Is it time for Rockstar to change their banning policy?

[Jimbatron]

That a simplified example, but it shows that often f*ckups are results of the faulty business processes, not the concrete individuals.

I can believe that's a problem, I see poor coordinations between teams in the very large corporation I work at cause all sorts of problems, as I speculated above, it certainly wouldn't help if the anti-cheat was being run in a different country and time zone to the game development and other functions.

[LoneWulf]

I cant believe they would fully reset characters that have been playing for thousands of hours. Who thought this was a good idea? I feel like whomever is making these decisions needs to be let go. Money wipes im all for even a character reset after three strikes but getting a reset after the first ban is too much. Its a dick move.

[Cheesy_wotsit]

Yes, banning innocent players because of factors that are entirely beyond the players control with no warning, no justification and almost no chance of appeal has to border on illegal, especially when it is in a game that features so many real world cash micro transactions.

 

Of course it doesn't shock me that everything to do with PC was half arsed in this game. That the anti cheat system is a pile of wank that doesn't punish the guilty but will happily perma-ban the innocent what is utterly breath taking is the utter lack of regard that Rcokstar seem to have for these issues. So f*cking desperate to suck at the dribbling teat of the PC shark card market they are still beating a long dead horse with the PC part of this game. They have three options

 

1). Admit that they are incapable of policing the PC version of this game in a fair and effective manner, pull the plug on Shark Cards and just let players have it

2). Actually get someone who is more competent than the office gerbil to work on their anti cheat system, i.e make an anti cheat system that f*cking works

3). If they are unable or unwilling to do either of the above then they should at least seriously improve the information that players get when they are suspected of mis behaviour and give them access to the evidence of their wrong doing a dedicated manned fall back for appealing any incorrect bans

 

Of course all of these solutions require the entire ass to implement and as we know Rcokstar certainly love to half ass just about ever aspect of this game.

Edited April 1, 2018 by Cheesy_wotsit

[Pocket Fox]

I cant believe they would fully reset characters that have been playing for thousands of hours. Who thought this was a good idea? I feel like whomever is making these decisions needs to be let go. Money wipes im all for even a character reset after three strikes but getting a reset after the first ban is too much. Its a dick move.

 

Ive spent around 1.2 - 1.3k AUD on shark cards over the years, pumped maybe 1,500 to 2,000 hours into the game.

 

If I get hit by a false ban, the punishment is actually more severe than if I broke into a retail store and stole the game with a fistful of shark cards.

 

Also don't forget.

 

ALL BANS ARE FINAL

 

0 ZERO (NO) APPEALS

 

and the little cherry on top of the festering turd that is R* games and Take Two interactive.... THEY DON'T PROVIDE ANY EVIDENCE OF WHY YOU WERE BANNED!!!

 

R* and Take Two make EA and most vaporware developers look like saints by comparison.

[Locce]

R* have pretty little experience (and apparently absolutely no interest in) managing an online community and it shows. Their whole "communication" policy is a bad joke as they obviously intend to be as inconvenient to contact as possible while it is still technically possible - it is for example not an accident that tickets from pc players require DxDiag and MSInfo files even for decidedly non-technical categories - and the way they handle bans, character resets and money deletions - i.e. throw any sense of proportionality overboard, one punishment fits all, and (fully automated) assure you it is all your fault, although they will not tell you how - is just the peak of the suspiciously yellow iceberg. When it comes to illegitimate punishments or other problems probably caused by R*'s software their support is the least helpful of all games I have played in decades of being a gamer. I have played games with no support whatsoever and somehow R*'s support still manages to be worse by wasting your time for nothing.

 

Most of this is probably due to cost, although by now they could probably afford hiring Beyonce to handle their tickets. But actually handling tickets, especially appeals where it would be a matter of decency and transparency to at least offer a concrete reason for the punishment, would make it a lot harder to not accidentally acknowledge that their bug-ridden anti-cheat module is not infallible, and that is a can of worms they are certainly not prepared to open. That would sooner or later require fixing something they do not have the first idea how to fix. The way they are going about it makes it evidently clear that without a shadow of a doubt they know how bad their "anti-cheat" measures really are. Only shady con men hide from you when you have a valid complaint, and that is exactly what they are at this point. They are biding their time until the people they defrauded lose their patience and just go away, and they hope that by the time the next game comes around all will be forgiven and forgotten.

Edited April 2, 2018 by Locce

[The Wandering Hunter]

their policy of randomly banning people on pc?

 

that should probably change, yes.

 

honestly i don't get why people on pc even still play this game. it's pretty bad on console with the forced public bullsh*t, but i can deal with most threats. being randomly set on fire and teleported into a box though? that sh*t would end the game for me immediately, and i'd demand a refund which i'm pretty sure steam would give.

