banhammer
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Valve bans 40,000 cheating accounts after the Steam Summer Sale
More than 40,000 disingenuous gamers lost access to their games, items -- and in some cases, their entire accounts -- last weekend after the Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) system flagged them for violations. No, that's not a typo, 40,411 players have been nicked by the company's robotic rule enforcer. That's nearly triple the previous banning record from 2016, which stood at a meager 15,227 players.
Reddit brings the banhammer down on harassment subreddits
Reddit announced its official definition of harassment just recently to clarify what kind of practices will get users banned. Now, the website's administrators have started taking action, deleting five subreddits, which break the rules "based on their harassment of individuals." The most famous among those five is "fatpeoplehate," which had over 5,000 subscribers, followed by "hamplanethatred," "transfags," "neofag" and "shitniggerssay." We're sure their names can already give you an idea of what they stood for. According to the social network's head honchos: "We will ban subreddits that allow their communities to use the subreddit as a platform to harass individuals when moderators don't take action. We're banning behavior, not ideas."
Twitter makes reporting trolls easier, cracks down on repeat offenders
In the ongoing battle agains trolls, abusive users and other rule-breakers, Twitter has expanded how it can attempt to squash tweet-based troubles. If someone is impersonating another through a Twitter account, or leaking sensitive personal data, anyone can now report it -- not just whoever is suffering from it. Perhaps more importantly, new "enforcement actions" will allow the company to deal with regular trouble-makers: those that simply create a new Twitter account when their previous one gets closed down.
Elder Scrolls Online lowers the banhammer
Elder Scrolls Online cheaters beware! ZeniMax is taking aim at your head with its mighty banhammer. Community Manager Jessica Fulsom posted an announcement today of the studio's opening shots against evil-doers: "Today, we made our first major strike against those who choose to cheat in ESO, permanently banning thousands. This is only the beginning of our ongoing efforts to keep the game free from botters, speed hackers, and gold spammers. We want to thank everyone who has sent in-game reports about these individuals in ESO -- your reports helped us identify many of the accounts we banned today."
ArcheAge Russia punishes 57,955 destructive players; ArcheAge West opens forums, streams
If you're lucky enough to be playing the Russian version of ArcheAge, then you're probably pretty annoyed at the MMO's recent server downtime. It might make you feel better to know the outage was the result of Mail.ru's investigation into mass exploits plaguing the game since its soft launch last month. Not only has the company fixed those exploits and apparently banned approximately 2,000 users, but it also punished 57,955 players for various destructive behaviors, including spamming chat and botting. Mail.ru exhorts players to continue reporting exploits to customer service rather than post them publicly. Meanwhile, Trion Worlds kicked off its hype machine for the Western version of the game with brand-new forums and a livestream introducing the gameplay to the west. We've embedded the video behind the cut. [With thanks to Oskar and Balsbigbrother!]
Implementing a positive reinforcement environment; is it possible?
Over on the EU forums, poster Xie brought up a topic that cycles in and out of the spotlight as well as the gaming community in general: how to better discourage people from being awful to their fellow gamers, or in this case, how to encourage people to behave better. Xie proposed a "thumbs up" system similar in style to the League of Legends honor system, where you can give someone a thumbs up or "like" them, and when they reach certain milestones they get some kind of non-combat perk, like a title. Others are quick to point out that this type of system could be easily gamed, and CM Vaneras adds that regulating such a system is the obvious drawback, and it would require extensive testing in order to iron out any potential exploits before live implementation. In honesty, I doubt a system like the one Xie proposes could ever work, at least partially because it would be too difficult to police. In a game with 8 million players, how can we ever know whether a "like" was truly given honestly or not? Furthermore, the cynical part of my brain is calmly reminding me that not getting a "like" isn't going to deter those players who are determined to be rude, cruel, or offensive. While I appreciate the logic behind the idea to reward good behavior in place of, or in addition to, punishing poor behavior, I don't believe this particular type of positive reinforcement is effective. Or rather, I don't believe that anything Blizzard can do with regards to player behavior is effective, short of the banhammer, and that is a blunt instrument not appropriate for all situations. In truth, the overall tone of community behavior is determined by what the community is willing to tolerate. So if we want people to behave better in WoW, we need to stop tolerating bad behavior. Admittedly, it's not easy to do, but my own experience has taught me that it really is the only long-term solution. How do you respond to or deal with poor or offensive behavior from other players? In your ideal world (of Warcraft), how would such things be handled?
