My last day in GTA Online

[Powerpuff]

I bought West Vinewood Nightclub and started to test out how this all works. Soon i realised that as i owned already all the other businesses and being mostly solo player, this is the best way to make passive money, and make it a way that for 20hours you need to do nothing because you do not need to worry about supplies. Perfect. But this meant that i needed to change my Grapeseed Clubhouse to something which was closer to my Nightclub as i always used my clubhouse TV for AFK, and Grapeseed was not particularly close. I replaced it with Downtown Vinewood Clubhouse and after some testing found out that with this Nightclub (as my spawn location) and Clubhouse the perfect contact mission for AFK (to avoid daily charges) was "Blow Up 2". It worked perfectly - start up "Blow Up 2", go to clubhouse (took max 15 seconds) and AFK for 20 hours by watching TV - never had any connection problems).

 

After few weeks i thought: "wouldn't it be cool to actually stream this thing, so i could keep an eye on in - just for monitoring purposes". Tested and done. Using Twitch. Worked perfectly.

 

Week later i started to think how to make the stream more interesting or other way useful. Why not stream DJ live stream from the Nightclub? I could actually listen DJs whole set at work.

I started testing - would i be able to access Nightclub while on Contact mission. No - this did not work, meaning i could not do it the old way - AFK on contact mission. But while i AFK regularly i need to pay daily fees, which with 20 hours could be more that i would like to pay. And which session would be most stable? Invite only? Solo? If in solo as i can not become CEO, can i still watch the DJ live stream from any of the TV's on my Nightclub private quarters?

 

In the end solo session seemed to be most stable, and it still accrued goods for my Nightclub. Perfect.

 

Now the daily fees... As long as you have any money (cash or bank account) you will pay that. But what if i transfer all the money to my second character and withdraw it with second character because bank accounts are shared? Should work.. but can i still watch Nightclub TV while i have no money (no cash or bank account)? It does not work in the office. So deposited all the money to bank account, switched character, went to ATM, clicked withdrew all the money from bank account (did it on ATM as only there you can withdraw all the money with one click), switched back to my first character and it worked - i was still able to watch DJ livestream from nightclub TV. Perfect.

 

Left my character watching DJ livestream, went to sleep, woke up in the morning, checked that all was fine (goods were accrued, no fees were taken, connection was up). Went to work, opened up the stream and started listening the DJ.

 

While having a lunch received an e-mail from R* with subject "Rockstar Games Account Suspension and Character Reset Notification"......

 

And my stream looks like this....

 

 

 

I hope you all enjoyed and found my last post about Nightclubs businesses useful -

 

 

All the best (and we will see again once/if R* releases RDR2 for PC).

Edited August 24, 2018 by Powerpuff
Removed Twitch stream link

[El Payaso]

Wow. That's a bummer.

[DrKrankenstein]

damn, but why though? could it be that you streamed the dj? as in copyright infringment? 

[Lonely-Martin]

Really can't see a ban/wipe coming because of AFK play, if so, many will get the boot, too many.

[Powerpuff]

9 minutes ago, DrKrankenstein said:

damn, but why though? could it be that you streamed the dj? as in copyright infringment? 

What i am thinking is the reason (from least likely to most likely):

1. DJ streaming - least likely as it's a feature of the game as all the other music in the game (radio stations etc), but i might be wrong about that
2. Avoiding paying daily fees by having no funds
3. Transferring all the funds from one character to another and withdrawing all with second character - this might look like modded money money-laundry - but the amount was like $10M

Edited August 24, 2018 by Powerpuff

[Spectre "2K"]

that streaming had to be what provoked R*, they probably mistook it as one of those that stream TV shows for profit. But still, a character wipe for that alone is a little harsh

[namless1]

Perhaps depositing large amount of cash at once triggered some flag in so called 'anti-cheat'? I wouldn't really be surprised if it was that faulty.

[septimoose]

Just now, Powerpuff said:

What i am thinking is the reason (from least likely to most likely):

1. DJ streaming - least likely as it's a feature of the game as all the other music in the game (radio stations etc)
2. Avoiding paying daily fees by having no funds
3. Transferring all the funds from one character to another and withdrawing all with second character - this might look like modded money money-laundry - but the amount was like $10M

 

1. Most likely imo, but a real d**k move by Rockstar

2. Not even an exploit, and I've streamed a few exploits and glitches without repercussions (even though there's invariably someone who says I'M REPORTING U)

3. Again, not an exploit, I really don't think they'd reset you for that.

 

I think in this case it might be worth you making an appeal, because that's grossly unfair to you and you don't seem to have done anything wrong

[Geisterfaust]

Man, there are other games. I said it many times, if R* wipes my account I won't even lift a finger to write an email to support. Anyway, they can't ban you in SP and that's all you may actually need: more detailed map, free cars, no BS calls or other stuff. 

[Quinn_flower]

R* strikes again kids....that's two for two this week alone in false bans. Lol and y'all think Rdr will be safer....

 

Hi powerpuff

 

we are here to deeply regret to inform you that your account has been suspended and reseted when the suspension is over.

