Serious “the Shaman’s Exile” - The Dangers Of Permanent Punishments

Hello all,
I have a long-winded but important essay for you all today. This will be the last content I ever contribute to WynnCraft for reasons you will soon read about. First, let me explain to you all what happened as briefly as possible.
Around a year and a half ago from when this was posted (shortly after the Silent Expanse came out) me and some of my WynnCraft friends discovered a duplication glitch. We duplicated countless mythics, but never distributed or sold them to anyone outside of our tightly-knit friend group. We sold them to the Item Buyers to generate secret money. We used this money to buy ourselves the best armor, weapons and jewelry off of the market, bringing ourselves to the height of our power in but a couple days. A couple months after, we informed the wrong person about this duplication glitch, and word got out. Around a year ago, I was permanently banned.
I appealed quickly. The moderator that dealt with me (I don’t wish to mention their name for the sake of privacy) asked me questions. I was honest with all of them except I intentionally withheld some information about who had access to the glitch. I even told them HOW the glitch could be replicated. My appeal was denied and I would remain permanently banned.
Earlier this month, after a year of waiting, I came back and appealed again, banking on the hope that the staff team would be willing to forgive me after a year’s punishment.
Even though I was given a chance, this appeal was, at the end, denied again. Because of this, I will remain permanently banned.

Today, here and now, I will go over this in detail and explain some of the bad practices I was put through, and the staff’s unwillingness to forgive. All of this is a “final goodbye” to Wynn and why I think, despite my “heinous” crime, I don’t deserve this. All I want for this is for it to be heard - By players and admins alike. I’ll be happy if this gets taken down, that means at least one staff member had to read it, and that by itself is a small chance for change.

What Happened
On my first appeal, I was, for the most part, honest. I was asked questions such as “what did you duplicate”, “how did you duplicate” and “what did you do with the duplicated items”. I was honest with all of these questions (I really was!), however intentionally withheld some information as to who knew the glitch. I consider myself a person of friendship - I’d rather have my account go under than have my friends’ go under. Take one for the team, y’know. I was apparently able to get around this, however, but my appeal was denied in the end for reasons I would later learn, are “too much distribution”, which, I could guess, were true.
At the end of this all, I was devastated. I love Wynn as a server, and still do, and I wasn’t willing to let this go. I was going to do whatever I had to do to get back on and gain back my progress. I had spent over 1,500 hours on the server and even bought the Hero rank and a couple bombs. I didn’t want this to go to waste, so I decided the best thing to do was wait.
I patiently waited for the year to pass by, hopefully giving things more than enough time to cool down and hopefully be forgotten. For the glitch to be patched, for the damage to be undone. I waited the year and at the end, contacted a moderator on Wynn’s discord. Again, I don’t want to reveal this moderator’s name for reasons I’ll discuss more in-depth later. They immediately told me this was a non-negotiable ban, however after I talked just a little bit they asked me a couple more questions and reopened my appeal.
During this appeal, I was, yet again, honest, except this time the full 100% honest. I gave any and all information I could and told who had what mythics. This appeal couldn’t be denied, right? I waited a year, I’m clearly dedicated. I answered honestly and outright told the moderator I dodged a question last time and answered it fully this time. This appeal couldn’t be denied, I’d finally get back my progress and all the money I had spent.
I was wrong.

