Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

[Aksannyi]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

The credit card thing is pretty sloppy, you have to admit. And the gardening bannings (although a lot were reversed I think) were pretty shitty as well. It does kinda make you wonder what you can do.

I mean seriously, I've seen people say things like, "I'm about to open a new bank account, but I don't want to get banned for changing my account information." It's silly, people are scared to do shit now.

[Kurb]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

>< All i know is I want my account back .Not an RMT never cheat.Ironically one hell of a nice person.Well at least I was llol no more Kurb.If this is the way SE traet me after 4 years no way no way in hell am i getting FF14 may swear off all FF or SE games

[Pawkeshup]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

And, what percentage of the people you know have been banned because SE messed up within the past month? 1 out of 10? 1 out of 25? 1 out of 100? 1 out of 500?

Really, how big of a problem is this? Currently, it looks like people are running scared of the upcoming CC policy change and blowing the may-or-may-not-be related problem of problematic banning out of proportion.

Seriously, with the avalanche of posting across all the forums, you'd think every other player is already LM-17'ed. Give me a break...

Funny you should mention that, considering we have two people in this thread that have been banned. I have a friend who got the banhammer on one of his accounts, and I don't think a single week has gone by where there were not 2 to 3 new threads every day or so on Alla's front page of people being banned.

It's a growing issue, and it will only get worse. Take just a second to really understand the problem. There is a computer program that is assessing methods of generating gil. When it finds one that is abused or overused, it's autobanning the players. How much longer until it hits something outside gardening? Already we were warned that selling to one particular NPC flags you. How much longer till it adds another?

And what's the next expectation? First, sign up for some rarely used password-protected system for our credit cards, then what? Pre-authorize all payments through another site? How many more hoops will they put us through?

Wake up and smell the coffee. We're asking people to drum up some noise. Tweet the article by Elmer and Vlor of Alla, put it on your Facebook, Digg it, repost it to gaming news sites, bug your favorite web comic to do a comic on it. Get it noticed. Get SE to listen. It's that simple. Pet Food Alpha did it, so can we!

[Kurb]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

>< with the mood i am in now cause of this i hope SE goes belly up.Nearly 900 euro on fees alone to SE over 4 years and you get a big F*** off but sorry for the inconvenience e mailed to you.With all the expansions plus the game that's almost 1K.WAKE UP SE stop punishing people who play you're games.

[Kailea]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

>< with the mood i am in now cause of this i hope SE goes belly up.Nearly 900 euro on fees alone to SE over 4 years and you get a big F*** off but sorry for the inconvenience e mailed to you.With all the expansions plus the game that's almost 1K.WAKE UP SE stop punishing people who play you're games.

Really?...... Never play another FF game again, and hope SE goes belly up? YOu really need to stop already. You can do so much more to get your account back, so can the others, but they don't, they try once or twice and give up. If you really want it back, and if you truly did nothing wrong, then CALL THEM AGAIN AND DEMAND SERVICE. It can be done, trust me.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

Just a comment to mull over...

Has SE delivered such a decisive blow to the RMT that they are bored and are actually concentrating on your average every day cheater/exploiter now? LOL

I've always been involved in the community on any MMO I"ve played. So after MANY years of gaming, I have seen a lot of lies. I'm very jaded when I hear someone say "OMGZ I'VE BEEN BANNED FOR NO REASON AT ALL!", I know that there is a possibility that the person is genuine but my bullshit meter is going bonkers because 90% of the time. Iin all my years of gaming, they are usually just a lying cheater looking for sympathy.


(Disclaimer: This is my opinion and is not in any way the opinion of this website or any of the staff that work for it. Also I am not calling ANYONE posting here a liar in any way, shape, or form.)

[Aksannyi]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

Have you been banned? Don't say it can be done. It can not.

Permanently banned is permanently banned, same as the salvage bans, same as all the dead RMT accounts, same as all the people caught POS hacking. I got Aksannyi back because it was never flagged for permanent ban. The first time I even called for Yamila I was told it was a perma ban, the second time, the third time, the fifth time, the fifteenth time. Their story is not changing, the supervisor's story is not changing. The account is done.

