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11 years entropian banned for almost 3 months, with no explanation.

Warz

Warz

Alpha
Joined
Aug 11, 2006
Posts
594
Location
Norway
Society
Dawn Daemons Rises
Avatar Name
Warz Utopi Maxawitz
Hello,

I first joined Entropia in 2005 and was a very active player in the years 2007-2009. As a member of DDR, I was probably most known for hanging out at the Oil Rig and for doing mod fap healing service with Let. It has been 7 years since my last post here. For those years I have not been very active in game, but I've kept my account active logging in every now and then. Since I wasn't gaming actively I invested all my items and PED into deeds, which I compounded for all these years. I have 21 Calypso Land Deed today. After buying the CLDs I never withdrew any money because I still had faith in the game and figured I might start playing again one day.

Well. I'm not so sure anymore. I really did not want to make this post, but this situation calls for attention.

Out of the blue on September 5th I received this e-mail from Mind Ark:
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That's odd, I thought. Why would I get locked? I went straight to support to ask why.

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Utter silence...

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Still silent...

Frustrated that they would just lock my account with no reason why, I wrote another reply 5 days later:
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Silence again.

2 weeks after getting locked. I created a new ticket and asked:

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5 days later, almost 3 weeks after getting locked, they finally respond:

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Suspicious connection activity. This seems like a bullshit response to me. I have a gold card which prevents any other IP address to login to my account. I upload my ID as requested, and ask them to clarify:

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At this point I never hear from support again. I try in my other ticket about a month later to ask for help. But to no avail.

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So that's the end of this story. No happy ending here guys.

I guess this could serve as a warning to others, or perhaps this post will finally draw enough bad attention to get my account unlocked. I don't know. But if I get my account back I'll be taking my 5k usd or whatever my items are worth now and leave the game for good. I used to like entropia a lot. Not so much anymore.

Thanks for your time
 
5. Account Inactivity, Account Ban and Account Termination

5.1. Definitions

The following terms referred to in this paragraph will have the following meaning:

Terminated Account (or “Account Termination”) means that the Account is purged and that You will no longer be able to retrieve its contents or to re-activate it to access Entropia Universe. Purging the Account means that, when applicable, all skills will be deleted, any estate deeds will be transferred back to MindArk and/or MindArk's Partner and the virtual objects on the Account will be exchanged for their Trade Terminal (TT) value. The aggregated value will be added to the balance on the PED Card connected to Your Account for You to withdraw if exceeding the minimal withdrawal limit of 1 000 PED. Any pending transactions involving a Terminated Account will be revoked.

Locked Account (or “Account Lockdown”) means that the Account is temporarily not accessible due to Your own request.

Banned Account (or “Account Banning”) means that the Account is under investigation due to a suspected violation of the EULA, ToU and/or Rules of Conduct, or that the Account user was deemed to have violated one of the said agreements. This may be temporary for short or long periods, on MindArk's and/or MindArk's Partner sole and absolute discretion.

5.2. Locked Account

Please note that if Your Account has been Locked You are still obliged to comply with the EULA and the ToU Agreement in their relevant parts.

5.3. Inactivated Account
You acknowledge and agree that Your Entropia Universe Account will be deemed inactive if it has not been logged into for a period of ninety (90) consecutive days.


5.4. Terminated Account
You acknowledge and agree that your Entropia Universe Account will be deemed to have been abandoned by You and consequently automatically Terminated if it has not been accessed for a period of three hundred and sixty-five (365) consecutive days (i.e. 275 days after an account becomes inactive as described in section 5.3 above).

You also agree to assign MindArk and/or MindArk's Partners all rights in Your Terminated Entropia Universe Account according to the procedures established in this paragraph 5. You hereby discharge MindArk, any of MindArk's Partners and their respective officers, directors and employees, from and against any and all claims, demands, liabilities, costs, and expenses to You arising out of, or relating to, Your Terminated Entropia Universe Account.

In the event that Your Account is Terminated and if applicable, no refund will be granted except for the balance on Your PED Card and the TT value of the objects on the Account, as set out above. Any delinquent or unresolved issues relating to former participation in the Entropia Universe must be resolved before MindArk will permit You to register a new Account.


5.5. Banned Account

If Your Entropia Universe Account has been temporarily Banned, MindArk and/or MindArk's Partner may, at their sole discretion and upon verification of Your identity or fulfillment of other conditions, reactivate Your Account.

