Some people think metacomms aren’t that bad, and when purely explaining mechanics and still IC conversing in game it isn’t. You were only talking to each other through out of game means, and acted on it in game which is very bad.
You were able to be a far, far more effective mining team when fighting megafauna than any one else could have been if using in game communications. While the game isn’t necessarily balanced, that much of an advantage is bad. It also prevents IC situations and mistakes from happening, like being downed outside of sight from your friend and not being able to radio them. That prevents the intended mechanics of requiring GPS trackers and searching with the normal threats of lavaland.
However that is not the biggest problem with metacomms in this instance. The thing that it really screws up, even in this case with low pop, is how effective traitors can be against you. Even in an isolated place like lavaland with a role that does not interact with others much, you may still be an objective for a traitor. This game is built for an unlimited amount of ways to get information and approach objectives.
With you never talking, there is no way a traitor could listen in and gather information on where you are and what you are doing. They cannot subdue your buddy and impersonate them since you would immediately be talking and exposing an impersonation attempt like that. If they wanted to seperate you two and then quietly kill one of you, that would not be possible since you are constantly sharing information. Taking down tcomms to prevent you from communicating is also invalidated because you were cheating.
If you didn’t know metacomms were bad that is fine, however lying immediately shows that even while it may have been a panic, you knew it was at least a little but against the rules. When dealing with two people who are metacomming, I treat both of their responses as a team effort. He had just knew exactly where you were when I teleported you, so it means that you were also sharing every part of the bwoink. You did not respond until after I called the other person out for lying and they admitted it. Yes you didn’t personally lie about it, but if you had not fell for the trap, and continued lying, I doubt that you would have admitted to it after the fact.
All that said, I do not like seeing people who want to genuinely enjoy the game banned. Between the two of you and your 170 hours, there is only one minor note. I understand if you were in a panic you have have acted quickly. With that as a consideration I do not think a perma is needed, however in the interest of fairness for other players who get banned for the same thing, a ban is still warranted.
Most likely willing to reduce to 2-4 weeks, but curious what other @GameAdmin s think about it.
And as a side note, one of you were a traitor and completely ignored objectives. That again affects the round and gives the rest of the station less to do, although isn’t really against the rules. If you don’t want to be an antag, disable it in your preferences.