Alternate Account Misunderstanding & Appeal

[Guest TheCosmicC]

Link to the source of punishment (report/post):

This event occurred through a PM.

Why the verdict is not fair:

The rules of the server, insofar as I understand them (and this may very well be in error), do not allow for alternate accounts (as in, having more than one account). My intention was not to have alternate accounts, but to have a single new account (TheCosmicC) in support of my startup YouTube channel. I would not be using my old account (Rhinjavar) in any way and requested that it be removed from the server so as to avoid confusion or suspicion of alternating accounts.

Additional statements/comments explaining your point of view:

Good day!

I spoke with a couple staff members on TeamSpeak about this and they were super helpful. They advised that I place a ban appeal to further explain my intentions and what transpired. I will avoid using names of any of the staff unless requested.

I am the owner of the Rhinjavar account which was previously whitelisted with the DayZRP server prior to the changes to the whitelist system (as of that time, I was away for real life events and did not go through the process of transferring my old whitelist into the new system). To my knowledge, I never broke any rules or incurred any infractions in the DayZRP community, nor had my Steam account (also called Rhinjavar) ever received any issues with authenticity in the DayZ system.

The Rhinjavar account, however, was part of an old online alias that I had used for a few years but, for personal reasons, no longer wanted to continue using for my gaming activities. Over the past month I have been in the process of setting up my own YouTube Let's Play channel under TheCosmicC and have made a new Steam account associated with it for my gaming projects (of which I potentially wanted DayZRP to be a part of). I was planning on purchasing DayZ again to be used solely on this new account and would no longer be using the Rhinjavar account in any capacity.

Yesterday, I created a new forum account here under TheCosmicC and, some time in the evening, received a message from a member of the staff (as I cannot directly view the message due to being banned, I will attempt to relate the contents as accurately as I can recall them) that politely stated I already had an account registered to this IP address and asked for an explanation as to why (such as if I had family or friends wanting to play in the same household, and the steps required to authenticate this). I politely explained my situation as above: that I am the owner of the Rhinjavar account and that I will no longer be using it, and that I have made a new account, TheCosmicC, to coincide with my upcoming YouTube channel. I requested that my old account of Rhinjavar be removed from the DayZRP server to avoid any confusion if having two accounts registered to the same IP address would be problematic (as I would no longer be using the Rhinjavar account, I was absolutely fine with it being removed).

After sending this reply, my account for TheCosmicC was banned without explanation. I was thoroughly confused as to why and consulted the rules for clarification, but I could not find an applicable reason for my immediate banning. There is a section in the newcomer guide that states: "...make sure that you are happy with your name, after you register the only way to change your username is by reaching a certain donation level." However, my understanding of this is to mean that users who want to keep an old account but change the name in order to preserve past posts and content (rather than making a new account entirely) must reach a certain donation level to do so. As I did not want to keep my old account because I would not be using Rhinjavar in any capacity and would be purchasing an entirely new copy of DayZ for an entirely new Steam account, I did not think that this would be an issue.

Likewise, I searched the forums regarding "alternate accounts", but I appear to have misunderstood what this included. My understanding of the policy on prohibiting alternate accounts is that you cannot have multiple accounts--i.e, alternates. This would include users who wanted to play on more than one account in order to have more than one character, or to use different accounts in order to metagame or circumvent rules. It was my understanding that making an entirely new account did not break this rule as I would still only have one account in use, not two (which is why I requested that my old account of Rhinjavar be removed to avoid any confusion).

Having spoken with the two staff members on TeamSpeak, I now have a much better understanding of the rules in place regarding accounts. This was an honest misunderstanding on my part. It was never my intention to have alternate accounts as described in the rules, only to have one new account for my YouTube channel and to have my old account removed.

I hope that this has helped to clarify my point of view. I understand why the staff team acted as they did and do not fault them for doing so as any suspicion of having more than one account active is a potential breach of server security and a serious matter.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Best regards,

TheCosmicC

What would you like to achieve with this appeal:

I would like to have TheCosmicC account unbanned so that I may apply again for whitelisting in the future.

What could you have done better?:

Having spoken with two staff members on TeamSpeak, it is clear that I should have contacted the staff team before creating a new account and explaining to them my intention to play solely on the new account. It is my fault for not doing so as I did not believe that this would create an issue. I was mistaken in my reasoning and apologize for not clarifying with the staff team prior to making the new account.

[Conor]

You have been a member long enough (since 20-02-2014) to know that alt accounts are not allowed.

You also know that the only way to change your name is through the donation perk system.

Creating an alt account in order to have a different name has never been and never will be allowed.

Now you have the choice between the following two options.

1. You continue to be a member of our community using your original account Rhinjavar and your second account TheCosmicC will be deleted.
   
2. You choose not to use your original account and both accounts remain banned from our community.
   

Please choose between the first and second options and let us know of your decision as soon as possible.

[Guest TheCosmicC]

Thank you for your reply, Conor.

I have stated my reasoning as earnestly as possible, but it seems that is not enough. This ultimatum is unfortunate. I am serious about no longer wanting to associate with the Rhinjavar account for personal reasons as much as you are serious about enforcing this rule without exception. If these are my only options without any further discussion, then I choose the second option.

I thank you and your fellow staff for all of your continued efforts in this community and wish you all the best in the future. I would also like to thank the two staff I spoke with on TeamSpeak for their encouragement regardless of this particular outcome. Your support is appreciated.

Good luck to all of you with leading this community.

Regards,

TheCosmicC

[Terra]

All the best to you too.

"When the why is clear, the how is easy"

Outcome:

No action taken.