Changes to contest rules/policies

[Sarick]

The advantage to this is that you were indeed able to save some money, as SquareEnix allows a single entity to assign a single Security Token to multiple POL accounts. It is worth noting that under the Security Token Terms of Use: (Security Token Terms of Use are available at the same URL as Square Enix Account Terms of Use.)

So, in short:
1) a single entity (one SquareEnix account) is allowed to use a single Security Token
2) a single entity (one SquareEnix account) is allowed to enter into certain contests once
3) SquareEnix previously measured 'a single entity' as a single POL account. Now, as per the SE Account Terms of Use, it can and does measure 'a single entity' as a single SE account.

These policies are created by people who may not even play the game. They're basically created to cover legal issues if they are to be sued. It's not like these contest are going to be faked dollar bills or illegal items if each character account is given the same paying opportunity.

It's just a policy that can be changed not something written into infinity. It's like the Tommy boy quote about guarantees on the back of boxes. "Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time." This is what policies really are just crap to protect someones arse.

They can easily change the policy but choose not to do it. It's there because some legal figure head wrote it who probably doesn't even play or care about the the contest distribution.

I think it's pretty clear this is decided by SE, not by Tahngarthor, so talking about how Tahn is fighting a losing battle by stating what may be an unpopular view is incorrect. This is not Tahn's fight, and you can talk him down all you want but that changes nothing.

The losing battle was his argument. It wasn't changing the views of people who disagree with him. It definitely isn't his fight but it becomes an issue when he defends an unpopular point of view by attempting to collapse the topic trolling it.

It's like telling people who have problems with the policy "go to hell I'm fine with it screwing over others!" and then mocking them for being upset about it. It's a very unsavory situation thats insulting to people who feel they've been cheated.

If you want to change things so that your two POL accounts are linked to two different SE accounts, the sole party that has the potential (if not actual) ability to assist you is SquareEnix, and to the end of making changes to your SE account status, you are better served by contacting SquareEnix at http://support.na.square-enix.com/co...hp?id=496&la=1 than discussing things here on the forum.

Separating the accounts, LOL. I have never ever even once resolved an issue easily through SE support over the phone, chat or email. I doubt these paying customers will be given the opportunity to separate their accounts. It's just the way things are.

People who support bad polices need to get hit by them so they can receive what they dish out. Only then will they understand how much they're wronging others when it actually effects them negatively. I hope they come crying on here on the forums when it happens, then It'll be sweet tears of joy to everyone they've trolled.

[wildsprite]

as inconvenient as it is, you might want to call their support center, under special circumstances they have separated POL accounts from SE accounts so they could be registered to other accounts, just saying this because I don't think they will make exceptions to their contest rules nor change them for you.

[Sarick]

as inconvenient as it is, you might want to call their support center, under special circumstances they have separated POL accounts from SE accounts so they could be registered to other accounts, just saying this because I don't think they will make exceptions to their contest rules nor change them for you.

Good luck with that. There is so much red tape at the support center it's almost impossible to cut through and get decent help. When I called about my account not accepting a new credit card they kept blaming the bank. When it was their servers being so bogged down they couldn't handle the request. The bank called them directly. The bank representative thought we was talking to a scripted robot after getting off the support call.

[wildsprite]

Good luck with that. There is so much red tape at the support center it's almost impossible to cut through and get decent help. When I called about my account not accepting a new credit card they kept blaming the bank. When it was their servers being so bogged down they couldn't handle the request. The bank called them directly. The bank representative thought we was talking to a scripted robot after getting off the support call.

credit card issues are something else entirely and often lead to problems when the place you try to use the card is a shady source such as click and buy or something else, SE does not accept credit cards directly, they use an outside source regardless of what their site says it has always been that way.

as for un-linking your POL account from your SE account, they will need to verify some information once you explain the issue but that shouldn't be anything like dealing with a credit card at all

[wildsprite]

regardless of red tape under certain circumstances they will unlink a POL account from a SE account, they have even gone so far as to state this in these very forums, it is likely the only move you can make if you want to be able to enter contests on both of your POL accounts

[Yinnyth]

I honestly don't believe it would cost us an entire month worth of updates to change this, I'm only trying to point out that it will cost them some amount of resources which could be spent on other things, and I would rather have those other things. Even the most staunch supporters of this change would rethink their position if the cost were high enough. My assuming that it will take a month of work is only slightly more ludicrous than assuming it will take 0 hours of work.

My biggest criticism regarding this is how few people it will affect. Most people who have multiple POL accounts on one SE account are just like me (one person, multiple accounts), so it's completely fair that I can't enter contests several times. There are a handful of people like the OP who are actually getting screwed by this. Any time they put into fixing this problem for a dozen people is time that could be spent doing things which benefit thousands of people instead.

Now if I'm wrong and it really would cost them 0 hours to change, by all means, change it. Heck, even if it eats an entire day of work, do it. Or if they've got idle hands with nothing better to do, sure, give them this as a project. If none of those are the case, then my opinion is that it's a little bit overkill to make a few people happy. Sorry if I sound like a jerk for saying it, but we've all got different things we want from the game and a limited staff who can only fulfill a certain amount of tasks.

