Hello. I've decided to create this guide to aid players and staff members alike on gathering evidence for abuse reports on either players or staff members, how to report them and some general tips. This is moreso intended towards new members of the community, or the ones which are having trouble with reporting players & making abuse reports, but I hope it can help anyone interested.

• Submitting abuse reports
• What is and what is not valid evidence
• Ways of gathering evidence
• General tips and tricks

Without any further ado, let's begin!


We all have issues from time with time with certain people breaking the rules or staff members acting the way they shouldn't. The Report Abuse section found here was created just for that.
To report a certain staff member, you will need to follow the demote request template or if you'd wish to report a certain user, you will need to follow the ban request template. Within a short amount of time your request will be answered by the staff capable to handle it.

Keep in mind, you can also report a player, less formally, within the game using the F1 function.
Make sure to describe your problem and wait patiently for a staff member.

Making a post in the right section


Evidence of SteamID
Of course, we as staff members wouldn't punish a person without any evidence of that person's SteamID, so that we would know that the right person gets punished. Besides the SteamID which you will need to provide within the request, you will also need to provide evidence of the accused player's ID. The best way to do this is take a recording of said rulebreak, and then record the player's identity within the TAB menu, but anything else such as a correctly done screenshot will also do the trick!

Example of correct evidence (from Stooki's report)


Evidence of accused rulebreak
Fair enough, you want to get someone punished, but once again, for the right person to be punished, solid evidence must be provided. I personally recommend video recordings, but for certain rulebreaks, screenshots also do the trick.

Screenshots can be valid in certain cases such as:

• Disrespect
• Metagaming
• Propblock
• Illegal bases
• Big gun as shop owner/citizen/etc.
• Numerous other cases such as racism or roleplaying with distasteful remarks.

(Remeber that these are not all the cases in which screenshots can be valid evidence, but I'd say thinking twice on what could be solid evidence before submitting a report)

Screenshots can not be valid evidence (exceptions apply) in cases such as:

• FDA (fading door abuse)
• Disrespect/Racism involving Microphone
• NLR
• RDM
• RDA
• Rebuilding/Repasting during a raid

In the cases mentioned above or in similar ones, your best bet is to give solid proof, for example a recording would be your best bet.


After all, it all comes down to evidence. I can assure you that, if enough proof is provided, the guilty party should recieve a proper punishment within a short amount of time.

These are the most common ways in which you can gather evidence:

• Taking screenshots within the game, and uploading them
• Recording your entire gameplay/the most important part and uploading a video
• Demos (This part will be discussed the less, as it is more advanced and we usually don't use demos)

Taking screenshots
Whilst in-game, you can press the F5 or F12 button (most common ones) to take a screenshot of your current game. This could provide you with quick and easy evidence in certain cases.

Uploading a screenshot after it has been taken

Open up the steam overlay (shift+tab) and go to the screenshots tab.
From there you press view screenshots, and upload the image you wish.
After the upload is done, press "view online" and a webpage should pop up. Give the link to a staff member as evidence.


Recording your gameplay.

This is the option of gathering evidence I'd suggest you use. Sure, it isn't as easy as taking a screenshot, but it will get the job done really good.

There are numerous software you can use, which will be provided at the end of this guide, but my personal pick for this is OBS because it is a lightweight program, free and relativley easy to use.

Setting up OBS:


If you prefer other software, here are also some some good software you could use to get the job done, but you'll have to find out how to set them up yourself:
Fraps
Shadowplay (GeForce GPU's)
LoiLo
Raptr (AMD counterpart of Shadowplay)


This part is the last part, marking the ending of this guide. This part will be rather short. I'll be covering a few tips and tricks which might be helpful when reporting a person.

Rebinding the F1 Key


Make sure to have the proof ready!
Not really mandatory, but it's recommended that you have the proof ready when submitting a report or an admin request. This will save us time, and we wouldn't be needed to wait until the video is uploading or processing.

Don't be afraid to ask!
If you see a member of the community recording his gameplay and you're unsure how he does it, don't be shy, feel free to ask him what software he uses and how to use it! I'm sure that most community members will help you!

Describe your problem!
Whenever you're reporting someone in-game make sure to type in the problem. A brief phrase such as "I have just been RDMed at spawn" is enough. Don't make F1's saying "Admin to me". This will save us both time and is a way of solving problems properly.
This is the guide in it's somewhat finished state. Don't forget to leave feedback and anything that could help improve it, and link it towards anyone which you'd think could be helped by this guide.
Thanks for reading, have fun and play fair!

