information about other players/staff.

1 Month, 3 Months, 6 Months

Intentional Scamming

• Players who attempt or successfully scam other players. This includes any scamming of any kind.

1 Month, 3 Months, 6 Months

Hacking or Cheating

• Players who use third-party software to better themselves in-game. This includes wall-hacking, speed-hacking, farming bots, etc.

3 Months, 6 Months, 12 Months


Hope this helps!

Cool, thanks. I think the banning process should also be made clear, too. For example, some of those ban reasons seem more serious than others. Can a player ever be banned without warning? For what ban types of bans can a player expect to be warned before banned? For example, is there any situation where a player should be banned for inappropriate behavior without receiving a warning first? Stuff like that, etc.

Yes, some are more serious than others. I shall add the times that are associated with each offense type to my original post.

Edit: Done.

The poll center on Belle Isle used to have a sign that directed players to the Graalonline.com URL including official Graal rules and terms of service. I'm not sure if that building still stands or if it were removed, however.

Damn...those ban times are unforgiving. I'd go as far to say as it's going a bit overboard. I mean come on ONE WEEK for foul language? Last time I checked this was an online game and swearing is prevalent in all online games. Yeah sure you get a warning but you can't just jail someone for a few hours?

However I agree with the harsh ban times for the offensives on the lower part of your list Xavier.

I will agree that the ban times are harsh; however, the reasoning behind them is to really discourage players from fooling around again. If they're only banned for the time it takes them to do their homework or hang out with some friends, they're just going to do it again without a thought.

Because of this, players either get banned once and never do it again, or they keep getting multiple-offense bans with massive ban times; they can't be a menace to the server anymore. This generally results in a better community experience overall by correcting the people willing to conform and sweeping the nasty, stubborn kids out.

P.S. The less-serious offenses also give a warning the first time as stated, so there's also that safety buffer.

Why not gradually work up to one week?

Warning>>Four hour ban>>Six hour ban>>Eight Hour ban>>One day>>Two Days>>Four days>>One week.

^^^ seriously this, my problem is with the severe vulgarity thing, where the last time I got banned was in '11, and im pretty sure if I were to get banned for swearing it'd be for 6 months, and if I didn't see that list I'd be pretty unhappy.

Also, what is severe vulgarity? is it just cursing in public, like, if i say **** down at the burger refuge will I be gone for the next 6 months? Because the last time I was banned for something of the sort that was the reason. And the list you have given looks like it wouldn't be the same.

I really think you should try and talk to whoever your superior/s are about this whole system, because it honestly seems kinda weird in general. AT LEAST get a sign out somewhere that says the rules. And clarifies, that even if the last time you were banned was 2-3 years ago you could still get banned 6 months for swearing on your next offense.

Nah, the ban histories that are used for reference only show the previous month (or so) of offenses. If a player hasn't done anything within that period they will get warned.

If someone has 8 offences in the last month they deserve more than one week. The point is, bans aren't supposed to be fun, they aren't supposed to be lax, and they're supposed to be a deterrent for bad behaivior. Four or Six hours aren't a deterrent. Especially if a person has a history of being banned.

Lucky I can't use Valikorlia's death metal jail.

Official "rules for the game"
 

Ok how about this?
Warning>>12 hours>>One day>>Two days>>Four days>>Six days>>One week>>Two weeks>>One month>>Six Months>>One year.

Essentially the warning, 12 hour band and one day ban are warnings. After that the punishments become more severe.

Or instead, warning, 1 hour ban, 2 hour ban, 4 hr ban, 16 hr ban and keep on squaring the awnsers.

Game Disruption

• Players who attempt to interrupt any type of event going on in the server. This could include intentionally lagging in spars, modem-tapping in events or at towers, blocking areas of interest to news updates, etc. This also includes players who encourage other players to break any kind of rule.

Warning, 1 Week, 1 Month

This should just be an event ban for X time, pretty ******ed

Boosting Statistics

• Players who boost their statistics through illegitimate means. This is for players who are boosting their spar wins/losses and PK kills intentionally and illegally. If you are banned for this, your stats will also be cleared in the respective area.
Warning, 1 Week, 1 Month

Boosting spar ratio.. Eh, I'll let you have it, but boosting PK counts is just ******ed to ban as well. PKing shows nothing and can easily be tampered

General Harassment

• Players who evade the swear filter and direct this foul language at other players. Essentially, players who harass other players verbally.

