tl;dr I'd like in-game buttons for capturing screenshots and chat logs which are directly uploaded so that these can be used as proof for further complaints against players or staff members. I would also like players to be able to load their own ban/mute logs using a command. Other ideas are most welcome as long as they relate to the problem I described below.

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Start of my actual post

Lately there have been a few threads (again) on staff actions and the difficulty players have appealing against these actions succesfully. I'm using this thread to list a few things that I believe would make it easier to prove things people claimed actually happened.

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The problem

Staff members want to be sure they're not being tricked into sanctioning the wrong person by a report. They demand proof, but not just any proof. As it turns out, copy-pasted chat logs don't suffice, and neither do screenshots as these could be edited before uploaded. Since it's a game on a screen your information is pretty much that, though: text and images. I've been told (so I don't know this for sure) you get taken seriously if you happen to have the incident recorded. Then again, who actually has such software running all the time? Another problem is this: where reports against players can be easily followed up as the behaviour often continues on the same day, complaints against staff members usually are regarding some incident with a small chance of the same situation re-occurring.

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Actions one might consider to tackle this issue

I'm sure there are more things that can be done than the ones I just listed, so feel free to contribute. My main focus is on making it easier for players to come by proof. If you feel like a different course should be taken regarding complaints, you should probably make a different thread.

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1. Add capturing tools on the interface.

By these I mean in-game buttons to upload either your entire chatlog or to take (and directly upload) a screenshot of the game. This information could be stored on some server owned by TFM for a limited amount of time (one or two weeks?) which is long enough to deal with the report but makes sure they don't have to purchase a huge amount of online storage space.

The benefits of this:
- You would need to take really drastic measures to cheat this system (making it a reliable source). It would be really hard to fake proof instead of making it really hard to get proof.
- Unrelated to complaints/reports: allow people to download their images for personal use and you also have a new and fun functionality to take in-game screenshots with. Given the huge amount of such files on CFM I bet people would like to have this.

Cons:
- It would take up more space on the already cramped interface. I've suggested an overhaul to the interface before.

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2. Allow players to pull their own ban/mute history from the game. By this I mean a list of past mutes and bans listed along with their reasons and length. If it's technically not too tricky, it would also be great to add which public mod to talk to it about.

Pros:
- This will lead to a better overview of what happened to a player. They won't have to screencap their banning or muting reasons for later complaints.
- This feature should be easy to implement, as mods already have such a functionality. Players just need a more limited version of this which only loads their own logs.

Cons:
- Can't think of any.

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I edited this on 23/04: I removed the original second idea as the cons outweighed the pros and coined a new idea for which all credit goes to Rainee!

Thanks for reading! Or at least for skimming through it. Special thanks to Thunderai for discussing all this with me earlier ^^

/support
Status: true