1. Here you will find official announcements and updates. These announcements are also linked in the Official SotA Discord server.
    We encourage comments from the community! To keep the announcements official, we ask that comment threads be created in the General forums for player input.

                                                 Thanks!

Recent Bans for Botting and Exploiting

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Berek, Oct 21, 2016.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Jaanelle DeJure

    Jaanelle DeJure Avatar

    Messages:
    1,845
    Likes Received:
    4,276
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Exactly. Which is why I think we should all applaud dealing with this issue somewhat heavy-handedly. Even if the exploiters have a hardcore hacker mentality, thinking they are doing them a "service" by trying to ruin the game, they're really just being buttheads about it and should go hack EA or some "big box" gaming studio that has the bandwidth to deal with this.

    I would also point out that anybody found to be abusing the player reporting system in order to be disruptive, harass other players, or appropriate the system in order to settle some kind of personal gripe should also be dealt with swiftly and mercilessly.

    Anybody who is playing this game should know what the devs are up against, and what is really at stake should the project fail. Even if people don't agree with the kinds of decisions that are being made development-wise or even if they hate the game outright, taking precious time and resources away from the dev team in order to deal with unnecessary mischief and mayhem is utterly reprehensible, in my opinion.

    Yes, and I think they would hire more people if they had the resources to do so. From what I understand, it isn't simply money available but actually going through the process of recruitment and hiring without having a dedicated HR staff.

    Yes- but what is your imagined timeline to move from 1000 to 10,000, to 100,000 players? Why is this immediately relevant? And also take into consideration that with 10K or 100K players, the aforementioned resource scarcity would become a non-issue. Until then, I believe it is fair to expect everybody to accept the minimal (as you say 0.1%) chance that they will be wrongfully temp-banned as part of the risk we are all taking "for the greater good" and if such a thing happens, to act with grace and dignity about it rather than behaving like whiny little britches in the forum, leaving bad Steam reviews, and starting hate blogs, etc. That kind of behavior is so childish... really there is no excuse for it. As I said before, presumption of good faith is essential here, and is in fact one of the cornerstones of any "free" society.

    Well you said it yourself... there is no evidence that it is currently happening. So what's really the concern? I could whip off 100 "potential" or "theoretical" problems but until any of those enter the realm of actuality we would all just be spinning our wheels and getting ourselves worked up over what would most likely turn out to be nothing.

    If 30 people report on the same person, there is a good chance that there is something to it, and I think it is fair to deploy a temp ban until the issue is investigated. Conversely, if the same player is filing 30 reports on different people for the same reason, then that should raise a red flag to the dev team that such individual is abusing the system with malicious intent, and they should be dealt with accordingly. I'm sure the dev team is also keeping a close watch on who is using the reporting system, and what the incidence and outcome of false reporting actually is. ;)

    :) Clearly, we all care about the game and that's what's most important!
     
  2. Toff

    Toff Avatar

    Messages:
    102
    Likes Received:
    224
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Kingsport
    Ok, so I couldn't read every post in this thread, But??? has anyone mentioned using the gold to buy Raffle Tickets???? And did any of the Banned accounts win any deeds in the first Raffle? And were any of the banned accounts Land holders? Did the lots become available? And were any of the banned accounts any of the more famous "Company" accounts using the game for money not for play?

    Just a few thoughts
     
  3. Toff

    Toff Avatar

    Messages:
    102
    Likes Received:
    224
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Kingsport
    I would like to see a list of the properly "Vetted" perma-banned accounts to see if it was anyone I've had dealings with. Not the accounts that were temp banned pending further investigation just the ones the Devs know for sure were cheating.
     
    Bodhbh Dearg and Ravicus Domdred like this.
  4. Koldar

    Koldar Avatar

    Messages:
    1,952
    Likes Received:
    4,886
    Trophy Points:
    125
    Location:
    Novia
    I'd prefer it be kept a private matter between the accused and support@portalarium.com. That's really where it should be. If the accused wishes to object to a ban, they have recourse for that.
     
  5. Toff

    Toff Avatar

    Messages:
    102
    Likes Received:
    224
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Kingsport
    Yah...No.... I respectively disagree with you on this. I think the rest of us have a right to know who is intentionally subverting / exploiting the game we are investing in. Again, just the accounts whom the Devs know for sure were cheating, not pending cases or temp banned accounts.

    Maybe we could make a wall of shame posted in Britt Central. :) with a few hanging corpses.
     
