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SOE at it again, banning innocent player accounts

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  • MalkavianMalkavian Member UncommonPosts: 2,995

    The tester that i am, i look for and discover lot of exploits in mmorpgs. One recent and popular game in perticular, i discovered a simple means of "duping" any item and currency in game.

    I created a few examples of the "exploit" and reported it to the devs.

    I got suspended twice for this back to back.

    I have since canceled my subscription due to these incidents.

    SOE wasn't involved.

    SOE isn't the only big bad man out there that people make them out to be.

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  • lordthrawnlordthrawn Member Posts: 276

    /agree

    It makes no sense for somebody that receives credits unwilling(i.e. tip) that they can't even control and get banned for it.  Of course if they know that they are receiving duped credits and willing accept them, then I have no problem with them getting banned. I don't know what has happened in SoE over the past few months but this is not looking good.  I used to love SWG but with SoE pulling the strings I just couldn't pay $15 a month anymore and cancelled.  Now that I see all this happening I'm glad that I did cancel.

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  • AnnekynnAnnekynn Member Posts: 1,437

    Ofcourse Malkavian if you on purpose are trying to find exploits, even if you report them because youre a good tester, you can easily be banned because people shouldnt be trying to break the games on purpose. That is a whole different matter altogether.

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  • MalkavianMalkavian Member UncommonPosts: 2,995

    I should have noted that I do not maliciously looking for an exploits. In this case I stumbled apon it. There lies the difference in your point, in which i agree and dissagree with you. Here's how:

    Basically, if you don't work for the company and you come across an exploit, i got the message "Don't report it, your going to get banned anyway." Is this the message Dev's want to give out?

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  • RJCoxRJCox Member Posts: 2,686


    Ofcourse Malkavian if you on purpose are trying to find exploits, even if you report them because youre a good tester, you can easily be banned because people shouldnt be trying to break the games on purpose. That is a whole different matter altogether.

    That may very well win the award for the absolute silliest thign I've ever read on these forums, which is saying A LOT...

    Why in hell should he be banned for discovering and reporting a HIGHLY exploitable bug in the game?!?!?! By discovering it and reporting it he is savign the development team HOURS of headaches they're bound to have gotten if some less honest person had discovered it and spread how to do it over the iternet. If someone less honest had discovered it and spread word then would then have to deal with hundreds if not thousands of people doign it, floodign the market with duped items/currency, ruining the economy, etc. Malk discoveres it, reports it, they fix it real fast in the background before anyone is the wiser and move on with life.

    To me that deserves a reward, not banning. If I were the dev team and someone had just saved me countless hours of mantime and work I'd reward them with a free month game time or so at the very least.

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  • AnnekynnAnnekynn Member Posts: 1,437

    "Why in hell should he be banned for discovering and reporting a HIGHLY exploitable bug in the game?!?!?"

    Because youre NOT ALLOWED to go finding exploits on purpose. In his 2nd post he stated that he found the exploit by accident, which is then a whole different story. No one should ever be banned for finding an exploit accidentally and reporting it. But if someone goes to find exploits on purpose, then that is quite wrong (unless its a beta test). Sure it helps the devs, but I dont think any dev would ever encourage/reward players for trying to break a game on purpose post beta.

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  • MalkavianMalkavian Member UncommonPosts: 2,995

    And Kunou takes it 1 step further to my point. The truth be known, what i discovered was only 1 of many possibilities in the game which eventually saw the game crash and burn with severe casualties.
    By reporting the exploit, i figured as Kunou pointed out, I'm doing them a service. Instead i got shafted. Twice. I have yet to see SOE do this.

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  • AnnekynnAnnekynn Member Posts: 1,437

    Well I think exploits that are found accidentally should be reported anonymously. Because if you report it yourself, how does the dev know if you found it accidentally or on purpose? They dont. So they have to treat you as if you found the exploit on purpose. I agree that its a stupid situation, but its exactly the same as how kids get suspended from school for using nasal congestion relief agents without doctors permission, because of zero tollerance policies there is no distinction between real narcotic and medical narcotic along with intent. If you get caught with it, regardless of what its for, unless you were authorized to use it, you get suspended.

