Regarding Vote Kicking Players
bubbleblower
Join Date: 2003-01-18 Member: 12452Members
Join Date: 2003-01-18 Member: 12452Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Questions about time limits</div> (This post addresses situations where an admin is not present.)
The typical usage of admin_vote_kick seems to be where a player initiates the vote, and regardless of the result, another vote is not allowed for a period of time, about five minutes or so.
Invariably the kicked person makes a point to instantly log back on to show how invincible he is, and then, quite often, seems to keep close track of the time limit so that he can be the first to initiate a random vote against another player, and thus use up the opportunity to kick him again.
My guess would be that the time limit was put in to keep people from spamming the the screen with constant, unnecessary votes. The problem, of course, is that this time limit is itself abused and is used as a means to thwart the threat of getting kicked entirely. If you watch a dedicated parasite like the infamous Pee Pee Boy, he'll make a point most of the time to initiate a random vote_kick right on time, and thus, it is impossible to even attempt to kick him most of the time. Attempting to compete with such people on the time window is a defeat in itself, because of the impact on your immersion in the actual game.
In my experience, it seems that most players seem to know who is a problem and who is not, and generally vote the troublemakers out. Perhaps there should be no time limit with respect to how often you initiate a vote_kick, just the information showing WHO initiated the kick. In that way the ones that keep coming back could keep getting kicked, and if someone was abusing the voting system itself, players would be able to see that and vote them out as well. Maybe the voting system could also incorporate choosing a limited time penalty as well, so that if 20 people all decide they want to kick some jackass, at least they have the power to get rid of him for 30 minutes or so. That doesn't seem like an excessive amount of judicial power to grant to the peasants. If I only had to vote_kick Jerry Springer types like Pee Pee Boy once or twice an hour, it would be a vast improvement over the current situation.
I'm interested in any solutions that I don't know about, or any information regarding proposed fixes in the future.
The typical usage of admin_vote_kick seems to be where a player initiates the vote, and regardless of the result, another vote is not allowed for a period of time, about five minutes or so.
Invariably the kicked person makes a point to instantly log back on to show how invincible he is, and then, quite often, seems to keep close track of the time limit so that he can be the first to initiate a random vote against another player, and thus use up the opportunity to kick him again.
My guess would be that the time limit was put in to keep people from spamming the the screen with constant, unnecessary votes. The problem, of course, is that this time limit is itself abused and is used as a means to thwart the threat of getting kicked entirely. If you watch a dedicated parasite like the infamous Pee Pee Boy, he'll make a point most of the time to initiate a random vote_kick right on time, and thus, it is impossible to even attempt to kick him most of the time. Attempting to compete with such people on the time window is a defeat in itself, because of the impact on your immersion in the actual game.
In my experience, it seems that most players seem to know who is a problem and who is not, and generally vote the troublemakers out. Perhaps there should be no time limit with respect to how often you initiate a vote_kick, just the information showing WHO initiated the kick. In that way the ones that keep coming back could keep getting kicked, and if someone was abusing the voting system itself, players would be able to see that and vote them out as well. Maybe the voting system could also incorporate choosing a limited time penalty as well, so that if 20 people all decide they want to kick some jackass, at least they have the power to get rid of him for 30 minutes or so. That doesn't seem like an excessive amount of judicial power to grant to the peasants. If I only had to vote_kick Jerry Springer types like Pee Pee Boy once or twice an hour, it would be a vast improvement over the current situation.
I'm interested in any solutions that I don't know about, or any information regarding proposed fixes in the future.
Comments
In all honesty, plugin programming isn't difficult. "Small" is a version of C, and even if you're not up to making a plugin from scratch, it's really easy to modify an existing plugin to your needs. Change that kick %wonid% to a banid 60 %wonid% and recompile. THEN... upload your "new" plugin to the AM site!!! Others will take it from there and make it even better. (This is what OPEN SOURCE is all about folks!) <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
You could get a lot more info on this at the admin-mod site, and their forums... But probably what you REALLY need is to have, more than anything else, is an admin watching the server. Pee Pee didn't get the hint from the kicking? ban 'im. Llamas ruining the game? Ban 'em. etc.
It's not easy or practical for server admins to be constantly watching their servers. Adding more admins to a server usually involves having extremely-trusted regulars, or clanmates, and may both be unavailable to a server-owner. Adding in AdminMod or ClanMod controls is a way to "police" the server when you can't be there. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing.
(hint: If the server has swearing-filters enabled, that's a good sign the admin is attentive!) <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
I know it's possible to set AdminMod to log the time, and initiator of all vote-kicks. Then the admin can simply search the logs for vote-kicks to see if people are abusing it. If nothing else, try sending the server-operator an email about the problem.
The point being this... Some admins go out of their way to make their servers a fun, fair, pleasant place to play.
<b>REMEMBER THOSE SERVERS, AND GO BACK THERE!!!</b>
The rule-of-thumb that I use for adminning my server applies just as well to players!
There are over 20,000 HL servers out there, with 500+ of them running NS. If you don't like the way the server is being run, feel free to find somewhere else to play.