Account Action Review system is flawed. Where is the customer support?

[Kai_Alura]

Hi Friends. I am posting on this forum in the hopes that maybe someone here can point me in the right direction because customer support has failed me.

Context: in October of 2023, I received a warning on my account. This sent me into a panic as I have been playing for almost 10 years without any issue. I abide by the rules and treat everyone with respect. This game is a form of therapy for me, so I generally avoid toxic environments altogether. However, due to my birthday and the holidays that followed, I pushed the warning out of mind and forgot it about it altogether. Until last week, when I received a notification that my account had been suspended for 3 days due to “griefing”. I was on vacation at the time, and it really ruined my day to know that something was going on with my account that I was not in control of.

When I returned home, I reached out to square enix support over the phone. They advised me that a GM suspended my account because I was “in a match for 12 min without earning any points”. Uh… what? A match? I assumed this was PvP, so I asked the service rep for more details, however they said that they could not provided further information since the GM didn’t include additional details. I then asked them to verify the reason for my warning last year… and they confirmed it was for the same reason; not earning enough points in PvP match.

I asked them how this was a violation of ToS. These are casual PvP matches, not competitive season matches. Also, nowhere was I informed that I had to earn a minimum amount of points in PvP or my account would be penalized. They could not answer my questions but told me they would overturn the decision, and advised me to submit an account action review and contact a GM in game for more details.

I submitted the account action review form and immediately received a response saying that they could not provide details but to respond if I had any other concerns. I have replied for three days now… with no additional response to my questions and concerns.

Today, I reached out to a GM in game. I explained to them the situation… and all they could tell me was that they could not provide any details. I told them that customer support told me to reach out to them and they said that was a mistake. I asked them how I could avoid this from happening in the future, I have been playing for 10 years without issue and within the last year I have received two penalties to my account due to not earning enough points in PvP. They could not provide info. I asked them who I can speak to that could actually help me.. and they just told me to submit another account action review. They apologized for not having the ability to help me further and then closed the chat.

[Kai_Alura]

Continued: How is this customer service? I am wrongfully being penalized for “not earning enough points in PvP”, something that isn’t against ToS… yet I reached out to three separate branches of customer support and have been sent on a wild goose chase to find answers only to be stonewalled. How is this ok? Who hold these people accountable? If they’re going to lock me out of playing a game I pay a subscription for… they need to provide verifiable evidence that I did something wrong. And if the notes the gm left only say I didn’t earn enough points in a PvP match… WTH is that?

I am back in game.. but I want to avoid having further issues in my account and I’m flabbergasted that nobody was able to provide actual assistance and kept deflecting to someone else. Is this really what we have to hope for when issues occur in the community? I expected better treatment towards their loyal player base but it seems they don’t really care about that at all.

What am I supposed to do here? Reach out to corporate? Post on Twitter? WTH?

[VoidsentStatus]

I asked them how this was a violation of ToS. These are casual PvP matches, not competitive season matches. Also, nowhere was I informed that I had to earn a minimum amount of points in PvP or my account would be penalized.

[
・Aiding the enemy / Uncooperative behavior / Lethargic behavior
Refers to an act of performing actions that give an advantage to an enemy (monsters, or the opposing team/players in PvP content) by not performing the necessary gameplay required of the situation. This may be combined with combat sabotage as well.

Key Points
Each player has a different level of skill, and in some cases, there may be a situation where the duty/content will fail. From the perspective of a skilled player in such a situation, a less skilled player may appear to be "adversarial/uncooperative/apathetic," but even if this is the case, it is not a violation as long as the player is playing appropriately.

For example, the following types of situations fall under the act of giving an advantage to the enemy (or the opposing team/players in PvP content):
"I don't want to heal because there is a player I don't like in the group."
"I don't think we can clear this anyway, so I'll just get hit by the enemy attack and go AFK after I'm knocked out."
"I'm going to join the opposing team as a healer and do nothing so my friends on the other team can win the PvP content."
If a report has been filed and the prohibited activity is confirmed, a penalty will be issued.]

https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...la=1&kid=68216


Your behavior is the reason PvP discords have to hold controlled private matches or synced casual matches for practice for ranked since casual queue has turned into a joke on every data center with people throwing matches or significantly not trying at all just for series rewards.

[Darkstride]

Are you joining PvP matches and then just standing there doing nothing?

[Raven2014]

Sorry to break this to you but ... while it may not be specific, there is a languages in the TOS that serve as more than enough ground for them to take action against you. There is a few red flag I noticed in your story:

- You're making the argument you shouldn't be punished not because the allegation isn't true (zero contribution), but because you shouldn't be punished even if it's true. So this means the allegation is true?

