the first message that was left on the boards was this:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings, fellow Star Wars Galaxies Players;
I have come to the forums today to discuss a very important issue. I do not usually choose to use the Official Forums for the sake of gaining publicity, but in this circumstance I am afraid it is now the last avenue left to pursue to gain an audience with the powers that be at Sony Online Entertainment.
I am Alazar Thakir, Leader of The Guardians. We are a fairly large player organization residing on the Starsider server. We are a well-respected PA, and even our enemies know us to hold ourselves to high standards. What does this mean? It doesn’t make me anyone special, nor does it entitle me to any special benefits. I am a leader. As a leader, it is my duty to represent my members and to see that their needs are met. Which is the very reason I stand before you today.
I do not come here for the sake of gaining personal attention or to cause disruption to the community. My purpose here is to make the community aware of a glaring issue with the recent account bans that have taken place in regards to the Duping Issue that was discovered. I do not wish to cause unnecessary panic or political slant against the Development team in regards to this issue, but I do believe there have been some serious grievances committed against the player community that need to be directly addressed.
This thread is going to be extremely long due to the information that needs to be presented in order for everyone to make an informed decision. My entire purpose is to raise Community Awareness in regards to this issue, in the hopes that we can all come away from this incident educated, and find some way to implement a CSR system of communication so that this does not happen again.
As most of you are aware, this statement was recently released:
Quote:
Greetings...
Recently we found and corrected a credit dupe. It is our goal to maintain a fun, fair game for everyone. As of this morning, we completed our second round of player banning directly related to this issue. We have another round planned for next week.
Cheating in Star Wars Galaxies is taken very seriously. SOE will continue do everything we can to fix exploits as well as ban people who use them.
Thanks!
Blair
Producer
Recently we found and corrected a credit dupe. It is our goal to maintain a fun, fair game for everyone. As of this morning, we completed our second round of player banning directly related to this issue. We have another round planned for next week.
Cheating in Star Wars Galaxies is taken very seriously. SOE will continue do everything we can to fix exploits as well as ban people who use them.
Thanks!
Blair
Producer
I understand that it is an epic struggle for the Development Team to keep a hand on things when it comes to cheating. There is nothing more devastating to an in-game economy than a limitless supply of credits that are constantly being pumped into to the server, completely disrupting any form of an business economy that may have developed. As a Financially intelligent person, and one who runs his own business, I can fully understand the ramifications this has on the work that everyone there at SOE is trying to make. I thank you for making the efforts to create a cheater-free environment for the rest of us to enjoy. This is no small task by any means.
The issue for the community arises then, at what cost is this achieved? Many of you may not be aware of a recently publicized case in which someone had several major account issues before, was accused of being a part of the recent ban list. In this case, an account was unjustly banned. This person had to rely upon the assistance of others to bring their case forward and have the issue resolved. For the sake of information consolidation, I will post that quote here:
Quote:
This story is 100% taken from my very good friend and guild member Falcor.
So falcor, i have known him for several months we were in a guild together until that broke up then another one which broke up again so then i made a guild with all the people that were close friends from all the other guilds but thats not important.
Anyways.. Falcor was a master commando.. and a **edit** good one at that burnt my pets so i could master doctor and loved to Flame dot rebels hehe. So one day falcor logs on and he is a master musician.. this came outta no where. freaked out he called a csr and we all know how long it takes CSR's to fix things so about 4 days later a csr tells him umm our bad yeah looks like u got someone elses skills so re install SWG o and btw we are only going to give u master marksman back sorry.
Slap number one to falcor... he picks himselfs up and decides might as well go... smuggler yeah smuggler. So after getting smuggler and finish up the pistol line a few days later he logs on with all of smuggler gone and just has master marksman.
By this time falcor is a lil mad but he just counts his losses and decides to keep on going. He does a holocron which said weaponsmith and dabbles in rifleman for a lil while everything was going good just a few minor bugs with his char. like he had the skill eyeshot for a few days but he wasnt a BH.....