Mistakes Were Made - On Both Sides
After reading that section above, I’m sure many of you are looking at me the same way you looked at that one… Evil jungle shaman from the Undergrowth Ruins, I forget his name. I sinned, I did something very wrong. I’m clearly the one in the wrong here.
And well, you’d be right. I knew this was illegal from the moment I started duping. But you see… Let’s take a step back.
I did something wrong. I shouldn’t have done it (but, wouldn’t you have done the same, if it meant you could buy whatever mythic you’re grinding for right now?). But I didn’t commit a cardinal sin, readers. I broke the rules in a Minecraft server. In no way did I seriously harm WynnCraft in any way - I didn’t chargeback a rank. I didn’t DDoS their servers. I was patient and I took my punishment how I should. After the verdict was decided, I didn’t fight it. I didn’t message the moderator again, or anyone. I fell silent and accepted the fact I had been banned.
I sinned. But in the end, I repented. I did what I was supposed to do.
Despite this, however… I still received a permanent ban.
To this day, I still don’t understand why I was banned permanently. When I appealed the first time, I gave honest information, however did withhold some. According to the final message, however, they didn’t know this - At least from what I can tell, they assumed I was being 100% truthful.
I did what I was supposed to do. I’ve said it already, no need to reiterate. I understand being banned, but why wasn’t my punishment at least reduced? Why not… A year’s ban instead of a permanent? I received the maximum punishment even though I complied fully.
This is not how to handle this kind of situation. When a player is caught doing something illegal and they give you all the information you request, even if they really did majorly break the rules and cause some damage, the response is not to permaban them. Ban them, sure… But even if they didn’t comply at all, don’t permaban them.
Permabans are unjust in almost any case. And I’m not just talking about WynnCraft either, nor am I talking about Minecraft servers as a whole. I’m talking about every game server, ever.
Whenever I re-appealed, I was given the impression that this was negotiable after all. When told it was nonnegotiable, I argued against it, and I was given the opportunity to re-appeal. I was polite and welcoming, going out of my way to ensure the moderator I was talking to had an easy time with the appeal. I gave them every piece of information requested without lying or obscuring information, and offered to communicate in different ways or live record my screen if I was temporarily unbanned. In the end, however, the moderator reached the same verdict because of the same reason. Did they try, or was this just to get more information out of me…?
As I’ve stated, this is not the correct way to handle a ban. Mistakes were made… On both sides of the argument.

Final Reflections
I believe this case was severely mishandled. I caused problems, I admit to this, however permabanning me for an act I later fessed up to entirely was a misguided move.
Again, I lied at first, but even after I said I lied and waited a year, the moderators were unwilling to change my ban.
Permanently banning a player, in almost any case and in any game, is an unnecessary and unforgiving route to take. A player can and will change, such as I did. I clearly showed my dedication and willingness to take the blame for my wrong entirely. I even matured a little in this time, after all, I did wait a year. I’ve gone from high school to college, got a job, and even got a girlfriend. A lot can happen in a year. For this reason, I see no reason to permaban anyone, as doing so is admitting you are unable to recognize that a player is a person, and that they can change. This is not my place to speak, but I believe no punishment should ever exceed a two year ban. That’s more than enough time for both parties, the punisher and the punished, to think about what they did and come to a different conclusion later down the line. Plus, if they come back at the end of the time, it does show they really want to play again.
The only times I would argue a permaban is applicable is in two scenarios. A, the player has caused real damage to the server in ways that would violate real life laws, such as DDoSing the server or just flat out stealing money from them in some way. Or, B, the player has shown a serious, consistent, long-winded and violent motive to harm the server or its players, such as cyberbullying other people to the point in which the targeted individual(s) legitimately decide to no longer play on the server for as long as the bully is still allowed on.
I didn’t do either of these. I financially helped Wynn, I bought ranks and bombs. I did harm the server a little internally, yes, but even I showed an extensive motive to undo what I did, give up the items I acquired through duplication, and most importantly, give the method in which I duplicated.
If I hadn’t cooperated with the moderators, this glitch may still be out there and being abused. But I did cooperate. That’s enough said, let that sink in.
Now… Wrapping up soon here, this post is clearly fueled by a little agitation. I believe I was wronged and I still hope this changes, albeit changing my punishment wasn’t my intent. My intent isn’t to burn the server to the ground. I firmly believe Wynn is one of the best Minecraft servers, despite being permanently banned. It’s extremely creative, well-made and the attention to detail and story is fabulous. I used to think it has a legitimate moderation team too, but these instances have caused me to change my mind.
I don’t want to burn the staff to the ground, either. I’m assuming most people reading this will disagree with everything I’ve said, but I know a few will agree, especially my friends. The reason I withheld the moderators’ names is because, even though the chance of them getting hate for this is slim, I don’t want them to get any hate at all. I want everyone reading this to think about this on their own, and not hurt others in the process.
My intent is to make the server change. I don’t want any permanent punishments to be distributed to any players anymore. Wynn, stop banishing people to the abyss for breaking rules in a virtual game. As you say in your own appeal submission guide, it’s just a game. The server, or world, will not collapse into ruins or self-combust if a player who was caught with and rid of duplicated items comes back in two years.
When appealing, I was told multiple times that dishonesty will lead to my appeal being denied immediately. If my punishment is not even shortened at all if I’m 100% honest, this is irrelevant. The moderator who denied my second appeal ended with “...you have broken our trust as well”. My trust in the moderation team has also been broken, as I have learned that even total honesty will not shorten the most severe punishments.
With this information, I’ll give a word of warning to other players. If you ever find yourself in a situation like mine, lie. Shorten what you did. Lessen what you did. Statistically, there’s a higher chance of you getting out of it, because severe rulebreaks lead to permanent bans, and the road to that permaban is honesty and integrity. If you successfully convince them that your “sin” wasn’t as bad as it was, you could end up getting out of that abyss.
And for the staff.
While I’d like it if I at least had my punishment shortened to another year over a permanent one, this isn’t about me, this is about everyone. You created a very, very special server, so I’d advise you keep it pristine. Allow players to experience it again, if they make a mistake. It’s just a game. Not a court of law.
And with this, I will give you my final words ever spoken on WynnCraft.