Blizzard brings out the Diablo III banhammer
If there is one particular group of fools that Blizzard Entertainment cannot suffer, it is nefarious tricksters attempting to sneak an advantage in its games through the use of hacks, bots, and other malicious cheats. The company has just confirmed its latest round of mass-bannings in Diablo III, and while no specific number or reasoning is given, the post leans heavily on the rules regarding botting and hacking. Reiterated in the ban-wave announcement are the things that Blizzard prohibits players from doing with third-party software, including automate gameplay, obtain information about the game that isn't normally available to players, modify D3's game files, and change the way the game interacts with Battle.net. Blizzard also noted that using hacks and bots isn't a victimless crime; third-party software can sometimes cause big technical issues for both the offender and other players. More info on Diablo III's exploitation policy is available on the official Blizzard support website.
Two more League of Legends players banned for jerkiness
Riot has banned two more League of Legends pros for excessively adolescent behavior. Last December the company sent Christian "IWillDominate" Rivera packing, and now Illyas "enVision" Hartsema and Damien "Linak" Lorthios are joining him in exile. Both players will be banned from both this weekend's LCS Season 3 Qualifier and LCS play next year according to the ruling on Riot's forums. enVision has been reported in a whopping 29% of his matches, which PC Gamer says is six times more than the average EU LoL player. He has also been punished 18 times, including two account bans, throughout his LoL history. Linak boasts a 20% report rate and, like enVision, has a peak harassment score in the worst .06% of all EU accounts.
Ask Massively: The mobile site and trolly trollersons
Welcome back to Ask Massively, that corner of the site where we take a stab at answering random questions you deposit in our inboxes and comments. Hey guys, we have a cave troll, checkit. soundersfc.tid wrote: I have a question or two about the commenting system. Do you think there will ever be a way to flag offensive comments through the mobile version of the site? And speaking of offensive comments, what metric does Massively use when considering permanent bans on commenters? Long-time mobile viewers will know that our mobile site is... well, it's a thing. A thing that doesn't get a whole lot of love from the technical staff, unfortunately. We were thrilled that the new comment system works so well on mobile, but you're right: It has some deficiencies, which is a bummer because according to our site analytics, a lot of you surf from your favorite hand-held gadgets.
ArenaNet offers clarification on Guild Wars 2 bans
With so many players descending on Guild Wars 2, it is understandable that ArenaNet has taken a few swings with the banhammer over things like offensive names and inappropriate behavior. In order to clarify what names and behavior are specifically targeted for action, ArenaNet has posted an explanation of what's unacceptable. The post also includes the consequences for breaking the rules. The company emphasizes that it will take action against racist names, hate speech, and unacceptable behavior. Accounts participating in a chat offense will be given a three-day suspension; players suspended for name offenses will be required to rename the offending characters. The company also assures players that anyone unsure of the reason behind his or her suspension can ask and the company will respond in detail.
Blizzard's banhammer visiting Diablo 3 cheaters in 'near future'
Have you used any "hacks, bots, or modifications in any form" that would violate Diablo 3's instinctual scroll wheel-friendly end user license agreement? Well, don't come crying to us when the company drops the banhammer."Playing Diablo 3 legitimately means playing with an unaltered game client," Blizzard warned today. "Suspensions and bans of players that have used or start using cheats and hacks will begin in the near future."The permaban from Battle.net means players will not be able to access their account for Blizzard's single-player, online-required game. Perhaps Blizzard would be so kind as to allow purchase of an unbanning from the real-money auction house?
League of Legends mastery point exploit fixed, banhammer incoming
We all know that League of Legends breeds a fairly competitive community, but unfortunately there are players out there who don't let little things like rules and common decency get in the way of their desire to win. A number of such players were recently found to be taking advantage of an exploit that allowed them to place more mastery points in a given talent than they would legally be able to, thereby giving them an incredibly unfair advantage. Riot Games' Lead Community Manager, Tamat, stopped by the forums today to let everyone know that "that's bull****" and that it's not going to be tolerated. The post goes on to state that a fix for the exploit has been implemented, and the studio is about to lay the smack down on the guilty parties. Tamat says that the studio has "comprehensive logs and data" that have been used to identify the players who used the exploit. Riot is "going to be taking firm action against their accounts." May all the exploiters meet a swift and terrible demise at the hands of Riot's banhammer. For the full details on the matter, head on over to the official post on the League of Legends forums.