Warning, 1 Week, 1 Month

Foul language shouldn't be a ban. Harassment can easily be fixed by blocking the player. If said player goes beyond and makes accounts just to harass, then it's a problem. Shouldn't ban unless multiple accounts are involved to harass one player

Inappropriate Behavior

• Players who are slightly offensive (in some text-based manner) but not severely.

Warning, 1 Week, 1 Month

This is too ambiguous and needs more clarification

Severe Vulgarity

• Um. Kind of self explanatory. Don't do it. lol.

1 Month, 3 Months, 6 Months

To a certain extent yes, but this is something I really don't care for. Free game

Inappropriate Solicitation

• Players who are clearly asking for sexual activities/favors. Don't do that, ew.

3 Months, 6 Months, 12 Months

Given this, I whole-heartedly think is fair, but should warrant a permanent ban on the third strike; if from the same IP, then IP ban may be warranted

Distributing Personal Information

• Players who distribute private, personal information about other players/staff.

1 Month, 3 Months, 6 Months

Eh, yeah I'm fine with these times

Intentional Scamming

• Players who attempt or successfully scam other players. This includes any scamming of any kind.

1 Month, 3 Months, 6 Months

Way too harsh of a sentence for scamming, especially when things are in place to prevent it.

Hacking or Cheating

• Players who use third-party software to better themselves in-game. This includes wall-hacking, speed-hacking, farming bots, etc.

3 Months, 6 Months, 12 Months

I agree, except third should be permanent

I don't think the ban reasons or punishment times are that unreasonable, it's just that sometimes I feel like there's a rush to punish people who genuinely didn't intend to break a rule. There's never any manual mediation, as in GPs here never seem to actually personally look into the issue. They just observe or look at a report, then make a decision.

As an example, a younger person in a guild I'm in was asked by a friend to make a guild. For whatever reason, his friend asked him to make the guild "siegheil" (the Nazi salute). He's not German and didn't even know what the hell that was, so he makes the guild and before he's even able to transfer it, he's banned.

He claims he has no extensive ban history and was banned for a month with no warning. Could staff not just delete the guild and talk with the player first? Warn him and ask about the situation? He appealed and was denied. Even if his story was a lie, I think month-long bans for stuff like that is kind of extreme and unforgiving. Maybe if his guild name was in his native language and read "KILL ALL KIKES IRL BECAUSE I HATE THEM" then I get it, but geeze. It's arguable that just the phrase "sieg heil" is even offensive. Is there like a quota that GPs have to meet per month?
There's a guild named "HAIL TITER" since forever, isn't that equally as offensive? There was a guild named "Kool Kids Klub" that made a ton of KKK references and they got off. "Sandy Hook Elementary" was Loops' guild, poking fun at a school shooting in the US. It seems like GP interference is very selective in most cases.

Not trying to hijack this as a thread to make a plea for him, but just providing a recent example that I know of to support what I'm saying.

I've had some obsessive weirdo who I exposed for stealing hats making countless harassing statuses about me, claiming that I'm a ********* and using my real name, etc. Every time I've reported it, the status gets cleared. He hasn't been banned yet. So, I really don't understand the thought process behind banning vs. clearing/deleting vs. warning.

It should be, and people who hack gralats should probably be banned for a much longer time initially, because people pay a lot of money to get them and it's kind of a disrespect to supporters of the game.

Concerning the quota thing; it's more that new GPs want to show their GPA that they're good and ****, so they'll try and ban for whatever they can just to show that they know the rules and how to do the process. Hell, when I first got PR I was a hard-ass and jailed for a **** ton of things that most would just brush off, but after a few weeks I stopped caring and only hammered down on repeat offenses and whatever actually needed it. If someone was being racist I would ask those around and everyone was fine with the words, so it was fine. Otherwise they'd get a warning and then go from there.


Or they could be power-hungry, but you never know

Does this also include gift for gift scamming during Christmas? Not saying I support banning for this since g4g isn't the point of Christmas, but technically it's still scamming.

Scamming shouldn't even be jailable, honestly. There are systems in place to prevent scams. If people choose to ignore it, then that's their loss and the scammer should get off free. Now if it were something like Era's system and it involved an actual trade with a money counter that's very small to see and doesn't announce any changes, then it's acceptable to a degree

people like you are the reason people leave the community

Thanks Xavier, that helps!

