07-29-2020, 12:03 PM
Server Banned On: SMP
MC Name: rasheet
Reason For Ban: X-ray
Why You Should Be Unbanned: Before I get into this, I would just like to ask for clarification as to the specific reason I was banned. Obviously, the banned message lets me know X-ray banned by Guy, but it gives no detail regarding the when or why which would help me write this appeal. So, before I get started into my analysis of this ban I will upfront say I was not x-raying and in this ban appeal report I can prove to you (the staff) that, I rasheet, was not cheating or abusing the game mechanics in any way. I was strip-mining at levels 10-12 (prime level for diamonds as most players know) this morning around 11:30-1:20 PM. Long straight lines mining out the ores as any average player would strip mine. I know the server uses a system tracking # of blocks mined,placed,etc. by players to counter x-raying. But, with a Fortune III, Eff V, Netherite pickaxe, which was legitimately acquired as well (I can show proof of this with my strip mines in /warp resnether), it isn't out of the question to mine a about 2-3 stacks of diamonds in an hour of play. Also, just pointing out if the ban took so long to determine that it had to be put in place once I was already offline, then I'm not sure how strong the evidence is (not that I don't trust our server staff but just another observation of mine). I did some online research to get a 3rd-party opinion on this to backup my case further. A player did a test to see how much he could mine within a 2-hour period with and without x-ray using a diamond pickaxe with similar stats to my netherite pickaxe. Lets take a look.(https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questio...ou-can-min - Bottom Comment)
---------------------------------------------
Here is the best 2-hour:
130 diamond ore,
70 gold ore,
110 lapis blocks,
220 RS blocks,
180 iron ore,
20 coal blocks (didn't mine it all),
10 emeralds,
2500 cobble.
Then I tried 2 hours with x-ray:
280 diamond ore,
110 gold ore,
140 lapis blocks,
160 RS blocks, 150 iron ore, 15 coal blocks (didn't mine it all),
25 emeralds,
2200 cobble.
-----------------------------------
We can take away from this that it isn't unreasonable to mine the amount of diamonds I mined within ~2 hour period. Also note that he only lists diamond ore - not actual diamonds. A fortune III pickaxe gives a 20% chance for either 2, 3, or 4 diamonds dropping EACH. This leaves us with a 60% total chance of more than one diamond dropping per ore. At the end of my mining session (since I don't have records of exact numbers) I ended up with between 128-150 diamonds - not ore, and with a 60% chance of more diamonds dropping this means I should have ended up with even more diamonds than I came out with. Interesting. With x-ray he only found about double the ore. Obviously, a good x-rayer may not x-ray as he did, but to come out with even less diamonds than he did legitimately raises the question how sure can it be that someone needs x-ray to mine the amount of diamonds I had mined. Minecraft is based on random generation as well. Random. There isn't a specific number cutoff per given amount of time that can say "Oh he/she is x-raying" or "Oh he/she isn't xraying". We also have to take into account that this guy was exclusively strip-mining and not looking into caves and such. This brings up another uncontrollable variable as caves allow for more blocks to be exposed to the player for the time put in. This brings and even larger chance of finding diamonds to us, which is what I was doing, searching caves I had found. But we also have another unpredictable aspect in this ban investigation. Myself. Do you ever put something down on your kitchen counter or table? I'm sure most of us do. Consider a single instance you did this. Why did you put it in that spot? Sure, some items may have certain spot but why that spot? Why not a different spot? There is no predictability in any living organism to a certain extent. Why did I mine that block? Accidental click? I just realized I need more of it? I lagged? There is no sure-fire way to prove this on any end of this ban (server-side, client-side, human-user error, etc.). As skilled as many server staff are, no one person, however skilled they may be, can predict the unpredictability of a human being, networking issues, and a block game based on random generation terrain, all combined. Stack those variables on top of each other and that's a percent lower than .10% of correctly reading the situation in an in-depth review. Lets think about that. If this is going to be a permanent IP-ban that the server staff owe it to us, the server players who keep the very server alive, the effort to take in account these variables and understand that no matter how amazing they may be, that the evidence they see, can't prove anything for sure. Are 90% of x-ray bans probably accurate? Yes, I have the confidence in the staff to say that this would be accurate. Do I think someone who x-rays would type this long of a ban appeal investigation about a block game to get unbanned from a server they have become madly passionate about? No. Let's be real. If I was truly a cheater I would just use another account or to log on or move to a new server to destroy. But no, I'm here putting time an x-rayer would have put into mining more diamonds, instead into a ban appeal. Let that sink in. - My ban appeal investigation will now continue on the next part of the appeal format. Please see below.
Why Do I Want To Come Back: Picking up where I left off above I would like to go into why this server means so much to me that I'm willing to spend this amount of time and effort in a ban appeal. Lets be real. There are millions of other Minecraft servers, some of which are probably extremely similar to Hometown. So what makes Hometown so special to me? The community. The staff. The shops. The mob/item/crop farms. The towns. The relationships. The chat. The player interactions. I'm not going to lie, this server has something special. The community is very tightly knit with players collaborating and allowing each other to use each others farms or see their builds that they have sunk countless hours into. I want to be part of this. I want to meet people, make friends, explore, and really put the time into investing into this community myself. I have plans into what I want to do to make my mark on this server so I can go down as the player who was always there just chilling, having fun, and willing to help out a fellow player. We all play Minecraft and videogames to unwind and relax and it would mean so much to me to let allow me to do this with the special community here on Hometown MC. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to look into this appeal, I hope I can once again log into Hometown MC to have a good time with all of the amazing players and have a nice day
.
