Tag: Ban

Jagex Bans A Laundry List Of Max-Level Players


scaperune2

One criticism I see levied against Jagex on a regular basis is that the company is reluctant to ban long time or high level players who use bots to automate certain aspects of the game. In a recent move against players using automated software, a wave of high level players have been reportedly banned, with the list growing by the hour.

As of this writing, at least 166 high level and rich players have been caught in the sweep, with the names being published here and updated regularly. It appears that a large number of players banned were using bot programs to automate the skill Dungeoneering, where players run through randomly generated dungeons for experience and rewards.

Hopefully this will serve as a warning to the other cheaters. Probably won’t.

Jagex Brings In The New Year With A Ban(g)


scaperune2

Arenanet isn’t the only one throwing cheaters overboard tied to a cement block. In a post released yesterday, the developer announced that users of a bot script would be logging in to find themselves permanently banned, among them long-time players:

As part of our ongoing war on botting, we continue to take action against those confirmed to be using a bot script. Just yesterday we banned a large number of bot users, including a number of maximum level players.

Additionally, in the same announcement Jagex detailed bans for an exploit in the recently released God Statues update which allowed players to generate a massive quantity of experience very quickly. Aside from banning the accounts that took part in the exploit, Jagex commented that they have also banned the alternate accounts of those same players.

(Source: RuneScape)

Less Than 200 Banned For Guild Wars 2 Snowflake Exploit


guild-wars-2_83015

I hate writing articles on bans related to exploits, they just serve to confuse players and just those who found some interest in the article. Terms like “mass ban” and “widely exploited” are thrown around when the actual numbers of how many people were using the exploit, and consequently how many were banned for it, is much less impressive than the terminology surrounding the announcement. So let’s dive in and try to not confuse those of us who haven’t been playing Guild Wars 2 recently. I’m going to try to explain this the best I can, but don’t take the description of events below as 100% accurate. Ultimately all you need to know is what is quoted by Arenanet.

Wintersday is the event Arenanet holds in place of Christmas, and just like its real life counterpart, we can’t get through the holidays without someone getting stabbed (unless that’s just my family). According to what I’ve seen in news reports and from players, an exploit surfaced early on in the event which allowed players to use snowflakes from the event to convert several absurdly cheap items along with a black lion salvage kit, to generate endless amounts of ectoplasm, which is used in creating many of the high-level items. The exploit was closed and when Arenanet came back from holiday vacation, the team set off banning the worst of the offenders.

As I’ve already said, less than 200 were banned according to Arenanet. According to the North American Community Team Lead Regina Buenaobra, the banned players knew exactly what they were doing:

The number of accounts terminated as a result of this exploitative activity is actually very small—fewer than 200. However, these people are the very worst offenders, and engaged in this exploit to egregious levels—hundreds and even thousands of times. They knew exactly what they were doing and they knew that their activities would damage the economy.

Gaile Grey, Arenanet Support Liason, posted to explain why the exploit should have been obvious to anyone making use of it:

Any time you take one thing and can make two, and then four, and then sixteen… ya gotta know that’s just wrong. (I won’t quibble on the odds, but overall, that form of doubling was not outside the realm of possibility.) And to perform that action hundreds and hundreds of times? That’s call “exploitation,” and that’s against the User Agreement, the Rules of Conduct, and all that is holy.

(Source: GW2 Forums – Number banned)
(Source: GW2 Forums – Understanding Exploits)

Reminder: Guild Wars 2 Does Not Allow Mods


I noticed recently that a mod is gaining some notice in the Guild Wars 2 discussion. The mod makes several changes to the way combat and targeting function, with the goal of creating a more fluid, faster paced system. As several have pointed out, Arenanet has strictly prohibited any form of modding to Guild Wars 2, as written in the Terms of Service.

While no one has reported being banned for using this mod yet, the possibility that Arenanet could strike the mod as illegal is still very real. The somewhat vague response from CC Eva in the Guild Wars 2 forums should serve as a warning:

Hi everyone.
As Diva points out, the use of third-party software is not allowed in Guild Wars 2. Thypari, if you feel this is something that would improve the game, then we invite you to post your ideas on the subforum Suggestions, where they will be looked into.