Explain? He made a great point.

Some of these rules shouldn't even warrant a ban in the first place. They have systems in place to stop this from happening, so anything that involves going around these things is the fault of the player only (Only exception being vulgarity; shouldn't even have a ban in the first place). As for some of the other times like hacking/major glitching, asking for sexual favors and ****; I feel the times on it are too soft and need a much longer sentence with a permanent ban. Hell, even an IP ban would be nice to have for repeat offenders.

If you want more clarification then just ask. I can't write up much more as I have stuff I need to do.

Is it actually legal to be evading a ban of any sort? Serious question, because sometimes I'm seeing that banned players seem to be immediately rebanned and then other times I see players who are banned on alternate accounts, using their recognized name, and getting off with it, so I'm confused about that. If it is, alrighty. If not, what's the punishment for evading?

It is not legal; anyone who is getting away with it just hasn't been caught. The punishment is just the same ban originally given.

As in you just ban the account that they're evading on? Or you extend their ban?

Those ban time offenses are ridiculous.

"Intentional Scamming" involves players stealing other people's accounts. It is nothing to do with trading in-game items and not putting up your end of the bargain. Classic doesn't really offer much to promote that kind of activity on a gameplay level. You are not banned for taking someone's gralats out of their farm, not gifting them back at Christmas, or short changing their efforts when giving out guild hats. Those activities are trading constructs designed entirely by the players involved. That doesn't mean you should do them though.

There are no rules. Rules are lame, k?
Let people learn from their mistakes and don't baby people.

Cause you don't need that many warnings.

I have always avoided christmas time during classic. That whole "gift 4 gift n0 Sc@m" is the most disgusting player activity ever.

Basically it's a Banana Republic or North Korea. If you criticize the staff or leader in anyway you get banned for "sexual harassment" while people that actually are sexual predators are left alone to stalk children and never banned.

If you want established rules that are enforced fairly and equally based on reality then you are on the wrong game my friend.

stefan will never ban Xor
;p

Wot, if you're actually serious then share us the story of your people. I know Stefan did **** about Yen... after a long while.

nah man it was a joke. Maybe it was out of line i aint trying to dirty his name.

You had my hopes up too and then you dashed them away without any regard to them.

I apologize :'(. I will keep my pedo accusation jokes to myself from now on.:love:

LMK which rule was being broken here
It's pretty frustrating when you literally have to record yourself playing Graal just to protect yourself from how bad some of the staff are

I'm sure some potatohead managed to convince themself that this was the mysterious "lagblock" technique (which even the most primitive of humans should be able to pinpoint)
It happens way, way, way too often




These are lagblocks
It's really not rocket science, and it's pretty important that admins recognize the difference because you're ruining towers with this BS
Maybe it should be on the GP application or something, IDK

I think it would be good if u scripted a court looking level
were a player instead lf comtacting tooonslab .com which is not as well done as speaking to admins in a court and are trying to deffend their case

You dont know really which admin banned you or is looking at your toonslab ticket
They could be waay more strict then other admins

so get 3 admins in the court to vote after the player deffends himself , they vote if the player should be unbanned
this would take up to 15 min max

You know how many immature 8 year old kids report you for no reason
Reporting in my opinion should not be alowed because little kids take it as an advantage to ban players
some kid reported me for meditating in graal city

I think graals like gta
no offense gps but its like when you go hit a cop you get arrested but when you do something like hit 100 citizens your not arrested and cops dont care about you
The only times ive gotten warnings / bans was for being annoying to some admins
While I was walking in graal city some guy was wallhacking and somehow managed to get his name to have (admin) even if he was not, he haked the filter

I'd like my ban to be reviewed, as I was banned for an unknown reason and for 1 year.
I emailed and never received a response. This happened in august I think, I was at Graal Spar Arena and suddenly got banned. It says "other" as reason, and a year of ban.

Thanks.

support.toonslab.com

What if I told you I already e-mailed :)?

I would tell you that your ban won't be lifted and talking about it here won't get you anywhere :)?

Graal staff is known as inefficient and mediocre(From Unixmad, to the last 13 year old Admin they hired yesterday), so is undestandable that they may not read e-mails and assist players.

They have answered all my tickets :) chances are you aren't as innocent as you claim to be.