Immaturity and lack of professionality among Community Managers

[bequest]

[LOOC] Joseph Stepanchiovikoff: It's like talking to a brick wall I explain what I was doing and why and you just ignore it

Let's get this ball rolling.

First things first, I was playing with a friend in the HL2RP server ( @northnortheast ) and during the beginning of my playthrough, I had created a character named Joseph Stepanchiovikoff. This character, inspired by old Russian comics, had a brother named Grigori Stepanchiovikoff, who died to the hands of Civil Protection while attempting to sneak through the trainyards.

This is where it began, after about four hours of gameplay.

I was running through the trainyard and during this met two other people. One of them, an englishmen played by north, and another played by someone I did not know. I was using /actarrest as a means of staying low on the ground as CP patrols and OTA patrols kept running through the yard, and due to this, I was able to survive running around. I used actarrest pretty liberally, as I was hiding in three predominant spots near the gate that lead to the elevator:

1; a spot on the building to the left of the gate, ducking behind the vent,
2; a spot on the tower directly in front of the gate, ducking at the top,
3; a spot on the small watchtower to the right of the gate, on the far end behind the cover.

I had been constantly using the animation to lay down and to get back up so that I could look over. Multiple groups of Civil Protection, Overwatch, and a scanner had been constantly looking throughout due to the number of times I had triggered the turret within the railroad tracks. Eventually, however, I heard the gate open, and when I had gotten up, someone on the other side had opened it. This was the player I did not know. I quickly ran over and got in right as the gate closed itself.

I had ran over towards the spawn area, hiding around the corner in front of the button, near that door texture. I waited for a while, and my friend north, who had managed to get into the railroad because of the same anonymous individual who helped us, managed to sneak into and stealthily move past dozens of CPs and OTA members, until he had reached the terminal inside. He received three uniforms, three Union cards, and left as quickly as he could, nearly dying in the process. He then shared these items with me and the other person with us, and we had decided to do something unique with our roleplay: Roleplay as Civil Protection members, get in good with the units who were there, and get through the ranks. We began to roleplay as actual Civil Protection units, formed our own PT (PT-2) and even interacted with units and a fucking Overwatch member in the elevator. Scary stuff. This is where the issue starts.

After about an hour of this roleplay, some random admin who I assumed to be a noobie (turned out, they were a CM) began punishing us for our high crime of, seemingly, roleplaying. We had legitimately gotten into the graveyard, nearly died multiple times, nearly got caught stealing uniforms, and successfully pulled off one of, if not, the most dangerous heist of this server's lifetime. These CMs then proceeded to claim that "it was an OOC oversight" as if that mattered in the slightest (why are you punishing players for your mistake? This is a fault on the staff team, yet, you are pushing blame on the users.) and instead of allowing our legitimate roleplay to keep going, or, at the very least, do something about it ICly, they ruined an active roleplay situation we were in with citizens we were yelling at by teleporting us out.

To make a long story short, they accused me directly of cheating through the use of /act commands and ignored me while I was explaining why I was using /actarrest so much, constantly pushing back my explanation and just claiming that I was exploiting. Guilty until proven innocent. I began to lose my patience at this point and directly called them out in a (I will admit) impolite manner.

[LOOC] Joseph Stepanchiovikoff: Your point? I can still show you where I used it, and it's in line with when CPs and Scanners were chasing us.

[LOOC] Joseph Stepanchiovikoff: Yeah, because I was constantly looking back over the railings and then ducking back down when more CPs and Overwatch were coming

[LOOC] Joseph Stepanchiovikoff: dude holy fuck can you guys stop fucking arguing and just TP me to the traintracks so I can show you exactly where and why I was doing the arrest animation

[LOOC] Joseph Stepanchiovikoff: Dude can you guys stop being trashcans and listen to what's being told to you instead of just ignoring the points that I'm making holy fuck
[LOOC] Joseph Stepanchiovikoff: It's like talking to a brick wall I explain what I was doing and why and you just ignore it

[LOOC] Old Man Lev: We have a very advanced log system... which allows us to search logs by distance. To be using /actarrest near a wall multiple times in a row... 17 to be exact is pretty much explotiing
[LOOC] Joseph Stepanchiovikoff: If you have a system that shows exactly where I was using the animations, then you will see clear as day that I was in no location where abusing animations to clip would get me anywhere.