MC Name: rasheet
Reason For Ban: X-ray
Why You Should Be Unbanned: Before I get into this, I would just like to ask for clarification as to the specific reason I was banned. Obviously, the banned message lets me know X-ray banned by Guy, but it gives no detail regarding the when or why which would help me write this appeal. So, before I get started into my analysis of this ban I will upfront say I was not x-raying and in this ban appeal report I can prove to you (the staff) that, I rasheet, was not cheating or abusing the game mechanics in any way. I was strip-mining at levels 10-12 (prime level for diamonds as most players know) this morning around 11:30-1:20 PM. Long straight lines mining out the ores as any average player would strip mine. I know the server uses a system tracking # of blocks mined,placed,etc. by players to counter x-raying. But, with a Fortune III, Eff V, Netherite pickaxe, which was legitimately acquired as well (I can show proof of this with my strip mines in /warp resnether), it isn't out of the question to mine a about 2-3 stacks of diamonds in an hour of play. Also, just pointing out if the ban took so long to determine that it had to be put in place once I was already offline, then I'm not sure how strong the evidence is (not that I don't trust our server staff but just another observation of mine). I did some online research to get a 3rd-party opinion on this to backup my case further. A player did a test to see how much he could mine within a 2-hour period with and without x-ray using a diamond pickaxe with similar stats to my netherite pickaxe. Lets take a look.(https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questio...ou-can-min - Bottom Comment)
---------------------------------------------
Here is the best 2-hour:
130 diamond ore,
70 gold ore,
110 lapis blocks,
220 RS blocks,
180 iron ore,
20 coal blocks (didn't mine it all),
10 emeralds,
2500 cobble.
Then I tried 2 hours with x-ray:
280 diamond ore,
110 gold ore,
140 lapis blocks,
160 RS blocks, 150 iron ore, 15 coal blocks (didn't mine it all),
25 emeralds,
2200 cobble.
-----------------------------------
We can take away from this that it isn't unreasonable to mine the amount of diamonds I mined within ~2 hour period. Also note that he only lists diamond ore - not actual diamonds. A fortune III pickaxe gives a 20% chance for either 2, 3, or 4 diamonds dropping EACH. This leaves us with a 60% total chance of more than one diamond dropping per ore. At the end of my mining session (since I don't have records of exact numbers) I ended up with between 128-150 diamonds - not ore, and with a 60% chance of more diamonds dropping this means I should have ended up with even more diamonds than I came out with. Interesting. With x-ray he only found about double the ore. Obviously, a good x-rayer may not x-ray as he did, but to come out with even less diamonds than he did legitimately raises the question how sure can it be that someone needs x-ray to mine the amount of diamonds I had mined. Minecraft is based on random generation as well. Random. There isn't a specific number cutoff per given amount of time that can say "Oh he/she is x-raying" or "Oh he/she isn't xraying". We also have to take into account that this guy was exclusively strip-mining and not looking into caves and such. This brings up another uncontrollable variable as caves allow for more blocks to be exposed to the player for the time put in. This brings and even larger chance of finding diamonds to us, which is what I was doing, searching caves I had found. But we also have another unpredictable aspect in this ban investigation. Myself. Do you ever put something down on your kitchen counter or table? I'm sure most of us do. Consider a single instance you did this. Why did you put it in that spot? Sure, some items may have certain spot but why that spot? Why not a different spot? There is no predictability in any living organism to a certain extent. Why did I mine that block? Accidental click? I just realized I need more of it? I lagged? There is no sure-fire way to prove this on any end of this ban (server-side, client-side, human-user error, etc.). As skilled as many server staff are, no one person, however skilled they may be, can predict the unpredictability of a human being, networking issues, and a block game based on random generation terrain, all combined. Stack those variables on top of each other and that's a percent lower than .10% of correctly reading the situation in an in-depth review. Lets think about that. If this is going to be a permanent IP-ban that the server staff owe it to us, the server players who keep the very server alive, the effort to take in account these variables and understand that no matter how amazing they may be, that the evidence they see, can't prove anything for sure. Are 90% of x-ray bans probably accurate? Yes, I have the confidence in the staff to say that this would be accurate. Do I think someone who x-rays would type this long of a ban appeal investigation about a block game to get unbanned from a server they have become madly passionate about? No. Let's be real. If I was truly a cheater I would just use another account or to log on or move to a new server to destroy. But no, I'm here putting time an x-rayer would have put into mining more diamonds, instead into a ban appeal. Let that sink in. - My ban appeal investigation will now continue on the next part of the appeal format. Please see below.
Why Do I Want To Come Back: Picking up where I left off above I would like to go into why this server means so much to me that I'm willing to spend this amount of time and effort in a ban appeal. Lets be real. There are millions of other Minecraft servers, some of which are probably extremely similar to Hometown. So what makes Hometown so special to me? The community. The staff. The shops. The mob/item/crop farms. The towns. The relationships. The chat. The player interactions. I'm not going to lie, this server has something special. The community is very tightly knit with players collaborating and allowing each other to use each others farms or see their builds that they have sunk countless hours into. I want to be part of this. I want to meet people, make friends, explore, and really put the time into investing into this community myself. I have plans into what I want to do to make my mark on this server so I can go down as the player who was always there just chilling, having fun, and willing to help out a fellow player. We all play Minecraft and videogames to unwind and relax and it would mean so much to me to let allow me to do this with the special community here on Hometown MC. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to look into this appeal, I hope I can once again log into Hometown MC to have a good time with all of the amazing players and have a nice day
.