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There has been a very toxic person to the community of a multiplayer Minecraft server I'm a moderator on (I'll call them Mr Toxic from now on). Apart from using really irritating cheats (the cheats that Mr Toxic used really broke the game for other users) they have caused issues on a multitude of different chats and insulted a lot of people (including staff and players).

Now, they're barred from ever joining our server. But the day after the ban, a new player appeared (let's call them Mr Newbie). However usual it is, the player quickly "developed" an interest in Mr Toxic. They have also exhibited simply too much knowledge for a new player they were posing as.

Yesterday the new player has made a mistake of unconsciously and indirectly confirming they are an alternate account of Mr Toxic (technical details skipped but we're 100% sure). On my first thought, I should ban the new Mr Newbie.

That being said, Mr Newbie is much nicer and is not cheating. I can sense the same style of talking, but different attitude towards others. Now they're an active member of the community. If they were not the same player, I'd have no reason to ban them.

While the improvement seems noticeable, they're still guilty of annoying and offending a large community. How do I address the people offended by them, to help them accept that the player has improved their behavior?

Just for the record, we're hosting a community of 20 active players, 20 less active players and about two hundred players in total.

There is also a question about addressing the player.

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    What have you done so far? Why wouldn't a simple announcement about banning Toxic suffice?
    – Lux Claridge
    Jun 11, 2019 at 19:37
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    As this question is about addressing the community, and not the player, I feel it can be tailored a bit more to being about the community (and not the player). Can you include for example how the community reacted to the player before they revealed their real identity, how they reacted to the player revealing their identity? Are they all demanding you take action, or are they acting like it's not really a big deal? Is there a place where your community can 'meta', where you can communicate easily and openly with your users and talk with them about/set out rules for future cases?
    – Tinkeringbell ♦
    Jun 12, 2019 at 9:19
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    What are your community policies? Isn't it usually against the rules to try and get around a ban by just creating a new profile?
    – user70848
    Jun 12, 2019 at 16:43
  • I don't understand why there is 2 questions: this to address the community and for the player. These could be merged out. The community of players doesn't care too much about the circumstances of a user, so, if you say right away to the community the player cheated and created a new account most of them would ask to ban him anyways.
    – CaldeiraG
    Oct 4, 2019 at 9:11
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    @CaldeiraG the question was originally one and it was split because the two goals are very different. You don't speak to a single person in the same way you speak to a crowd, those are different set of IPS problems and they're better addressed separately.
    – Juliana Karasawa Souza
    Oct 7, 2019 at 9:34

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I was a moderator at multiple Minecraft servers and even created a server with more-or-less the same success as yours, I will say that:

You don't need to address your community if actions were taken when the user broke the rules.

Mr. Newbie is the "same person" as Mr. Toxic. Did you compare the IP addresses between the two accounts? If yes, this could not be Mr. Toxic but someone else in the same network (relatives, friend?).

If Mr. Newbie didn't break any rules but you're worried that he will break them in the future, warn the player behind the account (there are some great advices on your other question).

How do I address the people offended by them, to help them accept that the player has improved their behavior?

You don't. You can't be 100% sure whether Mr. Newbie is Mr. Toxic. You took action on the first time and that's enough for them.

Trying to address this with the offended people will cause more issues to the community and possibly degrade Mr. Newbie experience on the server (being called a cheater when you're not degrades your gaming experience, I've had a similar situation).

When I moderated servers, bans involved people reporting the infractor, a warning/temporary ban is issued with proper explanation and if the user keeps breaking the rules, it should be vote-banned by the moderators.

  • If an alternate account is created to circumvent the ban and continue the bad behaviour, the user would be banned without warning.

  • If an alternate account is created and it's not breaking the rules, it could be someone else playing but nonetheless it's a new user for the community and should not be flamed by other members.

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