 

Thank you and buy more shark cards

 

- R* Games 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2018 by Quinn_flower

[Powerpuff]

25 minutes ago, hei3enberg said:

Man, there are other games. I said it many times, if R* wipes my account I won't even lift a finger to write an email to support. Anyway, they can't ban you in SP and that's all you may actually need: more detailed map, free cars, no BS calls or other stuff. 

As i'm not a big of a gamer anyway i can live with the suspension, but this was simply something very unexpected and in my mind not deserved. Would appreciate more insights about reasons as this would be something useful to others to avoid. Aa i have completed SP many times there is not much interest in there. But once/if RDR2 is released on PC i will be back

 

Actually the saddest part is not being able to participate in here (being a member here more than 10 years) because i would not be able to test stuff out and report back to others...

Edited August 24, 2018 by Powerpuff

[Ceeohthree]

Like I said before, we’re a case study. If we disrupt the process we must face the consequences. 

 

Every breath you take, every move you make, they’ll be tracking you. 👁️

 

 

#wheelsexuality

[Tez2]

I believe this was caused by their anti-cheat.

It either detected you as cheater when you transferred all your funds or it detected the third party program you streamed from despite what R* said about "3rd Party Programs not causing bans in GTA Online"

[Ceeohthree]

@Powerpuff A few years back I was a big gamer and with so many mishaps pertaining to past gaming experiences, I had to humbly except that all things not only come to an end, but happen for reasons unknown, which I consider good sensible reasons. Hopefully what you experienced opens up new opportunities that lead to better things in your life.    

 

To know that you’re not much of a gamer these days, like myself, but invest time and energy into R* games, particularly GTA/GTAO, I find it disappointing to see how they treat players, especially loyal players, of their franchise. Couldn’t they have issued a warning prior to suspending your account or at the very least give a reason for resetting it?

 

R* is funny in how they try to impose their quasi-Big Brother type of governing. This isn't 1984.

 

#wheelsexuality

Edited August 24, 2018 by Ceeohthree

[REXX]

1 hour ago, Powerpuff said:

I could actually listen DJs whole set at work.

Why didn't you just Youtube the set and listen to it at work? Its up there and would have saved you time, money and your account.

 

Sorry to hear though

[Powerpuff]

5 minutes ago, REXX said:

Why didn't you just Youtube the set and listen to it at work? Its up there and would have saved you time, money and your account.

 

Sorry to hear though

Because i wanted 2-in-1.

 

Main aim was to keep my eye on AFK (as there have been cases in the past that after 10 minutes of AFK something has happened with the connection but i found this out like 10 hours later), and bonus was to listen to the DJ. But it's still possible (based on @Fun 2)) the streaming itself might not have been a problem at all.

t

Edited August 24, 2018 by Powerpuff
spelling

[AUScowboy]

Has to be the 3rd party app IMO. So friggin lame, sorry to hear this friend. If it ever happens to me, I'll be done with R* for good, ill even donate my cool tshirts I've bought IRL over the years. I'm on PS4 so its less likely but nothing, sadly, would surprise me with R* at this point

[BlackMilk]

The crime here (IMO) is that we simply don't know for sure what triggered it.

With online gaming it should always be like this: there's a single, clear list of rules and breaking them can lead to penalties.

 

The possible reasons the OP listed are.. well.. I just hope it's not one of those things. But it probably is. Maybe streaming the DJ set was a bad idea but surely that would just lead to things like copyright claims and whatnot? Not paying daily fees isn't really an exploit. You either have the money or you don't. As for transferring large sums of money to the other character with the shared bank account; if Rockstar doesn't want people to do that then WHY THE HELL MAKE IT A FEATURE?

 

I'm sure most of us are safe, not trying to "game" the system, not streaming or recording and uploading video with (possibly?) copyrighted music, etcetera. But it does look like one tiny mistake can lead to a merciless removal of all that you have worked for over the course of several years since GTA:O was started. That's not just harsh, that's unjust. I would say that Rockstar has to start learning from these major mistakes because they'll face the consequences but it's more likely that they'll always have so many customers (more with each title thanks to their marketing strategies, I guess) that they won't ever have to give a crap about the rest of us ever again.

 

In other words, I'm curious to see how many of us GTAF users are going to be posting threads like these in the coming weeks or months. Grab your shields and put them over your heads, the sky is falling down!

 

EDIT: Powerpuff, while this was perhaps a shocking development to a no doubt loyal player such as yourself, I sincerely hope you've had lots of fun playing this game before.

Edited August 24, 2018 by BlackMilk

[0cta]

My bet is that your character missed to pay his bills too many times in a row, despite having enough actual funds for your whole account.

 

20 hours are 25 missed daily payments. This could easily means you saved 500k for doing that (at 20k daily costs, my MC is in that range somewhere)

 

Edit: I think with that train of thought, although really clever, you were really pushing the borders and i can't really argue against people who would call that an exploit. This is subject to interpretation and well....we all know how R* handles these.

 

 

Edited August 24, 2018 by 0cta

[BlackMilk]

22 minutes ago, 0cta said:

This is subject to interpretation and well....we all know how R* handles these.

