WitchKat's deWhiteList Appeal

[WitchKat]

HALO: SPACE STATION EVOLVED BAN APPEAL FORUM

Your Byond/Ckey Username: Stephiee

Your Discord Username: WitchKat#8942

Your character name (if relevant): Lacie Summers

Who were you banned by: Crom

Date of ban: 1/28/20

Length of ban: This has not been communicated to me.

Full ban reason: Metarushed the artifact and blew up Kodiak without Covvies or ONI present.

Appeal details/ Why should you be unbanned: 

This is for an ODST dewhitelisting.

Events as I recall:

Early during the morning (EST) on the date mentioned, I was playing ODST SL and leading several other ODSTs. My times may be a little off, but around 0:25-0:30 we headed to Northwind. We attempted to make contact with ONI, but it was clear after a while that there were no ONI personnel spawned. As the UNSC have the artifact objective, and UNSC players have always known IC about the existence of the artifact, I instructed two ODSTs to go to the planet and secure the artifact. I believe it was about 0:50 when the artifact was located, and about 1:00 when it was secured at Kodiak. In the next 10-15 minutes, we debated our next moves. ONI was still not present, and the Covenant had done a flyby, but no surface presence was confirmed. I issued the order to bring the artifact up to the surface, and to initiate Cole Protocol on Kodiak base. This occurred successfully, and we departed the planet. Shortly thereafter, I was messaged by Koen. IIRC, he explained to me that the UNSC is not meant to know about the artifact, and that our retrieving it was metagaming, and additionally we should not have nuked Kodiak and essentially prevented a fun fight with the Covenant. I apologized and said I would do better in the future. He said it was 'no biggie'. I also requested that the rules/guidelines on this be clarified in the forums, because UNSC knowledge of the artifact and it's general presence in the sublevel of Northwind has been common knowledge since I started playing on this server several months ago. Koen teleported the artifact back to Northwind, and myself and the other ODSTs engaged the Covenant in the ruins of Kodiak base, and a good fight was had. The round ended, I hopped off the game, and about a half an hour later Crom announced in the UNSC-Barracks discord that myself and another ODST involved were dewhitelisted.

Why I feel I my WL should be restored:

In the initial interaction with Koen about this issue, I was told specifically what I did wrong, we discussed it, and I agreed to follow what he said in the future. I also requested that this information be published to the guidelines, because it was my understanding (and the understanding of several other UNSC players) that the UNSC is supposed to know about the artifact. Additionally, I do not feel that we rushed the artifact, it was not secured at Kodiak until almost an hour into the round. I do not believe that securing the artifact as ODSTs without ONI presence violates any written guideline at the time this happened, but if I'm wrong, I'll gladly accept that this was wrong of me to do. I'm happy to play the game this way going forward, but I would like this guideline to be clarified for the sake of myself and other players. 

That said, I understand now that despite the lack of ONI presence, we should have attempted to hold Kodiak through a fight with the Covenant. Cole Protocol before it was confirmed that they landed and were attacking Kodiak was wrong, regardless of how many ONI personnel were present. I didn't mean to, but through my actions, I prevented a chance for RP/Action between the UNSC and the Covenant, which is the whole idea here. It was wrong, I feel bad about it, and I don't want to repeat that kind of mistake in the future. I volunteered to become an ODST Squad Leader so that I could help maintain good gameplay and help make rounds fun and exciting for everyone. I am regretful that I not only failed in that, but caused the opposite to occur.

If I were reinstated as an ODST, regardless of rank, I would carefully adjust how I play to prevent myself from causing a situation like this again. This is my first disciplinary action that I'm aware of, and I don't feel like what I did merits a full deWhitelisting. I would really appreciate reconsideration. I am sorry that I've created issues for other players, and work for staff. I appreciate your time and your consideration.

[Koenigsegg]

Thanks for you the time and effort you put in this app. To begin with, when I said 'no biggie' it was related to the artifact metarush. We will both agree that, while metagaming is all nasty and bad, it does not have many consequences. Waiting ten, twenty, thirty or seventy minutes doesn't mean you magically learn about the location of the artifact, as vague as it is. For all you know, it could've been on the surface, or another place, really.

But that was before I had noticed the damages caused by the nuclear device once the artifact was relocated. Covenant and ONI were not present, therefore it could've only been an ODST. I have checked the logs thoroughly and noticed that the nuclear device was primed by an ODST, Jack Sutton. I did not contact you about it because you weren't the one that went on your way to activate it. However, you issued the order to destroy the base, although nothing had really happened. Except for said "flyby" which doesn't really mean anything because, according to the logs, they were even close to Northwind since, I quote: "They do not seem to be headed to NW".

Now, all of this was quite surprising for the Covenant players since it was the first time they had set foot inside Kodiak when they had noticed the damages caused by the self-destruct. Again, no real consequences except that these actions had no real reason behind them. As for your motives, enacting Cole Protocole is a thing, enacting it before anything can happen and potentially prevent something from ever happening is the mistake here. It is often hard to find the balance between roleplay and gameplay, this is why if you are unsure, asking for help from the staff usually gets you out of most difficult situations.

All of this happened during a lowpop round (roughly 8-9 players, slightly less) therefore not much harm was done, if any. Initially it was decided that the same punishment as the other ODST should've been carried for you, except it had to be temporary. This is more of a question of "you should've known better", because your actions as a leader not only have impacted the course of the round, but also drove a player to make a mistake. It may seem harsh to you, but it is because ODST are expected to show the right example. We do not require ODST players to be perfect, just more reasonable and thoughtful, they are held to higher standards for a reason.

I am willing to lower the ban duration to two weeks, minus the days already spent without your whitelist. That is if Crom agrees too.

[WitchKat]

I completely understand. What is the current length of my ban? Am I added back to the WL at the end of this period? I do not know how that works, and it has not been communicated to me. As far as I know right now, I've been dWL permanently.

A lot of my feelings have been cleared up by your post, and I appreciate that clarification a lot. Thank you.

[MactoPerFuror]

agreed

[WitchKat]

Thank you both. I really appreciate it. Will I be reinstated with ODST WL, or will I have to reapply? Please let me know whenever someone gets a chance. Thank you again.

[WitchKat]

I have been updated regarding how that will work. I am happy to consider this matter resolved if you two are. Thank you for your time.