Edited April 2, 2018 by The Wandering Hunter

[Hécate-II]

hey, anyone got the "we hope you have fun we're monitoring your account stuff don't cheat" long ass message? I mean among peoples who have been suspended then reinstated. I've run into cheaters today(caged, teleported...usual stuff) and I'm running the game with SweetFX, the game is much more enjoyable with.

 

 

 

[Shadowfennekin]

I think the "Oh you're character is deleted. lol" thing about getting banned shouldn't be a thing anymore, considering all the 'accidental' bans. Even more ridiculous if you get say a week ban, that's not good enough of an offense to warrant full on deletion.

[Jimbatron]

hey, anyone got the "we hope you have fun we're monitoring your account stuff don't cheat" long ass message? I mean among peoples who have been suspended then reinstated. I've run into cheaters today(caged, teleported...usual stuff) and I'm running the game with SweetFX, the game is much more enjoyable with.

 

 

 

Interesting I haven't seen such a message - although I wasn't banned, presumably this is just for those reinstated? When did this appear? Edited April 2, 2018 by Jimbatron

[flexcreator]

and I'm running the game with SweetFX

 

Did you run it prior the ban?

[Black-Dragon96]

I think the "Oh you're character is deleted. lol" thing about getting banned shouldn't be a thing anymore, considering all the 'accidental' bans. Even more ridiculous if you get say a week ban, that's not good enough of an offense to warrant full on deletion.

Exactly! The only time a character should be reset is when he account gets a perma ban.

[fatdog]

I'm running the game with SweetFX, the game is much more enjoyable with.

 

Lmao, these people. Running sh*t that alters game's render, than complaining about bans "out of nowhere", smh

[B7R]

 

I think the "Oh you're character is deleted. lol" thing about getting banned shouldn't be a thing anymore, considering all the 'accidental' bans. Even more ridiculous if you get say a week ban, that's not good enough of an offense to warrant full on deletion.

Exactly! The only time a character should be reset is when he account gets a perma ban.

 

 

I'm sorta 50/50. What if this entire ban thing caused legit players to end up with a permanent ban instead of a ban for a week or 3 days?

 

Bye bye legit accounts due to Rockstars screw-up i suppose.

 

Surely there has to be some sorta of other system in place that could look over an account users history and see if they've had any previous bans or suspensions. If Rockstar were a bunch of competent people and could look at someones history and say "Well Our system is to blame for this so we'll override the ban and remove it from your history". I think that would be a good thing but Rockstars All bans are final even if it's our f*ck up is the biggest load of sh*t I've seen. Imagine if the DMV got hacked and somehow everyone's licenses ended up banned or cancelled. Oh year our system was hacked into, yes our fault but the license cancellations are final and we won't over turn them. That'll be sure to p!ss a lot of people off for sure.

[Black-Dragon96]

^ You misunderstood me there buddy. I meant that if you are just getting a temp ban, your character should NOT be reset.

It should only get reset when you are perma banned, but even then it should be recoverable in case R* f*cks up.

 

 

 

I'm running the game with SweetFX, the game is much more enjoyable with.

 

Lmao, these people. Running sh*t that alters game's render, than complaining about bans "out of nowhere", smhAnd what exactly is so bad about using something that enhances your visual experience?

Sure, its a mod, sure it alters the game, but for real, stuff like this should be allowed.

Edited April 2, 2018 by Black-Dragon96

[Gaffa]

 

hey, anyone got the "we hope you have fun we're monitoring your account stuff don't cheat" long ass message? I mean among peoples who have been suspended then reinstated. I've run into cheaters today(caged, teleported...usual stuff) and I'm running the game with SweetFX, the game is much more enjoyable with.

 

 

 

Interesting I haven't seen such a message - although I wasn't banned, presumably this is just for those reinstated? When did this appear?

 

 

This is just the message that was introduced with the Gunrunning update (IIRC, might be wrong) that every current-gen player had to see and click through. You must've seen it. Here's the English version:

 

 

It should show up once your fresh account starts online and then shouldn't show up again (unless you're suspended for 30 days and you re-create your character again etc).

Edited April 2, 2018 by Gaffa™

[fatdog]

And what exactly is so bad about using something that enhances your visual experience?

 

Nothing I guess, except for being very risky, especialy knowing poorly designed anticheat and no appeal policy.

[Hécate-II]

 

and I'm running the game with SweetFX

 

Did you run it prior the ban?

No. I gave a try to SweetFX on my suspended/reinstated alt account after being reinstated. I played a good week with , probably the most eye-candy one out the 4500 Hours I played this game.

[The Wandering Hunter]

 

I'm running the game with SweetFX, the game is much more enjoyable with.

 

Lmao, these people. Running sh*t that alters game's render, than complaining about bans "out of nowhere", smhyeah you can't really complain if you've altered the files atall. for all they know you've deleted all the textures in a deathmatches so you can see through walls or some sh*t like that.