EA finally responds to forum bans also banning Origin game access
EA has proven that it's not afraid to bring the banhammer down on Origin users who defy their Terms of Service; though its stringent adherence to that policy has, on occasion, provided cause for concern. In March, a user on the Dragon Age 2 forums was banned for breaking the forum's rules, only to find out he'd been prohibited from using his purchased copy of the game as well. Though EA reinstated his Origin access and chalked it up to a system error, Rock, Paper, Shotgun reported that it was not an isolated incident. EA has never explicitly said that handing out Origin bans alongside forum bans was its modus operandi; however, RPS finally received an official statement on the bans from EA Corporate Communications' John Reseburg. According to him, "when someone violates our Terms of Service, we are forced to take actions that can include suspensions and other measures." That's not a clear confirmation of the policy, though Reseburg later added, "We have listened to our customers and are planning a policy update which will include more equitable rules on suspensions – we want to make sure the time fits the crime." It seems utterly bizarre that EA wouldn't be explicitly clear about a policy that carries as heavy a punishment as this. We can understand wanting to keep a forum free from the blight of obscenity, but if that comes at the cost of preventing legitimate purchasers of EA's products from accessing said games, those purchasers deserve to know about it ahead of time. As it stands now, Reseburg simply suggests, "any user with a question about suspensions or our policies to please contact us at (866) 543-5435 so we can address their specific situation."
Mortal Online busting out tremendous banhammer on hackers
Hackers beware. The team at Star Vault have their eyes on you, and it's time to stop any and all shenanigans you've got going on in Mortal Online. Or else, you say? Or else the banhammer awaits you -- and according to their most recent update, it means an instant, permanent ban that could leave you staring at the login screen in frustration. According to a post by Maerlyn on the Mortal Online forums, there is currently no set date on when software monitoring will come into play, or even what method they'll use to monitor for third-party applications or changes in the game files that are being reported. A follow-up posting by Tazaterra in the same thread indicates that anyone who has modified game files needs to stop at this time. With the game still being tweaked pending release, we're glad to see the team at Star Vault is taking a proactive stance on this before the floodgates officially open. In a game where PvP is everything, players need to know that anyone using exploits, hacks, bots or the like to tip the game balance will be dealt with swiftly and before it causes game imbalances. [via TTH]
Lost Pages of Taborea: Banhammer time
For a while now, Frogster has been fiddling with how a player can buy diamonds to later trade and sell in the auction house. Ever so slowly, they had to implement more and more restrictions because of credit fraud and gold sellers. Those restrictions came in the form of what you could no longer use to buy tradable diamonds, until there was almost no other way except to purchase game cards from select retailers. Now it seems the ongoing problem has come to a head with the announcement that Runes of Magic has temporarily turned off the trading of diamonds for gold completely. While it certainly doesn't paint RoM in a good light and may look like it has marred their great track record, gold selling issues are nothing exclusive to the game. Bots and gold spam are something that many MMOs eventually deal with and it's a positive sign that the developers are working on it. Maybe they're taking a queue from Aion's RMT videos or maybe they had it planned for a long time, but RoM has recently gone after the player-side of the problem by laying down the banhammer.
Apple rejects iPad app for pinch-to-expand
We've heard all kinds of reasons for rejected apps on the App Store, but this one seems new to us. An iPad app called Web Albums HD has reportedly been rejected from the App Store for including a pinch-to-expand feature in its Picasa albums viewing functionality, as reported on Apple Insider. The developers allegedly hand-coded a pinch-to-expand feature for their galleries to match Apple's official photo app, but were told by App Store editors that the feature was "associated solely with Apple applications." Interesting. Not actually true, as "pinch-to-expand" is really a feature that's common to many touchscreen interfaces, even if this photo gallery-browsing instance is unique. But apparently Apple feels it has laid claim, and so no other apps on the store get to use it. The folks behind Web Albums HD promptly removed the feature, and their app was subsequently approved on the store (which is why it's there now), but before you go spend the $2.99, know that even the devs think that they've "ended up having an inferior product" out there. Of course Apple has definitely limited the functionality of apps in the past by disallowing certain APIs, but now it seems replicated functionality of something they deem Apple's domain can also fall under their banhammer.
