pizzapete ban appeal

[pizzapete]

Hi all,


I was playing earlier today and got smacked with a perm ban in the middle of a foy game. Please let me know what rules I broke and I will be sure to avoid breaking them again in the future.



My user is "pizzapete."


Hope to hear back soon - Thank you.


pizzapete

[/-/DeadWeight]

The reason is because you shot me thru the smoke, I have been on when other players complained about you shooting them thru smoke. I’ve witnessed you say in game that you don’t see smoke. you can deny this but I watched the kill came and I was the one who put the smoke down, because you was sitting in the same area picking everyone off after we spawned.

[CB]

You've told a couple of players on the server that you don't see smoke. I've read it on the logs.That's not to mention whatever kind of configuration mods you're running that gives you that bigger hitbox. You just swing those sights in someone's direction and you get hits repeatedly. Don't try and BS me by saying you're not running anything because I've witnessed it myself and I've had 3 current admins and a former admim tell me the exact same thing.

[Deleted]

Pete, I've busted around with you and have had some fun times but we've gotten a lot of complaints and players either not joining when you're on or leaving the game it hurts the server overall. Sorry man.

[|H|LD50]

What DW and CB said.....Go kick rocks somewhere else.... 

[pizzapete]

Hi all,

The reason I say, "Turn smoke off in options menu" is to get a laugh out of people because of how ridiculous it sounds. It's far from a confession. I think Val said this in a previous thread but the tone in the chat is really off sometimes. I'll have people say, "Oh yeah Pete hacks but we let him play here!" -- I think that type of stuff is funny until I'm back on the forums posting another ban appeal.

I'm tired of people accusing me of hacking every time I pull off a lucky shot. I like to think that I am a pretty good player so I like going for difficult and challenging shots. If I had to guess, I would say I hit less than 2% of my blind shots through smoke -- and when they do connect, they're super satisfying. Most of the time, I see a player because of their white silhouette in the smoke cloud and then I spray-and-pray (I am a noob mg user at heart).

As for spawnkilling, I apologize for that. I know I spawnkilled you on my way to g2 the other day DW and I shouldn't have done that. I try not to physically enter another teams spawn but when it's their last base and they're spawning there, I'm just trying to pick people off so our team can push up and plant the bomb. And I try to find another target if my current has the white cross over their head.

The thing that frustrates me the most is that these two bans are going to make my friends & others second guess themselves. This goes beyond the Historians server. I've had people bug me in chat on other servers, calling me a hacker and all sorts of names because of my H ban; an experience I've never had in my life playing this game. If you're reading this and you're one of the people who have defended me or made a joke to lighten the mood when I got hackusated, I want to give you a big shoutout. Thank you & I appreciate you. On the other hand, if you're one of the players who don't like me...well then, I hope you're happy.

As for you guys, the admins, I feel as though I've hit a brick wall because it seems you've already made up your minds. I don't even know where to begin proving that I'm innocent.

I've played this game for 15+ years with only 2 bans on my record, and both are from H. I've had a really good time playing this past year, thinking my previous ban was behind us. I stuck with a permanent username and made my gf her own steam account, just to make sure there were no loose ends. I want to make an effort because I've said it before and I'll say it again: there are literally 2-3 decent servers left to play on.

If I can make this right, please let me know how. I'm at the point where I'll only play with deployable MGs if I have to.
If the decision is what Rev mentioned, and you're sticking with that, then I'll take this as one massive compliment and move on.

Thanks for your time,
pizzapete

[moon]

There are three objective approaches to understanding the difference between “skill”, a “WTF moment”, and “something isn’t right”. Let me make this a little bit clearer:

1. SKILL is something repeatable, appears consistent, but at times tapers off when similar skill is encountered. Although consistent, skill ultimately floats to the top and such players often have higher scores and/or fewer deaths as a result. In addition, you don’t tend to see our next example as frequently, which I affectionately call “WTF MOMENTS”.

2. WTF MOMENTS occur at random which can be cast off as a lucky shot, blind shot, guesswork, map knowledge, player tendencies, etc. All of which are expected during gameplay. Those who are skilled tend to have more WTF moments, but they aren’t usually strung together in a series of consistent kills or back to back games.

3. SOMETHING ISN’T RIGHT is when a player suddenly finds themselves achieving WTF MOMENTS strung together in a way which, not only arouses suspicion, but causes others to take notice and start observing that player more discretely. This can include excessive headshots, greater numbers of 1s1k (1 shot 1 kill) type of kills, and random oddities which defy normal game logic. If these seem to be too consistent, you have something that isn’t right.

