Character's name & rank: Major Louis Ferdinand
SteamID32: STEAM_0:1:123581264
Staff member who issued the PK (if you know): Donzoko
Explain why you were PK'd: I was PKed for "Stonewalling", "Metagaming", and "Leaving the situation once confronted (LTARP)"
Why should you be un-PK'd?: I should be unPKed primarily for the reasons that the reasons given for me to be PKed are either unfactual, misleading, or not acceptable reasons to be PKed. None of these three reasons are proper to PK, and some are misleading and(or) untrue. Firstly, Stonewalling, Metagaming, nor LTARP are reasons listed to be PKed, to quote the PK Guidelines:
1. Dying while carrying out a PK [PK]
2. On the orders of Feldmarschall, Innenminister, Vizekanzler, Konsul, Kanzler, Prinzregent, Kaiser [PK]
3. When a PK that has been ordered by any of the above is to be executed the appropriate NHC member is to be present on the server.
4. Purposely committing suicide [PK]
5. Being killed while not abiding by Fear-RP [PK]
6. Being murdered for attempting to use/actively using dirt on another individual [PK]
7. Dying after initiating a shoot-out [Situations involving COs (non-department leaders) must be approved by Senior Admin+. Situations involving Department Leaders+ must be approved by UA.] [PK]
8. On approval of UA+ [PK]
9. Being killed by another player due to causing severe harm or grief to their character [PK]
10. Mugging them, murdering one of their family members, etc.
11. Being tried and convicted in a legal court system within proper jurisdiction, and being sentenced to death [PK]
12. The punishment must fit the crime. You cannot sentence someone to death for minor offenses; ie. not saluting [PK]
13. Being killed by an approved Criminal Org. in an approved assassination attempt [PK]
14. Being killed while engaging in a combat situation in a Criminal Org. protected area. [PK]
15. A protected area is an underground facility/sewer base for the Criminal Org. Dying while executing an unapproved raid in a Criminal Org. protected area.
16. If you die while inside any sewer complex on the map as a member of a government faction while conducting non-UA-approved actions, such as a raid, you can be PKed. [PK] [Requires Admin+ approval]
17. If you, as a member of a government faction, raid a criminal faction base, headquarters, or building, and die in the process, you can be PKed. [PK] [Requires Admin+ approval]
18. PK requests against members of the KAG require the approval of a Senior Administrator or higher.
As can easily be seen, none of the reasons listed above, which are stated clearly as the only reasons a character may be PKed. The PKing staff member, Donzoko, is a member of UA, and has additional leniency with the ability to amend the PK guidelines and while if true, a few of them would be reasonable guidelines, none of them currently are. To address the individual allegations, without regard to the letter of the rules, as none of the reasons given are based in the rules and therefore can not be specifically interpreted to a certain standard or requirements, I will portray my arguments for the falsehood and the misleading of the claims one by one.
Regarding the allegations of "Stonewalling". My character, Louis Ferdinand, was taken into NSB custody and questioned by at least three different groups of people, I am not obligated to sign anything, and instead of asking general questions to me, roleplaying with me, or building rapport, I was simply asked to sign a document over and over. They never gave this document to me, they NEVER posted a google doc, and it was unacceptable to expect me to sign something that I can not see, and it is a reasonable RP expectation for them to ask me other questions besides the same request to sign a document for twenty minutes straight. Regardless, the concept of "Stonewalling", while in the 'rumors' of what may not be allowed, is not stated anywhere within any rule or PK guideline and a general rule regarding it would likely be used in situations like this to force people to sign documents and (or) confess without ever engaging in any realistic rapport building or general interrogation.
Regarding the allegations of "Metagame"
I was in a Voice Chat with a friend during a part of this situation, he was streaming a game he was playing, and while I shortly mentioned that I was in cells, and even with him telling me to "be stoic" that is not genuinely any OOC information or IC informated coordinated through OOC means being used. The rule in regard to 3rd party communication specifically states that it is a regulation pertaining to other people playing on the server, the friend I was speaking too was not playing on the server.
“Any 3rd party Voice / VOIP program is considered OOC while in the server. In order for you to communicate with other players, you must use in-game chat or voice functions, we added radios for this exact reason. Coordinating anything IC within a third party voice program is metagaming and will lead to a ban and/or a void of an RP situation.”
Regarding the allegations of “LTARP”. This allegation is simply untrue, my power shortly went out during the situation, and I immediately contacted an administrator to inform him (I messaged at 8:28, the log was at the end of 8:26), ensuring compliance with rule 44 that states
“Do not LTAP/LTARP. If you initiate an RP situation or are in an Admin sit, you may be punished if you decide to leave the game/switch characters to avoid punishment/roleplay. If you crash, be sure to message the handling admin or send a message in the Discord. Otherwise try and reconnect right away, some admins may wait up to 5 - 10 minutes for someone to reconnect. If you're unsure if it's LTAP/LTARP, wait a minimum of 10 minutes before disconnecting or switching characters.
“
While the log stated “Disconnect by user”, which greatly confused me, I inquired into a neutral AI system to see what could have happened. Attached is the response that explains why during the power outage, the system interpreted the disconnect as one by a user and not a time out.
While I believe that, if well-defined, some of these considerations could be reasonable additions to the PK guidelines, they currently are not included. I even think UA might want to explore adding provisions for LTARP, metagaming, or even extreme forms of stonewalling—provided there are safeguards, such as ensuring that interrogations involve diverse questions, some of which can reasonably be answered within the guidelines. However, as of now, these rules do not exist.
There is an established mechanism for amending the guidelines, and I encourage everyone to pursue it if they feel these additions are necessary. That said, I must plead for adherence to the ancient and straightforward principle of 'nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege' ("no crime, no punishment without law").
This principle is simple, even if quoting Latin may seem cringe: individuals cannot be punished for actions that were not clearly defined as violations at the time they occurred.
Regardless of whether these rules are added to the guidelines in the future—which, again, I believe would be reasonable—it would be unjust to impose a PK on me retroactively based on vague, undefined principles that did not exist or were too ambiguous to reasonably determine if they constituted a violation.
I know this appeal is extremely long, complicated, is intricate to the rules and is probably not written in the most agreeable manner; I care very deeply about this character, I have had the character for years and it is my name both in and out of character online. I plead that you take this appeal into consideration and let play on this character oncemore.