But falcor was happy he had friends we were laughing and playing back to the future trivia in guild chat until about 6 days ago.... i remeber logging on getting an email saying falcor left the guild. im thinking haha just another joke i msg falcor saying ha ha very funny and a second later he was offline. he was offline for 6 days and he just was able to get back on a few hours ago.... what happend? this is what happend....
6 days ago he got a msg from a CSR saying your a credit duper and banned goodbye. at the time falcor was checking a harvester and a lil over 8k cash on him total. Falcor is realllly confused becuase he has never duped credits hell he has never had over 100k. so he gets on that live chat thing and they tell him that he prob wont be able to play on starsider ever again.
Today he got a PM that said there was a mix up you are now able to log on. Well he logged on they took what lil cash he had all his bank items which included a Kyrat pearl that he killed from his commando days. and took him outta my guild. He didnt even get a sorry from the csrs for saying he credit duped when he didnt. after hearing all this my mouth dropped to the ground. why do you still play i ask. he said Becuase of friends of course. i offered him money items anything he wanted and he just said no thanks just a few credits and ill manage im just glad im back.
SO there is the story of Falcor kicked in the balls many times but still manages to just keep playing for the fun of it.
- Sheree
So falcor, i have known him for several months we were in a guild together until that broke up then another one which broke up again so then i made a guild with all the people that were close friends from all the other guilds but thats not important.
Anyways.. Falcor was a master commando.. and a **edit** good one at that burnt my pets so i could master doctor and loved to Flame dot rebels hehe. So one day falcor logs on and he is a master musician.. this came outta no where. freaked out he called a csr and we all know how long it takes CSR's to fix things so about 4 days later a csr tells him umm our bad yeah looks like u got someone elses skills so re install SWG o and btw we are only going to give u master marksman back sorry.
Slap number one to falcor... he picks himselfs up and decides might as well go... smuggler yeah smuggler. So after getting smuggler and finish up the pistol line a few days later he logs on with all of smuggler gone and just has master marksman.
By this time falcor is a lil mad but he just counts his losses and decides to keep on going. He does a holocron which said weaponsmith and dabbles in rifleman for a lil while everything was going good just a few minor bugs with his char. like he had the skill eyeshot for a few days but he wasnt a BH.....
But falcor was happy he had friends we were laughing and playing back to the future trivia in guild chat until about 6 days ago.... i remeber logging on getting an email saying falcor left the guild. im thinking haha just another joke i msg falcor saying ha ha very funny and a second later he was offline. he was offline for 6 days and he just was able to get back on a few hours ago.... what happend? this is what happend....
6 days ago he got a msg from a CSR saying your a credit duper and banned goodbye. at the time falcor was checking a harvester and a lil over 8k cash on him total. Falcor is realllly confused becuase he has never duped credits hell he has never had over 100k. so he gets on that live chat thing and they tell him that he prob wont be able to play on starsider ever again.
Today he got a PM that said there was a mix up you are now able to log on. Well he logged on they took what lil cash he had all his bank items which included a Kyrat pearl that he killed from his commando days. and took him outta my guild. He didnt even get a sorry from the csrs for saying he credit duped when he didnt. after hearing all this my mouth dropped to the ground. why do you still play i ask. he said Becuase of friends of course. i offered him money items anything he wanted and he just said no thanks just a few credits and ill manage im just glad im back.
SO there is the story of Falcor kicked in the balls many times but still manages to just keep playing for the fun of it.
- Sheree
In the previous example, the person had his account banned, and then was later reinstated.
Imagine this scenario :
You get home from work. You’ve had your diner, had a pleasant conversation with your wife, and are sitting down to enjoy some relaxation time online in SWG with your friends. You load up the Station Launcher, and put in your login and password. You are immediately interrupted with an error window stating: “This account has been BANNED. Contact an SOE representative for more information”
The trouble is, once your account is banned, you obviously cannot log into the game to talk to a CSR, and you are unable to access the Official SWG forums here without an active account. A call to the SOE Customer Service line you will find out that you are directed to the website for more information.