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  • MalkavianMalkavian Member UncommonPosts: 2,995

    Precisley why i said:

    If you don't work for the company and you come across an exploit, i got the message "Don't report it, your going to get banned anyway." Is this the message Dev's want to give out?

    So with the original disscusion - If you receive unlawful materials unknowingly and treated the same as the guilty party, what hope is there for a law abiding community?

    None. Your better off with the rest of the flock or finding a new one. (Different Game).

     - Malkavian image

    "When you find youself sinking into Madness, dive" - Malkavian Proverb

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  • AnnekynnAnnekynn Member Posts: 1,437

    "If you receive unlawful materials unknowingly and treated the same as the guilty party, what hope is there for a law abiding community?"

    Well I agree 100%, that is just wrong. Its examples like this why I have no interest in ever playing another SOE game, and if any other companies do it, well those incidents should also be made public for all to know. Id imagine a lot of people read these forums, so bad company practices should be made public.

    --------------------------------------
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  • DrakaeonDrakaeon Member Posts: 630


    Originally posted by Annekynn
    Drakaeon, but the worry is that things like banning people arent game specific but may be company specific. So when you see stupid things happening in SWG with innocent people being banned, its very likely that those policies will carry over to other SOE games, like EQ2. I doubt SOE would want each of their games to have different moral standards.--------------------------------------
    Played: AC1, DAoC, E&B, SWG
    Tested: AC1, AC2, DAoC, Eve, Planetside, Rubies, Lineage 2, MU Online, RYL

    You can't really say it is company specific. I played two games by the same company, they were crap games, and I don't remember the name. In one, the support was excellent. Everyone knew the GMs because they were always around, etc. In the other, I mailed support around 10 times and haven't gotten an answer to this day (a year or so later). So, what does that tell you?


    Kunou : Please make a game. I would love to get a free month for reporting bugs. Know how many bugs I reported in Lineage 2? Around seven. I reported both big dupes to them too. I even joined a popular exploits site and mailed them my access. Did they thank me? Yes. Did I get anything? Nope.

  • DarqueLordDarqueLord Member Posts: 195
    I have played SWG for 8 months, though i have only logged on twice in the last month.  SWG is riddled with bugs/exploits, which I know of several that are fairly easy to use.  I never reported them because I knew that I would most likely be banned.  SWG is going downhill fast, and has become very re-actionary to any use or even mention of a exploit.  One of my characters deals in large sums of credits, being a master armorsmith, and when the money dupes became a big thing I was forced to abandon that character to avoid the chance of being banned.  But truthfully I no longer care if I am banned from the game, because no one is working to fix the problem anymore...  all they are doing is throwing new content (if you can call it that) to mask the problem.  If you continue to play SWG that is your choice but all SWG players here have been warned.image

  • AnnekynnAnnekynn Member Posts: 1,437


    You can't really say it is company specific. I played two games by the same company, they were crap games, and I don't remember the name. In one, the support was excellent. Everyone knew the GMs because they were always around, etc. In the other, I mailed support around 10 times and haven't gotten an answer to this day (a year or so later). So, what does that tell you?

    Ofcourse smaller companies may not have the resources/standards in place, but a huge company like SOE probably does, and I doubt they would want the kind of bad publicity of having double standards of banning people in one game and not banning them in another (aka condoning the actions).

    --------------------------------------
    Played: AC1, DAoC, E&B, SWG
    Tested: AC1, AC2, DAoC, Eve, Planetside, Rubies, Lineage 2, MU Online, RYL

  • DrakaeonDrakaeon Member Posts: 630

    But it is different teams. Different people on CS and development.

    IT ISN'T THE SAME PEOPLE!

    If they suddenly turned to awesome CS in EQ2, I am sure it would not bring bad publicity. Quite the opposite.

  • UmbroodUmbrood Member UncommonPosts: 1,809

    I am much like Malkav here, I like to fiddle around with game mechanics, not to find exploits but rather to see what can and can not be done, and also to find edges for myself that does not go under the xploit flag.

