Escalation appropriate if fight goes on long enough?

[BeardedWall]

This happened a bit ago (maybe a week) but I have been thinking about it since then.


I was involved in some beginning round shenanigans, including fighting, and some definite anger between delta squad and alpha.

After a briefing full of fighting, breaking stuff, and general anarchy. I (as delta medic) came across 3 alphas shoving a delta to the ground near the dropship (We missed first drop).

Naturally I got right into the thick of it, continuing a fight between 4-7 people.


It was a good one, at one point the dropship arrived and we literally kept fighting until we were onboard, then continued fighting as the dropship flew to the surface. An alpha engineer got involved and when we wouldnt stop fighting shot me multiple times.

I stopped and the ship landed. I immediately questioned him why he would pull a gun in a fistfight and called him a coward. To which he shot me in the head once more, and left the dropship.

I ahelped, did not get a response. Then found him near hydro and ahelped my intention to blow him away, whereas I was told to "Stop, this is being looked into" (It was a close one too!).


The result was that the player was warned, BUT that it was not considered improper escalation because "Lot's of people complained about how long the fight went on".

I got a note for shenanagins and the player got a warning. Fine, I deserved it.


But my question is, I have never heard of you being able to escalate to gunfire based on a fight's time length. Is this a common thing? Have you ever seen this happen before? I see nothing in the rules about it. I have wanted to stab people harassing me for a long time in the past... seems like I can now?


TLDR Marine shot me during a fight, mods ruled it okay because the fight lasted too long.

[Tharinoma]

Fights that last long only do so if both parties agree to fight. If one of the fighters doesn't want to fight, they run away or escalate.

If you run away and the guy chases you down, ahelp. There's a good chance he's taking things too far and staff will tell him to stop.
If you keep fighting a guy for a while, you can escalate the fight as long as you follow the rules (rule 14: lethal force).

Common sense is the answer to most of these situations, don't ruin people's rounds, don't kill each other over attachments.

[Corocan]

In the past, I've been warned for improper escalation and been told that I was warned for griefing. If we take that logic, then we know that if you're being griefed you shouldn't retaliate period. So, if you genuinely felt that the person shooting you was griefing and not merely properly escalating the situation, you shouldn't retaliate. Now this, of course, means that if you retaliate, you think it's escalation and should be treated as such (ie, ICly) and you're essentially waiving your right for admin intervention. That's my personal take on it.