A warning.

For the last five months I have been ill, housebound and with nothing to do but browse sites and play games. Of which, I spent 700+ hours (amounts to bout 6 hours a day) playing this game. Mostly solo farming the FoW. So I'd consider 90% of my time spent in game as subscribing to an actual 9-5.

Now I'm not using the above for sympathy, merely as a guage for you to consider how much time, effort and emotion was put into this game. When you log-in for the amount I have, you tend to become rather attached

I amounted quite a collection in that time. Mostly due to some lucky breaks buying and selling. And had aquired some items that will be very difficult, if not impossible to replace. (a req7 15^50 brute sword being one of them)

So, one evening I try to log in and I recieve this message:

Now, I was shaken a little. But not overly worried as I'd heard of/read about arenet making mistakes before, and rectifying them once they'd been investigated a little further. and I have never broken any rules. Ever.

Still, my mind was going over every in game incident that I thought could have even come close to resulting in my account being banned... and besides the usual ingame altercations, (and after some research to assure none of my behavior had been asking for this action) I sat back, confident in Areanets's ability to resolve this issue.

How wrong was I.

This morning I awoke to find this message:


I have never used a third party program in relation to guildwars. I wouldn't use one. I'm too paranoid about keyloggers and have read about the thousands of bots already been purged from game. So why the hell would I attach one to my main account?

So in summery:

Be warned! Your account could be gone tomorrow. You could play your game as a saint. You could never install an illigal program. Never ebay. You could go out of your way to help newbies, give way rare/perfect drops to those less fortunate, be an IG Mother Tereasa and one day AreaNet could turn to you and say. Sorry old bean, we've monitered such and such and i'm afraid we'll have to be letting you go.

Thank you AreaNet for robbing an extremely loyal customer (who would have no doubt stuck by you through each and every one of your installments) of four months of their time and effort.

I have lost faith in you as a company, entirely. If this mistake can be made with me, how many hundereds of innocent people have they banned already??

I am not giving up... even though this is just a game and I could walk away from it, I am going to fight this now for the goddamn principle. I have never used a third party program... but I don't know how I can fight this when they say I was monitered using one.

I truely hope this doesn't happen to any of you hardworking, honest Guidlies out there.

Wish me luck...

Have you run some virus scans it could be that third party program was installed without you knowing it, wich would be a lame reason to get kicked...
but anywhay good luck on trying to get your acount back if it's isn't to late :/

i have said this a few times: Anet are a nerfing bunch of geeks that have carrots up their asses and they cant do their job properly.
i have been banned once on another account and i am a saint too.
but lifes unfair and we have to live with it

The problem is, even if you are using thrid party program, they have no way to 'witness' the third party program. What they witness would be some action you perform looks like a thrid party program.

OMG.....

Dude how can Anet simply ban you like that????

Maybe have you been using foul language at the wrong place at the wrong time (maybe one of the member in your PuG party is connected to ArenaNet)

Good luck dude... I feel for you

Exactly.

But I've not been farming for at least a week, which I assume is one of the more likely actions to be mistaken for a bot. I mostly buy and sell at the moment as I'm saving money for Nightfall... wait, put that last sentance in the past tense

As I am completely inoocent here, (and I can assure you, I actually am) what do you suppose the chance are of me having my account unlocked?

Hi,

You said that you buy or sell, is it possible that maybe you were spamming? I know that the game won't let you spam messages (at least it won't let me post more than a couple in a given amount of time when looking for a PUG) but still sometimes (at least in the past) I have seen some weird messages from sellers like:

WTS: Chaos Axe (1)
WTS: Chaos Axe (2)
WTS: Chaos Axe (3)
...
WTS: Chaos Axe (50)

I don't know how they do it but they seem to get past the game's spam blocker by doing this. Is this perhaps a BOT or an illegal program?

If you weren't doing anything wrong is it possible your roomate or someone else was using your account and BOT programs?

Does anyone else have access to your computer? I think there was a similar thread of someone being unjustly banned. However, upon further investigation someone else had accessed their computer and inadvertently downloaded a third-party program.

Luckily it worked out for them. Hopefully, you'll get your situation resolved too.

Maybe people should just stop doing multiple farm runs in a single hour. I personally never felt the need for farming. All my characters have max armour and the best weapons a noob can buy.
I wish you luck with your appeal. I don't understand how Anet detects a thirt-party programm, as being an ingame moderator. Maybe you were walking funny, like those bots in Elona? Maybe the game mod tried to communicate with you, but you ignored him/her?

Sorry to be off topic but.. how is this a question?

It's not a question; it's a warning . Guess it would fit better in maybe the Riverside section.......

but meh

If you'll read through my post, there are a few questions asked.

But this is mostly here for answers/advice from other players. If there is a more suitable place then could a mod please move it there. Thanks.