At this point, the anonymous individual who was with us began chiming in as well.

[LOOC] Gregory Jones: he did not glitch to obtain the items
[LOOC] Gregory Jones: the items he obtained were through me
[LOOC] Gregory Jones: who ALSO did not glitch to obtain

[LOOC] Gregory Jones: the elevator was ridden up and thats how entrance was gained

[LOOC] Gregory Jones: you can't fault us for using a terminal we did not know was unlocked.

[LOOC] Gregory Jones: there a systems coded in for people to play rogue and not as a proper CP, why you would strip us of that?
[LOOC] Wikens van der Merwe Castels Piece: Why have the ability for citizens to put on the uniforms and get the full powers of CPs if this wasn't somewhat intentional?

At this point, I lost my temper. The so-called "community managers" kept ignoring what we were saying, kept accusing us of rulebreaks left and right, so I left the server. No doubt banned now. This is the most unprofessional and clearly unorganized staff team I have ever seen, and I'm hoping that, at the very least, this can be dealt with. Thanks!

 

[Mullin]

Just a quick message, sadly I wasn't able to attend for tonight's RP run; but we'll be discussing this shortly and hopefully have some clarification for yourself.

 

[Robert]

Hello there,

We did actually indeed listen to you as you tried explaining HOW you got in. Which didn't add up. But I would like to point out some things to start with.

Firstly, The terminal you used to grab uniforms and gear from with you and your friends was an OOC fuck up on behalf of staff not setting up the faction permissions on the terminal. ICly and lore wise which takes precedent over OOC states that it is impossible for a Citizen to use Combine Technology. This has been a known fact through HL2RP for as long as I can remember since 2011.

Secondly, for all intents and purposes... the Nexus is heavily guarded. You should of really called a GM to sneak in since you would've then learnt that the Nexus is pretty much a fortress. Getting in risks you being seen by mutiple cameras even if a single unit never sees you. Thus Dispatch has full authority to go "Oh look, an intruder", which is why you need a GM for these sorts of actions. You failed to do this.

Now onto some interesting logs... we noted you were standing here:


And at this location you used what command exactly? Oh yes, /actarrest. A common exploit command to gain access to places you normally can't. This is well known and considering the logs point to you doing these commands within seconds of one another and not only that, no other people in the vinicity doing anything to prompt this otherwise as shown by our Advanced log system here:



And then we can assume you let your friends in...
Mainly Gregory Jones since that was your partner in crime. Along with Wekins




All adding together conveniently so far. Very interesting. Lets continue onwards where you friend grabs 3 suits, 3 masks and everything else you could need as fake CPs.






Gregory handing over the masks





Oh look, you are there again. The man who let them in was yourself. Gregory, your friend and someone I know you were in a VC with considered you conveniently PM'ed about the equally same things and everything adds up. I would advise not playing dumb. You glitched in and shutdown the forcefield, Greg goes up the lift and grabs the gear. You and Wekins take the gear after Jones comes back down to hand over the gear.

To me this screams SUS.


I think that about covers it.

 

[bequest]

Hello there,

We did actually indeed listen to you as you tried explaining HOW you got in. Which didn't add up. But I would like to point out some things to start with.

Firstly, The terminal you used to grab uniforms and gear from with you and your friends was an OOC fuck up on behalf of staff not setting up the faction permissions on the terminal. ICly and lore wise which takes precedent over OOC states that it is impossible for a Citizen to use Combine Technology. This has been a known fact through HL2RP for as long as I can remember since 2011.