Bots Are Choking To Death In RuneScape


It must be Christmas. No, my calendar says September. This week (hopefully) marks the reveal of Botany Bay, and on Sunday Jagex announced that they would begin silently banning bots starting Monday. Well the bans aren’t exactly silent, as players are spotting (and video taping) bots spamming gold farming websites in key areas. The bots have been recorded spamming for several minutes, before inexplicably choking and dying, presumably being banned thereafter.

This month, Jagex announced a new method of detecting and banning bots, both collection and advertising, as well as a way for players to take part in the process and sentence bots to death in a Salem-esque trial. Why the flashy, and rather unnecessary, showmanship? When you spend most of your time banning bots, sometimes you want to have fun doing it, according to a recent Q&A. The alternative goal is to give the players instant feedback that the developer is indeed taking action against bots and gold farmers.

Jagex Bans High Profile Gamblers and Botting Clans


 

Hi,

Today we have banned several high-profile accounts from the dicing scene.

We can happily confirm that the ring leaders found to be involved in selling RuneScape gold have been banned. Their actions have directly funded a sizable portion of all real world trading activity within the game, led to increased macro use, and resulted in huge surges in spam advertising.

Such actions are strictly against our rules, and all accounts have been wiped and permanently nuked.

This should serve a clear warning to anyone else engaged in similar activities; expect more bans of any continuing offenders.

We have been finely tuning our new anti-cheat and anti-hijack tools over the past few months and are now steadily bringing these systems online in select areas. This is part of an on-going rollout that will be completed over the course of next two months. More good news will follow in due course.

Some of you may already have noticed that we have started cleaning up the high scores over the last week and this will assist us in being able to re-introduce relevant gold farmer free F2P high scores again. :)

Mark Gerhard
CEO

Hi,

Today we have banned a large number of accounts involved with self-titled “botting clans”. All of these accounts have been identified by our new data analysis tool and are 100% guilty of breaking our rules. These accounts have been permanently banned with no chance of appeal.

As mentioned on the forums yesterday, expect more bans and punishments in the very near future.

The use of bots will not be tolerated and will result in permanent action against any accounts found to have cheated in this way.

Daniel Clough
COO & VP of RuneScape

[Humor] Bioware Permaban Over Meme Misunderstanding


Memes somehow end up being far funnier when the people who perpetuate them end up in trouble by people who don’t “get it.” Take, for instance, the user who was banned from The Old Republic (including the game) for using the meme on the forums “I’m 12 and what is this.” Like any other company operating under the Child Online Privacy Protection Act, Bioware is required to actively monitor their player base and weed out any players who may be under 13.

Still, the humor in Bioware mistaking a meme for an actual confession of age has not eluded internet users. Infuriating, this is not. At least not as frustrating as the users who were warned for posting links to how to cancel your subscription when the option went missing for a good number of users.

Continue reading “[Humor] Bioware Permaban Over Meme Misunderstanding”

What Happened This Week: 4/17-4/23 Edition


Every week I have a whole list of topics I want to talk about, that don’t fully fit in with the scope of the website. So I came to the decision, why not stick them in a weekly editorial? I’m also using this section to bolster some of the titles that don’t get talked about much here on MMO Fallout.

1. The Final Fantasy XIV Easter Event

I just completed the Easter event for Final Fantasy XIV, or Hatching-Tide as Square calls it. The event description is even more confusing than the announcement, especially given how simple the event itself was. A “scantily clad” woman (game’s description, not mine) is handing out colorful eggs in the three major cities. Every nonspecific number of hours (eight, I believe), you can get a new egg from her. Obtain four eggs, and you can turn them into the gentleman standing by her, in return for an egg hat, which looks rather ornate.

The events up to this point in FFXIV have been rather…passive, is the word I’m looking for. For the Christmas event, players rang bells in cities to obtain random materials that they would use to craft items with (Santa clothing, and food). Unlike a lot of other MMOs, they’re essentially just something to do every eight hours or so that takes up a few minutes at most.

2. People Need To Be Less Defensive

I got into a discussion on Rift with a player who was under the impression that contested territory zones could be captured by enemy forces. After being informed that contested was merely a label for zones that were PvP-mandatory (on PvP servers, you are automatically flagged in these zones), he responded with “well in most MMOs, the term means that the territory can be taken.” His only example was Warhammer Online and Age of Conan. I explained that Warhammer Online was a game strictly based toward territory control, and irregardless I was pretty sure that the game did not use the term “contested territory” for zones that were open for capture. World of Warcraft popularized the term, and since then it has been used almost exclusively to describe pvp-mandatory zones.