    Bodhbh Dearg likes this.
  6. Moiseyev Trueden

    Moiseyev Trueden Avatar

    Messages:
    3,016
    Likes Received:
    8,439
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    California
    My understanding, based on something DS said earlier in the thread, is everything those people earned in game is gone. The only items that were not deleted were things purchased in the store with actual money. And even then, we had a good example of how that system could be gamed as well.
     
  7. Sara Dreygon

    Sara Dreygon Avatar

    Messages:
    1,678
    Likes Received:
    5,830
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Not sure if this was already covered but are at-keyboard macros such as "3, 3, 3, 3, 3..." to hit something or a macro to refine already collected materials safe? The OP seemed to state only afk/non-afk "gathering" but left refining and hitting a gust ball and/or casting a spell to spend/refine already gathered/collected XP as a bit of a question...
     
    Mikeyta and Moiseyev Trueden like this.
  8. Moiseyev Trueden

    Moiseyev Trueden Avatar

    Messages:
    3,016
    Likes Received:
    8,439
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    California
    Just like normal forum posts, the Devs are very anti player-shaming. I appreciate you want to know (I'm really curious too), but ultimately it isn't our place to know. The EULA isn't between player, company, and all the other players. It's just between player and company.
     
    Alexander, Koldar and Fister Magee like this.
  9. Moiseyev Trueden

    Moiseyev Trueden Avatar

    Messages:
    3,016
    Likes Received:
    8,439
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    California
    The vagueness by the devs is kinda problematic. But as he was specifically stating exploits, I'd err on the side of playing the dull grind without using broken mechanics is probably safe. If your refining isn't using up resources when you get items then I'd err on the side of saying that's an exploit and needs to be bug reported.
     
  10. LoneStranger

    LoneStranger Avatar

    Messages:
    3,023
    Likes Received:
    4,761
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Petaluma, CA
    For these specific examples and keypresses in general, even if fast key presses were a trigger somehow, I doubt you would be throttled. I have a feeling that the auto-throttling is based on more important things like how much gp/xp you earn in an hour. In other words, creating resources from the faucets.
     
  11. Ashlynn [Pax]

    Ashlynn [Pax] Avatar

    Messages:
    995
    Likes Received:
    2,242
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Gender:
    Female
    I'm curious of those who were banned, what their pledge levels were. And if there were exploiters who were only temp banned, what their pledge levels were.
     
  12. Koldar

    Koldar Avatar

    Messages:
    1,952
    Likes Received:
    4,886
    Trophy Points:
    125
    Location:
    Novia
    I think there's a lot less conspiracy here than some are making it out to be. Port found people who were exploiting the game and took action against those people. End of story. Port goes to great investigative lengths and exercises great patience to make sure unjust bans do not occur in the forum...why would it be any different in-game?

    Granted, it would be nice to have some simple black and white rules....which I'm sure will be forthcoming after this incident.
     
  13. Berek

    Berek Portalarian Emeritus Dev Emeritus

    Messages:
    3,957
    Likes Received:
    12,761
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Austin, TX
    Thank you Koldar. There is no conspiracy here, no tricks or games or anything else other than simply taking action on players who are knowingly and obviously using a serious exploit that games the system. That's it.

    We have read this entire thread and appreciate the concerns, and ideas. As with all of our moderation policies, please know that we do take each case individually, analyzing in detail what the infraction was, how serious, and what actions do need to be taken, if any. Warnings sometimes occur first if appropriate, and then increased action after that.

    Some answers to questions I saw:

    Correct, though this includes saving any pledge/purchase rewards

    Sorry, that's not how it works. We're not going to start witch hunts. If you have a concern with your own accounts, we will deal with those together. You do not need to worry about anyone else. Play the game and have fun instead... let us do the policing :).

    Which is why we take great care in ensuring our actions are justified, and we communicate those actions appropriately to those affected.

    Don't do either. As we've mentioned in the past, if you have any programs for the game in this capacity, please let us know about it, so we can work with you to confirm its safe use (or not).

    If you have any questions or concerns on our policies here, you are free to PM us or submit an inquiry to support@portalarium.com. If you are concerned about your own actions being targeted, also please just contact us and we can clarify right away. If you are actually asking though if your actions are possibly an exploit, they probably are not, but do ask us anyway if you have any doubt.

    We've had a great open discussion here, mostly good posts, some that caused the thread to derail a bit, but overall well behaved. We will take into consideration everything said, but it's time to close the thread now. Thanks everyone for your thoughts!
     
    Mac2, Hornpipe, Jens_T and 24 others like this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.