Secondly, for all intents and purposes... the Nexus is heavily guarded. You should of really called a GM to sneak in since you would've then learnt that the Nexus is pretty much a fortress. Getting in risks you being seen by mutiple cameras even if a single unit never sees you. Thus Dispatch has full authority to go "Oh look, an intruder", which is why you need a GM for these sorts of actions. You failed to do this.

Now onto some interesting logs... we noted you were standing here:
View attachment 3238

And at this location you used what command exactly? Oh yes, /actarrest. A common exploit command to gain access to places you normally can't. This is well known and considering the logs point to you doing these commands within seconds of one another and not only that, no other people in the vinicity doing anything to prompt this otherwise as shown by our Advanced log system here:

View attachment 3239

And then we can assume you let your friends in...
Mainly Gregory Jones since that was your partner in crime. Along with Wekins

View attachment 3240
View attachment 3242

All adding together conveniently so far. Very interesting. Lets continue onwards where you friend grabs 3 suits, 3 masks and everything else you could need as fake CPs.


View attachment 3244
View attachment 3245
View attachment 3246

Gregory handing over the masks

View attachment 3248

View attachment 3249

Oh look, you are there again. The man who let them in was yourself. Gregory, your friend and someone I know you were in a VC with considered you conveniently PM'ed about the equally same things and everything adds up. I would advise not playing dumb. You glitched in and shutdown the forcefield, Greg goes up the lift and grabs the gear. You and Wekins take the gear after Jones comes back down to hand over the gear.

To me this screams SUS.


I think that about covers it.

Thank you for your reply, as it screams out a large and repeating issue: Assumptions. You DON'T actually have logs of me clipping through walls, rather, you have logs of me simply using animations. And, as well, I'd like to note that for someone who kept flaunting during the sit that you've been, quote-un-quote, "staffing for 12 years", you've already made an alarming mistake most rookie admins make when transitioning from Clockwork to Helix:

You can't act-clip through walls. Not without falling over. That, for a fact, I know you have no logs of period, because I have not fallen over via commands once. All-in-all from this exact point, your entire argument falls apart. I called you out for this multiple times during the sit, as well as the two people with me.

Another thing to note: You need to stop jumping ahead of yourself and actually read the original post, as now you look both uneducated AND uninformed. Gregory was not my friend. Northnortheast (also known as 'north' or also 'Wilkens') was my friend, and it was through him that I knew you were PMing us, which is what alarmed me to PM back.

Since you went through the effort of proving yourself wrong, I think I'll go point by point here.

We did actually indeed listen to you as you tried explaining HOW you got in. Which didn't add up. But I would like to point out some things to start with.

It did add up. You chose to ignore it and your fellow community manager followed the principle of staff bias over listening to the player. I already told you how and why I entered. The person who pressed the button to open the field was Gregory, which as your own logs ALREADY PROVE though the dates and times, had already been on the other side of the field before I was even in the motion of receiving this equipment.

Secondly, for all intents and purposes... the Nexus is heavily guarded. You should of really called a GM to sneak in since you would've then learnt that the Nexus is pretty much a fortress. Getting in risks you being seen by mutiple cameras even if a single unit never sees you. Thus Dispatch has full authority to go "Oh look, an intruder", which is why you need a GM for these sorts of actions. You failed to do this.

I don't need a GM to monitor my roleplay, similarly to how I don't need my parents to monitor me taking a shit. I can handle myself and take a shit on my own. If I can enter the Nexus on my own fruition and craftiness, I don't need an admin to hold my hand. I already made it that far. It was the fault of the players alone that Gregory was able to enter the Nexus, and it was through the craftiness of Gregory that he was able to enter, grab items, and get out. You ignored this point on my original post directly through this statement. Why the fuck would I want some admin monitoring my roleplay when I do better without? As well, you say shit such as "getting in risks you being seen by multiple cameras"... There wasn't any cameras when I entered. Your entire argument is null. There was literally fucking dozens of cameras and turrets on our way to the elevator that alerted OTA, conga-lines of Civil Protection units, and a scanner, which means that cameras are a physical threat. You are talking about possible threats that weren't there. Your problem, not mine. Next time, put cameras into the nexus instead of shifting blame onto your players. It makes you look completely unprofessional and not at all prepared to run a server.