And my roomate has access to my pc, but he wouldn't ever do something like this, I can assure you.

I ran a virus scan and recieved this message:

File C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmdow.exe is infected with application Win32/CMDOW.143. The file can be deleted. It is strongly recommended that you back up any crucial data before you proceed.

Does anyone have any idea if this could be anything to do with it? How would I look into this matter further?

http://www.commandline.co.uk/cmdow/

I would pick them up first on their mention of in game moderator observing!

They need to spell out what was observed, how they can "know" it is a third party programme! What level of observation was used? Can they 100% guarantee that you used a thrid party programme? Could, what they have seen been human interaction?

I would also ask for their proof, you have been tried and convicted without having the chance to appeal (in game that is) a single person saying they saw you do something, should not be the basis of a case against you! (OK it's not a case but think the same way, since we are talking about their rules!)

Is there a full list of what they would consider a third party programme? What if you are using something to record your screen for creating your videos etc..?

Of course we all know the moderators are all saints and know everything don't we? ;p LOL

I would fight it from the point of view that they are taking one persons word for this and in fact they have not shown you any evidence of such action. Therefore from a legal point of view their ban is unjust. In real life they would have to produce evidence of your wrong doings, before they could take action. They would also have to notify you that they were taking such action and you would have the chance to be represented and your case heared.

Provided you are 100% sure you have not breached their rules then I would suggest that you fight it all the way!

I'm not exactly sure how this would happen, but maybe someone had some how hacked your account. They could have done so to take your monies and stuff you have in storage and perhaps this person had third party programs on the terminal they were using.

Just a wild speculation

ouch man, that's gotta hurt . I realy hope that your account gets unlocked...Keep fighting for it !
Maybe u could ask a-net when and where u were spotted , and what u were doing that made them think that u were using third - party programs ... maybe u can remeber that moment, and explain them ( if you were realy acting like a third party program) why u were acting like that ? ( maybe you had some sort of reason )

anyway, good luck !

It could just be that you were farming the same place every day- walking along the same route, killing the same mobs in the same order using the same skills, then going back to the merchant to sell your junk and going back in to start again. So if this was the case, you were basically acting just like a bot. But I don't know how much you really were farming that place.

I would assume what they witnessed was some sort of annomaly in the packets being sent from the terminal accessing her account. Maybe some of the paramaters were ones that are impossible to result from normal play. Most of the hacks operate by intercepting and altering the packets before they are sent to the server. They likely have an automated program to watch for such anomalies and brings it to the immediate attention of a GM.


But I'm just guessing and could be just about anything

I just recieved this message

I'd urge all of you to be carfeul when trading or farming as it seems anything resembling automated behavior can result in your account being banned.

Thank you all for your help.

YAY! Gratz


Just try not to do anything..... robotic like. Ocassionally do some erratic behavior so they don't think you're a bot.

lol

It's hard to suggest anything when they don't say what third party program they feel they witnessed you using, but fwiw... it doesn't have to be an outright guildwars hack.

Extremely well-timed repetitive action (e.g. popping in to town, running the exact same line to a sign before sidestepping the exact same number of steps, then running out of town - over and over and over) suggests using scripts, for instance through Ghostmouse (there's many other scripting programs, up to and including Visual Basic!).

Sometimes the people who use that kind of scripting don't even realize what they're doing. I saw a person yesterday who, every two seconds, wrote a line of lyrics from a Mars Volta song. I'm a fast typist, but I'd bet good money that person was using some sort of software to enter the text, basically cut & pasting. I'm pretty sure he didn't think he was cheating.

Ghostmouse, Visual Basic, whatever the Mars Volta fan was using etc aren't GW hacks, but very much third party programs, and using them in GW is very much a violation of the terms of the EULA.

Also, the games moderators have the ability to see exactly what you see on-screen, including when you're in instances.

But without some clarification on what the moderator saw, or think he saw, it's hard to guess what might have happened.

However, for a permanent ban, they'd have to be pretty sure not only that you cheated, but even what software you used, quite probably, like someone said, through analysing the data packets. I *strongly* doubt just farming repeatedly is sufficient.

Well, this part suggest they didn't have any of that information:

To me, it seems as though they saw my character do something that could have been automated, and found that strong enough reason for a ban.

I've asked them to let me know exactly what that behavior was so I can make sure I avoid it in future. If they give me a decent and informative response, I'll post it here in the hope that we can all avoid such situations in the future.

Congrats on getting account back!

However, that is worrying. Most of the time when I play and go farming for things I need, I can be considered as using a bot. I zone to outposts, go out, kill, return and sell - rinse and repeat. I don't talk to people in outposts, I do bump into things and walk into walls (but I' blame that on lag ). Looks like I need to act less robot like from now on and maybe talk to myself or to the things I'm killing.

congrats on getting ure account back, man its like a-net want us to act more like humans on a game!!

