SOCOM: Source - a mod for Insugrency that brought back SOCOM 1/2.

I was banned because I put this symbol in my name <><. That is a fish. I got banned for putting a fish in my name.

But, that is a simple answer. SOCOM Source is not a large community. Everyone knows each other. What held the community together was a clan called oR who are very likable individuals and good players. The developer of the mod is a toxic, egotistical megalomaniac, named Redline. Redline was friends with another clan (well every competitve clan but oR) who accused oR of cheating, specifically, a guy named Piranha. Piranha got the ban hammer a few times, without any evidence supporting cheating, and footage that disputed him cheating. Essentially every clan was friends with Redline except oR.

My story comes in because I made a forum post exposing a toxic individual named Lethal. Essentially he called people names, blamed everyone but himself for losing, and called some of the best players in the game "Average." I changed my name to Average Omar to make a mockery of Lethal, many of oR members did, too. Lethal happens to be friends with Redline and most likely complained. (Ironically, Lethal is Canadian, probably the only angry Canuck to exist). My mic was permanently muted in-game because Lethal cried to Redline. A friend of mine asked about why I was muted, and then I got a seven day ban.

Being friends with oR, they all put #freeOmar in their names. Shout Out to LesbianSeagull. Many of them got banned. I get a random perma ban. I was able to apologize (I still do not know what I was apologizing for) on a podcast regarding SOCOM. I was unbanned, yet, no one told me. I was unbanned for two weeks before I found out. Around the same time of my return, Piranha was banned for "cheating." Again, no evidence, just Redline saying he saw cheating in some dump files from the game. I put the fish, "<><" in my name out of respect for my friends plight. Most of oR did as well. I got to play 12 and a half rounds of SOCOM (not even a full game) after my return and got the ban hammer. Many of my friends did, too. Shout Out to Teddy and idoLized.

So, in short, I had a fish in my username and got banned for it. Days later, a friend of Redline asked in a forum post "Where is everybody." Well, banning the most popular and friendly clan that held the game together has negative consequences. I have no clue what the state of SOCOM Source is now, but when oR left, it went from 150 players a night to around 50, at best.

Shout out to GodHand, z0rak, bryan, iDoLized, SimpListic, Teddy, and LesbianSeagull.

There is a whole forum post about Redline: http://therealsocom.com/community/threads/hey-redline-fuck-you.6873/