Request to speak to the Senior Game Master

[Rawrrior]

Thank you so much you guys for your support ;_; made me cry a little here at work reading this at 8:30 in the morning -wipes eyes- ok!

*wonderful post*

What I can try and do for you is submit a ticket and point them towards this forum thread and say the community is really passionate about this case and can confirm this person is not an RMT. I am one voice and frankly that is the best I can do. I am sure you are not the only person out there having this problem and frankly I was a little upset hearing about what happened to people in the mass bans. The crafters who I knew at the time worked hard and were banned and had their Gil divided by 10.

I don't pop on the forums much, but I will play FF later today and submit that ticket for you.

Good luck - Glacial Whisperwind The MNK

That would mean a lot to us ;.;! Thank you so much! Oh my goodness, maybe if enough people do this, just maybe, the thread can be seen by people even higher up than GM Jhanaka.. Ohhh.. i can only hopes! 1 voice is what it takes to lift it off it's feet right! So would be wonderful if others like you who support this would submit a ticket whenever they are free in-game to. Hopfully though.. Those GMs in game don't just delete the ticket instead of escalating it.. Sigh.. -shakes head- no negative thoughts!

It annoys me how yeah he got an automated ban and a automated reason for the ban when he isn't an RMT. He only had the millions of gill laying around in his 2nd retainer because they told him to store it and not to touch it, which is what he did. I just don't know why they ignored all his emails when he kept asking what to do about the gil, i really don't want to think such negative things but it almost feels like they WANTED him to keep it there so he could get sweeped up and banned that way instead of them having to do it themselves. I really don't want to think like that. Gahh, go away negative thoughts! >!

I'm still going to keep this thread alive and keep on standing on what i feel is right on this case, even though i know he went against the ToS, but in the longer run, it was for a GOOD cause.

*Another wonderful post*

Yes, hacking is wrong, but without using it for good, one can't battle the bad right? 2 heads are better than one. It's like when you paint a wonderful painting you worked hours on, only to have someone come up to see your painting for the first time and notice "Hey! Your painting of this man has 2 left hands!" and you sit there staring at your painting wondering how the heck you never noticed in all the hours you've spent painting it then go on about to fix it so anyone then who lays eyes on your painting can enjoy it in all it's beauty, instead of making fun of it and moving on to the next painting.

Face it developers, there are many things you will never find in your game because you just won't ever think about it or stumble upon it, until other people with different thoughts and way of doing things, finds them and reports them before it's abused. You guys shouldn't be punishing those who help you so severely by using them, pushing them aside, ignoring them, forgetting about them after you fix the problem. How does that even make anyone want to help you out ever again? The ones that should be getting such punishment are the ones teleporting everywhere, using bots to kill the same mob over and over day and night, RMTs, and any other kind of severe hacking that don't bother to even report it to you guys so you can patch up your system to make your game a more wonderful experience for everyone else! I've reported my fair share of teleporters, botters and what not to you guys. And when i made a report on this one guy who was teleporting from ore to ore node, i even added in a VIDEO that i found of someone actualy EXPLAINING how the heck he does the hack and where to download it etc etc etc. THESE are the kind of people that deserve your punishment, the ones that do this because they refuse to report THEIR findings to you and rather share it with the world so they TO can abuse your system.

So which do you prefer? One who exploits your system to find errors in it and report it to you and doesn't use it for THEIR advantage, or, one who exploits your system for their advantage, doesn't bother reporting it to you, and instead, makes videos on HOW they did it, makes a program so everyone interested can do it to. I sure as heck prefer the first one.

Going forward this leads to the question of how does SE intend to correct those types of exploit scenarios if their players that find them are too afraid of severe negative repercussions to report them; it could lead to a very broken/buggy game. Is that really what you want SE?

Exactly. Strike fear in those that want to help, and you'll have exploits and bugs laying around even longer then they should be. Makes me wonder how long that exploit and how much more gil would of poured into the economy if Mister Sirs didn't report it. Scary thought, isn't it?

