The anti cheat system

[Minaev]

Hello, first of all I would like to say that it's great that SE have their own anti cheat system that actually search and flags suspicious activity to filter out cheats, but there might be a need of further improvement on that system.

Basically what happen to me was, on Friday 25th my account got randomly suspended, I got an email saying that SE have detected a suspicious activity without giving further detail about the issue and just citing the botting/cheating clause from the user agreement, to which I assume that I am accused of botting/cheating and they decide to suspend my account for it. But the problem is, I never use any cheat/bots or whatever thing that is mentioned, everything I do in this game is from normal means, no bots, no cheat, no weird stuff, simply because I really enjoy my time in this game, and the various activity that it offers.

I make this thread by the suggestion of GM Unurlotho, so that the issue can be brought to light, and hopefully can provide feedback to the Official task Force team.
Also, there might need to be a way for a person to state their defense and all, because through all this proccess, at first I email the support and got told that I need to wait for the suspension to end then contact the ingame GM for further detail about why I am suspended and all, but even after I contact the ingame GM, turns out to be the GM cant say anything more than "you have been flagged for suspicious activity" and that he cannot say anything anymore since its another department that works on that system, so after all that I still cant provide a defense in any measure and nothing is solved at all.

to be honest, it is very discouraging that this have to happen after investing thousand of hours into this game. I am actually worried now on spending more time ingame (fear of randomly got suspiciously flagged again). But hopefully with this, the system can be improved further and this kind of thing don't have to happen again.

[Eye_Gore]

Sounds like its working as intended. It is possible someone (or you) tried logging in from a different IP than you normally use and that safe guard is in place to prevent an account from being hacked.

[Sorrydoor]

I've encountered that "log in from a different IP" system before and all it triggers is an e-mail directing you to change your password through the SE website, not an outright suspension.

[Minaev]

Sounds like its working as intended. It is possible someone (or you) tried logging in from a different IP than you normally use and that safe guard is in place to prevent an account from being hacked.

as Sorrydoor said, if I login with different IP (way to go dynamic IP) the system will say that they detect unusual activity, lock my account and ask me to change password and then I can log back in. But this time around, All I get is a quote about botting/cheating from the user agreement and they straight out suspend me.

[Hypa]

Minaev, I'd first call support and see what's going on. They may be able to resolve the issue. Second, I'd recommend getting a security token or the security app. It'll save you the login headaches.

[Stormfur]

If they start flagging accounts because of spending too much time in game, I'm doomed 0_o

[Moonleg]

The inability to provide a defense immediately really is a problem. It is human nature (if not the nature of all life) to want to defend yourself when wrongfully accused of something, so all SE accomplishes by not putting a "Please give us your version of events here" link in the suspension mail only serves to put their customers in a stressful situation. I don't even care if they actually read it, in this case it's about the feeling of having said SOMETHING to defend yourself.

[Picori]

I had this issue every time I went to my girls house with my system. Sense different IP address. I had to change password everytime.
Just get the secerity code app on phone and fixed it. Never had to deal with it again.

[Dante_V]

The inability to provide for ones defense is in violation of a very paramount individual right of due process that guides any system of objective justice IMO. Anyone accused of anything should be given the chance to both face their accuser (or mod) and make their case/refute with evidence/ or so on. The fact that this game lacks this is amazing to me and extremely unfriendly.

[KaedrianLiang]

The gaming industry standard is to observe reported/detected violators several times over the course of months. That way false positives are next to non-existant.

There are severals methods to determining violators that are used in conjunction with each other.

Logged server data, example: Player1 has been harvesting crystals for up to 8 hours a day straight, in the same pattern. Player1 was killed by a roaming A rank NM 10 times in a row in the same spot and continues to return, teleport and wander into the same spot to their death.

GM/investigator observation, example: GM/investigator while invisible or hidden observes player2.

GM/investigator tries to initiate a random conversaion, example GM/investigator sends a tell to player3, "hello player3, i noticed you are an avid battlegrounds goer, and you seem to really like Alterac Valley, i was wondering if you have any feedback about the current state of the game, also how's the weather IRL in your area?" GM/investigator waits for a proper response.

Detection/Triggers Automated anti-cheat: This is like a warning system. *CHEAT DETECTED ALARM GOES OFF AT GM OFFICE* GM/investigator's dont take a closer look until same trigger goes off several or a dozen times for the same offending player.

There's more, but you get the idea.