Im glad u got your account back but for future reference break out into dance at random times, comeon what bots gonna do that :P

Sorry i didn't help in anyway and congratulations on getting unbannded. but after reading your comments and replys. how many times did you contact anet? or e-mail them?

i'm just wondering when the day i get accdently banned how long it will take me to get unbannded.

WOW didn't know anet had moderators in game. I wonder if they run some sort of root kit or system/processer scanner.

The ban occured on the 17th, I believe. And I've sent 5 emails in that time. Two were updates of existing ones. So to be fair, they've responded quite quickly considering the amount of cases they must have to deal with.

My faith is restored, a little.

so every bot maker knows what to avoid ................right

They cannot install and run any kind of rootkit or any form of scanner on your system unless you agree to.

I cant remember but only 1 MMO i have played did install a anti-hack program and i happened to have a Hex Editor running, no big deal, i just close the hex editor and run the game again.

Gratz on getting account back.

Now we know, just yell out some obscenities before selling your stuff in ToA, so you won't look bot like.

[edit] congradz on winning your account back man.

so ANET ASSUMED that you wer ebotting because you were repetitly farming a spot so difficult that you cant afford to make 1 extra step to the right.... YA GOOD ONE ANET!!! you cant even prrove that there was a third party program used and yet you still ban...

next thing that we will hear is them banning all the monks that want to keep their income at ~10/k day from 55ing...... then its gonna be all the ToPK rangers.....then its gonna be all thechest runers

anyways, in the end were gonna have nobody but ascalon noobs left if they keep this going

ok this is freaking me out.....i mean i could be on my monk in droks, im going in and out shouting "domo arigato mr roboto" and they will ban me for this ?

edit: thats why since i saw a gm warning a guy in the old random arena, i always type something while farming.
that happened long ago before they put the boat on the map. there was a guy in random arena saying racist things to another guy.
wen suddently there was that orange text that appeard in the chat. sayin : thats not nice from you "insert name". and every1 was like "omg" Lol pwn. so yes they are watching us. >_> <_<

I trust Anet more than I trust you. Any botter could post a compelling story such as the one you posted and hope for an unban.

On the login page, there is a WARNING about Third Party Programs, and as your virus scan picked up, you had a program that would qualify.

You should have known to turn off that program.

After the mass (erroneous) bans during the Festival, I am less inclined to believe ANet is infallible, and more inclined to give the banned player the benefit of the doubt.

Gratz on getting your account back, Wilderness!

The other day I (amazingly) got bored so I decided to run Elona Mino's for one hour just to see how much money I could accumulate. After one hour and a little warning popup later, I had quite a bit of money....and then days of worrying if I was gonna loose my account 'cause an ANet employee decided I was a bot.

Yes, I know that bots are perceived to be a problem, but there has got to be a way for an honest farmer to earn some fast cash without the fear of loosing an account that may have hundreds or even thousands of hours on it.

gratz on getting your account back but i am with Anet on this one, you already said someone else has access to your computer you honestly don't know what they could of done. You might trust them completly but be honest about it theres no way you can be 100% sure they (or someone else) didn't use some kind of 3rd party software.

A keylogger on your system could get your password giving them access to your account. Just because your system is clean now doesn't mean you didnt have once. They install one, grab your password then remove the keylogger so you don't even no you have been compromised.

Honestly if i was you i would change your password and give your system a good going over. Nod32 is the best virus scanner and a firewall like zone alarm helps as well.

I can tell you now a computer technician friend of mine has just left my house after completing a thorough check of my pc, and it is entirely clean. (Using Nod32, among others) There is no trace of any third party program.

Believe me or not, but in this case I know that arenet banned my account based on an assumption. Nothing more. Until we find out exactly what they based that assumption on, there's little more that needs to be said here.

If your account does get banned and you are 100% innocent, then don't panic as I did I have faith that with the proper correspondence you'll be reinstated in no time.

Thanks for all your help here.

(requests lock)

Amen to that. Seeing that many innocents banned in one go pretty much proved to me that whatever system they're using to determine bots is shoddy at best. Earth to Anet, normal players farm for gold too! If someone is farming, it doesn't mean they're a bot.

At any rate, welcome back man, even though it might not really be the best place to be anymore

This makes me wonder if anything i do in game is being watched and possibly consider as bot or doing something illegal.

Well, now my question is, what if he decides to go buy a new account, just in case he wants a little more security on his items. So if his main is banned the items are at least still around. Would transfering those items for free, on his flagged account now, iniatiate bans thinking he was an ebayer?
It just seems like a sticky assumption filled way to keep thier game clean...