I don't see why Mister Sirs can't get another chance (don't even know the verdict of the "investigation" still) i mean, he did a good deed, didn't abuse the exploit in the month after he reported it and we kept playing together, only gil he ever gave me was like.. 200 - 300 at a time when i couldn't even afford teleports. He made his OWN gil with Blacksmithing that he was leveling up at the time, don't know how much, think it was 50k - 100k or something when the market was pretty inflated (man those rivets sold like hot cakes o.O!) i even ended up ditching weaver to level up armorer and was finally able to make some money myself with what i was making. Anyways..

He deserves a 2nd chance ;.; Unban him, 0 out his gil if you have to, i can give him some of mine that i earned! He's promised not to tinker with your game again, and if he does, and you guys find that he's spawned gil or items again, ban him AND ME! This is how confident and serious i am that he won't do it again after this whole mess >.< Heck, i've been putting my account on the line the moment i made this thread, and kind of surprised i haven't been banned yet.. Which i'm grateful i haven't been yet.

If anyone else that reads my thread, and feels strongly to support Misters Sirs (i sound like some charity foundation here) please, do what Thundaja is doing and submit a ticket with your support and a link to this thread! Would mean the world to me and Mister! Maybe, just maybe if enough of you put one in, more officials will see this and *maybe* in the highest hopes, he will be unbanned and we can play on Mister Sirs and Mrs Madam again ;.;! I'm going to post this idea on the top of my first post! Ohh~!

Thank you so much again you 2, and everyone else, for your posts and contribution! I really can't thank you guys enough ;_;!

[Myobi]

You said it yourself:
“where he could hack himself money and items.”
“When he asked the Senior GM on what he should do about the items and money”

He tried to hack the game, he accomplished hacking the game, he used it to produce items & gil, with he probably even used in-game. Even if he reported and explained the procedure to SE, he acted against the very rules that he agreed upon to play this game, therefore that account was most likely permanently banned.

Honestly, in my opinion your friend should just pick a new FF14 copy and create himself a new account if he wishes to keep playing it.

[Rawrrior]

You said it yourself:
“where he could hack himself money and items.”
“When he asked the Senior GM on what he should do about the items and money”

He tried to hack the game, he accomplished hacking the game, he used it to produce items & gil, with he probably even used in-game. Even if he reported and explained the procedure to SE, he acted against the very rules that he agreed upon to play this game, therefore that account was most likely permanently banned.

Honestly, in my opinion your friend should just pick a new FF14 copy and create himself a new account if he wishes to keep playing it.

Yes he hacked. But doesn't the good that he did for the game as a whole weight it out? He helped SE prevent from even more gil from flooding the economy and more RMTs from getting their hands on even more illegitimate gil. This whole thread will also be a lesson to all "white hat" hackers that want to find game breaking exploits to help Square Enix out. It will scare them off, tell them don't bother reporting your findings, you'll just get used then ignored and left for a ban (if it happens). I don't want this mess to happen to any of the good guys out there (or girls). It will also send off a message as if saying "let's hope you will never need to contact support".

Who's to say he did or didn't use the money? I'm still here waiting for the "investigation" report that says if he used any of the gil for his personal gain. At the time, yes he asked about what to do with the money because he didn't know how the heck to get rid of it until we went far enough into the main story to unlock retainers, and honestly we didn't even know what they were till someone told us it's our banks.

If SE can tell me that Mister Sirs used that spawned money to buy things, traded off thousands and thousands of it off to people, or any of the like, i would gladly let this thread die and go smack Mister upside his head and apologize to everyone in this thread for this whole thing.

Like i've said before yes i know hacking is bad, i chewed him out for it and yes he knew that a ban would happen moment he reported his findings and know it's against the rules. But there are some companies out there that actually pay people to exploit their system so they can fix it. 1 MMO would pay anyone a few hundred if they could exploit their system. "could".

