hacking and raiding also "hinders" a player if you are looking at it that way....

I think the rule is talking about creating hinderacne OUTSIDE of the game via hacking the computer or direct physical assult/blockage....
It says using the game, not the content of the game

wow, lots of replies.
1: in regards to terms of service, being put on probation in no way stops you from playing the game.

2: my legion, although not weak, will often lock onto bases level 3 or 4, with no attack or defense. Anyone in my legion could take it down in 10-15 attacks, but it is against the legion guidelines, and every time a weak base is locked the officers tell the legion to only attack once. These people that kill bases early have a negative impact on MY gaming which isn't fair to myself or any of the other legion members who follow guidelines.

3: We have recently had a few members join who stay for a few hours before leaving again, then they re-apply a day or 2 later. This new rank would possibly increase new recruit dropouts, but would decrease irritating re-applications.

Also something to add to the rules of probation might be a legion comm post limit. (set amount per hour or per day) Admittedly if someone was spamming your legion you could easily just kick them, but this would mean your legion comm isn't flooded before the inevitable kick.

Putting any ToSness completely aside, can't you see that ANY form of probation is inherently BAD? For the legion, for the player, AND for the game?

(1) Leaders WILL abuse it. Not saying you or anyone else supporting this idea, but others WILL, just to be a #*&$.
(2) It WILL engender animosity from the "punished" players leading to MORE arguments, rule breaking and whatnot, up to and including leaving the legion
(3) Eliminates/detracts from the "equal opportunity" every game player is given by the developer. Remember, this is a game that is supposed to be fun, not an opportunity for people to play king with their own little fiefdoms and village full of serfs.

Dan will not add anything that limits the game experience for a player that follows HIS rules. This idea pops up every month or two and always gets support from people who either can't or choose not to see how negative an impact it would have. Maybe I'm just being cynical here, but I've found that when you take something on the scale of this, if it COULD have negative consequences, it WILL.

Darth, Darth, Darth did you not read what i said i agreed some leaders would abuse it hence if they do there's always the option to leave the legion on your own.
Also if the player was punished for good reason and they hold animosity to the leader who did it then they arnt a very loyal member of said legion so they can go if they are that fussed about it.
As for your third point nothing about this game is "equal opportunity" the pocket warriors always have the upper hand in everything the players who are higher rank then you can almost always beat the stuffing out of you without you being able to do anything in return. So wheres this "equal opportunity" you speak of, I say this is a great idea still as it gives the leaders of a legion actual power like a real leader not just a fancy name.

Oh yeah while im at it about the equal opportunity deal of your one question buddy boy what about the % base setting not fair at all seeing as it favors higher ranks in the legion while knee capping the lower ranks who depend on the base production.

1, if someones leader does this, leave, they will get a bad name, and no more legion. easy.
2, think of this "hey anon, dont do so much damage" "anon, again, less damage to the base" "anon, third time im telling you, dont do so much damage, do it again and you will go on probation" "anon, you were warned. 2 days probation for you" -anon" waaaaaahhhh why am i getting less resources than everyone else??" If someone is put on probation for good reason, there wouldnt be any problem as long as they arent a whiny little B****.
3, can already play king, this wouldnt be anything new. what are legion leaders now? they already have the freedom to kick people, restrict them from shipments.

I don't see why this wouldn't be an option to implement. giving slightly more power to leaders, to stop a very small percentage of players from making the game less enjoyable for others.

This would not be a violation of the ToS, and here's why.

You can deprive someone of legion privileges by kicking them.

If anything this option gives them more rights than the only officially sanctioned method of discipline.

Going to hop in here with this.

The suggested idea of a probation rank would be similar to a "visitor Visa" to continue with your RL country analogy. While on the Visa in a country you are considered a guest of that country, you fall under their laws but you are not a citizen.

So I (as a Canadian) could get a Visa and enter the United States but I am not allowed to walk around with a handgun all of a sudden just because I am permitted to enter the country while on Visa. But after staying in the country for a time, if I so choose to apply for citizenship, I would then be permitted to carry (openly or concealed depending on both state and other factors) which I couldn't do as a simple Visa guest.


The OP was suggesting something a group that would do much the same things. From what I'm getting it's more something for punishment but looks like
1) you still receive base shipments
2) you still receive legion defensive bonus to planets
3) you still retain access to CT Labs
4) Access to locking new bases, using the Repair Bay, using Shield Recharger, using base abilities, etc are now under new group rules.


In regards to #4, it's already set up that if a legion so chooses Repair Bays, Shield Recharger, locking new bases and such is already limited to "ALL legion memmbers" "Officers/Leaders only" and "Leaders only"

If your legion is set up so that any member can lock a base that means any newcomer to your legion could start locking 1 level 6 base after another, it's like handing a guy you barely know the keys to your prized Ferrari (feel free to swap this car for another car of choice) and saying "I trust you to drive this when I am not around."

Bumping this, as it seems even more applicable now. To anyone reading after this post, keep in mind that all previous posts are from some time ago.

Cons:
More harm than good (though none of the apparently myriad harms were described)
We haven't had it before
ToS violation*
Doesn't fix every possible problem with one person messing up a Legion

Pros:
People can join a Legion with Open recruitment and an Officer/Leader can welcome the new player, rather than coming online to find a bunch of missed requests
Without open recruitment, Legions can feel safe letting a player in and talking to them a bit before that new member can harm the Legion in anyway

* It's not up to us to decide what's a right in this game and what's a privilege, it's up to Dan. If he adds a feature that allows you to restrict a player in anyway then he's decided that what you're preventing is acceptable in the ToS. Even if it doesn't quite fit right now, the ToS can be amended if he thinks this particular feature is handy.

I'm not sure I'd support being able to demote Members to Probationary; I think it might be best if you could only be this position if you just joined a Legion. But then again, it isn't worse than being able to kick out an entire Legion (which is possible right now).

Anyway, haven't heard any strong arguments against so I figured I'd bring it back for reconsideration.

Good necro.

+1

I had not seen this thread, and I agree that it would be more useful than ever now. I also happen to think it is a good idea. +1

+1

+1

I have two changes that could make this suggestion just right:

1) In the Legion Rules, there will be an option for whether or not all new members join as Probationary members. Thus, if a Legion was in war and paranoid about planet thieves from the enemy Legion, they could still accept new members, and have a better opportunity to check out the new members before really accepting them. Right now you can only really talk to potential new recruits on their comm, which isn't as handy as the Legion comm. Because this would only be an option, any Legion that doesn't want it can simply not use it.

2) Make this an option available specifically when choosing the "Open" option in the Legion recruitment. This will leave it up to the Legion how open they are to new members. If they choose for recruited members to start as Probationary and those members leave, the Legion won't be any worse off than if they simply missed the alert anyway (which I believe was the reason for Open recruiting).

By leaving these as options, any Legion can opt for things to simply remain the same as they are now.