Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

[aegina]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

Are you saying we should feel lenient toward people who dupe just for what they add to the community?

No.

I'm just thinking how I would feel if I had been banned over this. Not everyone getting banned was a noobish jerk.

What should SE do? Not ban anybody for stuff like this? Actually, if I recall, they DID try that a couple years ago. They let gilbuying/botting/etc get outta hand, and the game nearly fell apart.

They're making the right decision by enforcing their own rules. I'm just saying it would suck to be the one getting banned. I can relate to them cuz, as I mentioned earlier, I've cheated, too. Many, many players have at one time or another.

[Armando]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

I don't think anyone is trying to say Kaeko deserves leniency. We're just lamenting that someone that could contribute so much to the community goes around cheating and getting banned. It's a damned shame.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

Well, I've been over reading the PFA news post and it seems they think there's inconsistancies in the bannings. I don't think I agree, but they were also playing up the "it was in the game for a long time, so people thought it was OK to do" bit just a little too hard.

Seems as though some over there think people like Kaeko or Chinchilla deserve mercy, even though they knew what was going on.

Since they knew, its disappointing they were involved in this, yes. But this isn't the sort of thing we should even be considering leniency on.

Most ToS citations aside, the ToS also says they can ban your account for whatever reason they see fit - meaning, they don't really need a reason and don't have to give an answer. We consent to that point, so arguing against it becomes a moot point when you agreed hundreds or thousands of times.

But they usually do have a reason, they said they went over chat logs that trail over a year back to find evidence. Its in the tells, LS and party chats.

So, they stooped to that level. Doesn't diminish the information that's been given in the past, but rather, the person giving it.

But really, ya gotta kinda blame people in-game and on BG for nosing into everyone's business on the matter. While we now all know who did what, it wasn't really anyone's business who got banned. At the same time, we were going to figure that out anyway.

[Sabaron]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

Personally, I don't like bannings as a strategy, in general, except for against people who seek to disrupt the game for personal profit (i.e. gilsellers). If I was in charge of it, I would have simply destroyed all of the items created by the process and then we'd be listening to people whine about being out umpteen million gil instead.

Why wouldn't I ban them?

550 permanent bans is worth $7122.50 per month minimum.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

Seems as though some over there think people like Kaeko or Chinchilla deserve mercy, even though they knew what was going on.

Chinchilla wrote the article. While she is a fellow Carbuncler and is an excellent host of PFA, sympathy is coming with difficulty. She knew about and participated willingly in the "duping," and even openly admitted that she wasn't coming out about how it was done or what was even happening for the sake of the campaign to keep the cat in the bag away from other players and S-E themselves ( "if you cared about endgame, you'd know what we were talking about" ).

Honestly, though, she had an elitist, pompous attitude half the time. Maybe it's just something personal I have against her, but maybe she was a little too embedded in to the endgame scene for her own good.

What happens after this, only time could tell.

[Feba]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

If I was in charge of it, I would have simply destroyed all of the items created by the process and then we'd be listening to people whine about being out umpteen million gil instead.

Problem is, this actually encourages cheating. It doesn't just lack deterrence to the individual and community as a whole, it makes cheating A GOOD THING TO DO. It would be PURELY PROFIT; your rewards may be temporary, but you could NEVER LOSE by cheating.

550 permanent bans is worth $7122.50 per month minimum.

And this neglects how many of them will resubscribe; now or eventually.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

550 permanent bans is worth $7122.50 per month minimum.

Its also $7,122.50 per month of something 550 people never technically owned to start with.

[Kailea]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

I cant believe how thick a lot of these people are......

"its SE fault for bad coding" seems to still be the main defense of most of these people.......


btw as of my last refresh before I go to sleep... they are at page 120 now........


lol! ^.^

[Feba]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

Its also $7,122.50 per month of something 550 people never technically owned to start with.

I think he meant "in lost income for SE", not caring about the cheaters.

[Malacite]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

I don't think anyone is trying to say Kaeko deserves leniency. We're just lamenting that someone that could contribute so much to the community goes around cheating and getting banned. It's a damned shame.

Exactly. I don't approve of Kaeko cheating anymore than another player, I just find it sad that he got caught up in all this. He made a rather good post about it too.

Also, SE may (in fact I'd say they are) at fault for a lot of things, but that still doesn't justify cheating.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

I think he meant "in lost income for SE", not caring about the cheaters.

I'm sure some of them will buy accounts and come back.

Then SE can ban them again later, kinda like how it works with the RMT now.

