[Resolved] MattAtlas warning complaint

[PowerThrills]

BYOND Key: powerthrills (character: Jill Edison)

Staff BYOND Key: MattAtlas

Game ID: bR3-ckoQ

Reason for complaint: I was playing a round as Engineer and setting up the shields when my character was approached by a wizard making vague promises of power. It sounded interesting so I took him up on it and got turned into a Juggernaut. Afterwards there was a big stand off in the aft hallway with security, and we ended up going to engineering because the wizard wanted to flood the station atmospherics with Nitrogen. A fight broke out and I ended up misclicking the wizard and killing him, which got me boinked by Matt.

I didn't even realize that I killed the wizard until Matt told me, and I was devastated because I thought I completely ruined the round. (Apparently the wizard can respawn but I didn't know that at the time.) I explained that it was an accident and he told me he was giving me a warning and threatened me with escalating punishments if I did it again. It was like twisting a knife; I didn't want it to happen in the first place let alone do it again. My hands were shaking, my heart was beating like a drum, everyone was almost the same color and moving around fast, and I have scars on my eyes that make portions of my vision blurry.

He de-escalated it to a verbal warning mid conversation, which was nice...I guess. But then he tried some doublethink bullshit by saying his punishment threats weren't actually threats. When I confronted him in deadchat he moderated his tone somewhat and even gave a non-apology (MattAtlas (Lelyl Kerei'Velan) moans, "and I understand that, if I was too hard on you, I apologize").

I'm not seeking anything here. I don't want Matt stripped of his power, banned, reprimanded, or anything else. I do not have a vendetta. Beyond this thread, it's over for me. But I think that MattAtlas is a bully. The reason I'm making this complaint is so that if this is/becomes a pattern of behavior then I want it recognized as quickly as possible. Technically, I'm not new to SS13. I've picked it up a couple times over the past few years and every time I stopped playing pretty quickly and would have to relearn it like a newbie each time I came back. This is the first time I've tried playing on an rp server and it's also the first time that putting all this effort into this silly game started to feel worth it. The community has been great, especially the engineering staff who taught me the job, and every other time I've been poked by admins I could clearly see what I had done wrong and they were super cool. This time, with Matt, it was just upsetting and made me feel like complete scum.

Evidence/logs/etc:

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: Hi, can I ask why you murdered the wizard?

to MattAtlas: I did?

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: Yes. You killed the wizard.

to MattAtlas: Fuck, I must have clicked the wrong guy.

to MattAtlas: I ruined everything!

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: Okay. You did kill the wizard, yes. I'll be applying a warning for this. Be more careful in the future.

to MattAtlas: That's silly.

to MattAtlas: What rules did I break?

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: Juggernauts are bound to the wizard who made them.

to MattAtlas: I didn't mean to do that.

to MattAtlas: I was super into it.

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: Yes, and I understand that, but you must also understand you killed the wizard who did nothing against you.

to MattAtlas: I'm being punished for clicking the wrong thing in the heat of the moment?

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: Accidents happen, but it does not mean we should let everything go just because it is an accident.

to MattAtlas: I guess I have no grounds to argue considering you have all the power.

to MattAtlas: So now I'm warned. I'll try not to click the wrong thing again?

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: I'll be leaving you off with a verbal warning here. Don't do this thing again, or punishments will escalate more.

to MattAtlas: Wow, I really learned my lesson.

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: I've explained why you shouldn't do it again, and why it's not a good thing. You were bound to the wizard and should not have killed them.

to MattAtlas: If it happens again, it will be an accident. Like it was this time.

to MattAtlas: And then I guess I'll be banned.

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: You will not be banned, if it happens again you will be warned, and not banned. You still need to pay more attention to who you hit in a fight.

to MattAtlas: Okay. I have nothing else to say to you. Are you done?

to MattAtlas: I take it back. how do I go SSD as a juggernaut. Wouldn't want to get banned for doing that wrong.

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: If you can avoid killing the wrong people or breaking the rules, then you will be fine. I've already told you you won't be banned, there is no reason to be irritated about it.

to MattAtlas: I'm irritated because on top of feeling terrible for single-handedly ruining the round I have to have something on my record.

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: Again, you have only been verbally warned.

to MattAtlas: This is my first RP server and I've been trying so hard to do everything right and now this.

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: And we understand that, everyone makes mistakes and it is fine, there is no reason to feel bad about it.

to MattAtlas: But I do. And then you come in holding all the cards and threaten me with escalating punishment.

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: I did not threaten you, I only told you that you need to avoid repeating the same mistakes otherwise punishments will escalate. It was not a threat, and I can understand why you feel irritated, but there is no reason to be. I'll leave you be now.

to MattAtlas: And every other time I've been contacted by an Admin they were so nice and I understood what I did wrong. This time I don't feel like I did anything and I'm totally helpless.

to MattAtlas: Now how do I go SSD as this stupid thing?