If you take the time to contact Live Support CSR’s on the Official site, they come up with yet another dead-end statement, “Sorry, we cannot view the in-game logs and are unable to help you with your problem.” I understand that these CSR’s serve a very useful purpose, but now who can I talk to? The answer is, no one. The only avenue you have is the SWGSupport email experience, and here is what that conversation looks like (Names are removed for privacy reasons):
Quote:
From : SWGSupport <swgsupport@soe.sony.com>
Sent : Monday, January 19, 2004 5:11 PM
To : XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject : Re: banned account (KMM7903528I7L0KM)
| | | Inbox
Hello XXXX,
Thank you for contacting Star Wars Galaxies In-Game Support.
We recently uncovered and fixed a much exploited credit duplication method in Star Wars Galaxies. Over the last few months, this bug was used to duplicate trillions of credits which have been flooding and ruining the games internal economy. We have identified everyone that exploited this method of duplicating credits, and have terminated the grossest offenders there were involved. As this number currently is somewhat small, we may determine at a later date that further terminations might be done, and for which we reserve the right to do.
If you are receiving this response, your account was identified as one of these offenders and your account(s) have been terminated. It is against our policies (agreed to every time anyone enters the game) to exploit bugs or other obvious system design flaws, as stated in section 12 of the rules of conduct located at the official Star Wars Galaxies website (listed below).
12. You will not exploit any bug in Star Wars Galaxies, and you will not communicate the existence of any such exploitable bug either directly or through public posting, to any other Sony Station member. You will promptly report such bugs via the /bug command in-game or by emailing SWGSupport@soe.sony.com. Exploitable bugs include, but are not limited to bugs that grant the user unnatural or unintended benefits in-game.
These accounts, that have been identified and terminated, can not and will not be reactivated.
If you have any further issues please feel free to submit a ticket in game from the Holocron using the Customer Service button or by emailing us at SWGSUPPORT@SOE.SONY.COM
For Technical Support:
Phone support is available MON-FRI 9:00AM-1:30PM PST and 3:30pm-6:00pm PST, at (858)790-STAR.
Live chat is also available MON-FRI 9:00AM-6:00PM PST at http://www.station.sony.com/en/services/help/help.jsp
Regards,
Shannon Sullivan
In-Game CSR
Star Wars Galaxies
http://www.starwarsgalaxies.com
Sent : Monday, January 19, 2004 5:11 PM
To : XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject : Re: banned account (KMM7903528I7L0KM)
| | | Inbox
Hello XXXX,
Thank you for contacting Star Wars Galaxies In-Game Support.
We recently uncovered and fixed a much exploited credit duplication method in Star Wars Galaxies. Over the last few months, this bug was used to duplicate trillions of credits which have been flooding and ruining the games internal economy. We have identified everyone that exploited this method of duplicating credits, and have terminated the grossest offenders there were involved. As this number currently is somewhat small, we may determine at a later date that further terminations might be done, and for which we reserve the right to do.
If you are receiving this response, your account was identified as one of these offenders and your account(s) have been terminated. It is against our policies (agreed to every time anyone enters the game) to exploit bugs or other obvious system design flaws, as stated in section 12 of the rules of conduct located at the official Star Wars Galaxies website (listed below).
12. You will not exploit any bug in Star Wars Galaxies, and you will not communicate the existence of any such exploitable bug either directly or through public posting, to any other Sony Station member. You will promptly report such bugs via the /bug command in-game or by emailing SWGSupport@soe.sony.com. Exploitable bugs include, but are not limited to bugs that grant the user unnatural or unintended benefits in-game.
These accounts, that have been identified and terminated, can not and will not be reactivated.
If you have any further issues please feel free to submit a ticket in game from the Holocron using the Customer Service button or by emailing us at SWGSUPPORT@SOE.SONY.COM
For Technical Support:
Phone support is available MON-FRI 9:00AM-1:30PM PST and 3:30pm-6:00pm PST, at (858)790-STAR.
Live chat is also available MON-FRI 9:00AM-6:00PM PST at http://www.station.sony.com/en/services/help/help.jsp
Regards,
Shannon Sullivan
In-Game CSR
Star Wars Galaxies
http://www.starwarsgalaxies.com
Response:
Quote:
I would like to respectfully request that my case be reviewed.
