[TheUltraFish]

Donors Dealing with Ghosters

(Happy Voss? This thread is aligned in the center)

A similar thread made by a TTT staff member named Potato can be found on this thread: https://www.dinklebergsgmod.com/site/Thr...s-Ghosters However, this thread is more specifically for PH donors since ghosting is a part of every day life on server and the killing of props.

A recurring issue has come up for the prop hunt server and it is donors asking how to deal with ghosters, particularly of the 3rd party that use steam, discord, or some other version of chat to relay prop location to one another to get ahead and be “good” at the game, and what are some things that they can do to stop them. This is mainly for donors, but normal users could find parts of this useful in helping them lower the cheating that happens on the prop hunt server.

 

Originally, if the staff or regular players ran into a group of 2 or more people ghosting, they could put a ban request up on the forums and the players would be banned if the evidence was sufficient. However, it was noticed that the majority of the prop hunt bans were for this reason with it not being uncommon to see more than three ban requests a day, every day, just for ghosting. When the rules for prop hunt were updated the ghosting rule was altered so that less bans would hopefully take place but still would not be allowed to continue. This has overall worked as there has been a drastic decrease in bans for ghosting and are now only for recurring ghosters getting banned and the one time visitors and/or ghosters still being allowed to play but no longer being allowed to ghost.

 

Seeing the pros of less bans and time spent making ban requests, cons were eventually to show up. The main con is that more than one donor has asked a staff member how they should handle a ghosting group of players since now they cannot just put in a ban request with some evidence that results in an immediate ban and since the donors do not have access to the forceswap command, they cannot follow procedure the exact same way staff do. A picture of the protocol that staff follow when dealing with ghosters is shown below.

   

If a group is caught 3rd party ghosting, they immediately get Punishment 1 and if they continue after that session later on, they get Punishment 2 then Punishment 3.

Since, donors do not have access to the forceswap command, they should follow these steps.

Procedure:

1.) Use the @PH On-Call Staff on the Dinkleberg discord to try and get a staff member on, if there is not one on at the time. 

If you have not joined the discord yet, you can get there by typing !discord in the chat. If a staff member is on and appears yet to notice the ghosters use the @ command in chat to let them know. Do NOT confront the ghosters. A staff member could already be gathering evidence against them and you could interrupt that, and they could leave without getting evidence on them which would allow them to ghost in the future. Most ghosters already know that they are cheating since they are doing via 3rd party already.

 

2.) Gather video evidence of the ghosters ghosting and then kick them from the server

This is for when the case arises that no staff are available. After gathering evidence, you can send it to a staff member so that the ghosters can be added to the watch list to stop them from ghosting in the future or so that they can get banned since they may have already been caught once already. Gathering evidence will also provide you with protection if you get accused of being a power hungry donor and being turned in for abuse on the forums or if the ghosters decide to contact Dinkleberg or another staff member about the incident themselves. You will then just have to show the evidence to prove your innocence instead of relying on he said she said to run its course.

If the ghosters reconnect after you have kicked them and try to continue their ghosting, they will try to join opposite teams, you are allowed to continually kick them until they give up and stay away. If you run into the same ghosters at a later date and they are once again cheating, then follow the procedure shown above and put in a ban request with evidence of the original ghosting, and the ghosting of the current date. Mainly, recording this is to protect you from being accused and possibly punished for just trying to help from cheaters that have and will go out of their way to get you into trouble and get ahead. Most other problems can generally follow the same procedure that staff use here, https://www.dinklebergsgmod.com/site/Thr...ules--6815

Common recording software used is OBS or the built in version in Garry’s mod. A full list is available in the following link and you can pick the one that best works for you and your computer setup.

https://www.dinklebergsgmod.com/site/Thr...rams-Guide

You can go here to see the format for making a ban request and where to submit a ban request if you catch cheaters.

https://www.dinklebergsgmod.com/site/For...n-Requests

 

Thank you for helping out the server and trying to stop cheaters. We hope this helps out the server and the ghosters can be stopped responsibly and without the donors being considered to be “monsters” or “power hungry vermin”.