This server operates on a common law precedent based legal system to resolve disputes with administrators about in game legality of actions. The goal of this post is to summarize the precedent set by various cases as well as possible, in cases where it does not line up with historical precedent perfectly historical precedent comes first and will be what admin actions are based on. In the case that you are ever uncertain about the legality of an action please message modmail. The administrators will be more than happy to tell you and if you request even provide relevant cases.
Actions defined as cheatingThe use of any client side modification to the Minecraft client that changes the data being sent to the server from the behavior of the standard client.
The use of a client side modification to gain and act on more information about the server map than possible with the default client.
Players found to be cheating using evidence from the server terminal may appeal their ban with a subreddit post or modmail message.
Players who have evidence of another player is cheating according to the definition above must report such incidents to modmail with accompanying evidence and case support. If the accuser desires they can make their accusation public by making a thread and messaging modmail on the issue.
Notes on other client modificationsModifications such as player radar, optifine, way-point systems, texture packs, etcetera do not modify the data the client sends to the server and thus do not fall under the definition of cheating as outlined above. Ideally it would be possible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the use of mods enhancing the display of data sent to the client for things other than the occasionally obvious use of x-ray. Since this is sadly not the case we have chosen to not ban for controversial mods such as player radar on the premise that it is better to do nothing at all than act on shaky evidence.
Case law and precedentA list of important cases that set precedent. Any cases denoted as 'Vs Civcraft' are moderator as opposed to player initiated.
Scylla Vs Civcraft : Actions that are statistically impossible are considered "proof beyond a reasonable doubt"
IPartyOnYourDog Vs Civcraft: If for some reason you want to be banned we will skip the formalities and oblige you.
RegalCheese Vs Civcraft: Duplication of items using a client mod is considered cheating, possession of duped items or encountering a dupe glitch in the non-modded client is not.
Summoner Vs MineCraftIsFTW: Use of Nodus or possession of other cheating mods is not alone grounds for a ban, but must be combined with evidence of actions meeting the definition of cheating above.
Civcraft uses a special alternate account detector script to find and prevent the use of alternate accounts to escape pearling. Any account you have ever used to log onto Civcraft is considered your alt and the script may create a chain of associations between accounts detected as your alts and other accounts regardless of other factors. If the script results in a false association as it often will you may be banned without actually having two pearled alts, simply message modmail to resolve the issue, if you wish to nip this in the bud message modmail with all of your alts before playing or generally just before something goes wrong. Otherwise when your account has 2 imprisoned alternate accounts it will no longer be able to log in until at least one of those accounts is freed.
Civcraft administration policyCivcraft admins exist to create, maintain, and expand game mechanics that allow the creation of player societies in Minecraft this is the source as well as the limit to their authority.
In situations where the above directive has been compromised admins may interfere to correct the game world from the flaw in mechanics. The players in question are to present to the subreddit, in the same style as player accusation policy, arguments and evidence that a particular in game action violates the directive and should be corrected. As in accusation policy the other affected party must be notified and given a period of time to defend their actions as legitimate mechanics.
Depending on the conclusion of the administration from the presented reasoning changes will be made to resolve the situation to one resembling the outcome of correct mechanics, this is up to the discretion of administrators as to how far compensation and changes are to go based on practical constraints.
If there is reasonable evidence to conclude that an in game action violates the directive and has irreversible consequences an individual can make a post filing for an injunction such that the action in question be paused and discussed in the policy outlined in the second bullet, if it is found to be legitimate the situation is to be reversed to its pre injunction state.
As in player accusation policy this is an adversarial system, the presiding administrator acts as judge and does not present arguments but instead comes to a conclusion based on those presented by each party, if you wish to contest an argument do not do so with the presiding admin, it will be ignored, instead make all arguments with the opposing party.
Due to the nature of Minecraft Civcraft may often have cases where players are banned for cheating and then proceed to return through evasive use of stolen or new accounts to continue playing with and being supplied by their same in game group. With the goal of properly enforcing cheating rules and make less effective alt evasion to continue cheating on our server we have instituted penalties for players knowingly associating with and supplying banned players. A player who associates with a cheater who has been previously convicted and banned in such a way that it is unreasonable to assume they where unaware of the cheaters banned status they will be banned from the server for a short period as a warning. Continued association will result in longer and longer sentences.
To quote the wikipedia article on 'Doxing':
"Doxing (spelling variant Doxxing) is an abbreviation of document tracing, is the Internet-based practice of researching and publishing personally identifiable information about an individual. The methods employed in pursuit of this information range from searching publicly available databases and social media websites like Facebook to hacking and social engineering. It is closely related to cyber-vigilantism, hacktivism, and cyber-bullying."