I know there are exploits, but I do not personally know of any credit exploits, or how to perform them.
If I did perform one, it was accidental, and I did not even notice. Meaning it was such a small amount, I didn't even know I did it, so I wouldn't know if I did it again on accident.
I have been playing SWG since opening day, June 26th, one of the lucky few to be on the first day, and within a month, I was running a successful powerups business. Only once has my credit total gone above 2 million, and I used that money to reinvest back into my business, in the form of resources and harvestors.
I've been working to get credits back into my account after paying for much NPC training, and am only now, after many weeks, about to reach the 1.5 million credit mark again. These are not the method of a credit duper. I've never won any high-credit auctions in the forums, due to lack of credits. I've never bought high-credit (like holocrons before xmas, and death star shards people are selling for 10 mil) items off people, due to lack of credits.
I am active duty military, and play as much as I can. I get home from work, and SWG is the only thing I do. On the weekends, my 2 activites are 1. spend time with the wife, and 2. SWG. I easily spend 3-6 hours a weekday in game, and 7-14 hours on the weekends. I have worked very hard on my character, and I do not cheat. 6 months of my time, and $80+ (2 3-month subscription fees), and all the effort and time I put into my character/account, being taken away from me, because of something I may have down unknowningly, seems unjustly harsh. Not even a warning... How can we be punished for doing something, when we don't know we are doing them, and no one tells you to stop doing something a certain way?
I am just asking for a 'just' review of my account/character, so that you can see that I am no cheater. I play fair, I give to my teammates, and I help newbies learn the game. SWG is about community, and I don't wish to be forced out because of something I did not, or did not knowingly, do.
Respectfully,
XXXXXXXXXX
xxxxxxxxxx - Starsider
I know there are exploits, but I do not personally know of any credit exploits, or how to perform them.
If I did perform one, it was accidental, and I did not even notice. Meaning it was such a small amount, I didn't even know I did it, so I wouldn't know if I did it again on accident.
I have been playing SWG since opening day, June 26th, one of the lucky few to be on the first day, and within a month, I was running a successful powerups business. Only once has my credit total gone above 2 million, and I used that money to reinvest back into my business, in the form of resources and harvestors.
I've been working to get credits back into my account after paying for much NPC training, and am only now, after many weeks, about to reach the 1.5 million credit mark again. These are not the method of a credit duper. I've never won any high-credit auctions in the forums, due to lack of credits. I've never bought high-credit (like holocrons before xmas, and death star shards people are selling for 10 mil) items off people, due to lack of credits.
I am active duty military, and play as much as I can. I get home from work, and SWG is the only thing I do. On the weekends, my 2 activites are 1. spend time with the wife, and 2. SWG. I easily spend 3-6 hours a weekday in game, and 7-14 hours on the weekends. I have worked very hard on my character, and I do not cheat. 6 months of my time, and $80+ (2 3-month subscription fees), and all the effort and time I put into my character/account, being taken away from me, because of something I may have down unknowningly, seems unjustly harsh. Not even a warning... How can we be punished for doing something, when we don't know we are doing them, and no one tells you to stop doing something a certain way?
I am just asking for a 'just' review of my account/character, so that you can see that I am no cheater. I play fair, I give to my teammates, and I help newbies learn the game. SWG is about community, and I don't wish to be forced out because of something I did not, or did not knowingly, do.
Respectfully,
XXXXXXXXXX
xxxxxxxxxx - Starsider
2.
Quote:
>From: SWGSupport <swgsupport@soe.sony.com>
>To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: banned account (KMM7903528I7L0KM)
>Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 14:11:11 -0800 (PST)
>
>Hello xxxxxxxxxxxx,
>
>Thank you for contacting Star Wars Galaxies In-Game Support.
