Is it time for Rockstar to change their banning policy?

[Xiled]

 

Three little words could force their hand on this matter: Class Action Lawsuit. Just saying...

This i see is very doable. Depending on the country(ies) a cal is enacted in it would also be public causing them to have to be transparent on why each person in the suit was banned and admit the dun goofed and consequences against them will never be the same.

 

When im done typing this ill do some looking into the FCC i dont know about you folks outside the US but the FCC may see this is under their jurisdiction as they police companies in the form of false advertising.

 

They do have a habit of getting involved in lawsuits.

[PetrolCB]

Yeah, good luck with your attempt at litigation over a video game, you stupid idiots.

[thepiebaker]

Yeah, good luck with your attempt at litigation over a video game, you stupid idiots.

Money is involved, the terms of service is a CONTRACT, banning people over false positives is a breach of contract. Courts have filed lawsuits over less, especially in the US. Ultimately theres a lawsuit behind most if not all warning labels. Theres a reason our mcdonalds coffee says "warning this drink is hot"

[PetrolCB]

You didnt sign a contract. You paid $60(?) and skimmed the EULA/TOS.

[Xiled]

Something will happen if they end up banning every player on pc.

[thepiebaker]

You didnt sign a contract. You paid $60(?) and skimmed the EULA/TOS.

I don't know where you're from the button "I have read and accept to the terms and conditions" is signing a digital contract in most 1st world countries

[PetrolCB]

 

You didnt sign a contract. You paid $60(?) and skimmed the EULA/TOS.

I don't know where you're from the button "I have read and accept to the terms and conditions" is signing a digital contract in most 1st world countries

 

Did you actually read the whole thing though? If not, thats an oversight. You blindly checked off a box.

Edited March 28, 2018 by PetrolCB

[thepiebaker]

Point to where I stated I or anyone claimed they skimmed it.

[PetrolCB]

Nobody reads that thing. Have you seen the size of that piece of literature?

[Jimbatron]

I have read both the EULA and the legal agreement in full.

 

It clearly states in their legal T&C that they may suspend or terminate your online access if you break the EULA.

 

It DOES NOT state that they can do so at their sole discretion. Ergo its pretty certain you could legally challenge the decision in theory and ask them to provide proof of how you would break it.

 

It is also clear that US law applies to any challenges to the agreement. And US law is very pro-consumer. If you buy the game, you've entered into a contract and the supplier has obligations to you.

 

Now, there's of course the question whether anyone would have the time or inclination to actually try to take them to court. But if you have a well played job, and could prove you invested a lot of time in building your online progres, the value of a compensation claim could be quite a bit.

 

If you could be bothered to pay a lawyers fee to write a letter I think they'd unban you immediately. Even if the chances of them losing are small, if they did they'd be liable to pay compensation to thousands of other under legal precedent.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Jimbatron

[thepiebaker]

Nobody reads that thing. Have you seen the size of that piece of literature?

Congrats you've just admitted to making an assumption. When you assume something you make an ass out of yourself.

 

No go to your room. People who know what theyre talking about are talking.

Edited March 28, 2018 by thepiebaker

[SUPERSAD]

Has Rockstar Games still not found the error/bug which led to wrongfully bans of innocent players? How long can this last and why do not they just unban the players who obviously did not do anything wrong? And why do not the public get any information about this issue?

Edited March 28, 2018 by SUPERSAD

[JZG]

Nah, they are doing a good work... hahaha

[thepiebaker]

Has Rockstar Games still not found the error/bug which led to wrongfully bans of innocent players? How long can this last and why do not they just unban the players who obviously did not do anything wrong? And why do not the public get any information about this issue?

1 they think the accounts were not falsely flagged

2 they think their extreme measures are legitimized

3 if they admit their anticheat is the buggier than the crotch of my high school ex then they open the door for lawsuits.

[Jimbatron]

If they follow what happened in 2017 they will quietly unban a load of people in several days time but not admit to it or give any reason for what went wrong or why they reversed the decision.

[ALifeOfMisery]

It would be interesting if a so called "whale" who has pumped thousands of dollars into Shark Cards over the years caught a ban and was inclined to file a class action lawsuit against R*.