[Moderator PM] MattAtlas: There is no need to go SSD now, but if you really must, then you can go to the OOC tab and click the ghost button.

 

Additional remarks: Thank you for reading.

[Pratepresidenten]

Alrighty, Ill be handling this complaint.

From what I can discern from the logs here, is that the wiz + their two juggernauts faced off against security.

The fight starts up when the other juggernaut initiates, wiz gets pelted by shotgun slugs, and gets trashed in return. Then for some reason, you start attacking your master, for a total of five times.

13 seconds pass, where a whole lot of nothing happens, you attack them three more times. These 8 attacks would have caused significant damage to them.

I really dont see how this was a heat of the moment issue. You were converted prior to the immediate firefight, you had time to talk to the wizard and identify their name and outfit.

As a juggernaut, cult construct or any other slave role, it is your responsibility to identify and understand who your master is, and follow/protect them to the absolute best of your ability.

I can understand why you would feel like shit over fucking up by mistake, and I will admit Matt was a bit short with you in his initial contact, but you must understand that we dont always have the luxury of being nice and sweet to everyone, especially when there's a ton of stuff going on.

Now, as for the warning, it was a perfectly valid warning, and you had no reason getting so aggressively defensive over it. You might have felt this interaction as bullying as you were irritated/distressed over the fact that you fucked up, but it was not. He was simply trying to make you understand that this was something that shouldnt be repeated.

If we did not address this accident of yours, you wouldnt have known you did anything wrong, right?

Accidents happen, learn from them and improve. Do your best, that is all we ask.

Unless you have anything to add, I will consider this complaint resolved in 24 hours.

[PowerThrills]

It was a heat of the moment issue because combat broke out and suddenly my nervous system was stimulated and that led to me attacking the wrong person. As for the time scale, I don't know what to say. This is what happened from my perspective.

There was no need to make me feel worse by threatening me with more punishment. He didn't need to make me understand that it shouldn't be repeated; I was clearly mortified. He was right to contact me and figure out what the hell happened, but a warning? I'm not sure how many warnings equal a ban, but it can't be that many. (I realize he made it a verbal warning, but initially he said "apply a warning" which meant to me that since I fucked up accidentally that there is now some sort of document attached to me detailing what a douchebag I am.) And I still would have let the whole thing go if he had actually apologized without that nullifying contingency.

I'm not at all convinced this was a valid warning, but I know I don't get to weigh in on that. Obviously I'm going to try not to hit my friends so, practically speaking, I've learned nothing and this whole thing was pointless. How do I get better at clicking people in combat? By practice one would think, but combat rarely comes up. Am I going to have to stress out about mounting warnings every time I fuck up on the way to being competent, culminating in a ban if I don't improve fast enough? That's the Kafkaesque element to this whole episode that I found so distressing in the first place. I'm not good at this game and I got a warning for not being good enough at the game in a first-time situation that is requisite to becoming good at this game. Can't you see you circularity inherent in this warning?

[Pratepresidenten]

Listen, Ive been warned for a legit fuckup aswell. It doesnt sit well, and you feel miserable for a longass time.

You made a mistake, they happen. And although Matt was a bit blunt with you, the verbal warning you were given was valid.

To quote the rule in question regarding warnings:

Verbal Warning/Warning: A warning is the lightest type of punishment we will dispense. Generally, this means you'll be informed of the rule you've broken, and we'll let you resume playing after you ensure us you won't break the rule again.

 

If you are unsure who you are supposed to protect and who you're supposed to attack, take a second to examine the person in question and attack accordingly.

And as for the note you got on the accident, it does not paint you as a douchebag. It is simply a note stating what happened, so we have something should something of the sort happen again as you can see here:

https://puu.sh/yLlrd/e0d0fcd3eb.png

This doesnt paint you in any bad light. It states that you accidentally killed the wiz, and that you were told to pay more attention in the future.

Maybe [mention]Datamatt[/mention] has something to add to your explanation.

[MattAtlas]

Prate has said everything there is to say. I don't have anything else to add.

Although yes, it was a mistake, we get that, but even if it was it does not mean we should give people free passes for them. A verbal warning was issued because it was a mistake, yes, and what was said was that you should pay more attention in the future to critical details like that. I understand combat can be exhausting/confusing, but these are round defining things, and mistakes happen so that the same mistake is not repeated.

[PowerThrills]

Well, hearing that someone else has been in this situation actually makes me feel a little better. Is the little horse something that was applied to me or is that just an admin thing?

Anyway, I have nothing else. I'll definitely hear Matt out if he has something to say though.

[Pratepresidenten]

The horse is just my cursor, lol.

I dont believe Matt has anything else to add, so we should be good to resolve and archive this.

[PowerThrills]

He said he had nothing to add, but he sure kept typing. Yeah, it's resolved on my end. I promise in good faith that I'll try my hardest not to let this happen again.

[Pratepresidenten]

Great!

Locking and archiving.