They absolutely will not listen to what you have to say. I'll even give you my account information and name, first four/last four of my credit card, everything else you need to pretend to be me, you can call them, they will tell you the same thing, the account is banned and it will not be reinstated. There is nothing I can do. The account is gone.

---------- Post added at 10:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:29 PM ----------

I'm also not going as far as to say I won't pay them anything again ever, but I'm done with XI, and I haven't decided on XIV just yet. They have some new card checky-thingamajig that's flagging plenty of regular accounts based on their past payment history, for whatever reason. That's why Aks got checked on, too.

The series of events:

1. Aksannyi gets LM-17 message. I get an e-mail saying it's about chargeback. I read forums, confirm it's a simple chargeback error thing, call them, I'm online in an hour.

2. A month later, Aksannyi gets LM-17 again. I get another e-mail about my account again saying it's about chargeback. It's the same exact e-mail (with the same dates as the previous one, lol). I call them, they say that having changed cards several times, looks shady. I went through and told them that any cards not under my last name were my maiden name, and that I'd borrowed money from my parents a few times. I am told to wait it out a few days, and that I'd most likely be reinstated based on the information I gave.

3. Three days later, I can log back in on Aksannyi. I get an e-mail saying my account was reinstated the next day.

4. About two weeks later, I get an LM-17 on Yamila. Again, I get the same e-mail that I got the first time for Aks, so I assume it's the same "call us and you'll be online in an hour." I put off calling SE because I am frustrated with their service, and this was days before I decided to quit.

5. About a month later, I call SE and ask them about this chargeback ban on Yamila. I am told that the account has been permanently banned for "illegal credit card activity." I told them that it was not what my e-mail said, and that I went through this process on my other account, which was later found to be within their proper parameters or whatever, and that I was unbanned. I told them that it made no sense whatsoever that both accounts under the same name and under the same cards were given two different resolutions. The guy told me there was nothing he could do but submit a "ban complaint," and if the ban was going to be reversed, I would get an e-mail.

6. I called back. Several times. I got the same answer. Permanently banned, not being reinstated, complaint has been submitted. I asked them to at least note on my account that I have two accounts, and that one was reinstated but the other was not. They said they would add that, even though it's clear to me at this point that it means nothing.

7. Today, no e-mail. The account is still banned.

I don't know what to say really, the accounts were under the same card, and it was only Yamila that I would deactivate sometimes because I couldn't pay, though sometimes I would forget to change information in time so both accounts would get shut off, this is nothing new. I've had to reactivate both accounts numerous times. Seeing as the ban said "illegal credit card activity," I have to wonder exactly what was so different about my two accounts that one was banned permanently and one was only temporarily banned.

In fact, if anything, Aks should have been the one banned. That account has had a bunch of cards, many more than Yamila ever did. It's had my ex's card, my mom's card, my dad's card. Quite a few of mine, since I used to have quite a bit more credit than I do now. I've switched them around numerous times, making sure I put it on the card that had the available credit to keep the account active. Yamila's account only switched between three cards that were all mine.

And all of this is why I think there's no reasoning behind it, why none of their shit makes any sense. Banning me for paying on my account? What? I didn't do a chargeback on Yamila, I think my mother might have done one on Aks when she didn't want to pay two months in a row (again, forgot to change the info, oops) and that flagged that account initially, but that was well before I even had Yamila. So I can't even begin to guess why Yamila was banned. Either I paid her or I didn't. I've gone without that account several times. I didn't see a problem with letting it lapse. I'm seriously baffled.

I know this was probably really long but I'm just trying to make sense of it in my own head still, and trying to just illustrate how confused I am about this whole thing. If they'd said ban for third party usage I'd be willing to accept it, I didn't do a whole lot on Yamila but I used the same plugins I've used on Aks just by nature of using the same computer. I could accept being banned for that, but I wasn't. I was banned for something to do with my payment, a payment that was still perfectly legit for one account but not for the other. Makes no sense. And that's why I want answers.

---------- Post added at 10:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 PM ----------

Damn it automerge.