But anyways, some of the points to this thread that made us upset and angry is this. He didn't get banned after he reported it, he got banned 1 MONTH later cause he got sweeped up in a AUTOMATED sweep to anyone who had more than 10 million gil. IF Square Enix would have responded to ANY of his emails after he walked them through how he did it asking if he can delete the retainer now (which he sent an email a few days after, then a week, then again a week later and a few more emails after words) he would not be banned and i'm pretty darn sure of it.

Cause think about it, if he was meant to be banned cause of his hacking, they should of done it then and there, or after they fixed the problem (which they did if i remember about 3 days after the emails exchange and confrontation in-game with Jhanaka), instead of him happily playing for another month sealing in another $15 for SE, which i remember him saying he was prepaying for 90 days for the veteran rewards.

Why did he get banned then? Because he did what they told him to. Store all the money in a safe place where he can't use it in the market, trade it off, or any of that. In a retainer. Month after storing it all in there, SE pushes out automated bans, he gets sweeped up cause they never returned any of his emails asking if he could delete it. No matter how many times i told him to just delete it, he wouldn't because they told him to leave the gil alone for investigation of his character data. So, because of being told what to do with the money, and not returning any of his emails and completely ignoring him, he got sweeped up and his ban reason is "RMT activities". This is NOT the real reason, and with how this case has been being handled, it seems he isn't even suppose to be banned! I've read threads when all this was happening of people calling up, being told they were perma banned for RMT activities and weeks to months later, they would be unbanned. His case is a rare case, it's a particular one, and Jhanaka said so him(or her) self.

It's not about "what the freak bruh, why i iz banned?!" no. It's about how this case has been being handled thus far, the communication, the lack of caring, and lack of helpfulness. The most help we have gotten so far, is the kind forum mods to have brought this thread to Jhanaka's attention and Jhanaka posting here saying they will "investigate". That was 3 MONTHS ago, i'm pretty sure by now Mister Sirs could have gotten some kind of email or something stating the investigation is complete, and do to (Insert reason here and findings) your account will remain permanently banned, or even what steps would have to be taken if he wishes to be unbanned (like i don't know, character rollback or making all his gil on the account go to 0, something!).

I understand Square Enix is a business. I understand there in it for profit. But when you have poor support who seems they don't care about you, push you aside and ignore you, will that make potential players want to touch this game? I for one, and scared poopless for the day i EVER need to contact support for my account.

Also, a new copy, I've already said in previous posts why he doesn't want to. But if he did, it worries me. What if he did, they linked the ip to the new account, or information, and he just gets that one automatically banned or something? That would be terrible after spending time to level up all over again D:! And as i said, I've offered him a new copy several times, he's still upset how his case is being handled, how poorly SE is handling his case and how they just don't seem to want to help him at all, not even give him proper information and reasoning to his ban and why he's still banned. Like really, does it take 3+ months to tell him "your account will remained banned on account that we found X and X and X in your account history during our investigation". If they could have just told him why he's still banned and or will remain banned months ago this thread would of died back at page three, and he would of had a new account. I mean we STILL don't know the real reason he's banned, or if he's even suppose to be banned at all with his particular case! It's uurghh >__<!!

I apologize if i'm at all coming off rude, mean, and what not. Seems i got carried away again -_-;
But, i hope you can understand where i'm getting at in my wall of texts and rantings and what not about this D:!

[Thundaja]

OK! I just contacted the SE support center (San Diego 858 number) and the CSR essentially told me this... When it comes to matters in-game GMs win 99.9% of the time and when he was contacted by an SGM that's it.

I was told that he would have to call on his on own behalf and do a live chat to be more successful. Since the SGM said there would be an investigation the CSRs can look that up and see if there is anything going on. As far as getting his account unbanned... A GM would have to be notified.

