Banhammer

The term banhammer, sometimes called the ban stick, represents the idea that enforcement of rules on forums, image boards, or online video games on the Internet should be swift and harsh. It is an example of an Internet meme. The term is often used as a nickname for the actual anti-cheating software that performs the banning action.

Overview

Punishment is usually a form of ban from the service, either by deleting the guilty party's account or suspending it for a time. In extreme cases, the person's IP address may be blocked from the server to prevent them from simply creating another account, sometimes indefinitely; however, this particular action is rarely taken, as most Internet Service Providers allocate dynamic IPs to their customers which change with every login. These actions are usually invoked for such offenses as violating the website's Terms of Service, trolling, promoting prejudice, disrespect of moderators, or promoting illegal acts.

Gaming usage

Its concept has since expanded into more mainstream venues, such as Bungie's Halo 2 video game for the Xbox console. A patch released in July of 2005 -- required for future online play -- scanned the user's hard drive and summarily restricted them from joining Xbox Live if it was determined that their copy had been modded without possibility of appeal or leniency. News site Slashdot began using the term at that point and has subsequently applied it to multiple instances of similar housecleaning occurring on World of Warcraft.

In other games such as Blizzard's StarCraft, the host has a hammer icon next to their name and is able to boot people from the chat for being disruptive. The banhammer has even made an appearance in RPG Morrowind, where it can be found on the corpse of an NPC.

See also

• Luser
• Cheating in online games