[Raydeus]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

And I'm still wondering if I'll be able to play XIV.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

Funny you should mention that, considering we have two people in this thread that have been banned. I have a friend who got the banhammer on one of his accounts, and I don't think a single week has gone by where there were not 2 to 3 new threads every day or so on Alla's front page of people being banned.

So, basically, within your circle, one person got banned (which you believe was due to SE's faulty process)--out of how many people you know? What percentage is that?

* * *

Measuring the severity of the problem from forum posting is pretty unreliable; we're a self selected bunch--noisy to start with, and more so when 'wronged'. You don't get many posts from most people who haven't been banned (and bother to declare so)--but you'll get high percentage of those with beef with SE posting. Heck, I bet many of them are people who rarely posted before until they got a problem and major hurt feelings.

Only a small minority of people post on forums to begin with. I estimate there are roughly 660k to 700k accounts, and nearly as many players. I'd be surprised if even 5% of those half a million plus people post regularly on any forum about FFXI.

The fast, silent majority are happy (or apathetic) enough, and not banned. The forum environment make things sound a lot more dire than it is. If STF suddenly make even just 0.5% of paying players disappear, I assure you there will be fire-breathing upper management on their necks faster than you can say "Online petition doesn't work!"

Or, you can continue to believe "2 to 3 new threads" on Alla is somehow a good indicator of a really big and growing problem. And, make more petitions online.

* * *

There's a huge stink about how even scientists do not agree on evolution or global warming--at least, the majority of Americans believe so.

Of course, surveys of the actual scientists show remarkable consensus--well over 90% of scientists agree on evolution and global warming--and nearly 100% agreement if you look within the field (i.e. ask Biologists about evolution or climatologists about global warming.)

What's the point? Crowd is stupid--follow at your own peril.

Or, ask the experts for real answers--in this case, the expert would be SE. Yes, SE would have better idea of how many people may be falsely banned than we do. No, I'm not joking--that company is the only entity in the world with relevant data on all FFXI customers, and therefore the only one able to make any authoritative pronouncement about the situation--if it would say anything, that is, given the small magnitude of of the problem.

[Pwnagraphic]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

. You do not own your character in any way, shape or form. You purchase a license to access it and nothing more. Point to your physical copies of games all you want, you do not own those properties, you own a license to access them and little else.

I think when you are charged 12.95+ after spending 30+ on the game.. the character is yours and yours to do what YOU want with it. SE wants to take peoples money then decide to ban them for life for a misunderstanding? I call bullshit on that.

Atleast refund me my money that I wasted. I pay for a month.. I want to play for a month.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

I'm not going to get into this silly "dissect and distort" quotation game.

That said, you're taking a couple of posts you found on the internet and a person or two you know that got banned and scaling it up to a level or travesty that isn't even mentally sound, much less mathematically sound. I'm not even big on math, but its more or less a perfect science, well, until you start doing sampling and statistics anyway. Nielsen ratings have been a poor indicator for several years now that men ages 18 to 45 in Nielsen tested areas are now playing online games and women over 30 are drifting to social networking sites, handheld and PC games.

It scares the shit out of advertisers and plays hell with program lineups now. A whole section of people who would have watched Futurama just stopped caring and started playing Halo online or Brain Age and Sudoku. It might not even be that Futurama was bad, just that people found these things more engaging. Futurama or WoW guild raid? Best thing they can do to grab attention from anyone right now is put up more about the death of Micheal Jackson or scare old people with some new "video games are the devil" flavor of the week news report which will cite some study, which contains statistics misused to scare the old people so they'll pay attention to them.

Statistics are fun when they seem to be in your favor, but sometimes its like saying God is on your side. Can you really be sure of that? Math and God might both be against you, but it seems both concepts being perfect fools you into thinking that you can't be wrong so long as you wave them around a bunch

[Aksannyi]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

I don't think there is a shitload of wrongfully banned accounts. Far from it. I do think there's enough of an outrcry to say that it looks like people are being wrongfully hit. And when I see that a few are getting wrongfully hit this month, that makes a few more next month, and a few more the month after that. And SE has no accountability. No checks and balances. They can do whatever they want, and even if I tell them they're wrong and that I did nothing wrong, they won't care anyway. To me, that's outrageous.

