Known ban reasons/types/lengths and corresponding penalties:
1. Challenge resetting (network manipulation)
-rank, armor, and credit reset
-2 to 4 week credit earning ban
-banhammer may strike after a minimum of one attempt
2. Quitting (via: dashboarding, signing out, betrayal booted, accidental/purposeful internet disconnect, etc.)
-10min. matchmaking suspension
-3 day probation period
-banhammer may strike after a minimum of 3 quits in a row
3. AFK boosting (especially firefight)
- credit earning ban
- 24 hours (first offence), 1 week (second offence), complete reset (further offences)
-banhammer may strike after about 15 clustered AFK matches
4. Full party boosting (with or without guest controllers)
-credit earning ban
-24 hours (first offence), 1 week (second offence), unknown (further offences)
-banhammer may strike after about 10 FLBs
5. Unknown (apparently for ANY history of idling, punished already or not)
-rank, armor, and credit reset
-2 week credit earning ban
-banhammer may strike at any time...
Unknown ban types/lengths and corresponding penalties yet to be discovered.
NOTE: signing out guest controllers during a voting lobby to ensure "solo" matches is considered quitting.
Ok, here's the funny part:
1. ALL these ban types are avoidable/unnecessary (in their implementation on bungie's side)
2. Only ONE of these "ban-able" offences actually affects the gameplay experience of other players
The only "offence" that affects other gamers is the quitting. Bungie's solution is to try to force players not to quit. But no matter what, those who want to quit will ruin the game whether they leave or not. If they feel "forced" to stay in the match, they will just go AFK, begin commiting suicide, or resort to pissing off and betraying other gamers. If they do leave, the game is rendered unbalanced in favor of the enemy. So bungie's solution is garbage. Best solution is to implement a join-session-in-progress protocol. Some may say this induces unnecessary lag and interruptions, but so does quitting, no? These systems exist in games like MW2 and BC2 and are perfectly acceptable and efficient; no complaints there, haha. If bungie weren't so arrogent, they would learn and be willing to implment such a system. Combine that with a AFK-auto-boot system, and voila! Everyone is happy. People who leave, need not be banned (punished) for doing so, and people who stay in as AFK-ers will be auto-booted within 3 minutes. Other gamers will take their place in seconds, and the game remains balanced and fair.
As far as betrayal booting, just turn off friendly fire!!! Even if the system is not removed, after getting booted, other gamers can take their place. So there is no need to punish the one who got booted. This would also help reduce anger fits when getting booted for an accident (or someone jumping in front of your shots on purpose, in hopes of getting you booted). I personally feel that turning friendly fire off would be the best bet. People will still strip your shield and drop your health to the last bar just for fun, and hope the enemy gets an easy headshot off you. Super annoying...
As far as the other "offences" that do NOT affect other gamers...who friggin cares!!! Let boosters boost. They payed for the game, downloadable content, etc. You have your money so leave them alone, bungie!
Point is this: Punishing gamers who abuse your game or ruin the experience for others, only causes further damage. It does not help!!! There are ways to keep abusers in check and preserve the experience for others WITHOUT needing a banning system. By further damage I mean this: abusers will continue to abuse regardless, and you, bungie, will lose huge chunks of your audience. Not even 100,000 gamers on average per day is friggin embarrassing, bungie.
I hope that you are willing to drop your arrogent attitude, get of your high throne, and fix this game. Not only by removing your useless banning system, but also by fixing the medal chests, for example...
[Edited on 07.06.2011 6:17 PM PDT]