The Abuse of VPNs

https://www.brawl.com/threads/64917/

@Yorei made a thread similar to this around two years ago. It's still relevant today.

VPNs are a huge issue on WarZ. Perm banned players/cheaters have been abusing these for years, and it hasn't gotten any better whatsoever. The use of a VPN on Brawl is widely used to mask the player's identity, and this is often used by perm banned players trying to mask their IP on alt accounts. These accounts aren't able to be /alt'ed by JMODs/Mods, so the only way these accounts are able to be dealt with are by having them IP tracked by an SMOD. This is EXTREMELY inefficient. SMODs are very rarely on WarZ specifically, there's only five of them in total, and it often takes forever for them to respond if you message them asking for an IP track. If VPNs in general were banned (except for appealed players, will get to that later), Mods/JMODs would easily be able to tell when somebody is on one when they are not supposed to be. This would GREATLY improve the alting problem the server has at the moment. Currently, banned players are able to play for days/weeks on VPN alts without being caught/banned. Then they just hop on another account and do the same exact thing repeatedly, killing the game mode. This is a huge reason WarZ died in the first place, because of closet cheaters alting.

However, there is the issue that VPNs are SUPPOSED to be used for protection/personal reasons rather than just masking your identity to ban evade/cheat. This could easily be solved by having players appeal for VPN use over Discord or over the forums. This protocol used to be in effect (although I can't find the thread announcing it), but overall it was never really enforced/it was ultimately forgotten about (not sure what happened to it). Players would list their main account so staff would know if it's banned or not, and then list the reason for the use of it (protection, etc.). If the player had no ban/recent ban history on his main, that player should be allowed to use a VPN because he wouldn't be using it maliciously. The player would also list the accounts he would be alting on (privately, obviously. The appeals system would be handled either by an SMOD or admin, all of which are trustworthy). After submitting the appeal, it could either be approved or denied depending on punishment history, etc. If approved, a list of all the accounts approved would be compiled in a document/discord/etc for SMOD+ access. If a JMOD/Mod sees an account in game that is on a VPN, and it isn't an approved account, that account would be subject to a 30 day ban with option for appeal.

Overall, this would greatly increase the efficiency of dealing with banned players alting, along with simultaneously ensuring legitimate players have the option to protect themselves. Even so, VPNs hardly do anything to protect your identity on Brawl. The use of VPNs have caused a VAST amount of harm compared to good.

To quote Striker, "No more of this 'anonymous hacker' business. Get to the bottom of this and solve it."

@SoGhoul21 @Eil would appreciate feedback from you two. I noticed Tom +1'd Striker's thread when it was made, would be interested in knowing if that stance has changed since then.

Thanks.

 

Then they can use VPNs for other reasons besides playing Minecraft? And as I said, if they want to use it on Brawl they're free to appeal for it to become exempt from the ban as long as they aren't banned/have a large history of cheating.