Dear Famcrafters,
It has come to our attention that the number of clan related "griefs" being reported is on the rise. We would like to offer some clarification and guidelines to help prevent unnecessary banning of your fellow Famcrafters.
We would like to implement some new clan grief reporting guidelines.
In the event of a clan grief please take the following steps:
1.) Report the grief to a staff member.
*The staff member will evaluate the scene, and if it is obviously a true grief, they will report it, or ban as needed.
*If there is a possibility it is not a true grief, the staff member will still make a report, but may ask you to /mail send [playername] to communicate about the damage.
2.) Ask the staff member to tell you the name of the player who did the damage.
3.) Communicate.
*If the player is in game, /msg [playername] and ask them
politely to come repair the damage.
*If the player is NOT in game, /mail send [playername] and ask them
politely to repair the damage.
4.) Wait. Be patient, and give the player time to reply to your message. You can use the /seen page located at:
http://tools.famcraft.com/seen/ to determine when the player was last online. Please give the player at least 2 days to reply.
5.) If the player repairs the damage, you do not need to do anything else.
6.) If the player does not repair the damage once he or she has been informed of the situation, please use /clan kick [playername] to remove the player from your clan, and then let a staff member know that the issue was not resolved. This information will be added to the original report, and we will look into the situation as soon as possible.
Always remember, Clan leaders are not helpless, and not every clan issue requires staff involvement. As a clan leader YOU can help set the clan's rules, YOU control who you let in your clan, YOU control who you give access to your clan area precious stones and chests, and YOU can /clan kick if a player is not following the rules of your clan. If you kick a player, you will need to allow them enough access to remove their things from the clan home area, before removing them from the clan area precious stones. You can not keep the items of a member you /clan kick.
Here are some things YOU can do to minimize actual griefing, as well as simple misunderstandings in your clan area.
1.) At your /clan home , post rules clearly stating what is expected of your clan members. Ask all new members to read the rules.
A few examples of clan rules you might want to have:
*Please build at least __ blocks from the clan home.
* Please build at least __ blocks from other clan members homes.
*Please make sure to replant what you harvest.
*Please cut down the whole tree- do not leave tree tops in the area.
*Please help restock clan storage if you take items from it.
*Please do not break or place any blocks in the clan home
*Please repair anything you accidentally break
*Please do not place any new chests in the clan area
*Please do not leave locked chests, furnaces, anvils or signs in the clan area
*Please do not leave pets in the clan area
*Please do not make unauthorized changes to the clan grounds.
2.) Clearly mark areas of your clan "Clan Garden", "Clan Mine", "Clan Storage". These types of labels can help avoid confusion. Make sure, as a clan owners you realize that it will always be assumed that clan areas and clan resources are allowed to be shared by all clan members.
3.) Make sure your clan area is clearly defined. Fences, walls or any other type of visible borders can help players understand what you mean by "clan area".
4.) Make sure your clan is properly protected by Precious Stones
5.) Get to know/trust your clan members a little before adding them to all of your precious stones fields.
6.) Make yourself available for clan questions by in game mail. Take the time to answer questions your clan members may have about clan storage spaces and resources.
7.) Use your clan bulletin board! /bb clear will clear your bb, and /bb add [message] will allow you to add a new message. /clan bb add *The fountain in the center of the clan home is under construction - Please do not alter it in any way* <-- helps players know what is going on.
__________
When you DO spot a "grief", feel free to ask a staff member to come check it out, and let you know who it was that did the damage.
Then, take a few important things into consideration.
1.) Do you believe the player was intentionally trying to cause damage to the area?
2.) How many blocks are affected?
3.) Could lag have contributed to the damage you see?
4.)Is it possible the player intends to repair the damage, but had to log off before they could?
5.) Has this player caused other damage in the past?
6.) Is it possible the player was using a small render distance and did not realize how close he was to the clan area? (Small render distance)
7.) Did the player think he was "helping" the clan? (New garden, storage room expansion)
8.) If you asked the player what happened, what do you think he would say? Do you think he would be willing to repair the damage or reverse the changes?
9.) Did the player make any effort to repair the damage? Example: Broke smooth stone, replace it with cobblestone.
10.) If something similar was found that YOU had done, why would you have done it? What would you hope would happen? What disciplinary action would you expect?
Real clan griefs DO happen. We all know this, sadly. Moderate amount of broken blocks, random blocks placed about in an obvious attempt to deface an area, locked signs with unpleasant messages. These types of things are clearly griefs and will always be dealt with accordingly.
But one stone block missing from a walkway? A block of glass on a spawner, where someone was likely swinging a sword? A row of crops that was not replanted? It would be much nicer to ask the player in question to repair the damage, than to expect an instant tempban from staff.
We will be asking some players to use the /mail send feature to try to communicate with the clan members a bit better before passing out bans. One of the benefits of having a strong community like ours is having the ability to work out minor issues on occasion, without too much staff involvement. We look forward to seeing more players practice good communication, and hope to see less clan related bans in the future.
Thank you all for being amazing. <3
