General Fix/change Auto-ban

Heyo, posting this a bit later as I've looked to get as much feedback from other players, staff and management as possible before actually addressing the issue. Unfortunately nobody was able to help unban me as Colin seemingly didn't understand the issue and Headset stated Mods are unable to unban from this feature. Which only further the reasons why this 'feature' should be addressed.

There was a brief discussion in #feedback-and-constructive-criticism where most responses were either "yeah I don't know why this hasn't changed yet" or "It sucks but the game's meant to be mod free". So scroll up in there to get more but anyway let's address what's wrong by first stating how I fell victim to the bugged system.

A few days ago my friends and I finally came back to Wynncraft after a 1-2 year hiatus. I switched from my 'main' server and attempted to log straight in. I was kicked from joining the Lobby for "Schematica". Absolutely understandable. Although a majority of people who use Schematica use it for efficient reference of their own builds there's definitely those who misuse the mod to steal others creations so I'm 100% for it being banned. I switched clients to a plain Optifine client and got on to play. No issues and had a blast. The next day we went straight to Wynn; logged in no issues and had a second day of fun experiencing all the changes and nostalgia of the server. Day 3 however I started off going back to my 'main' server. Switching back to my the client for a little while (which includes Schematica as from time to time it helps me reference my own SP builds). After a few hours my friends got back on so we switched to Wynn and upon attempting to log in I was kicked again from joining the Lobby. Same issue; having Schematica installed. Completely forgot I was on the client as most of the mods aren't actively used. So I switch back to the Optifine and attempt to log in and find I'm banned for 3 days. "Big oof (or yikes)" as the kids might say.

So from what I've read in Discord or the forums the system automatically bans you if you attempt to log in with a disallowed Mod after warning you multiple times. However it's never the same. I was warned effectively once before I was banned. As the ban was already placed on the second warning. Other players have said they weren't ever warned (however those instances are because of a miscommunication with Forge basically overlaying their warning messages) Unaffected players have said the system only bans if they attempt to log in more than a few times in a 1-5minute window bc they're trying to brute force their way into the server with these disallowed Mods. That would be reasonable, however I tried twice... In a 2-3 day time span... And was banned on my second attempt... Less reasonable in my opinion.

At the time I thought no problem, it's just a flaw in the system I was caught in because, like I said it's rather unreasonable to be banned like that. I can contact a Moderator who can look into it and unban me OR make an appeal. However I quickly found appeals are only applicable for permanent bans and my friend messaged Headset who said Mods are unfortunately unable to do anything on these autobans. Already seems a bit sketchy... There's no manual oversight on a system that can punish simple mistakes? I wasn't told to contact an Administrator but I figured it couldn't hurt. Most players suggested I message someone and they'll be able to overrule the automatic system. So I contacted Colin and was quickly disappointed to find even he's unsure of what to do for these cases. It may have been that a language barrier was impacting his ability to provide support as I understand English isn't everyones native language however he was caught on the fact that Schematica can be used for bad intentions but was unable to respond on whether certain parameters issue the automatic bans or what if anything happens to us players who are accidentally caught in the mix. Whether we're subjected to wait out these trivial 3 day bans or if an Administrator is able to actively supervise them in certain situations. He began typing a response but stopped and I patiently waited... and waited. However no response after 2 days I figured he had given up. Unfortunately he didn't bother redirecting me to anyone able to provide the appropriate support on the matter but at that point I'd given up in general as well. This is partially on my end as I could've likely messaged him as well to remind him of the issue however he seemed to be having a good time in the VC we were in so I didn't bother.

Feedback:
All in all this has been an incredibly disappointing experience. After having come back from such a long break, being lured in to upgrade to Hero for a fuller experience and support a server I loved immensely as a kid but to immediately get caught in a system like this that punished me for a mistake MANY people have said they make. I was practically given a shrug and an apology from Staff. I received no helpful customer support from management, and only player speculation on why the system is as it is. This has definitely pushed me away from further donating and supporting the server as I'm sure it has others as well. However I'm hoping this feedback will allow the development team to look into the system and make any appropriate changes.

Suggestions:
At the very minimum allow Administrators to oversee these automatic bans. If Colin had been in a position to do so he'd likely hear out what happened, be able to apologize for the inconvenience and send me on my merry way. However from the response I've received from the rest of the community this happens all to often to non malicious players and I have no doubt it'd get quite tedious for an Administrator to get dragged into the loop every single time. So instead whenever possible/time permitted please look into the system and change the parameters (whatever they might be) to more accurately flag when an auto-ban should be made. I absolutely support it in the effect that a malicious player repeatedly sends packets to the server in an attempt to join with these disallowed mods and is banned for doing so. However when a player like myself simply forgets to switch clients twice and is banned for 3 days on a mistake that could be solved with a kick + 2 minutes to correct. That's where I have to question it's efficiency.

For anyone who's gonna comment below saying "Well the game's designed to be played without Mods". I don't disagree however that's a rather inconclusive argument to make and it provides no helpful additional feedback. Sure Wynncraft is designed to be played without any Mods and I love it for that fact. However I don't solely play Wynncraft and some of the mods disallowed here are incredibly beneficial to me on other servers. They also tend to just become background additions that we don't actively recall being present so when you get banned just for forgetting about them that'd likely make you upset as well. Minecraft while it can also be played without mods is much more enjoyable with them as it makes things do anything from run smoother to increasing your efficient gaming experience.

So please, please for the love of god. Don't just say "Well the game's designed to be played without Mods, so just don't use mods" because sure Wynncraft is great without mods. But surprise! A lot of us don't exclusively play Wynncraft and those other servers just aren't as good. Thank-Q.

If you got this far congratulations you've finished the rant/feedback/suggestion. I'm unbanned in about an hour or so; questioning whether I should even risk playing while the system behaves as it currently does. I'm a human who makes mistakes and I don't doubt even misclicking once will get me banned for another 3 days. That's something no player should have to worry about and hopefully after this read players wont have to worry about it.

 

This is especially an issue concerning that their "Allowed Mods" are pretty vague last I checked. They have a feature in place to prevent you from connecting with a blacklisted client, so I don't see why the ban feature even exists. Just create a special profile specifically for Wynn with suggested mods such as Wynntils, Optifine, Wynnexpansion, etc. that actually add to the server. Suggested version is 1.12.2 if I am not mistaken, so assuming your regular profile is 1.8 like most people, then you should probably at least have a separate profile anyway, the mods are just a bonus.

 

Colin is a web admin which is probably why you didn't get the response you were hoping for. If you are trying to get a change and/or a ban lift it would probably be best to try and contact Crunkle instead.