MCCentral Staff and handling of bans

Hello.

False bans happen, and they are an unfortunate result of an imperfect system. Complaining about this here isn't going help you much at all; if you would like, you are always able to submit a staff report ticket on this matter. When you appealed, and the ban was shortened to 10 days; this is usually standard practice following a client modification appeal. Because this was a ban punishment, handed out by a Moderator, they are not required t show any evidence of their case. Moderators take frequent reviews, so their hack detection skills stay up-to-date.

Admins are very busy people, and bugging them about a 10-day ban isn't something we'd recommend doing. Like I said, the best way to go about this is to submit a staff report ticket, and not make a show. The staff team has lives and we would like to live them separate from MCC; we need our downtime, too.

The staff member's age should not affect their abilities. The reason our requirements are fairly low (minimum age to apply is 14), is because the game's target demographic is already not too high. We have multiple staff members who are 18+, but this doesn't matter, either. Staff members are promoted based on their maturity and ability to handle situations that may arise in higher ranks. I can assure you, promotions are not easy and you must work hard to climb the ladder.

It is not hard to appeal a punishment. If you did nothing wrong, and you do not record your games, what is evidence going to do to help you? You most likely won't have your own video of the same game, and thus, it's kind of useless. I hope you see where I'm coming from.

 

I see how your experience might be annoying. I'm false banned fairly often, and there's a few things I think you should do differently in these situations.

I understand that bans where you were reported, not witnessed, are harder to appeal because of the need to protect the reporter. It's frustrating, but actually beneficial considering the malicious intent of a lot of actual hackers (a group which is by far the majority of people who get reported). I also understand why you're concerned about moderators and above banning without evidence. Staff are required to take reviews to test their client detection, even as helpers, and this is why MCC trusts them so heavily with their decisions. I wouldn't worry as much about witnessed bans if you weren't hacking though; staff members are encouraged to record any cases where the player isn't obviously cheating (e.g. they look suspicious but not blatant), and they CAN provide you with that footage when appealing. The problem lies more in falsely accepted reports, something you're unfortunately dealing with and can only really resolve through discord communication.

Your discord frustrations are understandable, but often going through another staff middleman when dealing with staff is going to result in you not being able to reach them. Your best course of action here is to contact them directly, so that you know that they're getting your message. I understand if you want a higher-ranked staff member backing you up, but it's better to message both the higher up and the person you're trying to reach so there's no miscommunication. If you still feel the staff member(s) in question did something wrong, you can report them at https://mccentral.org/community/forums/reports-staff/.

Appealing the actual reported ban with no evidence is hard, and the fact you got it reduced via appeal means you were fairly successful initially. When taking it further on discord, ask the staff members what it was about the video which made them believe you were hacking. My knockback is very glitchy as an Australian player, and I've had situations where that's what I've been reported for and I've been able to clear it up once hearing the reasons on discord.

Unfortunately, apart from this there's not much that can be done. Understand that staff are human and do make mistakes, and when someone does, try and deal with the punishment logically/take the best steps in getting yourself unbanned. Also remember that the staff member's age doesn't reflect their ability; there have been 15 year olds who are considered some of the better staff members MCC has had over the years. You got banned on one mistake, so don't let it define how both the individual and the rest of the staff punish people.

 

Chill down bruh, -stay in the line, don't make a scene- is just a game, a game for we, we THE KIDDDS bruh, like Fortnite the hackers are 12 YO, also players and staff chill out bro, damn

 

I always thought that the staff were people without life and without soul, if the staff are people too busy, why they apply? to be more busy, bruh, thats crazy

 

Fact of the matter is, you are expecting far too much. I have spent several years on this server, and I was falsely banned once. I can't speak for your exact situation, but in my case, it took less than 15 minutes of communicating with the staff member who banned me to resolve the entire issue.

Belittling staff members simple because they are younger won't get you anywhere. Will they be the most mature, unbiased people to deal with? Absolutely not. But when the target demographic of this game is between 8-14 years old you can't expect the staff members to live up to your exact expectations.

If I'm reading this right, your ban was reduced to a 10 day ban. At that point arguing against it was and still is doing nothing to help your case. It's entirely possible that they could have handled the situation better, but to expect them to put their lives and other issues completely on hold for someone who had a reduced ban is ridiculous.


ETA: 7 months is quite a long time to move up the ranks on this game. If they (unsure of who does promotions) thought the staff member was competent enough to become a senior moderator than clearly they showed the skills and maturity needed for the role.