I just think it's starting to become a slippery slope. Their automated machines that do the banning are screwing up, and they're either not checking up on it or they just don't care. I like to hope they're just lazy and don't want to do extra work, rather than them not caring at all.

I don't expect to get unbanned, I just hope they can open their eyes, realize that their automated ban programs are picking up some legitimate people, and insert some checks or at least some course of action for people to take.

I said this on BG already, but if I had been banned for third party programs I wouldn't even be complaining right now. I use them, I know it's wrong, I deserve it if I get banned for that. That's not why I got banned though, and to me their reasoning seems bogus. Yes, I do technically deserve to be banned for that if you want to go that route, but as far as SE knows I don't use them. That doesn't make it right, but if they're gonna ban me they should do it for something I'm actually doing wrong. As far as they know I'm just some fraud-monger or something. I'm honestly not sure what kind of illegal cardholder they take me for, and I can't get an answer out of them. That's what this is about, at least to me, and it is causing a bit of a stir with people who have changed their payment methods. I do think they need to step up and at least tell us exactly what kind of credit card activity they consider to be unacceptable before they keep banning people over it.

[Kurb]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

So, basically, within your circle, one person got banned (which you believe was due to SE's faulty process)--out of how many people you know? What percentage is that?

Wow what a cold thing to say.I'd be willing to bet you'd be singing a different tune if you woke up tomorrow or in a week or two to do an important quest or mission and saw...... FECK OFF!instead of REenter you're CC details.
U isn't the only letter in community.
Those in need of know Feck = [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNY376o2XMY&feature=related"]YouTube - Feck Off, Cup[/ame]
Actually yes this clip is baiscally what happens when you phone SE to get you're account back.Exxept obviously I'd be the one throwing the cup of tea

[Queen Uma]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

Just a comment to mull over...

Has SE delivered such a decisive blow to the RMT that they are bored and are actually concentrating on your average every day cheater/exploiter now? LOL

I've always been involved in the community on any MMO I"ve played. So after MANY years of gaming, I have seen a lot of lies. I'm very jaded when I hear someone say "OMGZ I'VE BEEN BANNED FOR NO REASON AT ALL!", I know that there is a possibility that the person is genuine but my bullshit meter is going bonkers because 90% of the time. Iin all my years of gaming, they are usually just a lying cheater looking for sympathy.


(Disclaimer: This is my opinion and is not in any way the opinion of this website or any of the staff that work for it. Also I am not calling ANYONE posting here a liar in any way, shape, or form.)

I agree with TGM that you have to take every "ZOMG I GOT TEH BANNORZ 4 NUFFIN" posts with a pinch of salt, however I have been on the receiving end of Squenix's over-zealous behaviour. I lost my original account during a spate of mass bannings 18 months/2 years or so ago. They never gave me a reason, assured me it was probably a mistake and it would be corrected etc. After I gave up trying to get it back and they finally told me it was perma-banned, I discovered it was due to association with someone that cheated. My "friend" at the time, someone who I spent an awful lot of time with, camping NMs, farming, levelling, pretty much everything, turned out to be a cheat. I wasn't aware he was cheating, don't know what or how he was cheating. I do know he always had a lot of money and bought me some nice things.

SE deemed my involvement with him to be in violation of ToS after he was reported by his old LS (yep, they were happy for him to cheat claim stuff whilst he was with them but as soon as he left...). So we both got banned. He couldn't care less and toddled off to WoW, whilst I left without my character I'd put some much effort into over the years.

Anyway, I didn't go runnning to the forums like so many others because it didn't sound plausible. However SE do make mistakes in their bannings and I find their attitude appalling, even when they admit there "might have been a mistake". Oh and did I mention that one of the calls to customer services they actually told me they had a new collection DVD on the way and I could buy it if I wanted a new account.

Come to think of it, they could probably ban my current account because I got it off a friend and the ToS forbids account transfers.

[Kurb]

Re: Rally 'round to send Square-Enix a message!

yea it's starting to look like i'll have to go to start a new account or forswear SE for all time and hiead over to WoW.... with it's 0 storyline annoying players annoying graphics /sigh god i hate WoW