Now onto some interesting logs... we noted you were standing here:

And at this location you used what command exactly? Oh yes, /actarrest. A common exploit command to gain access to places you normally can't. This is well known and considering the logs point to you doing these commands within seconds of one another and not only that, no other people in the vinicity doing anything to prompt this otherwise as shown by our Advanced log system here:

And then we can assume you let your friends in...
Mainly Gregory Jones since that was your partner in crime. Along with Wekins

LOL "doing these commands within seconds of one another"
The only commands being done within seconds of eachother are the exit commands. Me actually performing the animation command is literal minutes apart. Do you not read your own screenshots? You're literally showing proof of me being correct.
Despite the fact that you claimed that my side didn't make sense, you're providing proof that your side doesn't make sense. Again, this isn't Clockwork. Stop treating Helix like Clockwork. You can't animation clip through walls without falling over, something that you acknowledged in-game I did not do.
And, seriously? No one was around? There was literally fucking dozens of CPs in the area because I was setting off turrets and cameras. Either you are failing to do your research after I specifically told you in-game to ask online CPs, or you're lying. At this point, I'm more inclined to believe the latter.
Your screenshots are not just incorrect, but far from the truth. I performed the acts while on the lookout for CPs as I was being hunted and my brother was already arrested for being in this area by OTA, something you, again, did not even look at. Actual meathead.
Here is where I actually did the animations, and what direction I was facing. You can perform these animations yourself in-game to see how I was using them to hide, as the direction I was using these animations perfectly masked my body to just below the railings:

Circles represent my position, arrows represent where I was facing when I performed the animation.

You keep sitting here flaunting your "Advanced Logging System" but can't flaunt even a single sense of logic within your claims.

All adding together conveniently so far. Very interesting. Lets continue onwards where you friend grabs 3 suits, 3 masks and everything else you could need as fake CPs.

Your words don't add together in the slightest. You keep contradicting your own claims. Please, go to where you claim I was animation clipping, and record yourself using /actarrest to clip through the wall. Remember, you can't /charfallover and you can't have someone push you through the wall.

Wait, actually, don't do that. Because it's impossible. You can't physically clip through a wall that way. If you could, Helix would never have implemented /act commands.

What a joke of a response.

Oh look, you are there again. The man who let them in was yourself. Gregory, your friend and someone I know you were in a VC with considered you conveniently PM'ed about the equally same things and everything adds up. I would advise not playing dumb. You glitched in and shutdown the forcefield, Greg goes up the lift and grabs the gear. You and Wekins take the gear after Jones comes back down to hand over the gear.

To me this screams SUS.

I was let in by Gregory, and I let in Wekins from the spawn region after being let in myself via the handy button that literally disables the forcefield. He had been sitting there for a little bit after I was let in so that he could avoid Overwatch should we be caught.

Your response screams inexperience. You literally provided proof that backed my claims, so I'll thank you for that.

 

[Atle]

Hello @bequest after discussing your case I've concluded to settle the ban to a 5 day period instead of a permanent one. There is some quite suspicious activity afloat here and the use of a vendor a big alarm bell.

I understand it is fun and exciting to sneak in like that but given this is a RP server I do not see sufficient RP done to justify such actions. Not to mention obtaining CP uniforms and cards from a vendor is not a move you want to do.

However, I do acknowledge there are elements here that aren't as crystal clear as I'd like it therefore I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Robert]

Going to lower you ban more.

I was mistaken it seems. While you did technically exploit /actarrest to hide which I might add is NOT allowed. This falls under visual exploits. We instead found out that it was Gregory Jones who used /charfallover 0.1 to make their way through the fence. I apologise for mistaking you as the target and not the other guy.

I removed @northnortheast warn. I will lower your ban to 1.5 days for the use of visual exploits instead and apply a ban to Gregory Jones for the use of /charfallover 0.1