User blog:Tommygun9504/Controversies in Combat Arms No.4 - Elite Moderator Abuse.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Controversies In Combat Arms. Today I'm talking about Elite and Super Elite Moderators, and how they are misused by almost every player that has one. Credit to SoldierMS for the topic suggestion, could I get your IGN and item preferences?

Okay, here we go.

Hackers rule Combat Arms now, no doubt about it. Groups like The Weekly Haze and the Legit Gaming Club that are trying to keep Combat Arms as stable as humanly possible needed a hand.

Nexon provided it, with the release of Elite Moderator, and later, Super Elite Moderator.

The former allows players the exclusive right to instantly kick any player, no matter which team, and also catapults their game room almost to the top of the room list, while keeping the rooms under the Super Elite Moderator rooms. Super Elite Moderator gives the same kicking rights as Elite Moderator, while also giving a little EXP and GP bonus for larger rooms, and allowing two Arms Rules. However, players have given themselves more arms rules by announcing before the game certain rules, which may include No Specialists, No Specialist Gear, No Rockets, No Semi Auto Snipers, and so on. An Elite Moderated kick kicks the player in question, then allows the players to vote on the moderator's judgement. A majority of positive votes will upgrade the player's EMOD badge to a green one, while a majority of negative votes will degrade his badge to a red one, and block him from kicking for three minutes.

A red badge is a rare sight in Combat Arms, as obstaining (non-voting) players will add a .5 positive vote to the tally. If you're an Elite Moderator that... has a bit of a short fuse to his temper, this might be good, because you can keep a green badge, but still be a "rage kicker." For players, it makes discerning "good" Elite Moderated rooms from "bad" ones a lot harder.

Now, let's go over some of the ways Elite Moderator can be abused.

Rage Kicking: A term coined by players for when an EMOD becomes so angry with an enemy player for killing him that he kicks the player.

Changing the Rules: Some EMODs use this as a cover for Rage Kicking. Say, an EMOD gets killed in game by an RPG. He then yells out "No RPGs allowed!" and kicks the player that killed him, even though it didn't say RPGs weren't allowed, or they even allowed them at first.

Team/Clan/Friend Favouritism: The following example of Team Favouritism happened today, in one of my frequently played Oil Rig elimination matches. The rules were: No blowing up barrels or destroying boxes. I was using a box as cover, knowing that if it were destroyed, the sniper would be kicked. He was camping on top of Hornet mines he had placed there two lives ago, so I decided to make the most of it by blowing them up under him. Unfortunately, this explosion blew up the barrel next to him. Now, the majority of my team were watching my tracers, and they saw my shots hit the Hornets. The sniper I dispatched with his own mines told the EMOD that I fired at the barrel, but when the 5 people on my team that saw my shot said otherwise, and that I fired at the mines, the sniper denied the existence of mines having been there in the first place. As you can imagine, I was kicked. However, I'm told that the "Bad" votes won out, and that is a small comfort. Clan and Friend favouritism can take two forms. One being the example shown, but with a Clan member or a friend of the EMOD, or it can be in the form of an EMOD kicking a player and bringing the clan mate or friend in to fill his shoes.

Denial Kicks: Some EMODs are hackers themselves. a Denial Kick is essentially an EMOD kicking anyone who hackusates him.

Completely Obscure Kicks: They are kicks that happen for a completely obscure reason. An example I can recall is a religious argument while in the lobby, which resulted in the Christian EMOD kicking a Muslim player.

Annoyance Kicks: They occur when a player is being a general annoyance to the Elite Moderator. The example is a Nemexis HQ map that my brother and I played in. The EMOD had only Assault Rifles when we were taking down the feared, aimbot-using D.R.E.A.D. gunship. To put it simply, he only needed yellow ammo packs, not the red ones, which I needed for my four grenade and rocket launchers. (In case anyone asks, my defence against the Mercenaries was my G18 Cobra.) I kept taking the red ones, because I needed them to keep up a sustained amount of firepower against the gunship. He got annoyed, and said "Next time, take only what you need. Goodbye." and with that, I was put in the lobby, to do Job 1 some other way. My brother tells me he kicked the EMOD using Hostile Kick. In case you are wondering, my brother is not a hacker, but an Anti-hacker, who uses the hacker's own tools against them, and on noone else.

When a hackers kick is not one that breaks Nexon's rules, or the EMOD's rules (as of the start of the round) It is an illegitimate kick, most likely matching the description of the kicks mentioned.

Another issue with the Elite Moderators are some of the rules that they make. If they say "No G36" that's fine. But some EMODs that I have seen have rules such as "No rushing me." or "No camping me." In my opinion, the EMODS use rules like that to gain an illegal advantage, which I compare to hacking. This may sound different, and it may not be widely agreed with, but just hear me out. Hackers use things like an aimbot to make the game easier for them and only them, so that they don't have to aim at the enemy, the hacks do it for them. EMODs like those described use unfair rules, to make the game easier for them and only them, by saying "No rushing me." The hacker doesn't have to aim, and the EMOD doesn't have to move away at a hurry. I consider that an illegal advantage.

Sometimes the EMODs think that their rules don't apply to them. They make a rule "No sat scanners." The first thing this EMOD does is use a sat scanner. I think that's similar to OPKing, though both differ hugely in severity. The hacker doesn't want anyone else to get kills, so he OPKs. The EMOD doesn't want anyone else to have a Minigun, so he says "No Miniguns" and uses one himself.

There's another episode done and dusted. Opinions and suggestions in the comments, as per usual.