Recent Bans for Botting and Exploiting

So Cotos are going to sky rocket now that 20% of the economy is deleted

 

Imagined you spent couple thousand dollars on this game, always helped out other players, never s**tposting on the forum nor bad mouth anyone. Just someone who enjoyed the game just fine the way it was until one day you got kicked out from the game in the middle session and unable to log in. The only message you saw was "your account has been suspended and under review" and there was information on why you were suspended nor anything you can do about it for about 24 - 48 hours. If you feel that it is for the greater good, then good for you. I admire your optimism.

One could say it's a small price to pay to assure that the system is not super exploited just like TSA, NSA, giving up privacy and sacrifice your personal freedom are all small prices to pay to protect the country from threats.

Don't even get me started on couple crafters who got accounts suspended because some jerks bought their bags and renamed to scam other players on the public vendors. These folks were the ones who got reported because someone were so eager to play justice without reading carefully on who's the crafter and who's the seller. You tell me if Armchair Social Justice Warriors are turning people in is still kinda moot?

Anyway, my point is the due process and availability to fix the false positive ASAP must be cranking up while they're going on hard on cracking down as well.

 

were talking bans from Bots exploitation, not greifers and scammers.. and in either case the "False Positive" was fixed, and is representative of what % of the number????

I'm glad people are eager to report this type of problem rather then turning a blind eye to it.

And I don't have to imagine spending a couple of thousand dollars on this game..

I feel for you if you were targeted and received a 24-48 hour break, and I agree there should have been a more personal message attached. However you should be happy that the team is taking a stance against this type of behavior, even if you had to go though a little bit of trouble with it. Its better than sitting there with your thumbs twiddling yelling at the wind to the Devs about people exploiting the game, never seeing anything come of it. I've witnessed this first hand in UO, because they did not want to offend anyone or upset anyone.. this PC behavior is detrimental to the game as a whole..

as bad as it is, a hard stance at the beginning is what is needed.. I for one applaud the team for making the tough choice, even if it means then have to apologize one out of a hundred times..

 

Are you saying that due process and swift appeal review for false positive is unnecessary because the victims of false positive only represent tiny % of the total population? It's like telling those went to prison because they were wrongfully accused, "it's all good man.. you're just 0.000x% of the total population in the country. Also, you will get out of jail eventually once your conviction is reversed and the judge and the SA probably apologize to you a hundred times."

 

yeah that's what I'm saying, way to read into a post

I'm saying the process is the process and the developers have lives too. you seem to have a penchant for comparing a game to real life.. you might want to stop that, its silly

 

Fair enough. I wish you never get your account suspended for any false positive detection nor being reported wrongfully by a bunch of people for things you didn't do then

 

In the past in many games, exploiting has been the problem, plus helping with the game dev is why we are here, not arm char bandits! If a few mistakes are made by an auto ban, I'm sure they were corrected, better then letting an exploit go unchecked! Not sure if you remember the duping problem in UO or cared that it killed the market! What ever, it is a game, it is in a testing persistence, so if you are caught exploiting instead of helping, off with your head I say!

 

Portalarium is a business and as such it has a duty of care to its customers. That means if a ban is to take place (for whatever reason) it should be conducted in a way to ensure that only those guilty are punished. If Portalarium can't ensure that is the case then they need to re-think how they flag and follow up.

Banning a player who is not guilty of anything and is just playing the game that they purchased in good faith is NOT an acceptable outcome even if it is only for 24 hours or so.

 

I like that there are checks and balances to protect the economy/players and if that means that someone is wrongfully locked out of the game pending review, then that is what has to happen. The notification should be quite informative and outline the process to follow. Adjustments may need to be made to those systems to make it perfect enough for some of you here. Others will never be satisfied and find everything not acceptable. 24/7 support costs money folks.

Stop comparing in game to real life, its too dramatic.

 

Their tools will mature as will their process for sorting the wheat from the chaff... they should be commended for getting it all sorted in such a short amount of time. It sucks someone got caught up in the process but it's not like it took Portalarium 30-90 days of support ticket back and forth to fix. The game and especially the game's economy should always come first. Maybe they could call the lockout process something other than a ban... maybe they should call it "locked for suspicious activity, please contact support" and go from there. But getting back to the point, I don't think anyone wants a bleeding-heart protecting the economy. Portalarium is making a public show of commitment to economic health and it's a great thing.

 

errrm have I missed something? did customers purchase pledges with toy town money or something?

 

I've never seen a ban wave in a game that didn't accidentally catch a few innocents. That's just how things go.

I'd rather see bans and account wipes happen for exploiters than let these types get away with everything, Port is doing a great job with this stance. As for someone who didn't actually do any wrong getting a ban, so long as it's quickly corrected and the account purged of any record against them then that's the best we can hope for...blame the exploiters.

 

What if I told you I wasn't referring to your post.

 

My point still stands.

 

This is the kind of attitude that concerns me. You keep casually accusing people of exploiting without even knowing who they are or if they really the one who exploit the game.

Sorry that I'm not so keen of this kind of self-righteousness. Where I came from there were people who branded by the government as communists and got shot, hung, burned, slaughtered by the groups of these thugs social justice warriors who did the vigilante works, so the regime hand was not stained. Ironically, the folks who were killed actually those who protested against the military junta and called for democracy government to be ran by the people. It's easy to think of oneself so highly and go around persecuting other people. Not so much when you are on the other end and have done nothing wrong.

I do not have sympathy for botters or exploiters if they got banned because that is the consequence of their own doing. However, the false positive or witch hunt is not something to be treated lightly. Many people are putting a lot of money and time into this game in good faith. At least their accusation deserved to go through due process in good faith as well.

 

So were any of these recent bans false positives?

 

No, you bought it with real money. I bought it with real money, and everyone else bought it with real money. And the company you gave your REAL, hard earned money is protecting it.

 

Thanks, but if it happens, I will simply take a walk in the sunshine for a day or two. I will be secure in the knowledge that the team does not do things lightly and that my account will be cleared after it is reviewed. And I will hold no malice for someone who is trying to make this game a better place for all of us to play, even if I thought them wrongful social justice warriors. It takes a village after all.

 

Indeed......although debatable based open various decisions taken (not related to this thread).

Point is if something is done it needs to be done right.

 

I think it is a bit of an exaggeration to compare an honest player who was temporarily locked out of a game over the weekend to people who have been unjustly sent to prison (as you mentioned in a previous post) or who have been shot, hanged, burned and slaughtered. Anyone thinking those situations are equivalent has probably never been sent to prison, shot, hanged, burned or slaughtered.