[Nutduster]

They need to fix both their algorithm and their game. I get the "no appeals" policy, especially from a financial standpoint, but ultimately the heaviest burden is (or should be) on them to make cheating and modding excessively difficult, and to only punish those who still manage to actually cheat and mod. That their game (at least on PC) runs rampant with cheaters and then they respond by throwing their hands up in the air and banning huge numbers of people, some of whom aren't doing much or anything at all wrong... well, it's not a good look for them as a developer.

 

I have little sympathy for modders in multiplayer games, but even less for companies that respond as badly to the problem as Rockstar has. The absolute bare minimum that they should do is make their cheat-detect algorithm err on the side of caution. If you're banning even a small number of people without cause and giving them no avenue of recourse to get reinstated, you have failed as a programmer and as a business.

[UncleScrooge]

Now, there's of course the question whether anyone would have the time or inclination to actually try to take them to court. But if you have a well played job, and could prove you invested a lot of time in building your online progres, the value of a compensation claim could be quite a bit.

If you could be bothered to pay a lawyers fee to write a letter I think they'd unban you immediately. Even if the chances of them losing are small, if they did they'd be liable to pay compensation to thousands of other under legal precedent.

It's a common misconception that class actions required a lot of time and effort on the part of the plaintiff, and although this may be true in some cases, more often than not it's not true.The lawyers involved typically handle the bulk of the work.

Another misconception is that they have a significant upfront cost to get going. This couldn't be more wrong, there are a variety of ways to fund them, sometimes with no upfront cost at all. It is also common for there to be no costs until the case is won.

 

One does still require the inclination however to pursue a class action. For the uninitiated this could seem like a big challenge. It's not really, If I was to ever find my account banned I know I certainly would consider it out of principle.

 

I initially brought this up because a class actionon this topic is just waiting to happen. Not necessarily against Rockstar, although I think we've established they would make a prime target. If this ever did make it to court and was successful the implications to the gaming industry would benefit all gamers into the future. A precedent for transparent policing needs to be established, whether by a disgruntled player vs Rockstar or a more general gamers vs game developers/publishers.

[Jimbatron]

^ I might add that I would only consider that as a last resort.

 

I enjoy R*s games and I have no wish to hurt a company whose products I like.

 

That said, if I'd been unfairly banned and had my character wiped I might consider the legal route if all else failed.

 

However, I've now seen the first report of a player being unbanned. Hopefully more will follow soon. I can forgive a company for making mistakes if they fix them fairly and promptly.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Jimbatron

[EkaSwede]

Reminder that these kinds of people exist.

OH BOY OH BOY!

 

Time to sh*tpost the f*ck out of this topic.

Edited March 28, 2018 by EkaSwede

[Blasterman4EVER]

How can anyone verify or prove that someone he knows has never done anything against the TOS... EVER?

Edited March 28, 2018 by Blasterman4EVER

[Jimbatron]

 

 

How can anyone verify or prove that someone he knows has never done anything against the TOS... EVER?

 

[SHOKKERZ91]

How can anyone verify or prove that someone he knows has never done anything against the TOS... EVER?

 

Stop kissing rockstars... Btw, accounts get unbanned end restored fully. Talking about a never failing anti-cheat-system...

 

http://gtaforums.com/topic/885020-psa-pc-players-risk-of-fraud-rank-outfit-manipulation/page-119

http://gtaforums.com/topic/890577-doing-something-to-free-the-unjustly-banned/page-13

 

Stop beeing a fanboy please.

[B7R]

How can anyone verify or prove that someone he knows has never done anything against the TOS... EVER?

 

That's right because the Banhammer is never wrong? Am I right or wrong with that?

[Lonely-Martin]

How can anyone verify or prove that someone he knows has never done anything against the TOS... EVER?

 

How can anyone verify how a random he/she just met inflated their K/D above 2.0 or 3.0, or scored it legitimately through clean and fair play... EVER?

[Skullpanda3968]

I never understood the whole argument with PC VS Console. The only thing I can see is the graphics argument, which I could care less about, if it's decent quality, I'll play it, don't care if it's in 480 or 1080. HDMI cords for consoles exist as well. I used to play on the PC when I was younger, but then I was introduced into consoles and got completely used to them. As for the banning policy, I believe they should. Innocent players shouldn't be getting targeted and having their time and money wasted due to a faulty system. There's a lot of things I wish R* would work on (and I'm sure others would agree as well), but we all know they won't.

[DaGhostQc]

No.

Risks of playing on PC.