- GM don't tend to take action just because one or two report was made. After all people pissed on each others all the time. The fact they took action against you meaning there is enough people reported you.

- Given that PvP match is very small, for you to cross that threshold twice, you are likely a repeated offender.

So yeah ... my advise is wise up and stop doing ... whatever you doing. I think the banned system have 4 tiers and you're on 2nd (the 3 days ban), the next one I think is a week (or a month?) long, follow by a perma. I think the fell off time for repeated offender is 2 years so you're playing with fire right now.


And again, your behavior does provide them with ground to take action. Simila to back when Borzae was current, there were people who tried to join DR's run and just AFK at the entrance or stay death on the floor for free carry. Once the community fed up and decided to mass report these leeches, the behavior disappeared almost immediately. Your action probably fall under the same perview to the GM.

[gllt]

I mean I'd like for OP to come back and respond/clarify but also the communication from Square IS awful. If I asked why I got an infraction I'd expect to get an answer too instead of having to intuit what happened. Even if it's obvious to someone else, it's perfectly normal to not understand what you did and to want some kind of clarification.

[Kai_Alura]

No, the game automatically kicks you out if you’re AFK for two minutes. Obviously I’m playing the match. Sometimes, I’ll camp nodes until they spawn and snipe, just run around and do that. I’ve won matches before this way. I’m not always chasing kills. I’m not the best at PvP and that stresses me out. Everyone has a different PlayStyle. My point is there is not a requirement to play any specific way or to earn a minimum amount of participation points. This is casual PvP, not competitive. I’ve been playing the same way for ten years and it’s only just become an issue. If they are going to make all PvP competitive and force players to play in a certain way, then that should be made clear. My point is this isn’t proper customer service and I have tried through several means to speak to someone that has actual information to help, in alignment with their policies and ToS not just assumptions and opinions from players that aren’t directly involved in the process. It’s not ok to constantly punish someone for something they are not aware of and then not tell them what they’re doing wrong so that it doesn’t happen again. Thats some backwards thinking.

[Raven2014]

If I asked why I got an infraction I'd expect to get an answer too instead of having to intuit what happened.

Except this time they DO give the OP the exact reason why they're striking their account though? The OP just isn't aware of the existing rule that applied to them, it's not really a guessing game in this particular case.

[Kai_Alura]

No they didn’t give me the exact reason. I’m assuming it is that. All I was told by customer service was that I “didn’t earn enough points in a match”. And advised to contact a GM. The GM was no help and said they couldn’t give me any details. You’re assuming a lot in your original reply.. none of which is fact, by the way. The point of the post is to be pointed in the right direction of someone who can assist… not to be told what “might’ve been” the reason based on someone else’s assumptions.

[Kai_Alura]

[
・Aiding the enemy / Uncooperative behavior / Lethargic behavior
Refers to an act of performing actions that give an advantage to an enemy (monsters, or the opposing team/players in PvP content) by not performing the necessary gameplay required of the situation. This may be combined with combat sabotage as well.

Key Points
Each player has a different level of skill, and in some cases, there may be a situation where the duty/content will fail. From the perspective of a skilled player in such a situation, a less skilled player may appear to be "adversarial/uncooperative/apathetic," but even if this is the case, it is not a violation as long as the player is playing appropriately.

For example, the following types of situations fall under the act of giving an advantage to the enemy (or the opposing team/players in PvP content):
"I don't want to heal because there is a player I don't like in the group."
"I don't think we can clear this anyway, so I'll just get hit by the enemy attack and go AFK after I'm knocked out."
"I'm going to join the opposing team as a healer and do nothing so my friends on the other team can win the PvP content."
If a report has been filed and the prohibited activity is confirmed, a penalty will be issued.]

https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...la=1&kid=68216


Your behavior is the reason PvP discords have to hold controlled private matches or synced casual matches for practice for ranked since casual queue has turned into a joke on every data center with people throwing matches or significantly not trying at all just for series rewards.

You posted alot of information, none of which applies to me. I’m still playing the match and participating in a way that “I” enjoy and still benefits the team. What “behavior” are you referring to exactly? You mean my outlook that this isn’t competitive content, or a ranked match? Get real. There has never been a minimum score requirement in PvP, so long as someone is actively playing the match, that should suffice. Playing “appropriately” is vague and can be misinterpreted. But again, these requirements should be outlined in black and white if customer support and GM’s are not equipped to provide detailed responses to players who are being punished and left in the dark.