[flexcreator]

 

I'm running the game with SweetFX, the game is much more enjoyable with.

 

Lmao, these people. Running sh*t that alters game's render, than complaining about bans "out of nowhere", smh

And what exactly is so bad about using something that enhances your visual experience?

Sure, its a mod, sure it alters the game, but for real, stuff like this should be allowed.

 

You don't know what's allowed and what's not. R* doesn't make any statements. But any kind of injection is risky. And we are not in position to tell them what should be allowed and what's not.

R* should NOT ban innocent players. So what? They still do it.

 

I enjoy rendering GTA clips with Reshade (The Redux Ultra Preset) and ENB. My hardware could easily run online with these settings without a single FPS drop.

Guess why me and most of the players avoid playing online with render modifications? To avoid being banned!

 

The question is debatable though. Some people claim that they were able to play with Reshade / ENB / SweetFX for months. Some people claim that they were banned.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/gtaonline/comments/4bxq43/so_i_was_banned_for_an_enbshader_mod_on_pc_and_i/

http://gtaforums.com/topic/847774-gta-online-enb-series/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/271590/discussions/0/485622866445043987/

https://www.reddit.com/r/GrandTheftAutoV_PC/comments/40b8vt/can_you_get_banned_for_using_sweetfx_in_gtao/

https://www.reddit.com/r/GrandTheftAutoV/comments/3t687k/are_enb_safe_to_you_in_gta_online/

[Hécate-II]

But they're Reshade users who used it before june 2017(Gunrunning purge introducing new things).

[Jimbatron]

I agree I'm speculating, my working assumption was that the latest ban wave was nothing to do with in game exploits. Repeat glitching finales or duping cars happens on the consoles too for example. So if it is PC only, then presumably it must be some kind of attempt to detect mod menus not linked to game stats (because too many people who were banned had noting untoward there - I mean some people were reportedly banned after just buying the game). If we accept that innocent players were banned and it's not something in game, then innocent third party software seems a likely culprit.

 

If so then that's worrying. I regard myself as reasonably computer literate, but I'd admit I have little idea how much programs I have running in the background - such as a virus checker, NVidia GeForce and Shadow Play - interact with GTA V. I just assume because they are common programs they are safe and R* would test such things to make sure they are not falsely identified as something malicious. But the vast majority of players will have stuff running in the background, unaware of how it may interact with other software.

 

Any other theories that people have about what might have caused it? I don't buy it's a stats audit for a moment. One rather worrying thought I had is maybe it's an in game bug - for example when you rank up or get paid it doesn't register correctly and winds up looking like a manipulation attempt rather than genuine progress.

[Quinn_flower]

It's dumb I can't use sweet fx or reshade on gta now it seems you can't use freestyle.

[Blasterman4EVER]

No.

I have never known one person who followed the ToS who was banned.

If you have ever used mods in any way whatsoever, single player or multiplayer, you should be banned, even if you have removed all traces and there was no negative effect on another player.

They are extremely explicit in letting players know what gets them banned.

If you alter the game (use or install any mod even for one moment), you're extremely lucky if you aren't banned.


What I really don't understand are the people who complain about being unjustly banned, then they admit that at some point the installed something modding related in any way.

......

If you have ever done ONE intentional glitch, used ANY mod of any kind in any way whatsoever, or have ever used exploits to ruin others' experience, you're fair game to be banned.


It seems to me like some of the people who get banned find it unjust simply because they weren't doing anything ... "really bad".

This is an all or nothing thing, folks.

Play the game exactly as Rockstar intended or get banned. It really is that simple.

Edited April 3, 2018 by Blasterman4EVER

[Quinn_flower]

Really? I bought the game I dropped about $30 on it and your telling me modding single player is bad.....the hell who I'm going to offended in sp the ai's?

 

I do what the hell I please in sp. r*'can kiss my ass if they Try to block sp modding.

[Jimbatron]

No.....

 

Oh boy. There are so many things wrong with this post. I'm assuming that there is an "adult" on the end of this account. If, by chance, you are a small child, apologies for the verbal kicking you are about to recieve on account of your brain not yet having fully grown. My advice in that case is to talk less and listen more in school. Otherwise....

 

This post is probably the biggest self publication of someone's own ignorance since Dan Quayle tried to tell a school kid how to spell potato. For anyone too young to remember:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So many things here are completely contrary to all the evidence

 

I have never known one person who followed the ToS who was banned.

 

R* by implication disagree with this assessment, since they have twice unbanned a huge number of people, thereby implicitly admitting they made a mistake.

If you have ever used mods in any way whatsoever, single player or multiplayer, you should be banned, even if you have removed all traces and there was no negative effect on another player.

R* again disagree with you. They have been on record in the past to say they are fine with single player modding, and even featured some of the mods on their newswire in the past, basically saying "this is really cool"

They are extremely explicit in letting players know what gets them banned.