You hereby expressly acknowledge that if MindArk and/or MindArk's Partner decide not to reactivate Your Account, it will eventually be Terminated, with or without Your right to withdraw any remaining PED Card value, on MindArk's and/or MindArk's Partner sole and absolute discretion.

-----------------------------


Posted entirety of TOU Rule 5 from the client loader, I'll have to read through it and work out which part they are refering to.

Possibly in a subsequent post. :)
 
Locking account for a few days seems fair enough for security reasons, support is appalling and you shouldn't be left hanging like this.
 
Locking an account because they think something is up is all good. But when they do it and do not answer you it is very troubling... Sure, if there were something very special they where investigating I guess they would not want to get any details but they should inform you and let you know they will get back to you soon.

There is always two stories but still this is a bit troubling to me..
 
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This is probably around this time when laws should protect us. :scratch2:
 
Yeah, it should not take so long time to check things. Have you logged in from any different IP/Computer? Sounds like it must have been something like that because they ask about VPN.
 
I got support cases that never got attended for over year.. some i gave up

However this sort of thing should have higher priority
 
billairboy said:
Yeah, it should not take so long time to check things. Have you logged in from any different IP/Computer? Sounds like it must have been something like that because they ask about VPN.
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My previous login was months earlier. My last recorded date is April 4th (I write down CLD profit in excel occasionally).

The thing about suspicious connection honestly seems like a lie to me. Unless they can provide any proof of that such as a list of IP addresses I remain very skeptical of this claim. Nobody could have logged in to my account at the time because I have a gold card.

And look, I don't mind getting locked, it's the lack of communication and dishonesty that is the problem. If you lock someone, tell them the truth and/or keep them updated. I'm just left completely in the dark, having no idea if they will ever unlock me. I have no idea why I'm locked. I wasn't even playing for months before this happened, but what if I was an active player not being able to play for 3 months? Or what if I had a lot more money in my account? This is just extremely unprofessional and has made me lose faith in EU.
 
Just an FYI, it is possible to login to an account which has a Gold Card, without the card.

You cannot access account info, or login to the game, or items list, etc. But you can definitely login and access support, for example.

It may be possible that someone has your U/P and has accessed the portion of your account which they can access.

Second, it may not be your IP specifically, but someone on your ISP IP range has done some dodgy shit so MA have locked down that ISP group as a precaution.

Having said that, the fact that you have uploaded your ID documents and not received a response is appalling.
 
Blizzard will lock accounts when they see ip's outside the players region logging in. Though its a quick processes to have one unlocked.
 
Aeris_is_back said:
Blizzard will lock accounts when they see ip's outside the players region logging in. Though its a quick processes to have one unlocked.
Click to expand...

Really?

So in theory if i would go abroad and play there they would most likely lock it?

Falagor
:bandit:
 
Be calm and patient! You are still generating peds passively.
 
Aeris_is_back said:
Blizzard will lock accounts when they see ip's outside the players region logging in. Though its a quick processes to have one unlocked.
Click to expand...

I travel very often and have never been locked out. I've logged in from US one day, Thailand the next, Vietnam, back to US, months later different places. I find this a weird reaso . To be locked. I wish MA would inform us of situation where people have been hacked ect. Maybe they can't because this would allow bad guys to know more secrets ect. Just curious... I suck with IT things. Honestly I don't even know how an account can be hacked so how can I prevent it?? School me MA.
 
The time taken is a disgrace, not only for a plain reply but the investigating bit seems as if it should be a trivial matter.

I imagine events go like this:
Oh my, something triggered our warning systems
*warning system read-out*
Oh, so that was it!
*cause for a ban or no cause for a ban*

That's about half an hour of work.
 
Yea the time taken to at least notify someone is just insane, no matter what the offense or suspected offense is. Its basically stealing. Doesnt matter if you have a few PEDs invested or Thousands of PEDs invested. I know if i would get banned or investigated, locked out, whatever it may be, I would probably be on a flight out to see MA personally to resolve the matter if needed...
 
Any news from OP?
 
There's some good news, and some bad news.

The good news: I just got unlocked!

Hi Utopi,

Thank you for your support case.

Once more we can only offer you an apology for the delay in your case, rest assured that the investigation has been conducted.

First off, we can see that you are regularly changing your physical address and IP, due to this our scan will pick up multiple avatars using the same service as you are.