The greater the number of observers, whether due to following that player, evaluating killcams, or through general observation of the enemy, are taken into consideration when admins make a decision. It’s only recently a few of us have noticed a strange set of circumstances where we see consistent WTF MOMENTS, regardless of skill level, and this causes greater attention to the matter. We’ve all played against excellent competition, and those players have had their fair share of such moments, however once these are taken into consideration and the admins come to a general understanding, there’s a decision to be made.

This was not a snap decision, several players, admins, members, and general supporters of you (both current and former) were approached for opinions. The majority agreed with option #3. Whether your gameplay is an anomaly or not, is not something taken lightly and through careful observation, was deemed necessary. Usually a ban is made to allow the player an opportunity to explain the situation in the forums rather than expose them to public scrutiny in game. The URL is something baked into the gameplay via intro server message, etc. to ensure no one is left in the dark on where to turn when this happens.

We are fully aware of various tweaks to the config file which can make the hit marker occur with greater frequency, and when combined with skill, can be proven most deadly in game. When this occurs, the admins have a tough task to determine what’s in the best interest of the server, NOT what’s in the best interest of the individual player.

Remember, this is a public server and the onus is NOT on the admin to prove anything. This is not a trial, nor a judgement on your moral character, but rather a calculated decision. The people playing on our server are of many stereotypes, races, ethnicities and belief systems, but they all can tell when a combination of events doesn’t seem to add up to simply SKILL or a WTF MOMENT.

Hopefully, time will tell exactly what the situation is here, however careful consideration was made and I believe the admins feel they are doing the right thing. That said, I hope this explains how this conclusion was made and it wasn’t because someone just doesn’t like you or was just pissed at your score. That’s usually me that draws that attention! I wish you the best and hope a favorable outcome is accepted by all.

[pizzapete]

Hey moon,

First off I wanted to say, I really appreciate the detailed, curated response. So thank you.

The three categories you outlined make complete sense. I definitely have a good sized chunk of WTF moments and I can see why they arise suspicion and encroach on category 3. That said, I also have my share of good & bad days. Some days I can’t hit a damn thing and run mp40/tommy gun just for fun, resorting to my zook for kills.

Initially, I wasn’t viewing this from a public/greater-good-of-the-server perspective. Now that you’ve explained it to me, I understand. I didn’t realize there were so many players, from different backgrounds of membership & authority, that had an issue with my gameplay. I mean, I know who the couple of people bringing it up in all-chat are, and I shrug it off as banter, but clearly it’s a bigger issue than I realized.

I want to make sure we draw the line between tweaking the config and “running something.” There’s a seriously negative connotation in the latter and it feels insulting. I’m very open with my settings on the server, and always try to help others with their config. My FPS is always set to 333 and my v_sync set to OFF. I’ve literally posted on this forum asking for help when one of my monitors gave out and wasn’t able to support the v sync settings (TY for that by the way). My question is, are those config settings, mixed with a good amount of skill, enough to ban a player if it’s deemed better for the community? If that’s the case, I get it, even if it sucks for me.

Personally, I think I’d get eaten alive in the competitive scene that stills exists in cod uo. Even on public servers, Beatles & Rza whoop my ass with bolts, and Thompson & Fox obliterate me with tanks — But if my gameplay is harming the community, to the point that players are quitting the game and getting on less frequently, then I definitely don’t want that either.

I’m going to remain patient and give you time to make a decision. If you deem that I need a break from H, so be it. I am absolutely OK with that — but a perm ban just doesn’t sit right with me so I’m asking you to please reconsider.

Thanks again,
Pizzapete

[pizzapete]

Any updates?

[Cocorendan]

Unbanned

[fric]

This is an old post but just wanted to add: when you lay down a smoke and someone kills you, it shows up as a smoke Granada as if it has been growing the whole time. It does not reset in the killcam. In regards to deadweights comment, whatever smoke he saw in the kill cam, it’s not what pizza was seeing in reality. This can make people appear to shoot through smoke. This effect is particularly surprising for long range rifle kills. It looks like hacks for sure.

This is why I say we have a good team catching hacks. We know all the ins and outs to the game. That means if you don’t hack, then you won’t be banned. If you do, rest assured you’ll be caught.