where is the gil?

[Byrth]

They have enough "We can ban you whenever we want" clauses in the TOS that they're covered. They don't need to ban you for something against the TOS, nor is it important if you were violating the TOS if you get banned. There's essentially no way to get your account back regardless of whether the banning was invalid.

* I have a friend that transferred 100mil to another server on a mule to buy cheaper currency. Instant ban. Never got it back
* Rambus made gil with his alt by doing wildgrass seed farming. Banned. Never got it back.
* People regularly get banned for creditcard chargebacks. Look around in the TOS and see if you can find that.

etc. etc. You don't have to violate the TOS to get banned, and there's no clear correlation between violating the TOS and getting banned. The TOS is so worthless that it's almost not worth mentioning.

[Sparthos]

TOS is just a catchall anyway. SE can and will ban you for anything.

When me and my GF got our accounts stolen many moons ago in the RMT steal-spree, she got from SE a stripped account after a lengthy process in which SE was as unhelpful as possible. The TOS was used as the reason for getting nothing back as SE isn't responsible for anything and any assistance they give for the account you rent is purely a matter of courtesy towards your person.

My account was permabanned and took nearly a year to get back with numerous SE representatives giving me the run around. I had given up all hope and moved on and I think in most cases it'd be perfectly normal to just prep yourself for the loss and move on. SEs system of overturning bans is prehistoric.

Between paying for calls to their CA offices to having to wait hours on the phone line, a SE ban is not only a monetary loss but a mental test of patience and endurance.

[DebbieGibson]

GM policy is separate from the ToS. What I am saying is that you do not get banned for random things. There is a policy in place, even if you go to a GM and tell them you're hacking they won't ban you. If I recall the quoted GM correctly "Just because he says he is botting, doesn't mean he is."

And I had 3 accounts banned for wildgrass RMT and I got all 3 of them back via ban complaint submitted over the phone.

I just think "anything can get you banned" is a bit of an overstatement.

[wildsprite]

hrm, my account is more than 7 years old, perhaps that is the reason I'm not being banned for stuff like that....

[Ravenmore]

GM policy is separate from the ToS. What I am saying is that you do not get banned for random things. There is a policy in place, even if you go to a GM and tell them you're hacking they won't ban you. If I recall the quoted GM correctly "Just because he says he is botting, doesn't mean he is."

And I had 3 accounts banned for wildgrass RMT and I got all 3 of them back via ban complaint submitted over the phone.

I just think "anything can get you banned" is a bit of an overstatement.

They don't even have to give you a reason why you were banned. So it stands anytime SE decides that something is no longer ligit they can start banning. Even if a GM says working as intented that does not mean you won't still get banned. Its SE game and in the ToS it even states that it can change without notice. Just because you had good luck getting your account back does not mean its even close to the norm. Even the roll backs are a crap shot since you have no idea at what point they will (if they even do it) roll your account back to.

[DebbieGibson]

What is one of these things that SE has decided is no longer legit and has thus started banning?
Do you know of an instance where SE has banned someone inexplicably?

What does character data recovery have to do with bans?