Unfortunately we will not give out any such information as specific IP's etc, but we have looked into it thoroughly and we are satisfied with the result and we will now unlock your account.

To explain a bit further, you are Norwegian and presumably you live there and you may of course travel but from what I can see you have connected with 1 Belgian IP, 2 Norwegian IPs, 3 Swedish IPs, 5 English IPs.

Due to that as explained above it will mess up our readings of the account when several people are using similar services which may use the same exits.

But as we've now concluded the investigation your account will be unlocked.

Take care and best of luck.

Kind regards,
Ulf | Entropia Universe Support
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The bad news is I still have no idea why I got locked. Their reply does not inspire much confidence and sounds like a poor excuse. For the record I've used both Norwegian and Swedish IP as I lived in Sweden a few years back. In addition Norwegian IPs are often mistakenly assumed to be UK by Geo IP services. I have no idea why there is a Belgian IP involved. But as I've said before, I have gold card, so none other than me should be able to connect to my EU account (except if we're talking about the website where gold card is not required for all features).

I find it odd that I'm not allowed to get a list of IPs connecting to MY account. Why should I not have access to this? Either the IP is mine or it's somebody who's trying to steal my account. In both cases this shouldn't be hidden from me!

Can anyone make sense of their reply?

"multiple avatars using the same service" ? I have lived with other EU players, so what?

"mess up our readings of the account" ? What "readings" ?

"similar services which may use the same exists" ? What "exists"? what services? what the hell?

connected to where?

I replied this
Hello,

I would like some clarification to my previous support case regarding locked account #328440

You write:
"Once more we can only offer you an apology for the delay in your case, rest assured that the investigation has been conducted."

What exactly has been investigated, why was my account locked in the first place?

"First off, we can see that you are regularly changing your physical address and IP, due to this our scan will pick up multiple avatars using the same service as you are."

What is a "service", are we talking about the same ISP? If so, yes, I have lived with other EU players. Why would that be reason for my account to get locked? And if this is reason to get locked why was only I and not them locked?

"Unfortunately we will not give out any such information as specific IP's etc, but we have looked into it thoroughly and we are satisfied with the result and we will now unlock your account."

Why will you not give out IPs? The IPs are either mine or the IP of somebody trying to steal my account. If somebody is trying to hack me, the IP is evidence I can deliver to investigators. Why are you withholding this evidence?

"To explain a bit further, you are Norwegian and presumably you live there and you may of course travel but from what I can see you have connected with 1 Belgian IP, 2 Norwegian IPs, 3 Swedish IPs, 5 English IPs."

I lived in Sweden a few years back. Again why would lots of different IPs be cause for my account to get locked and stay locked for so long despite me providing documents? Why did my account get locked at this specific point in time when I had not used it for several months prior? Was there some activity on that day when it got locked? WHAT triggered the lock?

"Due to that as explained above it will mess up our readings of the account when several people are using similar services which may use the same exits."

What do you mean by "readings" ? Please clarify the meaning of this entire paragraph, I can't make sense of it.

"But as we've now concluded the investigation your account will be unlocked."

Please give me more information about why you concluded that I should be unlocked and why I was locked to begin with.

Thanks,
Click to expand...
 
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It's either your ISP using dynamic allocation of IP either (more likely) you connected to EU website using VPN. Their scan is (most likely) for multiple avatars usage (so, same IP range or same IP even) to create a primary flag and whenever one of the avatars connected with such IP does something nasty (and the list here can get quite long), it automatically activates the other avatars with which is flagged. Hope my guess makes sense.

By "service" I bet they reffer to VPN.
 
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Yeah Kerham, that makes sense. Although I don't recall using VPN to connect to my account or the website, it could be I did it a long time ago and forgot.

Here's the last support replies for anyone who might be interested.

MA:
Hi Utopi,

Thank you for your support case.

Unfortunately we do not have an obligation to share our information from our investigation, it is not something we do and in regards to the IPs in specific it is due to security reasons, we do not want to give out any information to show what we collect which is also why our wording at times is not the clearest.

I'll try and answer your questions as best as possible with the information I can give you.

"What exactly has been investigated, why was my account locked in the first place?"
-Your account has been investigated in relation to multiple accounts and strange connection activity.