>
>We recently uncovered and fixed a much exploited credit duplication
>method in Star Wars Galaxies. Over the last few months, this bug was
>used to duplicate trillions of credits which have been flooding and
>ruining the games internal economy. We have identified everyone that
>exploited this method of duplicating credits, and have terminated the
>grossest offenders there were involved. As this number currently is
>somewhat small, we may determine at a later date that further
>terminations might be done, and for which we reserve the right to do..>
>12. You will not exploit any bug in Star Wars Galaxies, and you will not
>communicate the existence of any such exploitable bug either directly or
>through public posting, to any other Sony Station member. You will
>promptly report such bugs via the /bug command in-game or by emailing
>SWGSupport@soe.sony.com. Exploitable bugs include, but are not limited
>to bugs that grant the user unnatural or unintended benefits in-game..
>
>These accounts, that have been identified and terminated, can not and
>will not be reactivated.
>
>If you have any further issues please feel free to submit a ticket in
>game from the Holocron using the Customer Service button or by emailing
>us at SWGSUPPORT@SOE.SONY.COM
>
>For Technical Support:
>Phone support is available MON-FRI 9:00AM-1:30PM PST and 3:30pm-6:00pm
>PST, at (858)790-STAR.
>
>Live chat is also available MON-FRI 9:00AM-6:00PM PST at
>http://www.station.sony.com/en/services/help/help.jsp
>
>Regards,
>
>Shannon Sullivan
>In-Game CSR
>Star Wars Galaxies
>http://www.starwarsgalaxies.com
>
>If you reply to this email, please be sure to include the original body
>text so the thread of our correspondence is contained in every message.
>Thank you.
>To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: banned account (KMM7903528I7L0KM)
>Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 14:11:11 -0800 (PST)
>
>Hello xxxxxxxxxxxx,
>
>Thank you for contacting Star Wars Galaxies In-Game Support.
>
>We recently uncovered and fixed a much exploited credit duplication
>method in Star Wars Galaxies. Over the last few months, this bug was
>used to duplicate trillions of credits which have been flooding and
>ruining the games internal economy. We have identified everyone that
>exploited this method of duplicating credits, and have terminated the
>grossest offenders there were involved. As this number currently is
>somewhat small, we may determine at a later date that further
>terminations might be done, and for which we reserve the right to do..>
>12. You will not exploit any bug in Star Wars Galaxies, and you will not
>communicate the existence of any such exploitable bug either directly or
>through public posting, to any other Sony Station member. You will
>promptly report such bugs via the /bug command in-game or by emailing
>SWGSupport@soe.sony.com. Exploitable bugs include, but are not limited
>to bugs that grant the user unnatural or unintended benefits in-game..
>
>These accounts, that have been identified and terminated, can not and
>will not be reactivated.
>
>If you have any further issues please feel free to submit a ticket in
>game from the Holocron using the Customer Service button or by emailing
>us at SWGSUPPORT@SOE.SONY.COM
>
>For Technical Support:
>Phone support is available MON-FRI 9:00AM-1:30PM PST and 3:30pm-6:00pm
>PST, at (858)790-STAR.
>
>Live chat is also available MON-FRI 9:00AM-6:00PM PST at
>http://www.station.sony.com/en/services/help/help.jsp
>
>Regards,
>
>Shannon Sullivan
>In-Game CSR
>Star Wars Galaxies
>http://www.starwarsgalaxies.com
>
>If you reply to this email, please be sure to include the original body
>text so the thread of our correspondence is contained in every message.
>Thank you.
.3
Quote:
QUOTE
>From: SWGSupport <swgsupport@soe.sony.com>
>To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: In-game issue for SWG (KMM7910617I7L0KM)
>Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 16:45:16 -0800 (PST)
>
>Dear player,
>
>We recently uncovered and fixed a much exploited credit duplication
>method in Star Wars Galaxies. Over the last few months, this bug was
>used to duplicate trillions of credits which have been flooding and
>ruining the games internal economy. We have identified everyone that
>exploited this method of duplicating credits, and have terminated the
>grossest offenders there were involved. As this number currently is
>somewhat small, we may determine at a later date that further
>terminations might be done, and for which we reserve the right to do..
>
>If you are receiving this response, your account was identified as one
>of these offenders and your account(s) have been terminated. It is
>against our policies (agreed to every time anyone enters the game) to
>exploit bugs or other obvious system design flaws, as stated in section
>12 of the rules of conduct located at the official Star Wars Galaxies
>website (listed below).