Get a console and you don't get banned.

 

I'd say bad words to you... but I won't. There's no such thing as a risk to play on PC... we're talking about being banned for no reason, the platform doesn't mean sh*t. If they were to do the same thing on consoles, you'd be pissed and you wouldn't be singing the same tune. The way R* works is that they can ban you without having to tell you why, legit player or not. If you don't cheat and get banned, what are you supposed to do? This is literally what's happening right now.

 

Not sure how you can say no to the vote when their policy is sick and twisted. Would you like getting arrested and thrown in jail for no reason, while the authorities refuse to tell you what you've done or why you are there? With ZERO way of defending yourself?

Edited March 29, 2018 by DaGhostQc

[fatdog]

Daghost, have you got banned again?

Edited March 29, 2018 by fatdog

[thepiebaker]

^ I might add that I would only consider that as a last resort.

 

I enjoy R*s games and I have no wish to hurt a company whose products I like.

 

That said, if I'd been unfairly banned and had my character wiped I might consider the legal route if all else failed.

 

However, I've now seen the first report of a player being unbanned. Hopefully more will follow soon. I can forgive a company for making mistakes if they fix them fairly and promptly.

Heres my issues with c*

Since the benz departure C* communication and relations with players has been nothing short of an abortion.

 

Their no tolerance and faulty policies on pc are the gaming equivalence to Stalin.

Their lack of being able to wrangle the cheating issue is remeniscent of pope francis

Their tight lip policies on upcomming content are a joke

 

Give EA as much crap as you want but most of my most thouroughly played games are published by Extreme Asshats. While the Call of star wars 2 loot crates were bad they werent 10% worthy of the lashback they received. And C* ban policy here is much more attrocious than half the crap ive seen EA pull.

 

If my account was subject to this ban and wipe id quit r* all together. Sure im on xbox and microsoft is able to police rockstars treatment of plyers there unlike the open source platform of PC but i stand against this injustice because at the end of the day while i may be a helicarrier and some of you are hellis, penguins, and these gross meatbags called humans we are all gamers and regardless of platform.

Edited March 29, 2018 by thepiebaker

[Jimbatron]

 

Heres my issues with c*

Since the benz departure C* communication and relations with players has been nothing short of an abortion.

 

Their no tolerance and faulty policies on pc are the gaming equivalence to Stalin.

Their lack of being able to wrangle the cheating issue is remeniscent of pope francis

Their tight lip policies on upcomming content are a joke

 

Give EA as much crap as you want but most of my most thouroughly played games are published by Extreme Asshats. While the Call of star wars 2 loot crates were bad they werent 10% worthy of the lashback they received. And C* ban policy here is much more attrocious than half the crap ive seen EA pull.

 

If my account was subject to this ban and wipe id quit r* all together. Sure im on xbox and microsoft is able to police rockstars treatment of plyers there unlike the open source platform of PC but i stand against this injustice because at the end of the day while i may be a helicarrier and some of you are hellis, penguins, and these gross meatbags called humans we are all gamers and regardless of platform.

 

 

Agree with a lot of that. I think the Benz impact is overstated though. Talented he may be, but R* QA and support were crap back in GTA IV days when he was still around. The PC version was initially riddled with bugs and their technical support didn't have a clue how to help you. Oddly enough, it's why I'm here now. I signed up here in Jan 2009 because of technical problems with IV, and GTAF members advised me on how to get the game working properly! But back then of course, character progression wasn't really a thing, microtransactions didn't exist, and ban-waves didn't happen. So their incompetence in this department was less noticeable. QA was always crap too. Anyone remember patch 5 for IV where they managed to make the street textures float? It was the first thing you saw after you stepped out of you apartment. How in the name of all the was holy did they miss that before releasing the patch?

 

Anyway, they need to change their policy now more than ever. I think I could just about move on from them having one faulty ban-wave a year if they quietly re-stored everyone's account once the mistake was realised - like they did last year and appeared to this time. But un-banning people, only to re-ban them in a matter of hours (some whilst offline) is beyond farcical. Their credibility is completely shot in my eyes. They need to open their wallets, ditch the automation and pay a team of people to monitor it manually. If they are that naive they can't see the damage being done, someone needs to introduce them to a consultancy who will calculate the financial impact of bad PR to their brand.

Edited March 29, 2018 by Jimbatron