    There is one difference though, I would never report one anymore for the exact same reason Malkav describes. No matter if you found it by accident or invented it once you tell the devs you WILL be threated like a criminal. Wich is quite baffling seeing as if I was indeed intent to use the exploit why the hell would I report it all? I would just milk it for all its worth, ebay the stuff of and continue to do that until account is banned. In fact you are MORE likely to be banned for reporting then just using it, at least then they have to find you.

    Mmorpg's have a long LONG way to go when it comes to customer care for real, most pr0n and warez sites handles people better even. I may even go as far as saying they are below the spam companies, allthough that is just evil of me. :)

    Word of advice really, you should indeed try to find exploits just to know what not to do, but once found just file it away and tell no one.

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  • DekronDekron Member UncommonPosts: 7,359



    Originally posted by TookyG

    If you think things threw before complaining you'll realize that they have to ban people receiving the money too.  Why?  Well because how can they tell if the person duping isn't just passing the money off to friends so they don't get caught/banned?
    Besides, they're not banning people that receiving 10, 100 or 1000 duped credits, just the people that have received large sums of money this way.



    Dude that is a lame response.  Say like you have a toon named ToonA and I have a toon named ToonB and I don't like you and I am one of those exploiters.  All I have to do is type /tip ToonA Bank 100000000 and voila!  You're banned!

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  • j-monsterj-monster Member Posts: 1,060



    Originally posted by Anofalye

    *giggles*
     
    If SoE make a mistake, the last thing to do is to say they suck if you want them to change!  *grin*
     
    The fact I will not try EQ2 dont mean SoE suck, or that they wont put out a "nice" game for some folks standards of a nice game.
     
    No company was able to maintain my interest in a game as long as SoE(okay okay, I am dimwit and it took me years to understand that if I dont raid I lack, but well, no insulting me please niak niak niak), not even Verant.
     
    They try to remove cheaters obviously(good thing), seem they do it a wrong way...why dont you just suggest something to them rather then say they suck?  Dont you think it will be more efficient if you actually propose something, even if they dont take your suggestion, you show the way and someone may eventually bring them what they will find is awesome since they might be unable to find it by themselves,  *giggles*
     
    Banning players is using your last arrow, nobody want that.  But you rather use that last arrow then let the orcs cheaters rampage in the non-cheaters! 
     

    - "Coercing? No no, I assure you, they are willing to bring my bags and pay public transportation just to help me, it is true!''



    The answer is simple because SOE does not care. They coulent careless like the other guy said. They wont be fixing old stuff because its old. SOE simply have zero customer support. P.S i like the vans without the windows

  • IMCamperIMCamper Member Posts: 25

    Hahahaha. An in-game protest. How sad and pathetic can you get? Oh noes! My Wookiee will be angry if you don't fix this game!

    It's simple. If you don't like what they're doing, quit giving them all the money. Ranting about SOE being OMG EVIL and still giving them cash is fruitless. Cancel your accounts. Sever.

    All you are is dollars and cents, kids. That's all the power you have. Bitching on the Internet accomplishes little.

  • fulmanfufulmanfu Member Posts: 1,523


    Originally posted by Sketch

    BTW: Fulmanfun a better comparisoon would be Pete makes counterfit money, Pete pays you with counterfit money. You are unaware you have recieved counterfit money. Pete goes to jail you loose the money. (that is of course assuming you were unaware of it being counterfit.)


    sure that would be true in small ammounts, but if you have 1 million dollars of counterfeit money, your in a fair bit of trouble no matter the situation.


    sure i think they went overboard but im s stickler for cleaning up games, i wish more companies did it. im sure they will review logs and 'unban' anyone who doesn't really deserve it.
    although id bet most of the people who claim 'didn't deserve it' really do, i know some innocents got caught in the crossfire.


  • ChiramChiram Member UncommonPosts: 643
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  • admriker444admriker444 Member Posts: 1,526

    Some here are actually blaming players for getting banned because they sold something ???

    First off, if I buy a plasma tv from someone and its stolen I DONT go to jail unless the police can prove I knowingly received stolen property. All that happens is I lose the tv.