After a few minutes, I got a reply, something related to me having the need to “always be right,” and having no issue with making “blunt, personal attacks” against someone for “simply asking a question,” to which I have to say: LIGHTEN UP! Explaining to someone why their statement is wrong is not making a personal attack, and I apologize if I hadn’t properly laden the explanation with “I’m sorry, but…”

And yes, I understand why people are defensive. You can’t ask a question on any MMO without getting barraged with “lol noob,” and other idiotic comments. That being said, people need to better understand the difference between someone who is informing them, and someone who is just responding to be a dick.

3. Can We Drop The Premonition That Rift Is Dynamic?

I took a lot of metaphorical bricks to the face for comparing Rift to a certain other MMO (actually I called it Warhammer 2.0, which I noted would make it World of Warcraft 3.0), but this is what irks me about the game. The Rift system is fun, it offers an alternative to grinding quests, but it is not dynamic. Rifts open in the same spots, they spawn invasions that go to pre-determined locations to set down footholds, and those footholds spawn invaders to attack the exact same locations in the exact same manner. Hell, they even walk down the exact same paths.

Rifts in Rift are essentially a version of Warhammer Online’s public quest system, that are invisible while the timer ticks down, and preventable (by destroying the invasion before it can set down a foothold). In fact, the system itself is really just taking a quest and removing the need to talk to a quest giver.

In one World of Warcraft quest line, you must kill a set amount of two types of Centaur. Turn the quest in for experience and rewards, and you get another quest to kill two different types of Centaur. Turn that in for experience and rewards, and you receive a quest to kill the lead Centaur. In Rift, you start phase 1, killing specific enemies that spawn. Finish the phase for experience and rewards, and you start phase 2: Kill other specific creatures. Finish that phase for experience and rewards, and start phase 3: Kill the boss.

Rift is a fun game. It is polished, it has a wealth of content, and Trion has been patching the game almost daily to ensure content comes out as quickly as possible, as well as tweaking content to appease the player base. Just don’t tell me that the rifts are dynamic.

4. Should Sarcasm Be Ban-Worthy?

I’ve mentioned before on here that I have GM’ed in MMOs (as I still do), and one of the biggest problems we face in handing out infractions is sarcasm, and if this article instills one piece of wisdom on you, let it be this: When using sarcasm in text, always remember your sarcasm tags (/sarcasm). When I read chat logs from players who are reported for, say, attempted account theft, there is no difference between “give me your password and I’ll give you free stuff,” and “give me your password and I’ll give you free stuff.”

So to answer my own question: yes, actually, sarcasm can very well get you banned, depending on how many times you do it. Most people get the idea after their first warning, but you’d be surprised at how many continue to the point where they are permanently removed, and then contact support to complain that they were “only being sarcastic,” and how we “can’t take a joke.” We can take a joke, you just need to work on your timing and presentation to make it funny.

5. If Nobody Plays, Why Is There So Much Lag?

Ask Derek Smart how many people play Alganon, and he’ll say over 100,000 active accounts. Me, on the other hand, I’ve physically come across one other person playing in the past couple months. This begs a very important question for those of us who do play: Why does the server lag and make me feel like I’m on my old DSL connection?

For the fact that any given area is exponentially more populated by mobs than players, Alganon still faces lag-related issues including mobs walking behind you, rubber banding, and unresponsive attacks. It’s never gone as far as dropping my connection, but I have more than a few moments where all activity simply stops for a few seconds.

I find it fairly hard to believe that the population is “growing,” as viewing how the servers react to the current load, a growth in the community would likely result in the servers committing stress-induced hari kari.

That’s all for this week. If you have any specific topics you’d like me to talk about in next week’s column, feel free to leave a comment.

Communication 101: STOP DELETING MY ****ING THREAD


Listen to me, developers...

Being an MMO Journalist affords one the opportunity to make fun of a company, yell at them for a stupid mistake, and then praise them all in one day, or even in one article. Given that I’ve managed to fake myself as a trusted journalist this far, I think I can afford to take some of those perks with me.

