User:Aquanim/KickGuidelines

This document is intended to give some guidelines as to when it is and is not appropriate to kick somebody from a Zero-K game on the basis of their play.

It seems to be generally understood when it is reasonable to kick somebody for abusive language etc. and so we don't need to discuss that here.

Summary

Destructive vs. Suboptimal vs. Disrespectful

Destructive generally means blowing up allied units, directly or indirectly.

Suboptimal means that somebody is playing substantially below the level they are capable of, or failing to work with their teammates, but not to the point of causing outright negative impact.

Disrespectful is similar to Suboptimal but also encompasses stuff like repeatedly insisting on playing a greedy strategy game after game, forcing one's teammates to do the hard work at the front while you laze around at the back.

Deliberate vs. Negligent vs. Accidental

Deliberate and Accidental are pretty easily defined but remember that it is hard to judge these accurately when you are an active player in a game. Try to give the benefit of the doubt in the short term, but feel free to report them. The moderators would much prefer to watch some replays after the fact, hand out modactions for deliberate poor behaviour, or decide that action is unnecessary, than have to deal with the fallout from inappropriate kicks.

Negligent mostly means "this person is completely unresponsive and screwing up the game". Don't abuse them, there may be a good reason why they had to step away for a little while. Also be sure that they are not just focused on a different part of the game, in which case they may be too busy to respond to chat.

Specific categories

Accidental suboptimal play

Example: Most new players

Don't kick people for making honest mistakes.

If you kick somebody for play that you consider suboptimal, then an admin (who are typically quite experienced players) reviews the game and feels that the play was not even clearly suboptimal, you can expect pretty severe consequences.

Accidental destructive play

Example: Incautious use of Snitches, resulting in the destruction of allied units

This generally shouldn't be kicked either unless it is happening repeatedly, and as such becoming borderline negligent rather than accidental.

That being said, even if a moderator reviews the game and finds that the kick was unwarranted, there will probably not be severe repercussions (unless there was verbal abuse involved also). Over-reacting to having your units blown up by somebody on your team is pretty understandable.

Deliberately suboptimal or disrespectful play

Examples: Repeatedly rushing impractically expensive units from the beginning of the game, having a hissy fit and moving your army to the back of the map because you don't like your teammates

First, you need to be really sure that these players are in fact playing poorly or disrespectfully *AND* that they are doing it deliberately. Many people in the community appear to be very bad at judging these things accurately. If the moderators review the game and feel that the person you kicked wasn't even playing poorly, there will quite likely be severe consequences.

People who deliberately play poorly are really better handled by reporting them. A significant body of reports against a player for deliberately poor play will prompt the moderators to take action. IF you are thinking "what about Player X who never got modactioned" the answer is almost always "not as many people reported them as you might think", and only occasionally "the moderators think their play is fine". The moderators do not want to take action against what we consider poor play unless it is clear the community at large also thinks that.

That having been said, IF a good-faith effort has been made to engage with somebody who is deliberately playing poorly, and reports have been filed, we don't object to these players being kicked.

Deliberately destructive play

Example: Deliberately blowing up allied units

Report and kick. Pretty simple.

A less simple case is where somebody does something which is likely to indirectly cause destruction, for instance building a Singularity where it will destroy many allied factories if it explodes, when there were safer places available. If the team has made it clear that they do not want such a Singularity (etc) built with no effect, then a kick is reasonable.

Negligent suboptimal play

Example: Somebody repeatedly going AFK and leaving their units idle.

This category is mostly occupied by "people not paying attention to the game". Generally this is not important enough for a kick to be reasonable. However, in unusual edge cases where it is extremely important that somebody's units get used, and they really are completely unresponsive, a kick may be allowable. For example, in a situation where somebody has built a nuke silo and is not using it, and the game will be clearly won if that nuke is fired in the next 30 seconds and clearly lost otherwise (which has been known to happen), the moderators may not like that this person was kicked but we will understand.

You need to be VERY sure that whoever you are kicking here is not just distracted by controlling units other than the ones you want them to control.

Negligent destructive play

Example: Not paying attention to a Tremor set to auto-fire and having it bombard enemy Fleas in an ally's base

In a case like this, where there is no clear intent to team-kill but the player is also not making any kind of attempt to fix it, attempt to resolve the problem with discussion first. If they are unresponsive and the team-killing is ruining the game for everybody else, then a kick is permissible. Keep it all respectful though.

Final comments

The Code of Conduct states that "[Kick votes] should only be used in ways that a moderator would use them.". However, it is not necessarily true that if a moderator is present in a room and not kicking a player, then that player should not be kicked by their teammates. Moderators are reluctant to kick players from ongoing games unless their teammates have made it very clear such a kick is desired, and if the moderator is an active player may not wish to use their powers at all.

If a moderator is spectating, asking them whether a kick is appropriate before proceeding is a good idea (although if they are a player on the other team you may be unwilling to ask and they may not be able to answer).