    The main issue here that folks are overlooking is the innocent players getting banned. Whats that you ask... well apparantly a few of the dupers posted they wanted to bring down SOE on forums. They did this (or tried) by running around tipping other players so they'd get marked. These players then got banned !! Now I ask you this, how can someone prevent receiving a tip ??? Answer, they cant. SOE banned hundreds of innocent players the past few days because they got a tip from someone.

    Oh and to the idiot who said "good job SOE" Are you really that dumb to believe SOE caught a credit dupe the first day it occurred ??? It took them 6 months to fix the last one. The only reason they even knew about this one was a player showed a csr how to do it to avoid getting himself banned.

  • herculeshercules Member UncommonPosts: 4,925

    Well while i do not think its good practise to threathen to ban people because of a protest I have seen it before.

    In 2000,during the housing placement failure by UO europa and a few other servers staged a naken protest(with loads of spamming too heheimage).

    A GM came around and demanded people stop it.It got a big ugly and a number of people got thrown in jail including a poor blacksmith that happened to be passing by.

    Jail was kind of a couple of hours ban place .One chap got a perma ban for cursing the GM and spamming emails to origin.

    Honestly speaking its a case of GM taking the game too far .It was a sad thing to happen in 2000 and its a sad thing to happen in 2004.

  • Smelly_ArmorSmelly_Armor Member UncommonPosts: 571

    I don't play any SOE game currently, but I did play EQ from 1999 thru 2001 for about 21/2 years. I did enjoy playing EQ for that time, and SOE's customer service was not good even back then which is one of the reasons I quit playing.

    The current problem SOE is having with exploits in SWG are not isolated problems in the mmorpg and mog industry. This is one of those ongoing battles between developers of the game and the hackers and cheaters who look for ways to exploit and cheat. It is a back and forth battle. A hacker or cheater(both one in the same in my opinion) finds exploit and uses it to cheat in game, GamingCompanyA discovers this and fixes it, hacker discovers new cheat, and the cycle repeats. Some companies handle these problems well, while others don't. SOE can be used as a company that doesn't handle these issues well and has a customer service problem, but they are not the only ones. They certainly won't be the last either.

    You have two choices in this instance: Choice A, would be to put up with the customer service and in-game problems because you enjoy the game enough that you can overlook it and continue playing the game. Choice B, would be that the customer service and in-game problems make the game unenjoyable for you so instead of torturing yourself, quit and look for a new game to play.

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  • fulmanfufulmanfu Member Posts: 1,523


    Originally posted by admriker444

    First off, if I buy a plasma tv from someone and its stolen I DONT go to jail unless the police can prove I knowingly received stolen property. All that happens is I lose the tv.

    Actually, if there is 'reasonable grounds' to believe that it is stolen (i.e. buying something worth 8000 for 2000, as i said) then you are indeed guilty. Thats not 'reasonable grounds' in the accused mind, it's in the courts mind.

    and alot more happens than losing the tv, if the value is over 2500 dollars, at least in my state, its 'Receiving stolen property in the first degree' which is a Class B Felony. they dont just take a felon's tv away from him.


    anyway, how this nonsense pertain to the topic ..lol well becasue at least when i played, there were only a few people that were known dupers, but there were alot of people who lined up to get some of the items, they knew were not legit items, like..argh i forget the phrase it been awhile, double "augmented".
    and alot of people that didnt dupe, but knowingly took money that was. you got to come down hard on this stuff or it go on forever, and ever.




  • Originally posted by Annekynn

    Ofcourse Malkavian if you on purpose are trying to find exploits, even if you report them because youre a good tester, you can easily be banned because people shouldnt be trying to break the games on purpose. That is a whole different matter altogether.

        Incorrect. True gamers push a game. In another thread some one brought up the point:

     When is it stratagey? When is it an exploit?

    I answered that it is up to the game company to make a judgement call. In AO I found out a way to get off 4 to 8 "free" shots at an enemy monster, without me getting hit. This is in dungeons that have hallways of a certain length, with doors in 2 certain spots. Is it an exploit? Or just a nice strategy I found out?



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