>
>12. You will not exploit any bug in Star Wars Galaxies, and you will not
>communicate the existence of any such exploitable bug either directly or
>through public posting, to any other Sony Station member. You will
>promptly report such bugs via the /bug command in-game or by emailing
>SWGSupport@soe.sony.com. Exploitable bugs include, but are not limited
>to bugs that grant the user unnatural or unintended benefits in-game..
>
>These accounts, that have been identified and terminated, can not and
>will not be reactivated.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Sony Online Entertainment Management.
>From: SWGSupport <swgsupport@soe.sony.com>
>To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: In-game issue for SWG (KMM7910617I7L0KM)
>Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 16:45:16 -0800 (PST)
>
>Dear player,
>
>We recently uncovered and fixed a much exploited credit duplication
>method in Star Wars Galaxies. Over the last few months, this bug was
>used to duplicate trillions of credits which have been flooding and
>ruining the games internal economy. We have identified everyone that
>exploited this method of duplicating credits, and have terminated the
>grossest offenders there were involved. As this number currently is
>somewhat small, we may determine at a later date that further
>terminations might be done, and for which we reserve the right to do..
>
>If you are receiving this response, your account was identified as one
>of these offenders and your account(s) have been terminated. It is
>against our policies (agreed to every time anyone enters the game) to
>exploit bugs or other obvious system design flaws, as stated in section
>12 of the rules of conduct located at the official Star Wars Galaxies
>website (listed below).
>
>12. You will not exploit any bug in Star Wars Galaxies, and you will not
>communicate the existence of any such exploitable bug either directly or
>through public posting, to any other Sony Station member. You will
>promptly report such bugs via the /bug command in-game or by emailing
>SWGSupport@soe.sony.com. Exploitable bugs include, but are not limited
>to bugs that grant the user unnatural or unintended benefits in-game..
>
>These accounts, that have been identified and terminated, can not and
>will not be reactivated.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Sony Online Entertainment Management.
4.
Quote:
>From: SWGSupport <swgsupport@soe.sony.com>
>To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: banned account (KMM7916204I7L0KM)
>Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 11:08:41 -0800 (PST)
>
>Hello xxxxxxxxx,
>
>If you received the response that your account has been banned for
>taking part in the duplicating credit exploitation, your account has
>been permanently terminated.
>
>All of the accounts that were identified by the Development Team, have
>been terminated, and will not be reactivated.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Sony Online Entertainment Management
>To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: banned account (KMM7916204I7L0KM)
>Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 11:08:41 -0800 (PST)
>
>Hello xxxxxxxxx,
>
>If you received the response that your account has been banned for
>taking part in the duplicating credit exploitation, your account has
>been permanently terminated.
>
>All of the accounts that were identified by the Development Team, have
>been terminated, and will not be reactivated.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Sony Online Entertainment Management
Player Response
Quote:
I have never taken in part in any credit duplication exploit.
How can I fight this, as I have been wrongly accused?
How can I fight this, as I have been wrongly accused?
During the entire correspondence, the tone of the conversation reads as, “You’re a Cheater, we don’t care what you have to say, your account has been permanently terminated.” Just like Falcor’s was permanently terminated? This is a VERY ALARMING form of customer service that is the core of the issue I bring before you today. We’ve already seen at least one example where a person was wrongly identified as a perpetrator. Have you considered the possibility there may be more? I would certainly hope that when these decisions were made, that there was an overly abundant source of information collected directly linking these accounts to the Duping Issue discovered.
If that is indeed the case, then why was Falcor terminated? What variables accidentally flagged his account as one of the accused? Have any of the others been given direct attention to this as well? From all given perspectives, I know that at least one of the 2 members I represent hasn’t ever possessed ANY large sum of money. The man has done so little in-game in the means of acquiring wealth that he even borrowed an original set of chitin armor… with 11% protections to use as his primary protection. Why would someone duping credits need that kind of assistance?