Microsoft: 'The Pro' Xbox Live moderator 'followed protocol'
A video, depicting an Xbox Live moderator (Gamertag: The Pro) banning an Xbox Live gamer during an online match of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, has caught the attention of Microsoft since its posting on YouTube yesterday. Entitled "The Pro : XBOX Live Moderator Abuses His Power," the carefully edited video, which can be viewed after the break, attempts to portray a "corrupt" moderator mercilessly wielding his banhammer and perhaps abusing his authority. Microsoft's Major Nelson quickly made note of the production on his Twitter account, and passed the video off to Stephen Toulouse, director of Xbox Live policy and enforcement, who tweeted several comments of his own. Toulouse noted that The Pro was "policing" Modern Warfare 2 modding, which can result in an Xbox Live Gold account suspension (banning a user from online play) or a complete console ban (rendering Xbox Live inaccessible). In a statement to Joystiq, Toulouse said, "The player behavior in question and subsequent interaction with the moderator violated the Xbox Live Terms of Use and Code of Conduct. The Xbox Live moderator followed protocol and, while he regrets his tone, the video was heavily edited to omit the inappropriate behavior and we fully support the moderator's decision to take action against the offending players." It should be noted that iTzLuPo, the YouTube user who originally uploaded the video, admits that he is a modder in his user bio, stating, "I am now part of one of the best Glitching/modding clans there is on Xbox LIVE." He also lists "Glitching/Modding/tutorials" as so-called hobbies.
NCsoft bans 16,000 Aion accounts
One of the continued complaints we hear from Aion players is that bots litter the game's digital landscape, severely reducing the enjoyment of actual flesh-n-bones players. So we feel inclined to shout, "Good news, everybody!" at today's announcement by NCsoft that nearly 16,000 accounts have been banned during a recent unscheduled server reboot. That's a huge number and certainly nothing to scoff about. This should hopefully alleviate much of the problem, at least temporarily -- and then future banhammers will likely come crashing down. We hope nobody was caught in the crossfire with today's bans, but if you do find yourself without an Aion account to play and are 100% sure of your innocence, you can create a support ticket. Obviously, this isn't ideal if you're suddenly without your account, so with any luck there aren't any cases of mistakenly banned players.
The fight against RMT in EVE Online
It's an unfortunate reality that most any massively multiplayer online game running has to cope with outside influences on an in-game economy because of real money trading (RMT). Game developers tackle the problem in different ways. For instance, Final Fantasy XI has an anti-RMT task force and Warhammer Online has a zero-tolerance name-and-shame approach to RMT. Other companies grab the bull by its horns and base their game around a virtual item trade they can regulate. The problem of RMT has affected EVE Online just as it has other MMO titles, if not moreso given how its player-driven economy and the Interstellar Kredit (ISK) currency is central to the game. Beyond the potential revenue lost to the black market when players pay real cash for their ships and modules or buy huge sums of ISK outright, there are also issues with players getting their accounts cleaned out by the shady companies (ostensibly) selling the ISK. When that cleverly-named player "ajakdsk" links you to his ISK selling site in a chat channel, following that link could infect your computer with a keylogger, resulting in a fire sale on whatever they find in your account. EVE Online's creators CCP Games have taken a two-prong approach to handling these issues.
64K signature petition delays German govt's game-banning bill
There has been a string of unrest in Germany over violence in video games as of late, which is why the government there is working on a bill to ban violent games from the country. While the man in the Bundestag has plans of censorship, German gamers are fighting back with a petition. And not just any old petition, mind you; the one already submitted contains 64,824 signatures, which means there's enough cause (by German law) for the government to open a public hearing. In specifics, the government is looking to ban any software "where the main part is to realistically play the killing of people or other cruel or un-human acts of violence against humans or manlike characters." Basically, kiss all those lovely shooters goodbye -- that is, if the delay spurred by the petition won't change the government's mind. Considering Germany is a place that enjoys the sound of the banhammer falling (examples: coked up Red Bull, genetically modified corn products and even 26 years of its own history have all been outlawed), there's no guarantee the bill will be deterred. In fact, the source Gamezine notes Germany passed the internet censorship bill (which was a similar case that had double the petitioners) earlier this year. [Via Game Politics]
