To inform someone of technical, not map-specific information when you're dead? Regarding things like commands, how to open shop, rules, or (Specifically) the !stuck command?
Telling players how to use any of our commands is not considered ghosting. (I.e. pointshop, how to mute a player clientside, !rules, how to view damagelogs as a members). However, telling a player to use the !stuck command, when no mods are on to handle the stuck player, *could* be perceived as ghosting. You are providing round influencing information to the player, that would otherwise still be stuck if you didnt PM them. Intent is what matters here. It would entirely be up to admin discretion and likely if they have a history of ghosting with evidence of their intent to ghost with that information, then yes it could end up being a ghosting ban. Unlikely though.
It's not considered ghosting, since it doesn't really affect the round. For stuck, that would honestly delay the round if lets say the last T is stuck, !unstuck is there for players, public information, reiterating it, even as dead won't change anything. Telling someone active information about what's happening in the round is what we consider ghosting, IE, telling a player where a HS is, telling a player what innos have what health, telling players where a c4 is, who is the T, etc.
I don't get why it's not ghosting. Ghosting isn't necessarily giving just round related info, but rather information that can influence the round. There are many examples of people getting banned for ghosting for telling someone to RDM a player, regardless of the person being a traitor, innocent, or the ghoster even being dead or killed by the player that is going to be RDMed. Telling someone to open the shop could influence the round since the person could have a bad weapon (or no ammo) and they could buy a good one via pointshop, even worse if you're telling the person to open traitor/detective shop. Pointing a part of the !motd could influence a new player into killing someone if they realize they witnessed someone commit a traitorous act and they didn't know. Remember, the rules aren't just the basic ones, the MOTD has more expanded information than just the basic, though not like the extended rules. Sure, these two points are basic information regarding how to play TTT, especially in our server, but we all know people barely even read the rules. Knowing all TTT mechanics is a deeper issue in itself, there's always a new player on. These are all things that sure, telling them isn't going to hurt, but they can influence the round big time, and yes, it does sound like I'm being very specific on these situations, but it's just weird that these things that you'd usually tell them in-round in public chat and can be round influencing aren't ghosting, especially regarding shops and the MOTD. Can an admin shed some light here?
Aye, it is technically influencing their round, but it's doing so in a way that makes it in-line with behavior that's expected. Imagine, for example, a new player that's going around killing people and who's said in VC or something that the reason they're doing it is for something that is against the rules. Or if a player is trying to open T shop, and asks over chat how to do so. Messaging them and explaining the rule properly could have the result of changing their behavior, or 'Influencing the round', but it's a net positive for everyone involved, and could keep that player from being banned. We want people to know the rules and utilize the resources the server provides- If there is an issue such as someone exploiting this system to 'wink nudge nudge' a specific rule to someone in PMs, that can be handled with discretion.
This all bases around the player your telling, Id think. If its a player who asks how to open a certain menu, or if they are stuck, then answering their question, or informing them of a feature we have shouldnt be ghosting. It's just helping players by giving them knowlege that everyone should have. And its honestly just being a nice person. If they dont ask and you tell them how to open up the pointshop for a weapon, or how to open the tshop, I would consider this ghosting, since you are essentially telling them to do something, which would influence the round in more of a malicious way. Thats just my two cents.
Telling them how to open the credit shop where they can buy t weapons (or d weapons) , and telling people about rules and therefor what they can/cant kill for would be considered ghosting in most cases *bare with me. Teaching people how to unstuck or the f3 menu would also be ghosting but less severe (especially if you were on nilla and told them about f3). Ghosting depends on severity and intent, telling an alive traitor they can open the credit shop with "c" has a very large impact on the outcome of the round, same with telling them they are killing people for the wrong reason, or what they can kill for as again they might not know they can kill for passing an unid, they say in voice is that kosable on here? and you pm them to say yes, they then kill someone they wouldn't have killed its up to them to read the rules its not up to you to babysit them if they don't. Now, unstuck and f3 are a more tricky and case dependant scenario unstuck works differently with no staff - that being said, depending on intent and impact it could be excusable to do this when no staff are on just be mindful of the danger the person you are trying to help may or mnay not be in, because lets face it with no staff on being stuck can lead to long delays so again, intent and impact are key. If staff are on the command will just alert the staff that are on they are stuck and they will help them but staff must also always be mindful of the situation the stuck player is in (and can check for c4's or of they person is "stuck" in a t trap like the lighthouse fire trap). F3 is massively case sensitive, on modded servers it would be largely considered ghosting because of the purchaseable guns and nades, aswell as the ability to upgrade their T/D equipment if applicable, intent and impact still applies here of course but the impact is almost always gonna be high. as for vanilla, it would still be considered ghosting however there's only 1 (?) upgrade from what i can remember that would impact gameplay and you cant buy guns, so youd probably just get a slap on the wrist. In conclusion, be mindful of the kind of impact your information is going to have on the round, and stop for a second and think is this something I SHOULD do? so long as your mindset is to be helpful you have a bit of benefit of doubt on your side if you are being accused for ghosting and a staff member has to make a decision against you another rule of thumb is, if you need to ask if something is ghosting it probably is.
If the Guy is alive it Would be ghosting, since he would be in some menu instead of playing. (ultimately changing the round) @RyanHighman any question of the sort you mentioned should be answered when the player is dead or end round. Although if he asks in normal chat, you can answer in normal chat.
This is handled a lot on a case by case Scenario. We dont usually want to ban players for helping out new players, through letting them know about rules or commands. While it is technically Ghosting as most of it, has potential to influence the round, it is something that staff is reccomended to seek discretion to not ban for. Its also depending on intentions, do they intend to change the round outcome or just help out a player asking for help? Some things are better to just wait and tell, at a time where both players are dead/alive. Like if a player is RDMing because they believe they can kill for lets say refusing to test, and they keep RDMing. Someone messages them to tell em that its not a T act to refuse to test. It might be a huge impact on how the rest of the round plays out. But you just stopped a player from getting a karma or mass RDM ban. It wouldnt be great if we were to punish for that o.o (Not like the new player is ever going to rat you out for the PM anyways) Its kinda treated the same way as when a player messages staff while they are alive, that they just got RDMed and the player left, or to check what killed em. They are technically ghosting as well if we arent aware of their death already etc. But we look at it with staff eyes first and with player eyes second. Hope this answers it a lil, any questions feel free to pm ^^
