Voting system
The AC voting system was introduced with version 1.0 to supercede the old system of having a master who controlled server commands. The old system was open to abuse, as a master could not be over-ruled, except by an admin. Depending on the server setup, a vote for a server command can be called by any player and the other players in the server are asked to vote F1 (yes) or F2 (no) in response. It is not compulsory to vote. You cannot call another vote if a vote is running.
Pass and Fail
A vote is passed immediately if more than half of the current players (or the current admin) votes 'yes'. A vote fails immediately if half the players (or the current admin) votes 'no'. A vote fails after 30 seconds neither immediate outcome was reached. This last point is the subject of some controversy, as a vote will fail if, in a twenty player game, there are ten 'yes' votes and no 'no' votes. The vote is weighted some by the servers evaluation of if it is a good vote or not. Example, if a kick vote comes up on someone with a very high ratio, the server might perceive this player as cheating, and weight the vote to help kick him. Another thing the server might look at is if the player is possibly spamming.
Common server commands that can be voted
Commands available to all players in a default server setup
- /kick cn - Kicks a player from a server, where cn is the player's client number.
- /autoteam x - autoteam distributes players evenly amongst the teams, in the events of players joining or leaving the server or being forced. x is 1 for autoteam on, 0 for off.
- /forceteam cn - Forces a player to join the other team.
- /shuffleteams - Forces a pseudo-random shuffle on the teams, which attempts to distribute players evenly, according to frag or flag score.
- The /gamemode commands, eg. /ctf mapname - loads the map mapname in CTF mode.
Commands available to admins only in a default server setup
- /ban cn - Bans a player from a server for 20 minutes.
- /removebans - Removes 20 minute bans enforced by the /ban command, or by a negative-score ban.
- /mastermode x - Makes the server public/private. x is 1 for private, 0 for public.
Commands available to admins only in any server (and, therefore, not a true vote)
- /giveadmin cn - Passes the admin role to the player with the corresponding client number.
Voting anomalies
- If a player who called a vote leaves the server, their vote automatically fails.
- If a player who is the subject of a kick/ban vote leaves the server, their vote remains.
- If you join a server during a vote, you are able to see it and vote.
- If you can't use F1 or F2 keys (some laptops), you can type /vote 1 (for yes) or /vote 2 (for no), or bind these commands to other keys. If you are on a Mac, you can vote F1 or F2 by pressing fn + F1/F2.