Hi guys, I have been playing on your BFM racing servers, usually 2,3,4, and 5. There are a couple things that bother me and I hope to make everyone aware/cognizant of what I have been seeing. First off I would like to say that for the most part, things are great. Admins are on a lot and they do their best to stop any shenanigans that are going on. Racing is fun and I have seen how chaotic racing servers can become when things go awry. It seems to me that on too many occasions I have seen admins performing behavior which is contrary to the rules, or is excessive. People who are cursing, camping, slaying, yaddah yaddah, I can understand what happens to them and I totally agree with their punishments. In fact I would go so far as to say that the admins go beyond the call of duty to stay calm and give players a chance to chill out before they are removed. The clincher is that it seems with some admins, they give someone slaying 4,5, and sometimes more chances to quit. In the same game someone will join with the name " D3m()n.Stryke ". This player gets on and lasts about 3 seconds before an admin asks them to change their name. They cite that this is a religous name. I can understand them having a problem if someone was named jesuskillr or allahrocks or something of that nature. A name which boasts a certain religon, or makes fun of a certain religon can cause arguments which are what this rule tries to avoid. I totally understand why it is in place. Making someone with demon in their name change it is quite excessive and unnecessary, especially when this individual doesnt cause problems. People on the server usually support the person who is being ostracized by the admin. This turns into an argument and causes more people to be removed for arguing. If the goal is for admins to cut down on individuals arguing about religion then they shouldn’t cause problems with people who are not causing problems. I have seen people be banned for names like demon, or with acronyms which are unrecognizable. the admin cites that it is religious and the individual asks them if they know what the acronym even means, the admin refuses to answer and tells them not to be rude. I entirely disagree with this behavior, it’s not hard to tell what crosses religious lines, and I don’t know why admins seem to not be able to tell.
My second issue comes in the form of complaints to the admin about other players. From my experience, I will battle someone over their hog and kill them. They complain that I am camping and I instantly receive a warning. I was alone with the individual so I know the admin did not see what happened ( obviously I wasn’t wrong to take a hog so that I can get off my feet but right or wrong aside). It appears that some admins take the word of a guest and throw out warnings left and right. On the other end of the spectrum there are admins which do nothing about people camping, even if they see it, until they themselves are killed. Even when a team of 6 complained that an individual was team nading, the admin chose to first ignore them and then warn them for being rude. When people cite a player as an issue and leave 2 at a time, it’s clear that the individual is a problem, even if the admin hasnt seen it. I know it’s hard to find a balance, I have administrative duties over 6 servers, a website, and 2 voice over IP chat servers in a different game so I understand, I’ve been doing the admin thing for better than 10 years.
My third issue is the use of acronyms for cursing. I understand that the f word is a no no. Despite its common usage I never use it in front of children and I agree that it shouldn’t be tolerated. My issue is when I see players who are cited for saying 'thats **". We all know what it means but saying it straightforward has a totaly different connotation. I have seen kids say ** on Disney movies for Cripes sake! In the same server that a player is admonished for saying **, the admins say ns when they are killed because they were careless. The s's in these two acronyms are the same word. And as a player and admin, I have a serious, serious problem with watching admins break their own rules. If ** is not tolerated than ns can’t be tolerated either. Inconsistency causes problems.
My final issue comes in the form of disputing warnings with admins. We all make mistakes, so I know that we can be adults about this and admit that on occasion admins will make a foul up. I think they should apologize for the foul ups and give a player a chance to very briefly defend their action. What I see happening is an admin will give a warning to the wrong guy (to someone gunning in a hog when they mean to give it to someone who is on the same team and is camping). The player will refute the warning and say they are gunning and thus couldn’t be camping. The admin often responds with "don't be rude". This is my biggest pet peeve. Being rude is being loud "using caps", mocking other players, making fun of other players, or making attempts to agitate the admin. Refuting an admins choice is not rude. Asking for an apology if an admin betrays a player or flips them over is also not rude. Acting as a witness for another player who is wrongly accused is also not being rude. When admins respond to any criticism with 'don't be rude" it drives me crazy. They might as well cite some random rule because by no length of imagination do the things I mentioned above qualify for rudeness. I do relent that individuals can rudely refute something, and call an admin a name, but then they've broken a rule while refuting.
I hope you guys will take my words into consideration. The best place to get feedback for a server needs to change is from players like me who have been around a while and have no affiliation with any halo clans or hidden agendas. I hope to see you guys out on the field racing for a long time to come, and hopefully on better terms.