* I will say I have never dealt with and have never seen the staff member who banned you in-game before so I have no personal opinion on this matter*

 

It's not too ridiculous to show off everywhere, they're staff.

 

I'm not sure I understand what you mean tbh

 

I completely agree with this. I was playing skywars normally, and I killed a staff called "GoodBanter". I enderpearled to mid where he was at and strafed him off of the void. Right after his death, I was instantly banned, accused of using "kill aura". This is the first time I've ever been falsely banned and the ban lasts for 2 months. This is literally outrageous and mistreatment to players who are innocent. This staff didn't even take the time to check over and see whether I used "kill aura" against the other players who were still alive and record. I did not use hacks at all and I am going to say this, it is an abuse of power.

 

I'm not one to really judge the staff on here, since from my experience, they seemed like pretty helpful individuals. They're people that have taken the time out of their day to make the server a better place and the experience more enriching. That being said, I do think staff members make mistakes. It's just plain and simple. People in general -- make mistakes. Some people own up to it and some people don't. The situation that happened to you is very unfortunate and like @Zonafer said, it's the result of an imperfect system. The specific staff member should definitely undergo some training, as most large servers do but aside from this, there's really nothing much to be done.

The only real way to prevent a lot of these mishaps from happening is to record your own perspective of the game. I personally do this to catch hackers, advertisers and the like but also to prevent myself from falling into a difficult situation like this one. I hope you don't have to interact with the staff in this way often, since in most instances they're pretty chill people! ^-^

 

All systems are imperfect by design. No matter how much you plan ahead and account for everything, you are always going to have a case that slips through the cracks. No one is perfect, and that cannot be changed. I personally like the idea of no proof required after a certain point, because it takes us time to collect, process and upload evidence, which is more time we let a hacker, scammer or other rule-breaker roam free. Keep in mind that a lot of higher-up staff members still do collect evidence, but they are not required to share it with you, either.

The dictionary definition of 'complaint' is "a statement that a situation is unsatisfactory or unacceptable." By that definition, is this not a complaint? Are you not stating that your situation and the manner in which it was handled is unsatisfactory or unacceptable? We don't tend to sympathize with the complaints and negative notions as staff because we talk with each other a lot. We get to know one another, and we also get to see both points of view. When that happens, it usually seems to us that the other party (in this case, you) is overreacting in their response.

Like I said, if you have a problem, feel free to report the staff member in question here. Writing a complaint like this on the forums is not going to help matters, and it really just draws public attention to a private problem. Staff reports are handled very seriously, and I know this firsthand. Again, age does not matter. The minimum age to apply for the staff team is 14, and I think that it's already a little high. There are lots of reasons why the minimum age for a government position is 18, but think about it for a second; we are comparing a Minecraft server to a government that is in charge of millions of people. Of course there are going to be vast differences. I believe that my age does not affect the work I do; I will help out much like the other staff, I will complete my requirements, and I will strive to do my best all the time.

I still stand by my old statement. It is not hard to appeal a punishment, and it has already shown in your case. However, your punishment has already been shortened, and our policy is that we do not remove punishments from a player's record unless there is evidence to proof that the punishment was false or issued by mistake. Even if the Senior Moderator in question was to provide you the evidence, you said you do not record your games. You would not have any evidence of your own to back your case up, and there would be no point in providing evidence.

Can you please quote these independent reviews and research? Your case does not prove anything in the way of the staff team's maturity or ability to handle a situation; it just shows that every system has mistakes and that we can always improve. Who said anyone under the age of 18 is "by nature ignorant and arrogant"? Is there really any proof on this matter? Greta Thunberg, a 16-year old Swedish climate activist, is giving speeches to government leaders about climate change. Is that ignorant and arrogant?

Andria is completely correct. It should be your job to initiate a conversation in regards to a ban/mute punishment. Staff are very busy, and we cannot go through and ask everyone their thoughts about the punishments we have issued. Every staff member is required to have Discord, so why don't you DM one of us and ask about your punishment? There is no contradiction here; Andria did the right thing, and privately messaged the staff member who punished her. Because of this, after a short exchange, she was unbanned. The thing is, by making it such a public ordeal filled with drama, the staff team doesn't want to help you. You are spitting on our name and completely disregarding our avenues to attain help; why should we go out of our way to help someone so unruly? I encourage you to think about these questions before your next reply. :)