Bannings on Chaos

[LaughingOtter]

The announcement is here: http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...992#post153992

Bravo, Ray! Well done! This is probably one of the best things EI has done for the Horizons community since the sale.

********, I may just log in and shoot off some fireworks!

[IndyMan]

They were probably playing for free anyway, so no financial loss.

[Hal`cyon Sskyler]

Now if only they could fix the exploit that allows characters to level all craft skills to 100 in less than a day...

[Justa Mirage]

Now if only they could fix the exploit that allows characters to level all craft skills to 100 in less than a day...

I thought Tulga fixed that

Heh, you mean our population will go from 70 to 20?

[TelShyia]

Here Here Ray!
I dont think the population will go down, I think that it wil go back up! I know of several players that left just because of this type of gameplay. I may just provide Klaus with the fireworks, and join him!
Telshyia
Ancient Chaos Dragon

[Frith-Rae]

holy crap - its alive!

Now...It needs to also do more posting...

[Theolaerynn]

Huh. Didn't expect to see positive action taken, I am very glad to be wrong :-) Good work!

[Painless]

By now, I would have expected someone to say who was banned and what they were doing. So, who was banned and what were they doing?

[Vandalin]

By now, I would have expected someone to say who was banned and what they were doing. So, who was banned and what were they doing?

Most likely this will be kept between the company and the banned people as it really is none of our business. I'm sure someone from Chaos will jot down a list of names but who knows if it will be kept on the boards as, again, it really isn't our business.

[Jayne]

Yes its not our business. but if you have resided on chaos for any length of time I am sure you can figure it out. You can also look who is now recently banned on boards and figure it out.

Either way, this is very surprising news. Long over due, Thanks Ray

[Krystine]

I had heard complaints from a number of players about certain others. I'm not sure if this is the group who was banned but do appreciate the folks at EI taking action.

[Solitaire]

"In the past few months, a growing basis of complaints has formed against a group of characters spanning several guilds on Chaos."

Ok, this is true and is action that was necessary and welcome by the majority of the players left in the game. Unfortunately, this is the only sign of life that we have seen from EI for months now. This is only one problem solved in a sea of others, Mr. Rask. And it only took a few clicks of a mouse to accomplish, most likely. You have got to do better. All of you at EI. I can't imagine that the number of complaints you recieved about a small number of players even come close to the complaints you must be getting about, oh... Unity or billing or broken promises or lack of communication... Need I go on? A slight modification to the above statement by you Mr. Rask also applies to this situation...

"In the past few months, a growing basis of complaints has formed against the current owners of Horizons: Empire of Istaria...."

[Steelclaw]

I've been thinking about this for awhile. Part of me says this is good, the other... well... it feels uneasy.

On the good side, they won't be causing trouble with their characters anymore. If these are the people I'm thinking of, well... good riddance.

As for the bad side, there are two points of contention: unintended consequences and EI's handling of the matter.



EI's handling of the matter

The action was made public, however, the details and circumstances were not. Who was banned? What infractions have they committed? What rules have they broken? How where they broken? What is a "more than remarkable rate" to level a tradeskill? How was that determined? Why wasn't this action taken sooner?

I'm not sure what the motive behind this quasi-transparency is, however, I can say that it does not promote trust in the company. From what I gather from Rask's post, EI is willing to bypass their formal procedures based on vague criteria. This lends credibility to the possiblity of a handfull of players (or even fewer if they use multiple identities) saying the "right things" to EI and getting a player they don't like instantly banned. That does not sit well with me.

I'd feel better if someone from EI would come forth and give some hard details to the above questions. e.g. "their character hit the level cap in 4 craft schools with only 5 hours of time in-game". At least this will serve to illustrate EI's understanding of the gameplay mechanics in Horizons, whether or not the above scenario is possible, and whether or not I or anyone else is doing something that will result in the same treatment. (I'd hate to get someone banned for 'exploiting' by giving them a bunch of trophies and feeding them spell shards and orbs.)

Had the issue not been announced in public, it would be none of my business. (It should never have been announced.) By making it public, it is fair game for discussion.

Understand that I do not question whether or not these people should have been banned. My concern is whether or not EI will be just in future situations.



Unintended consequences

While these accounts are now banned, there is nothing preventing the people behind those accounts from starting new characters with new accounts or using other ones that neither we nor EI know of.

The problem is that we don't know who they are now. I think I'll stick something in here to see if there are people still reading this long post. Don't hoard your cargo disk. Before, we knew who they were -- they stuck with their main chars and for the most part, were easy to keep track of.

Now, they could be any new character, or some obscure guildie returning after a long time. This is a very bad situation as it can lead to a lot of fingerpointing and false accusations. Those two will work faster to tear the remaining community apart than any amount of kill-stealing and harassment.

I caution everyone to be aware of this behavior and to avoid perpetuating it. When someone starts up, tell them to stop. Ignore it, dont spread it. It's better to inadvertently help them get started again than it is to shun or report another player based on suspicion, hearsay, false allegations or trivial infringements.

Chaos has always been an easy-going community, tolerant of and capable of internally dealing with all but the most extreme offenses. I hope it continues to stay that way and does not degrade to a state where people go out of their way to look for reasons to report and ban players that they personally can not get along with.

[lightning claw]

at the Purple Necroflys the same Players that Hog sog and other Epic mobs Good Job Pei

[AA0]

There is always the option of those characters exploiting the SOAP vulnerability and unbanning their characters as well.

[TelShyia]

Well, it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out who they are talking about, these are the same individuals, who have since, started up new toons, and are right back in MP, running their heads about, "may the best modem win", they are just playing to thier abilites, and such. I will post again directly after this one on MY opinion(s) and ONLY my opinions of these people.

[TelShyia]

Well, i had a long tirade on how i feel. But then, that just gives them more attention, and i feel that it is just not worth it in the long run. Not going to waste my time with this anymore, just to say GOOD job EI/PME, and Dr. Rask. for finally doing something about this annoyance, now maybe they can concentrate on other more important issues, like lowering Nadia's prices!
'nuff said.

[Justa Mirage]

Conspiracy theory:

These "players" that are starting out at 0 level, already bragging about who will be the first to hit 100 etc... might be people who want the game to ultimately fail, and do this to bring down the community in general so those who don't exploit will end up getting tired of their crap and quit.

Then they themselves will just "cease to exist" having completed their task of driving off the casual / honest players.

just a theory

[Dhalin]

Well, I noticed that BKBanzai was one of the banned... hmm...

But anyways, its good the are doing -something- about this type of behavior. but I have to agree with Steelclaw a bit, though... exactly what is an "exploit" and/or "Levelling too fast"?

My friend, who joined 3-4 days ago, his DCRA is in the 40s. We used no real 'exploit', just some good ole fashioned teamwork and friendship, and of course, Lodestones.

If we continue at this pace, I forsee him having 60-70 dcra by the end of next week if we really work at it and don't burn out. So... Lv1 - Lv70 in a week and a half to two weeks... is this considered "Too Fast"? I'd hate to see him banned just becuase I used my 100 dragon to help him craft lodestones...

And what of when he helps my biped level his crafting? Using the right machines and the right materials, I bet I could get a craft up fairly quickly depending on how fast I can get the forms to do so.

--Dhalin

[Kerech]

I don't know the exact mechanics of the exploit (and I don't want to), but from what I've heard it's a lot more than simply getting DCRA to 40 in 4 days.