MMO Fallout is all about the PR, so naturally my editorials revolve around public relations, and how developers and publishers react when the times are good, and when the times are bad. I’ve talked about everything from subscription convenience in Final Fantasy XIV, to the turing test for MMOs, to identity crisis, permanent death, to more famously charge-backs. I’ve discussed the public relations nightmare that was the Allods Online cash shop, the Aion server mergers, Turbine’s fraudulent surveys, the Square-Enix HR rep who said Final Fantasy XI was shutting down this year, Atlantica Online’s near-fraudulent charity scheme, and far more.

Forums are a place where we go to communicate with the developers on a mass scale. When something bad happens in-game, like say a bunch of players get banned under suspicious circumstances, or a massive void appeared where a city used to be, killing everyone who was standing in it prior to a patch. It also happens to be a place where developers can keep users up to date on breaking news, like why players should steer clear of ___ because it is killing people randomly.

What irks me the most, however, is that in the grand majority of these cases the developers manage to inflame the situation by, doing what? Deleting threads and posts made on the subject. What this tells your players is that while you have someone with enough time to scan the forums and delete their posts complaining about this issue, you apparently don’t give enough of a rat’s ass to have that same person just give a response and negate the need for the threads.

Of course I am most recently referring to Turbine, and an accidental mass banning on Dungeons and Dragons Online that left thousands of players locked out of their accounts for more than just a while, which Turbine later announced as a glitch in the automated system that handles bans for exploits. Massively had an article on it, since the mass bans happened to crash in on their public event on DDO. Of course, when the rants started hitting the forums players were met with threads being locked, deleted, and forum infractions handed out.

Part of working in retail has taught me that when you screw up, you can’t blame the customer for getting pissed, a point many of these developers seem to have missed. You can’t falsely accuse someone of cheating, ban them with no real explanation or method of appeal, and then expect them to not head to the fastest method of handing feedback in a white hot rage. This compounds when most of them just want information, something that you do not supply until it is at your own convenience.

As much as I’m sure my viewers think it pains me to knock Turbine; this isn’t good PR, especially toward those paying your bills. The bans themselves don’t even factor in as, as I have said, mistakes happen. Instead of letting people vent while you leave them in the dark, you decide to add insult to injury and give up infractions because people had a crazy notion to get angry over unjustified bans. The comments of the developer being too busy fixing the problem to comment on it are also utter garbage. This always crops up when an incident like this takes place, and every time those throwing around this talking point fail to respond to a simple comment: It takes less than a minute to write up “we’re aware of the situation, working on it,” on a forum. Hell, I did it in fifteen seconds, and doing so did not hinder my completion of this article.

So I will reiterate what I have said time and time again: Response means everything, and right now Turbine are about a step behind Star Vault’s “sorry, no patch to fix this gaping void in the map because the developers are off for the weekend,” in terms of taking a bad situation and turning the flames up to 11.

Runes of Magic: Security And Bot Busting!


Cake for Runes of Magic!

MMO companies love to keep your account safe. Not only does it keep you happy as a customer, but more importantly it lowers the amount of time and money they must spend on providing customer support to everyone who loses their account. So today’s news brings Runes of Magic into the front, once again, talking about their attempt to increase security and decrease the presence of gold farmers.

In an attempt to stop brute-forcing, accounts will be blocked if more than five unsuccessful login attempts are made over 24 hours. If a sixth unsuccessful attempt is made, players will be notified by email. In addition, IP addresses will be temporarily blocked if more than five unsuccessful logins are made from that particular IP address (presumably also within the 24 hour period).

To make things even better, customer support has been gifted better tools to help recover your stuff presuming you do become a victim of identity theft and find your bank cleared. According to the notice, Customer Service is now able to restore characters to 99% peak efficiency. The tools themselves will of course be upgraded as time goes on.

Furthermore, in the fight against gold farming, which those of you who play Runes of Magic will be well aware crippled the diamond trading market earlier this year with restrictions, you will be happy to know that the legal department has successfully placed nine injunctions against companies and individuals taking part in illicit gold trading, and the offending parties are being removed from the game as you read this. More networks are being banned from Runes of Magic, so if your town’s gold spammer isn’t gone yet, he will be eventually.

More on Runes of Magic as it appears.