Banned today - why?

[Silver]

Please include the following info to this post so we can help you as fast as possible. An admin should respond shortly after you post. Please post after the "-->" and leave formatting in tact.

Player name you were using at time of Ban --> Silver (CKUA)

Time and Date of Ban: --> 1500 or so, September 2, 2013

Description of what happened, and why you think you were banned:
--> I have no idea. I was playing a few rounds and disconnected around 1500 or so. When I tried to join again later I got a "Banned from Server" message. FlyingTiger and MiniRambo were on at the same time. I have never had any issues with disruptive play and have always been respectful of server rules. Could someone please clue me in?

[[JiF][AARP]Tissueman]

The admin(s) involved will get back to you. It may take a bit as I don't know their schedule.

Tissue

[[JiF][AARP]Tissueman]

Silver,

Sorry this is taking longer than we like, but the admins involved are in very different time zones and some don't drop by every day. We are discussing this now and someone will be back with you soon. Thanks for your patience.

Tissue

[[JiF][AARP]Tissueman]

Silver,

Thank you for your patience. The admins on the server at the time found your ability to find the 'enemy' on the map so easily troubling. It reached the point that it was affecting the game play and people were no longer having fun. One of our regular players identified you as someone who uses map hacks. The admins banned you to restore fun play to the server and to give you the opportunity to come here and explain your ability to figure out where the 'enemy' was so easily.

Tissue
PS I'm refinishing my deck today so I will not be checking into our forums as often as I typically do.

[[JiF][AARP]Tissueman]

Silver's account has been inactive so he hasn't been able to post. He contacted me and it was fixed so we should be hearing from him soon.

Tissue

[Silver]

One of our regular players identified you as someone who uses map hacks.

I was watching the in-game chat and know who the regular player is. He requested a TS session with FlyingTiger. If he provided evidence to support his claim, please share it.

I don't hack, and I will gladly share anything you need to see (screen shots, checksums of game binaries, recent play on PB servers) to prove otherwise. Recent rounds I've played on PB servers (including Moongamers BF1942, DAWG Pwnd, and ATF's Hump'em and Dump'em, which still ban for map hacks) can be found here:

http://bfkhdb.selaron.de/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can look me up by my player name or my CD key. Note that I am not, and have never been, on the PB ban list:

http://www.pbbans.com/mbi.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've been playing the game for a long time and have learned to use the tools it provides to find enemy players. If it seems uncanny, well, I'm reasonably good at it. These are the tools I use and how I use them:

Mini map: the map shows where your team mates are. When they die, they disappear. Since they usually die due to enemy action it's a reasonably safe bet that you'll find enemies when you go to where your team mates were. White flags are a huge clue even if no team mates are present.

Chat log: I couple this with the mini map to see when team mates are being killed. See a death in chat, watch the map, and you'll see where the enemy is.

In-game audio: I have a good sound system on my PC and I listen for gunfire. Follow the sound of gunfire and it's not hard to find someone doing the shooting. Players and equipment also make sound when they move.

In-game video: Other players aren't invisible. They can be seen at a distance. If I can get behind them and stalk them without being seen, I will.

Experience: after playing the game for years you get to know the maps and where players like to hide. When a flag stays white for a while you start checking the hiding spots.

An example: while playing El Alamein on the day I was banned I saw in the chat log that FlyingTiger (playing Allied) was getting kills in an M10. I was in a Panzer, playing Axis. The eastern outpost went white, then to Allied. I headed east from the Axis main. Half way there I saw the M10 and a Sherman off in the distance heading to the north outpost. I tried to get behind them to get in shots from the rear. They got to the outpost before I could get close, so I hid behind a hill and waited. They took the flag. I waited a few seconds, came out from behind the hill, and saw them heading to the Axis main. I got in behind them and followed, but again, I couldn't get close enough for a clear shot from behind. As they entered the axis main from the north I took two shots and missed. They still didn't seem to notice me and I followed them into the axis base.

The Sherman (piloted by MiniRambo) was heading toward the axis planes. I took him out with one shot to the rear. FlyingTiger was on the pad in the M10. I hit him with one shot to the treads and ducked behind the building that's next to the AA gun. He came off the pad and followed around the building, but by then I was circling to get to the pad myself because the Tiger was next to it. I got to the Tiger and finished off the M10 with a couple of tread shots.

I'm sure they were both a little surprised, but there were no hacks involved - just smart play, good tactics, and good use of the map and in-game tools. If either FlyingTiger or MiniRambo is concerned about a specific encounter I'll gladly explain what I did and how I did it.

[[JiF][AARP]Tissueman]

Silver,

Thank you for your very coherent lesson on game tactics. Knowing where the enemy is and being where they don't expect you is smart play. I have no problem lifting the ban.

We try to have as few rules as we can on our servers preferring to rely on the judgement of our admins to keep the game play fun for everyone. The overriding concept is to do what is necessary to keep game play fun. In this case the admins did what we expected them to do. Unfortunately it took longer than we like for resolution.

If the game play is unbalanced, they will ask players to change sides or even 'back off' a bit to let the losing side recover and get the game balanced. We are not a competitive group playing instead for the fun of playing. Not that we don't like winning, it just is not the focus of our organization.

Thank you for your patience and your well thought out response to the concerns raised. Feel free to contact me if you have concerns. I travel a lot limiting my internet access, but will get back to you as soon as I can.

Tissue

[Silver]

Thanks for the consideration, Tissue. I have admin privs on the CKUA server and I fully understand the desire to keep things fair and fun.