[Mirage]

The way I see it:
First you have people who bought multiple game registration codes for the main purpose of cheating the system and participate in competitions multiple times.I doubt these persons would have linked their POL accounts to the same SE account, out of fear/paranoia of being detected by SE.

Then you have power-gamers who have multiple POL accounts in order to play several characters at once. I know I am just making guesses now, but these players do not strike me as the kind of players who are heavily into creative competitions, and even if they were, just handing in two contributions doesn't mean they'll win with any of them, as they also need to actually be good.

Thirdly, you have people who combine their POL accounts for management purposes, where several people in the same household just want one single place to pay for their expenses.

I don't think there is a very large overlap between these groups, so I don't think it would have a very big negative impact on competitions if they allowed each POL account to participate, rather than each SE account.

In either cases, cheaters will be able to cheat if they really want to. The difference in cheating-difficulty is very small no matter which system they go for.

[Sarick]

Then you have power-gamers who have multiple POL accounts in order to play several characters at once. I know I am just making guesses now, but these players do not strike me as the kind of players who are heavily into creative competitions, and even if they were, just handing in two contributions doesn't mean they'll win with any of them, as they also need to actually be good.

I 100% agree with this. I for one would only care if the items on the 2nd 3rd account would be very beneficial to the character. Simple trinkets being restricted is silly, they won't hurt anyone. Powerful items being redistricted make it so only one of your accounts has a chance at getting an item. It's highly unlikely that 2 accounts would win at the same time.

A contest could be easily rigged if done wrong "like first fifty accounts to answer the same question." If one guy has 50 accounts to sends in the answer on each account seconds after its posted the contest is isn't a contest. One player screws over others by being greedy. The policy issue is to limit people from abusing bad contest setups and to exclude people who pay for extra character accounts.

Thirdly, you have people who combine their POL accounts for management purposes, where several people in the same household just want one single place to pay for their expenses.

This is what the management system was supposed to be, originally this was the sole purpose of the playonline account. Playonline was meant to handle multiple online services. They then decided to move to another management system that managed other managed accounts. I didn't like linking my accounts and moving them to begin with.

I don't think there is a very large overlap between these groups, so I don't think it would have a very big negative impact on competitions if they allowed each POL account to participate, rather than each SE account.

In either cases, cheaters will be able to cheat if they really want to. The difference in cheating-difficulty is very small no matter which system they go for.

This is why the policy is bad. other then the chance of being rigged by a silly setup it's pointless to set restrictions when everyone pays for each account independently. As you stated if they want to cheat they'll do it anyway and it's unlikely they'll win multiple times (with the exception of bad contest design).

My biggest criticism regarding this is how few people it will affect. Most people who have multiple POL accounts on one SE account are just like me (one person, multiple accounts), so it's completely fair that I can't enter contests several times. There are a handful of people like the OP who are actually getting screwed by this.

Yinnyth, I think you're missing the point. When you pay for a separate account its not free it's an independent character. It's like purchasing two expensive seat tickets in an airplane and the company decides that you can't get a second meal even though you paid FULL PRICE for the second seat.

It's more or less like one person bought multiple seats and the company decided that because all of them where bought by the same guy on one credit card only one can get the in flight meal even if there are people in them from his family.

There are several contest that have this practice but these limits are more for tangible items not immaterial trinkets or game content that has no real money value. It isn't like giving away these items to people who are lucky enough to win them will break the game.

You're accounts are being billed independently, they're like seat tickets. You can play/consume them independently so they should be treated independently. If you give up your rights for that ticket you're being cheated for it no matter how you put it. Even if it's just a silly restrictive contest policy you should at least recognize it's designed so you're extra accounts are being excluded when they shouldn't need to be.

[Sarick]

I gotta agree that I'm getting tired of Alhanelem +1 posting on every thread with his inevitable opposition to whatever the OP is saying.

A agree of all the players this some players seem to poke their nose in everything. Things that shouldn't affect them directly. They still try to stop others from getting rewarded fairly. Like others have said each account cost the same monthly fees they pay it shouldn't be locked to what region they're in or how many FFXI acounts are attached to the SE management account. The limit should be per FFXI account not just SE account. These aren't mules on a FFXI account they are separate accounts under an main payment management system.

If the accounts are fully merged cut the for extra FFXI andFFXIV fees or something. Obviously SE wouldn't give up money so the policy is wrong. The policy cheats full account PAYING people who merged their accounts END OF DISCUSSION!

Alhanelem is fighting a losing argument!

The majority of players obviously disagree with him. It's difficult to tell if some people come here just to upset people or have an alternative agenda. Ether way a lot of players talking really bad bad/ignoring them because of the comments they make on these forums. Alhanelem really shouldn't try to defend this bad policy and screw with others who pay extra for the right to own multiple accounts. It just shows how rude and unsympathetic people are to others who pay money for as Alhanelem said "In game trinkets!" If those trinkets are so minor it shouldn't matter if everyone was allowed to win per FFXI account.

[Alhanelem]

stuff

Perhaps you didn't read the GM's post above, but it's probably not a good idea to rekindle the flames. That's all I'm going to say.