"What is a "service", are we talking about the same ISP? If so, yes, I have lived with other EU players. Why would that be reason for my account to get locked? And if this is reason to get locked why was only I and not them locked?"
-We are not talking about ISP, but here is as mentioned above where our wording is purposely not clear, as service we are referring to a VPN or something which is otherwise changing your connection information which is what has happened in this case, we can see multiple changes in your connection information over a short amount of time so it does not seem likely that you'd change your personal computer that amount of times in addition to that I can see that the physical addresses are generic which means it is not your real one.

I know that some anti-virus software offer this service so it may not be that you are doing so intentionally but you have a service which does so automatically for you, or it could be as simple as using an internal network which changes your exits.

"Why will you not give out IPs? The IPs are either mine or the IP of somebody trying to steal my account. If somebody is trying to hack me, the IP is evidence I can deliver to investigators. Why are you withholding this evidence? "
-We are not talking about a breach here of your account, but the account in general being connected to shady people as you've used a generic IP or Physical address which implicated you as an related avatar, but it does not look as a breach or someone trying to access your account and even if it would be so we would of course cooperate with the police but we cannot give out that information to a private person.

"I lived in Sweden a few years back. Again why would lots of different IPs be cause for my account to get locked and stay locked for so long despite me providing documents?"
-

"Why did my account get locked at this specific point in time when I had not used it for several months prior? Was there some activity on that day when it got locked? WHAT triggered the lock?"
-As mentioned above, it may have been so that your account was implicated as an related avatar to another due to the shared connection information and therefor become locked, but it is unfortunately not something we can discuss, but as things are you can feel assured that it wasn't actual activity on your account which caused our suspicion.

"What do you mean by "readings" ? Please clarify the meaning of this entire paragraph, I can't make sense of it."
-What we are referring to is how we look at accounts connections to each other, in your case it is connected to a lot of other avatars using the same exits as you are making it appear like you are having the same connection information so our reading of your account is that it might be implicated in another situation.

"Please give me more information about why you concluded that I should be unlocked and why I was locked to begin with. "
As stated before we do unfortunately not give out information from our investigations which means we cannot share this with you, I can however say that this investigation was unfortunately prolonged and you were unfortunately caught up in that and for that we greatly apologies.

I have most likely told you a bit more than I should of but I feel it is not quite enough regardless and I will leave this case open for any further questions you might have.

Kind regards,
Ulf | Entropia Universe Support
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Me:
Hi,

Ok, but in your first ticket, you stated:
"it was done with the best of interests for your account."

now you say "as things are you can feel assured that it wasn't actual activity on your account which caused our suspicion"

If this activity was on other "shady" accounts, how was this done in my best interest?

I don't mind getting locked. What worries me is the length of the lock and the complete lack of updates.

As much as I have enjoyed EU, I feel like this investigation has taken far too long, and you have been far too vague with details. More importantly there has been far too little communication along the way.

The previous trust I had in EU has taken a severe hit and I think it's fair to say this incident has made me take the decision to leave the game for good. You may want to look at how these cases are handled in the future.

Thanks
Click to expand...

MA:
Hi Utopi,

Thank you for your reply.

I am sorry that you feel we've been vague, but as stated we are doing so due to our policies not allowing us to say much in regards to the actual investigation.

We agree that it took to long for you to get an clear answer and updates during the investigation, it is something we will work on and in fact we are working on a lot of restructuring at support at this time which is part due to why some things may take longer while things are put straight.

Anyhow, that is no excuse and we fully understand your worry and dis-concern, if this leads you to quit the game then we will of course accept that and apologies to you once more for the inconvenience and assist you with termination of your account should you wish or if we could do something else for you.

Kind regards,
Ulf | Entropia Universe Support
Click to expand...
 
Yea man, I understand your frustration, but try to be in their shoes and imagine what solutions would they build to police a population of tens of thousand of accounts.

As I see it, for example, they don't go and enforce it strictly in what regards multiple accounts because some of them might be inoffensive: testing, carrying easier stuff from one location to the other, trading without the hassle of everyone knowing who you are etc

Exactly or very similar activities could very well become shady: what for one player is moving his loot from CP to Caly and get extra 20 auction slots (which is fundamentally inoffensive) might very well be money laundering in some other situation. Or hiding stolen items. Or who knows what.

And to not go all nazi and striclty enforce multi acc, they still need to keep an eye on it just in case.

Just trying to figure here how I would do all this if I would be in respective position at MA, while keeping things as they are for years, where no one is a saint, but vast majority is not a sinner also :)
 
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