This is a case of Guilty until proven Innocent, a very difficult concept for any American to understand in his home country. I understand this Program and all contained therein is the Intellectual Property of the corresponding parties, but does that mean you will alienate your customer base on a whim whenever it is convenient? I certainly hope that a great deal more discretion is used in this process. A bit more information in regards to the entire scenario would go a long way with the community. I know that the Development Team takes this problem very serious, but I would hope that they give some much needed attention to the process in which these accounts are dealt with. As it stands, there is NO form of direct verbal communication to be used that someone who has been wrongly accused can pursue his/her account to have the problem corrected. At every turn they are treated very poorly as far as a Customer, and told there is nothing that they can do.
The core issue here is that I have now got 2 wrongly accused members that have had their accounts banned, and from all forms of Customer Service so far, they’ve been told the same hardknocks story, “your account has been permanently terminated.” Whatever happened to Blair’s statement of “It is our goal to maintain a fun, fair game for everyone.”? It is not fun when you cannot even make contact with someone who is genuinely concerned about clearing this issue up. No one seems to care. Is that a fair shake to give someone? I think not, and I sincerely hope that is not the goal of SOE’s Customer Service, but so far, we have not had any interactions to indicate otherwise.
These accounts have characters, with assets invested in the player community that are now rotting away. It has been 6 or 7 days I believe now, and unless they were well prepared with building maintenance, their structures will surely decay within the next 24 hours. In the case of Falcor, he was left stripped of the credits he did have, even though he did nothing wrong. Was that, “a fun, fair game for everyone” kind of response to do? I would think that if it was indeed discovered to be a mistake on the Development Team’s part, they could recognize that, and make amends to get him back on his way. When these people that are wrongly accused are discovered, should they not have their accounts restored and their characters compensated back to their original state they were confiscated in? Perhaps this was done with Falcor, and we just never heard about it, a very real possibility. The only way we would know this is if a member of the Development Team takes the time to read through the information I have presented and provides that information to us.
As I stated originally, I am not looking for special treatment, but I do think everyone is entitled to a fair investigation of his or her account, without all of this rigmarole that they have had to so far endure. If someone has been found to truly be guilty of the claims originally made, then by all means I whole-heartedly agree that a non-reversible account ban be in place on those accounts. The damage they have caused is obviously already done. But for those that are found to be innocent on these charges should not have to endure any loss on their character, other than the personal time invested in getting a response and the play time lost during that time.
I implore you to take a deeper look at what is going on here, and I would be more than happy to work with a CSR in any format to resolve these 2 accounts. I would highly suggest that the CSR contact process be investigated in regards to those seeking information into a banned account. The current system is plagued heavily with informational dead ends and Pass-The-Buck avenues.
Thank you very much for having the patience to read through all of the information I have provided, and I hope this helps everyone in gaining a better understanding as to how this entire process works. I can be contacted at Alazar@guardianhq.com for further information in regards to either account in question. They have both asked me to speak here on their behalf, since with their account status neither one is able to do so on their own.
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He got a few stupid responses from "GATers" of the boards, and lame comments from others, and a few supportive comments of people that agree with us, and of people who are in the same situation.
But, in the end, we get slapped with this
Quote:
I'm sorry but I'm going to lock this thread because its not accurate in title or content. This is our game, if people violate our rules they are susceptible to be banned. We do not ban people just on a whim with no proof. After all this is a company that makes money, and if you ban your customer you are not making money, so it is not something that is done lightly. If you have further questions about the policies feel free to contact the support email at SWGSupport@soe.sony.com but our rules regarding cheating and banning are not up for discussion in this forum. Nor will we ever give detailed information about said actions since that is privacy between the customer and us.
Lastly the persons that were banned did get notification as well the email address to reply to with inquires. The only case where this would not have been the case is if the customer put in an invalid email address which is out of our control. If you did something once or twice you would not be banned, people that are banned for exploits did it Repeatedly.
GarVa
SWG Community Relations Representative
Lastly the persons that were banned did get notification as well the email address to reply to with inquires. The only case where this would not have been the case is if the customer put in an invalid email address which is out of our control. If you did something once or twice you would not be banned, people that are banned for exploits did it Repeatedly.
GarVa
SWG Community Relations Representative
which in turn, points us back to the email address, which did nothing in the first place.