Post made by Nutzu

[center][size=5]General Guide on Reporting Staff/Players & Evidence[/size][/center] Hello. I've decided to create this guide to aid players and staff members alike on gathering evidence for abuse reports on either players or staff members, how to report them and some general tips. This is moreso intended towards new members of the community, or the ones which are having trouble with reporting players & making abuse reports, but I hope it can help anyone interested. [center][size=5]This guide will cover up the following aspects:[/size][/center] [b][size=4][ul] [li]Submitting abuse reports[/li] [li]What is and what is not valid evidence[/li] [li]Ways of gathering evidence[/li] [li]General tips and tricks[/li] [/ul][/size][/b] Without any further ado, let's begin! [center][size=5][b][i]Part 1: Submitting abuse reports[/i][/b][/size][/center] We all have issues from time with time with certain people breaking the rules or staff members acting the way they shouldn't. The Report Abuse section found [url=http://www.zarpgaming.com/index.php/forum/report-abuse]here[/url] was created just for that. To report a certain staff member, you will need to follow [url=http://www.zarpgaming.com/index.php/forum/report-abuse/39411-demote-request-information]the demote request template[/url] or if you'd wish to report a certain user, you will need to follow [url=http://www.zarpgaming.com/index.php/forum/report-abuse/33491-ban-request-template]the ban request template[/url]. Within a short amount of time your request will be answered by the staff capable to handle it. Keep in mind, you can also report a player, less formally, within the game using the F1 function. Make sure to describe your problem and wait patiently for a staff member. [b]Making a post in the right section[/b] [spoiler][img]https://gyazo.com/6090e1fbf300503025030791931d3a73.gif[/img] Make sure to fill in the template and choose a proper title![/spoiler] [center][size=5][b][i]Part 2: What is and what is not valid evidence[/i][/b][/size][/center] [b]Evidence of SteamID[/b] Of course, we as staff members wouldn't punish a person without any evidence of that person's SteamID, so that we would know that the right person gets punished. Besides the SteamID which you will need to provide within the request, you will also need to provide evidence of the accused player's ID. The best way to do this is take a recording of said rulebreak, and then record the player's identity within the TAB menu, but anything else such as a correctly done screenshot will also do the trick! [i]Example of correct evidence (from Stooki's report)[/i] [spoiler][img]http://imgur.com/UMkJ8m2.png[/img][/spoiler] [b]Evidence of accused rulebreak[/b] Fair enough, you want to get someone punished, but once again, for the right person to be punished, solid evidence must be provided. I personally recommend video recordings, but for certain rulebreaks, screenshots also do the trick. [i]Screenshots can be valid in certain cases such as: [ul] [li]Disrespect[/li] [li]Metagaming[/li] [li]Propblock[/li] [li]Illegal bases[/li] [li]Big gun as shop owner/citizen/etc.[/li] [li]Numerous other cases such as racism or roleplaying with distasteful remarks. [/ul][/i] (Remeber that these are not all the cases in which screenshots can be valid evidence, but I'd say thinking twice on what could be solid evidence before submitting a report) [i]Screenshots can [u]not[/u] be valid evidence (exceptions apply) in cases such as:[/i] [ul] [li]FDA (fading door abuse)[/li] [li]Disrespect/Racism involving Microphone[/li] [li]NLR[/li] [li]RDM[/li] [li]RDA[/li] [li]Rebuilding/Repasting during a raid[/li] [/ul] In the cases mentioned above or in similar ones, your best bet is to give solid proof, for example a recording would be your best bet. [center][size=5][b][i]Part 3: Ways of gathering evidence[/i][/b][/size][/center] After all, it all comes down to evidence. I can assure you that, if enough proof is provided, the guilty party should recieve a proper punishment within a short amount of time. [i]These are the most common ways in which you can gather evidence:[/i] [ul] [li]Taking screenshots within the game, and uploading them[/li] [li]Recording your entire gameplay/the most important part and uploading a video[/li] [li]Demos (This part will be discussed the less, as it is more advanced and we usually don't use demos)[/li] [/ul] [b]Taking screenshots[/b] Whilst in-game, you can press the F5 or F12 button (most common ones) to take a screenshot of your current game. This could provide you with quick and easy evidence in certain cases. [size=4][u][i]Uploading a screenshot after it has been taken[/i][/u][/size] Open up the steam overlay (shift+tab) and go to the screenshots tab. From there you press view screenshots, and upload the image you wish. After the upload is done, press "view online" and a webpage should pop up. Give the link to a staff member as evidence. [spoiler][img]https://gyazo.com/7ffdf99f218ad343ddc21e1768a48e24.gif[/img][/spoiler] [u][i][size=4]Recording your gameplay.