No they are not. You only have to look at the legion of support to ticket replies to see they do not specify why bans are handed out at all.

Edited April 3, 2018 by Jimbatron

[Malibu Club]

If you have ever used mods in any way whatsoever, single player or multiplayer, you should be banned, even if you have removed all traces and there was no negative effect on another player.

 

Why story mode?

[Hécate-II]

If virus checker, NVidia GeForce and Shadow Play - interact with GTA V. I just assume because they are common programs they are safe and R* would test such things to make sure they are not falsely identified as something malicious.

I guess those are ok, problems come with less common post processing things and probably R* doesn't test everything anyway. I guess they ignored that their AC would consider MSI Afterburner as something malicious like cheats.

 

---------

 

@ all

 

Btw I'm not crying or complaining, this was not my main account and I was more testing stuff and knew I would have some problem with Reshade, soon or later. I just wanted to confirm that post processing stuff may cause problems.

 

R* deleted that character, but when I created a new one, I realized they transfered my properties, weapon wheel, Avenger, MOC, and all my helicos and personal vehicles+ Pegasus list.

 

Finally they have only deleted my stats(rank lvl 117, kd, crew rank, stamina etc). I can add peoples from here to check, I'm literally a lvl 4 now with Explosive sniper, office, vehicle warehouse, bunker ah ah.

[D9fred95]

If you have ever used mods in any way whatsoever, single player or multiplayer, you should be banned, even if you have removed all traces and there was no negative effect on another player.

Wouldn't want PC gamers to enjoy one of the main draws of PC gaming would we?

I get not allowing mods in multiplayer, but SP where there's no interaction with anyone else, it's extremely stupid to tell a PC gamer "no mods for you" just because Online exists.

 

Edited April 3, 2018 by D9fred95

[B7R]

No.

 

I have never known one person who followed the ToS who was banned.

 

If you have ever used mods in any way whatsoever, single player or multiplayer, you should be banned, even if you have removed all traces and there was no negative effect on another player.

 

They are extremely explicit in letting players know what gets them banned.

 

If you alter the game (use or install any mod even for one moment), you're extremely lucky if you aren't banned.

 

 

What I really don't understand are the people who complain about being unjustly banned, then they admit that at some point the installed something modding related in any way.

 

......

 

If you have ever done ONE intentional glitch, used ANY mod of any kind in any way whatsoever, or have ever used exploits to ruin others' experience, you're fair game to be banned.

 

 

It seems to me like some of the people who get banned find it unjust simply because they weren't doing anything ... "really bad".

 

This is an all or nothing thing, folks.

 

Play the game exactly as Rockstar intended or get banned. It really is that simple.

 

 

 

 

Never known one person who followed the TOS who's been banned huh? Tell me what Plaform their playing on and if it's PC whether they have any applications running in the background because that seems to be what's causing the auto-ban to trigger when everyone loads into GTAOnline.

 

You can always say yes I agree to the TOS and won't do this or do that, but if a program in the background decides to hook into V's memory and processes without you being aware of it then the ban hammer is coming quick smart for you.

 

I'm with you on the Modifications in Multiplayer part but Singleplayer? Are you kidding me?

Your telling me and countless others should be banned for modifying singleplayer that doesn't affect anyone else in the first place but the user modding SP. I've got Native trainer and a few other scripts that allow me to spawn in new weapons and vehicle content without going online and grinding that sh*t. Are you going to tell me next I'm hurting Rockstars revenue because I modified singleplayer when I shouldn't have. Who gives a f*ck what happens in SP, Just as long as it doesn't touch online side of things I'm fine and could care less what people do in SP.

 

And you are saying too that if you use one glitch or modified the game online you deserve to be banned. So if I or someone else was playing GTAOnline on the PC and some d!ckhead with a mod-menu dropped money bags on me or the victim I deserve to get banned?

 

Finally people are trying to play the game as intended but unfortunately people are unfairly being banned left, right and in centre but seeing how you sum things up you're probably coming to come to the conclusion that the victim modified the game and deserved to get banned. I feel sorry for any victim that you are going to scream at saying the ban is justified and shouldn't have modified the game. They might not of modified the game, they may of just had a process or software hook into V's memory and processes without knowing it.

[Blasterman4EVER]

Alright guys... Ill concede I know literally nothing about GTAO for PC and what issues there are.

 

So you can chastise me for that.

 

So let me back off and ask - is most of this a PC issue?

 

I am a dick, but Im not TRYING to be a dick. I just cant stand when people do something wrong and then double down on the lies when they get caught.

 

I will not say that it is impossible for someone to be unjustly banned.

 

Ive just never met anyone on PS4 to be unjustly banned.

 

Nice Dan Quayle reference, though a bit of a stretch here.