I asked the CSR if he could point a GM in the direction of this thread and they replied by saying the GMs do look at the forums and this would have been noticed already. CSRs really do not handle forum side issues that much and focus on accounts and billing.

That is all I have for you and I wish you luck.

[Sparky]

I know It's kind of late to add this input, but if this friend had a hunch about how to hack items or what have you, he should really have left it there amd just reported his concerns to a GM. He went too far by testing his theory, broke the ToS, and got banned. It was not within his remit to put it to practice - that's the job of the GMs/Devs.

[Rawrrior]

OK! I just contacted the SE support center (San Diego 858 number) and the CSR essentially told me this... When it comes to matters in-game GMs win 99.9% of the time and when he was contacted by an SGM that's it.

I was told that he would have to call on his on own behalf and do a live chat to be more successful. Since the SGM said there would be an investigation the CSRs can look that up and see if there is anything going on. As far as getting his account unbanned... A GM would have to be notified.

I asked the CSR if he could point a GM in the direction of this thread and they replied by saying the GMs do look at the forums and this would have been noticed already. CSRs really do not handle forum side issues that much and focus on accounts and billing.

That is all I have for you and I wish you luck.

Oh my goodness this is so freaking helpful! <3!!

So.. He would have to call support, or do live chat? little confused there.. >.>;

Last time he did live chat they just told him banned for rmt activities and refused to help him further, but i'll tell Mister to try again and see if they a report on that investigation they said they would do and maybe he can have better luck this time around, knock on wood *knocks on desk* or compressed wood. Not sure he can call today cause of work but i'll make him squeeze in the time to xo!

Ohhh thank you so much for taking your time to do this for us! It's really nice to know there are such kind people in this community ;__;

I know It's kind of late to add this input, but if this friend had a hunch about how to hack items or what have you, he should really have left it there amd just reported his concerns to a GM. He went too far by testing his theory, broke the ToS, and got banned. It was not within his remit to put it to practice - that's the job of the GMs/Devs.

It's never late to add input, opinions and what not to the thread, i welcome all !

I understand what your saying, that he should of just not spawned anything, but i have no idea the scale of difficulty it took for him to find it, what he did to find it, etc. I really don't know if the exploit was super simple, or if he had to mess with things, i honestly even know if he even used a program or just messed with the provided console, and i rather not know. All i know, is that many emails and such were exchanged when he was telling SE how he managed to find the exploit. I don't think i would be standing up for him either if it wasn't for him being banned a month later by an automated ban for following directions, you know?

Yes, he had no place to be sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, but everyone in one way or another will do that, wether it's in coding, or in game trying to glitch through scenery, humans are to darn curious o.o;

Yeah, it's the job of the GMs and Devs but.. Why didn't they find that exploit before? Why didn't anyone during that long beta testing find it? Heck for all we know, people probably found it, and sold it off for real money and or used it for themselves/ RMTs. Not always will you be able to find flaws in the system you created, and need others (alpha/beta) to find them for your since everyone thinks differently. I know Jhanaka was appreciative about this as you can see in the screenshots in page 1, but, do they speak for SE as well? Like someone said before, an email to Mister thanking him would of been nice, even if at the end was a "unfortunately, you went against the ToS and for that you will be banned" or something. But, since he wasn't banned by a human, and instead a sweep that got caught with hundreds of others, i don't see this as his true punishment, till Square says otherwise.

He did it all under good intentions and i sure hope they have that report so they can either prove me right or wrong on his case.

[JemC]

Well I believe you and I think your very smart friend deserves reinstatement.

But I'm going to be cruel now and tell you the truth about the world you live in. People will stab you for a quarter. You are not living in a nice honest society. At least it was only a game - this time. Use this and learn from it. I know of people sitting in jail who didn't do the crime. I know a man who had his children taken from him because someone suspected him of something. He was later proven to be not guilty but the children were in adopted care and the court chose not to unsettle them. Do you understand? It is NOT SAFE TO BE GOOD AND HONEST. You have to be ready to pay the price when you do what it right. That means Caesar will feed you to the lions if you don't lie to him. And everyone will applaud while you're being torn from limb to limb. Except for about three spectators in the stands who will cry. Most people are evil/stupid and want to watch a burning.