From what I’ve been told, punishments are a way to rehabilitate. Change what the rulebreaker does so they don’t do it again. However, all I’ve learned from this is to lie. In telling the truth, I exposed the glitch so my friends couldn’t do it anymore. I told the truth and made them lose their mythics. My truth harmed them with no benefit to me. I was led to unintentional sabotage.
Everyone knows, honesty is the best policy. But when the road to a permaban is paved with truth…
Honesty is not always the best policy.

P.S.
Thank you to everyone who made WynnCraft possible. I genuinely enjoyed my time on the server and everyone who I encountered there. From those who helped me through Nivla Forest before Gavel was even out, to those who partnered up with me to defeat the Eye for the first time, it was such a good experience, and nothing any other Minecraft server, texture pack, minigame or mod will ever be able to recreate.
I love you, WynnCraft. I’ll miss you… And I’ll probably appeal again in a year or two.

See you in 2022.

 

I salute you

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This is the way I see it;

You did deserve to be banned. A year would've been fine though. You told them 90% of the truth, so they could fix the dupe and you gave up all your stuff, so no-one could use that dupe anymore.

You weren't completely honest, so that isn't good, but I can understand you didn't want to betray your friends.

Admins have a tough job, and I think they were right to give you a long ban, but a perma ban was wrong.

You should be unbanned now, or in 1 year.

 

@Loganblahtimes2 I made a post with a poll asking if you should be unbanned, with a link to this, and was aiming to get enough votes to take it to the mods and appeal again. However, the mod who handled your appeal removed it.

 

There are many inconsistencies within your complaint - as moderators we can't go in-depth on each and every one of them as appeal info is kept private.

We also don't encourage anyone, by any means, to lie within their appeal, as it will lead to a lower chance of getting their appeal accepted. We always have data ourselves, so lying is not helpful to begin with anyways.

The aforementioned thread by Mooseroom has been removed from public view because if an individual wants us to evalulate their ban, they will have to come to us themselves. As such, a call to action about an individual's ban in a public area like our forums is treated as useless content.

If you have any complaints, we do encourage you to reach out to mod management (Naraka and Salkasm) in a private manner, as opposed to posting about it publicly here. To that extent, we will be locking this thread.