I haven't been here so long, but I've been here long enough to know that Andrew (and the rest of the staff) are generally not open to suggestions on server administration. That said, I've noticed a pattern here in my first few weeks that I'm sure many will agree is quite disturbing.

The biggest bit of that pattern is the flaunting of bans and bannable behavior by a select group of people. People who get banned weekly, or biweekly, people who jot off a quick appeal, and return to do the same thing over and over again. As the current system stands, there's very little punishment for repeat offenders. Apologize, take responsibility, be banned for an hour, come back. Andrew already fines for improper apps, and rightly so. They're a waste of time. But what of users on their 6th, 7th, and 8th bans? Ought not they be banned as well? Ought not every repeat ban come with a fine? And shouldn't those fines increase, and drastically so? For surely taking the trouble to repeatedly ban the same troupe of troublemakers wastes time as well. Of course SuperMods or GameAdmins would have to be given the authority to fine (if they don't already have it). In my opinion every kick ought to carry a fine, bans a larger one, and repeat bans ought to be bank-busting. But it isn't my place to suggest numbers.

The second issue, and perhaps the more far-reaching one, is that of resident rights. Not Resident as in the server rank, but those who have purchased plots. As it stands now residents have no rights whatsoever to the land they purchase. A mayor has every right to fully sell his town, wait a week, give out notice of land clearance/eviction, wait another couple days, boot everybody, and repeat the whole process over and over again. The town's residents, who likely spent a significant chunk of their meager savings on those plots, have absolutely zero recourse. The recent affair with Limsy illustrates this well. In that case not even a warning was given before the entire town was world-edited into oblivion. And how long did that ban last?

Mayors have got to have more accountability for their actions. Of course this must be done in a way that does not significantly increase the moderator's workloads, as they do enough as is. But there really ought to be some framework in place for compensation. When we buy a plot we don't ask to rent it, we don't build on the understanding that we're erecting temporary homes, we shouldn't expect to be ripped off at some point. No, we are offered land, we pay for it, and we expect it to be our own. I know two good residents who simply stopped coming online after Limsy bulldozed their homes. When they were told there was nothing they could do and saw Limsy laughing in general chat after a much-too-short ban, they were understandably upset. Limsy took a little break from ECC, they lost everything.

Here's my own suggestion: Mayors own the land. They bought it, and thus have every right to it. That should not change. They should not, however, have the right to sell plots with zero accountability. If the mayor decides to kick everybody from town--or even just one user--he or she should be required to repay the resident for the plot. Hell, they should be required to pay 1.5x the sale price to account for time invested. This could easily be enforced by the current standard: screenshots or it didn't happen. A user buys a plot, screenshots the transaction, and rests assured knowing that if the mayor boots him or her unjustly with no compensation, there's a ban waiting just one forum post away. Mayors retain absolute authority while residents gain much-needed rights. Longtime idle users can easily be accounted for by an idle provision in the contract. And the beauty of it is that the moderator's work loads should not increase drastically: most mayors are good people. Now, however, those that aren't will actually pay for their crimes.

ECC is a great community, and the way great communities stay great is through growth. I'm in no position to tell Andrew or his staff how to run their server. But seeing a select few users repeatedly flaunt the rules leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially when that behavior results in good people leaving the server.