[/size][/i][/u] This is the option of gathering evidence I'd suggest you use. Sure, it isn't as easy as taking a screenshot, but it will get the job done really good. There are numerous software you can use, which will be provided at the end of this guide, but my personal pick for this is [url=https://obsproject.com/]OBS[/url] because it is a lightweight program, free and relativley easy to use. [b]Setting up OBS:[/b] [spoiler]After the program has been installed, the main menu of it should look somewhat like this [img]https://gyazo.com/bd6a6252e2f0fcf0c2b6a0866d8f8844.png[/img] First off, before getting started, you must provide a scene and a source. Follow my cursor within the next pictures, and do what I do and you should be alright. [img]https://gyazo.com/74494e3039eebab2e132301ca6e2f832.gif[/img] ----------------------------------------------------------- [img]https://gyazo.com/696289e989f0d0254fbb7c5febda143c.gif[/img] Now, we'll need to do something a bit different, to get it to record Gmod.I personally use this method as it is easier than having the program recording the game, and it doesn't use much memory, and makes it easier for low-end computers to tab out of Gmod faster. Basically, you'll need to add the following parameters: -windowed ; -noborder to your Gmod launch options. To do so, follow the image below. [img]https://gyazo.com/08b6699cff9f406f5c50841fb207e956.gif[/img] Keep in mind that your resolution will need to be native (the current resolution of your monitor) for the game to be full screen. Now, to make sure your file is saved, you will need to set the mode as "File output only" from the Broadcast Settings. Also I preffer saving the video as an MP4. [img]https://gyazo.com/ef6da3a1da37271dc07674f5b74d0824.gif[/img] You can assign your hotkeys within the Hotkeys tab from the settings. [u] This part of the guide should give you an insight on using OBS as a recorder for your game.[/u][/spoiler] If you prefer other software, here are also some some good software you could use to get the job done, but you'll have to find out how to set them up yourself: [url=http://www.fraps.com/]Fraps[/url] [url=http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience/shadowplay]Shadowplay (GeForce GPU's)[/url] [url=http://loilo.tv/en/product/game_recorder]LoiLo[/url] [url=http://raptr.com/]Raptr (AMD counterpart of Shadowplay)[/url] [center][size=5][b][i]Part 4: General Tips and Tricks[/i][/b][/size][/center] This part is the last part, marking the ending of this guide. This part will be rather short. I'll be covering a few tips and tricks which might be helpful when reporting a person. [b][i]Rebinding the F1 Key[/i][/b] [spoiler]Some people say that they're having trouble contacting staff in-game because their F1 key doesn't work. This short gif would be more than enough of an explanation showing how to rebind it properly (This also applies for other keys such as rebinding F4 for inventory) [img]https://gyazo.com/279b828a430190a95c782165eb4889ce.gif[/img][/spoiler] [b][i]Make sure to have the proof ready![/i][/b] Not really mandatory, but it's recommended that you have the proof ready when submitting a report or an admin request. This will save us time, and we wouldn't be needed to wait until the video is uploading or processing. [b][i]Don't be afraid to ask![/i][/b] If you see a member of the community recording his gameplay and you're unsure how he does it, don't be shy, feel free to ask him what software he uses and how to use it! I'm sure that most community members will help you! [b][i]Describe your problem![/i][/b] Whenever you're reporting someone in-game make sure to type in the problem. A brief phrase such as "I have just been RDMed at spawn" is enough. Don't make F1's saying "Admin to me". This will save us both time and is a way of solving problems properly. [center][b][size=5]Epilogue[/size][/b][/center] This is the guide in it's somewhat finished state. Don't forget to leave feedback and anything that could help improve it, and link it towards anyone which you'd think could be helped by this guide. Thanks for reading, have fun and play fair! [size=2][b]Post made by Nutzu[/b][/size]