Problem :
A player which has be banned because of breaking the rules has no access to the social data in the account.
Some player have stored IRC-names, ICQ-IDs, names of friends in the notices in the account.
But because of the block they can not reach this infos and can "loose" this social contacts which holds them in the game

Idea :
In case of a ban, the player can enter the account like normal. But all game-related infos are blocked (incoming fleets, buildings, ...) but he can reach all data which were available before block (notes, old messages like of finished trades or attacks, ... ).
Also it should be able to mark the account for deletion. (This can reduce, not eliminate, the problems with OE-banned accounts with DM).

Advantages :

• The player holds the social contacts, and continues playing after ban (or in case of OE-block he reregisters to hold the social contacts and flies attacks in ACS )
  
• Reduces amount of DM-corps
  

Disadvantages :

• Player can possible have access to "old" data, like messages to attacks which has been made after ban and before look
  

Source :
from german board : Sperre/u-mod

+1 :)

If a player is banned for defamation the normal punishment is a ban without vacation mode.

In such a case the player normally can not see whether another player is attacking him.

If the banned player can now see who is attacking and how the fleet is configured, possibly a friend can send a fleet on hold.

This means the banned player gets access to game-internal information and can use this to "protect" his account.

But an open ban (ban without vacation mode) is intented to allow other players to attack without risk of special holding fleets.


To hold the current balance but otherwise give the player access to social information, the seperation of game-internal and social information is necessary.

Also if you grant normal access to the account (send messages etc) then if the player is banned for sending insulting messages etc then this ban becomes pointless.

Granting access to a few things though is a good idea. Perhaps making it possible for the player to access only notes/buddylist/alliance/options

Instead of giving them access to the game interface, just redirect them to a page that simply says "your banned for reason X, file a support ticket using the e-mail address on your account (and optionally show the e-mail address that they should use to file with)". Give limited access to account options (don't allow changes), access to notes, buddylist, anything else "essential". Don't allow them to see their planets, resources, send messages, fleets, etc.

the1337g33k wrote:

Instead of giving them access to the game interface, just redirect them to a page that simply says "your banned for reason X, file a support ticket using the e-mail address on your account (and optionally show the e-mail address that they should use to file with)".

A special redirect page will be more work for the developers to make it secure, i think.
Showing the reason for the ban and the contact info is a nice idea (can be shown instead of the vacation symbol).

the1337g33k wrote:

Give limited access to account options (don't allow changes), access to notes, buddylist, anything else "essential".

yes

the1337g33k wrote:

Don't allow them to see their planets, resources,

why ? Possibly they want to tell others the coordinates.

the1337g33k wrote:

send messages,

OK, possibly restricted to buddys and ally ( if the ban reason was insulting). They can protect themself by removeing from buddy-list or throw out of ally.

the1337g33k wrote:

fleets,

Completely agree

the1337g33k wrote:

etc.

That must be discussed more detailed if someone see special problems

The not being able to see planets and resources is in case of a non-vmode ban. They shouldn't be able to tell if they have been raided and they would figure it out if they notice fleets, defenses and resources disappearing.
If they want to see their coordinates, they can use gamestats.

As for the messages, absolutely not. They should in no way be able to send messages (receive maybe), especially in case of an insult or permanent ban. They can find other methods to communicate with other players.
A ban is a lot less then a ban if we still allow them to communicate.

the1337g33k wrote:

As for the messages, absolutely not. They should in no way be able to send messages (receive maybe), especially in case of an insult or permanent ban. They can find other methods to communicate with other players.
A ban is a lot less then a ban if we still allow them to communicate.

Nobody said, that the player should be able to send messages ingame.
The initial ideas was only to grant access to the notes, where a player may have saved information about his contacts.
I for instance have saved phone numbers of my allymates in the notes so I have access to them if I need them sometime.

Another solution might be to differentiate between (non)vacation mode bans. If someone has been banned for an insult without vacation mode (which is usually only for a day) -> no access at all.
If someone has banned with vacation mode -> restricted access.

lrdfrb wrote:

Another solution might be to differentiate between (non)vacation mode bans. If someone has been banned for an insult without vacation mode (which is usually only for a day) -> no access at all.
If someone has banned with vacation mode -> restricted access.

+1 this would be a good solution.