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Recent Events and Saturday Night Bans

   exa   - 1/26/2020
With any public announcement or post, it takes time to clearly and concisely address any concerns that may be present. We understand why this can cause frustration, or be seen as inaction, however, we believe it is best we take our time for the sake of accuracy.

The probation system is a new system that RGL has implemented in 2020 after our recent ban wave. The purpose is to ultimately give players a second chance to participate in the league, given that they fill out the appeal form and can affirm that they will change their behavior for the better. Our course of action was taken primarily to alert specific players that their behavioral trends were not in-line with the kind of community we wish to foster inside of RGL. Other important information of note is that these ‘bans’ were not meant to serve as formal bans, but rather to act as a formal warning for the listed players. Placing players on probation is set in precedent with players that have had a history of harassment, using slurs/derogatory language on our platforms, and other actions that negatively push out players in our community. It is obvious that this type of behavior is unacceptable, and it is something we hope will fade away from our community. You can read more about our probation system here.

A few members of staff were approached about a player that was placed under probation. They responded inadequately, displaying views that the head admins (exa_ and Daffodil) did not share at the time. It should be mentioned that during the time that the members of staff were contacted, head admins were already in the process of removing the player from probation. Those staff members (who are also division admins) were not aware of this, which led to the differing responses that can be seen regarding the case. It seems that miscommunication played a role here and that the views demonstrated by the screenshots do not completely reflect how we handle issues.

The only individuals that can issue bans are head admins, such as sigafoo (Prolander), Daffodil (6v6), and myself (League wide, primarily in 9v9). Communication among admins from varying formats is an aspect that I have worked to improve in RGL since stepping up as the league head admin. It is important to note that RGL started off as a Prolander-only league, and each new format operates somewhat independently from each other. This has led to a lack of communication among the format admins when players on HL teams are banned as a result of an incident that occurred in a 6v6 match. This lack of communication has led to admins of other formats not understanding the full reasoning that led to a player getting banned. This has been largely fixed, as there are now head admin and admin channels for discussion among all formats regarding bans.

Context (evidence, details, etc.) plays a significant role in how a case is investigated. For sexual harassment cases and harassment cases, those tend to contain much more sensitive material and are cases that we keep within the head admins to protect the victim(s). Verifying the information involved can be time-consuming but is something that we do to ensure that the reports sent in are legitimate. It is undeniable that actions such as doxing and harassment are not tolerated in this league. These are cases that we examine carefully, since the possible action we take, and the severity of the ban lengths depend on the content and the circumstances of the report.

Transparency is an aspect that players have raised concerns over. Having trust in the administration team to enforce rules consistently and justly is difficult when there seems to be many misconceptions regarding how RGL handles cases. As such, including a way to include broad details of bans for players using slurs or derogatory language (e.g. whether it was in a scrim, match, or Discord) is something that I will list below and include from now on.

With any case, only the evidence and details of the report are examined when evaluating if a player has broken our conduct policy, and association is not considered. This misconception seems to stem from our recent ban wave, where many individuals were part of a similar group, despite only some figures having a particularly public or well-known history of harassment/usage of slurs. Each case within the ban wave was handled separately and had supporting evidence individually. If RGL used association by group as a factor in administrative decisions, then many more individuals would have been banned for simply being connected to those players. When we receive reports, players are judged on an individual level, not as a group. After verification of all reports and relevant evidence, appropriate courses of action are decided upon. With the cember case, placing cember on probation was a mistake on the part of the staffing team that oversaw the case. This player should have never been placed on probation. This is especially evident when you consider that players receive a couple week ban for their first offense, which increases in length with each repeat offense. Placing a player on probation for this offense was an incorrect decision made by the admins involved.

Going forward, we will ensure that the admin team understands their mistake and will defer to Daffodil or myself for clarification when responding to direct messages. Further, ensuring that all staff members properly communicate with one another will take a higher priority in general. A designated head admin that all staff members defer individuals to talk to will ensure that there is a clear response regarding concerns over bans. We hope to avoid situations where varying perspectives from division admins that may not have a clear picture of everything involved in a ban are treated as official RGL statements. This will only help with communication and public relations with RGL in the long run.


Bans


These bans were enacted before the release of this article. If you would like to file a report, you can do so on our site here. This form will be for appealing indefinite bans in RGL.gg.


Cheating


The following players have been caught cheating by the RGL team and will be banned.

  • Jake Paul1 Year / first cheating offense


Alting & Ban Evasion


The following player will be banned for being an alternate account to an existing banned player in RGL.


Their main account, which is RGL banned, will have its ban extended for 6 months.



South American TF2


This user has continually abused their power, harassed, and intimidated the South American community, as well as showing little remorse for their actions, and no clear intentions of apologizing. The prolonged harassment and mismanagement of the South American Highlander community and history of involvement in DDoSing matches, show enough personal-ill will towards the global TF2 community, to warrant a permanent ban.


This user involvement in the harassment and mismanagement of the South American Highlander community, past history of cheating, doxing of players in the community, and involvement of DDoSing matches does not align with RGL's policies of beliefs, and thus a 2-year minimum sentence has been issued. This player will be able to appeal their ban to be placed on probation after the minimum sentence.



Harassment


The following individuals have been banned and placed on probation:

  • dro - Minimum 2 weeks - Transphobic harassment of other players on the RGL platform.
  • civil war - Minimum 6 months - Persistent harassment of other members in the TF2 community, including the use of racial slurs. Has also received four warnings in the last month inside of the RGL discord, resulting in multiple mutes.

After the minimum period has been served, the player can appeal to have the ban lifted if they can show that they've improved themselves and how they interact within the community.

Update on players currently banned and on probation:

  • Drugstoner420_ - Minimum 1.5 Years - Consistent excessive toxicity and use of slurs during and after an appeal were approved for the player. This is an indefinite ban with a minimum sentence of one year. (6 months have been added to this, for continuing behavior after the ban.)
  • send - Minimum 3 months - The player has had three rejected appeals and will continue to have an indefinite ban, now with a minimum period of 3 months before they can appeal again.


Other


The following players have/had been suspended for 2-5 weeks for their usage of racist slurs, homophobic or transphobic language, excessive toxicity and flaming, or derogatory language on our platforms. Repeat offenders will get longer ban lengths.

  • kyle - Racial slurs in a scrim - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • Rodri - Racial slurs in a scrim - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • NimbleShadow - Racial slurs in a scrim - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • cember - Racial slurs in a scrim - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • aeon - Derogatory/transphobic flaming in RGL PUGs - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • Shim - Derogatory/transphobic flaming in RGL PUGs - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • Uber Alles - Excessive toxicity, derogatory/transphobic flaming in RGL PUGs - 2 weeks / First Offense
  • mudkip_! - Excessive toxicity during a scrim on an alternate account, impersonation of another player - 3 weeks / First Offense
  • Bobby - Excessive racist and toxic behavior during a match - 3 weeks / First Offense


You can read further details and context about each of the player's bans by viewing their discipline history on their RGL profile.