[Durahansolo]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

YTMND - You're banned idiot!
YTMND - Noooo!!! B7'd from the Nazi Site!!!
YTMND - Medieval "You're Banned, Idiot!"
^^Everybody should've gotten those when they tried to login.

Yeah, I checked on BG for a minute and i see this thread that is (over 9000) 160 pages lmao. I don't think i made it past the first page XD.

I also lol'd at what GM Dave had to say about it...

Not much going on in the world today.

No, sir. Not much at all.

Really nothing to talk about.

There's honestly nothing going on in the gaming world. Especially when it comes to FFXI.

Nope.

Nothing.

...

Okay... You may have noticed a wee little story about us banning almost a thousand players.

More of a blurb really.

Here's the official story:

In November 2008, we discovered an issue that allowed players to create multiple items for certain treasures and rewards in areas such as Salvage and Assault by exploiting the game system.

The issue was fixed during emergency maintenance on November 26, 2008. However, we discovered that some players had already exploited the issue and used it to gain additional items before it was addressed. We then investigated more than a year's worth of logs throughout all areas.

As a result of the investigation, approximately 400 players were temporarily suspended based on the evidence gathered. Approximately 550 players who committed more serious misconduct had their accounts banned.

We are working hard to ensure that these kinds of issues do not occur again in FINAL FANTASY XI. However, if you discover any problems with the game system, please submit a GM call or fill out the feedback e-mail form to report the problems to us, instead of exploiting or spreading the issue.

We thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Here's the short version:

People cheated.

We banned them.

Yeah.

Pretty cut and dry, right? I mean, cheaters get banned.

That's how that shit is supposed to work.

Basically, a bunch of players discovered a bug where they could force the system to create duplicate drops in certain events.

This was, of course, completely against the rules.

Duh.

So, yesterday, a whole bunch of people went to log in and got a nice little message labeled LM-17.

Something about a door and not letting it hit you in the ass on your way out.

I'm not sure who suggested the LM-17 message.

I suggested we fly to each player's house, kick them in the groin, and set their computer on fire.

Apparently, that just wasn't "cost effective".

Remember when it used to be about the customers?

And the groin kicking?

That was a better time.

No, I get to work and my supervisor comes in.

Supervisor>> People...
Supervisor>> We're banning almost 1,000 accounts today.

A ripple of cheers went though the crowd.

[GM]Someguy>> Why are we banning them?

He's new.

The new guys always need a reason to ban people.

Rookies.

Supervisor>> ...
Supervisor>> The duping exploit.

The cheers broke off suddenly. A grim silence covered the room.

Every head turned to look at Craig.

In November, Craig had been put in charge of reviewing logs for evidence of duping.

Thousands of logs.

Thousands upon thousands of logs.

As the weeks had dragged on, he'd started to fall apart.

Every day. Reading log after log.

The grammar.

Dear God, the grammar.

Sometimes, when the GM floor was quiet, you could hear him talking to himself.

And weeping.

But, as we all turned to look at him, we noticed something different.

He was smiling.

He looked like the old Craig again, like everything was back to normal.

Well... He wasn't wearing pants.

Healing takes time.

Hands flew to keyboards as we all logged into our accounts.

A thousand characters were about to be so much digital ruin.

My hand was already hovering over my Jormy macro when...

Supervisor>> No, no.
Supervisor>> It's been taken care of.

Taken care of?

Funny... I don't remember hearing anyone screaming.

[GM]Dave>> Sir...
[GM]Dave>> What exactly does that mean?
Supervisor>> We closed all of their accounts.
Supervisor>> And sent them letters.

Letters?

LETTERS?!

WHAT THE SWEET MOOGLE HELL?!

[GM]Dave>> Sir... Another question...
[GM]Dave>> By "letters", do you mean "explosives"?
Supervisor>> No, Dave.
Supervisor>> No explosives.
[GM]Dave>> I don't think I understand...

He said a lot of words after that. Stuff about treating each customer with respect, treating them like people.

I didn't catch a lot of it.

From what I did catch, it amounted to "no killing".

Instead, he informed us that we would be spending the majority of the day dealing with customer service questions relating to the bannings.

Yay. Customer service.

I'm sure I'll regret screaming "BURN HIM!"

Any minute now...

Tomorrow: The Aftermath

[eticket109]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

It would have been funny as hell if Taodyn got banned too, but I don't think he even plays that much anymore.

[Feba]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

Speaking of which, has any DIV regular been banned? For this, that is, although the only case that comes to mind OUTSIDE this is Jei.

We be a righteous group?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Handling Misconduct (Jan. 22) aka Ban hammer!

I've not heard a peep about anyone here getting banned so far.