I'm not one of them.

Take your knowledge and grow from it. Tell your hacker friend to use his gift to build a better world for those three people. Good luck both of you.

[Rawrrior]

Well I believe you and I think your very smart friend deserves reinstatement.

But I'm going to be cruel now and tell you the truth about the world you live in. People will stab you for a quarter. You are not living in a nice honest society. At least it was only a game - this time. Use this and learn from it. I know of people sitting in jail who didn't do the crime. I know a man who had his children taken from him because someone suspected him of something. He was later proven to be not guilty but the children were in adopted care and the court chose not to unsettle them. Do you understand? It is NOT SAFE TO BE GOOD AND HONEST. You have to be ready to pay the price when you do what it right. That means Caesar will feed you to the lions if you don't lie to him. And everyone will applaud while you're being torn from limb to limb. Except for about three spectators in the stands who will cry. Most people are evil/stupid and want to watch a burning.

I'm not one of them.

Take your knowledge and grow from it. Tell your hacker friend to use his gift to build a better world for those three people. Good luck both of you.

Thank you for your support, and i really hope those you know that are wrongfully in jail soon get out and that poor man and his children.. If they won't give them back to him i at least hope he can see them.

Just ugh, it's not right when those that are good and honest get the short end of the stick while the bad ones are out laughing it off. Makes me angry when things like that happen, and i see people who didn't do X gets blamed for it, even in games. Sometimes i wonder if i should be a cop, but i don't have enough guts for that, nor do i feel like getting shot ~-~.. You know we live in a messed up society when bad prevails more than good.. I'm a strong justice type person as well as stubborn (if you haven't noticed yet x.x so i'll keep standing up to what i believe is right if i feel i have a change at it. Also, i can hardly play the bad guy in games O.o i can't bring myself to kill everyone in towns in skyrim, or do evil things in fallout 3, but anyways.. What you say is true and it's a hard truth. But some of us needs to be the light in all that darkness yeah?

Even if we don't win this case, at least getting more information on the real reason(s) he's still banned would be enough.

Thank you again for sharing this and adding your comments so my thread and i wish the best to those you know who aren't in a great position when they aren't guilty.

[Tanukki]

Well, waiting for 2 months then suddenly banning him is kind of bad administration, but...

I'm guessing in the terms of service it says that you can be banned at any time and they don't have to provide a reason.

So don't get your hopes up, the GMs are under no obligation to help

[Rawrrior]

Well, waiting for 2 months then suddenly banning him is kind of bad administration, but...

I'm guessing in the terms of service it says that you can be banned at any time and they don't have to provide a reason.

So don't get your hopes up, the GMs are under no obligation to help

They did post here saying they would conduct a investigation on this particular case, after that we haven't heard from SE since, not to mention that the ban was an automated sweep that banned anyone who had over a certain amount of gil a month after he reported his findings and was told to store the stuff and not to delete it so they could investigate his character data at the time.

I'm still going to keep on trying till we get in contact with SE to get more info on all this, and once Mister gets that information about that investigation, or more info on his account, i'll probably let this thread die.

Just so many questions you know? Was the ban on purpose? Was it a mistake? Did they purposely tell him not to delete the gil and told him it's for "character data investigation" just so he could get sweeped up? (even though the sweep happened a month later) and why didn't they contact him after words to delete the gil and what not? Why was his emails getting ignored after they fixed the patch when a few days prior to it they replied so quickly?

If he was banned a week or 2 before the sweep happened with even a proper ban reason than rmt activities, i most likely wouldn't have made this post to begin with.

But i'll keep on trying regardless!