This just my opinion on screwed up this system is.....
I am an adult who started our servers for a friends son over 4 years ago. I did this in order for his son to have a place he could play with the worries of hacker and verbal abuse from others. Over the years we have seen many members come and go. But there are always the few who stick around and you become friends with.
Now we have a member of our group who has been with us for about a year. A young kid (13) who is a good gamer, was trying to learn to admin his own server, and just the nicest soft spoken kid you will ever meet. Now somehow this kid got a hack file on his computer. Now, I am not sure how he came to get this on his PC. But he is just not that kind of person that hacks. IMO, I think he went to a wrong site or downloaded something and it left a file in his system. Because speaking with his father, he couldn't find anything on his pc.
My problem with this is, he is perma banned and I am given the ultimatum to kick him from our clan. I dont really see how you can ask us to remove him from our clan list when he cant get on anything streaming anyway. I am not a soulless Bast. who wants to permanently remove a kid for making a mistake (intentional or not). Yes, I do feel there should be punishment for your actions. Maybe suspend his rights for a month or something, but not permanently. Now you go into the bann logs and you see guys who do it over and over. They just use a hack to come back and hack. Now, I almost feel as though SOME of those who do hack are a result of an unfair system that may have not given them a 2nd chance.
I know you get sad stories every day about someone wronged over the system. I also know there will be about a number of lifeless responses saying "he got caught with a hack -- bann him!" "Zero tolerance...blaa blaa blaa". My response to this is, there needs to be a better appeal process. After this incident, I feel there maybe some who do not deserve what they get.
But when a kid can get adult players who are parents themselves to attest his character. Not to mention, adult players wanting to quit playing over the lack of interest PBBanns has showed in hearing out all the above mentioned. That should throw up some flags. Punish but don't banish him.
So now I am to the point that it affects me and my clan. Do I remove him at your wish, or do I stand behind this kid. So after 2 days of thinking what my response is, I stand behind him. I will not remove him from our clan list. I feel that he made a mistake, and should not be permanently chastised for it. Regardless if he will be able to play on all the servers that we do, I will not shun him as a member, friend, or friend to other members.
Punish but do not brand him!!
Thanks Dave