 

 

That's the problem right there. If Rockstar does not want players to avoid paying fees (in a game where we're supposed to be career criminals, no less) then* they can at the very least tell us directly and at most program in a solution.

 

How hard can it be to subtract the money from the second character as soon as the player logs on to said character, retro-actively? Alternatively, put the character with no money in debt for however much wasn't paid and the amount is automatically subtracted from their income or when money is transferred back.

 

I'm also just curious about this thing. I've never removed all of the money from either of my characters by withdrawing everything on one and leaving nothing on the other. Common sense demands that if you're not doing any CEO/MC activites that you resign from that position and avoid unnecessary business fees. But if your character has no money whatsoever and can't even pay regular property and mechanic fees, what happens then? Doesn't that make the mechanic and affected properties unavailable somehow?

 

If not, perhaps that would be a third option. Actually making the fees meaningful. And if someone has a link to a public statement Rockstar put out (unambiguously) about money transfers on the shared account, please put it here so I can check it out.

 

*lol, "than".

Edited August 24, 2018 by BlackMilk

[Kiethblacklion]

56 minutes ago, Powerpuff said:

Because i wanted 2-in-1.

 

Main aim was to keep my eye on AFK (as there have been cases in the past that after 10 minutes of AFK something has happened with the connection but i found this out like 10 hours later), and bonus was to listen to the DJ. But it's still possible (based on @Fun 2)) the streaming itself might not have been a problem at all.

t

It seems to me that it would be pointless to keep an eye on your AFK. If you're at work and something does disrupt your AFK, what could you do about it? Tell your boss that you need to run home and reset your game?

[Quinn_flower]

9 minutes ago, Kiethblacklion said:

It seems to me that it would be pointless to keep an eye on your AFK. If you're at work and something does disrupt your AFK, what could you do about it? Tell your boss that you need to run home and reset your game?

well there is remote play..................

[WildBrick142]

2 hours ago, Powerpuff said:

What i am thinking is the reason (from least likely to most likely):

1. DJ streaming - least likely as it's a feature of the game as all the other music in the game (radio stations etc), but i might be wrong about that
2. Avoiding paying daily fees by having no funds
3. Transferring all the funds from one character to another and withdrawing all with second character - this might look like modded money money-laundry - but the amount was like $10M

Music is most definitely not a problem. Not Rockstar's problem either (though they did something about it, not sure about Xbox One, but on PS4 if you use the in-built video capture or streaming tools, no music will play in the video/stream except for the gameplay score), it's up to Twitch/YouTube/whateverelse to deal with it. If anything you're more likely to be banned from YouTube because to them it's a crime against humanity or something, while Twitch only mutes specific parts of your VOD that play copyrighted music, don't know how other sites deal with this but either way it has nothing to do with the GTA ban.

 

The daily fees trick is something people have been doing since the game released, even doing the same to avoid paying insurance, and I don't recall any cases where people were banned for that so that's probably safe-ish too.

 

Money transfer likely could have tripped something, 10 million is a pretty large amount to be moving around in one go like that. Rockstar has an extremely large focus on in-game money on PC, so they are going to track things like that.

 

Another likely possibility is that the tools you used for streaming (OBS I assume?) might have tripped the anti-"cheat". Rockstar's anti-cheat is probably the worst one in video game history, I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me they got banned for just having their PC on while playing the game. Since those tools have to hook into the game process to record stuff it probably assumed you're using 3rd party programs to cheat. Though I know of streamers that never got banned, so who knows at this point.

[Geisterfaust]

18 minutes ago, WildBrick142 said:

Rockstar's anti-cheat is probably the worst one in video game history, I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me they got banned for just having their PC on while playing the game.

This! There's no explanation, there's not going to be an explanation. It's hopeless to expect different, especially considering EULA and Rockstar ban policy in general. 

 

@Powerpuff My advice is to actually ditch the game completely, it wastes a lot of your time on stuff you don't really need. You can enjoy mods and map in SP and that's the best part of the game IMO. 

 

 

[Kiethblacklion]

37 minutes ago, Quinn_flower said:

well there is remote play..................

Remote playing while at work? Game's just not worth possible reprimand from the boss. 

[kcole4001]

Whatever the reasoning behind their actions, common decency would dictate at the very least stating the reason.

Apparently that's asking too much.

Hardly what I'd call professional behavior.

[Gaffa]

Just going to chip in and say OBS Studio, StreamLabs OBS and xSplit are all fine and won't be "detected". 

 

You're not the only 'legit case' I've heard being banned this and last week though, think I've seen 20 or more cases so far.  

[JustCallMeNiko]

I feel bad for the OP...there should definitely be some kind of appeal or review process for these kind of bans...this game really does sucks donkey balls on PC...

[-specter-]

Another unjust or unclear ban situation, I'm on your side since I've also been banned without doing anything wrong.

[Quinn_flower]

49 minutes ago, Kiethblacklion said:

Remote playing while at work? Game's just not worth possible reprimand from the boss. 

its called a bathroom break or taking a 10. since steam can now do remote play.....

Edited August 24, 2018 by Quinn_flower