DAoC Customer Service, or rather the lack of
Hello everyone, i just had my account reinstated after a five day ban. I would like to share a scenerio that happened to me that you probably couldn't imagine happening to you or anyone else. I know i sure didn't! So, last weekend i was playing my savage (Durin) in Leirvik with a friend who was running three accounts. Now, i'm pretty sure my friend doesn't script/macro because i've been playing with him for a long while now and have never seen any evidence of this. We were having a blast battling against a few hibs over the CK and a couple towers and some open field RvR. We were pretty much wiping the floor with them, but they kept coming back. We eventually backed them up to their port keep. We were mid battle when the game suddenly crashed on me. Thinking that it was just one of the many glitches of this old game, i tried logging back in immediately. "your account has been closed" message appeared, how odd! I had never seen this message before so i went to my email account and found an interesting email. It appears that one of the Hibs we were battling against flagged us for scripting/macroing. Believe it or not, i had received a five day ban w/o any real investigation for scripting/macroing while running one account!!! It was obvious that i was not scripting/macroing for these simple examples - The person that i was grouped with does not share any account ties to mine, none. Our IP addresses are not the same making it obvious that we were two different people. We were also messaging back and forth in group chat to one another. I never received any message, warning or any kind of real investigation. If i had, i would never had received this false ban. I was floored by this! I thought, was i battling against a friend of a Broadsword employee or an employee themself? Am i paying Broadsword to bully/harass me? I did try to appeal the unjustified ban thinking that maybe the employee that did this was just a bad apple in the barrel and someone else could help me remove this false blemish from my accounts perfect record. No, apparently this is not just one unqualified employee, the "superviser of CSR" informed me that this ban was not only justified, but would be on my record permanently and will not be discussed any further! I thought, Ok that sucked, but the ban is over and i can play again. But then i started thinking that if this happened to me once, it can surely happen to me or anyone again. Maybe next time i might permanently lose access to an account that i have played for years and have so much of my time and money invested in over some ban that i might receive for no apparent reason. I'm just here to share my experience with you all so that you know what kind of company Broadsword is and what "could" happen to you if you kill the "wrong" people.
The initial ban email -
Your account for Dark Age of Camelot has been temporarily suspended for 5 day(s) due to violations of our Code of Conduct. The details of the violation are as follows:
CSR ticket number 9305561
Policy: Prohibited Conduct [clauses: 13,14,16] (Scripting/Macroing)
Character: Durin
Account: xxxxxx
Server: ywain
Time: 7:07 PM 4/10/2021
This account has been issued a 5 day Suspension.
Customers were logged and subsequently observed using a Scripting/Macro program by Broadsword Employees.
This type of behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in Dark Age of Camelot. Any further violations from this account will result in a long-term suspension or possibly termination of the account, depending on the severity of the violation.
The reply to my appeal -
Greetings,
Thank you for contacting Dark Age of Camelot Dispute. Per your request, account ID: xxxxxx has been reviewed. It appears this account has been suspended for 5 days due to the following critical violation:
Policy: Prohibited Conduct [clauses: 13, 14, 16] (Scripting/Macroing)
Character: Durin
Account: xxxxxx
Server: ywain
Time: 7:07 PM 4/10/2021
The above account has been suspended for 5 days. You have already been forwarded information regarding which clauses of the Terms of Service (ToS) and/or Rules of Conduct (RoC) your account was found to have violated. Scripting/Macroing/Multiboxing is unacceptable behavior and will not be tolerated in Dark Age of Camelot. We regret to have had to take this action against your account, however these policies are in place to protect the integrity of Dark Age of Camelot and the wellbeing of its community. Your account has not been scheduled for termination at this time. Please understand that any subsequent violations of this nature will result in further action taken against this account, including but not limited to long term account suspension, and permanent account termination. You acknowledge and agree to the following:
PLAYER MAY NOT USE THE DAoC SERVICES TO:
13. Use any scripting or macroing tools or software.
14. Use any game hacking/altering/cheating software or tools. Use of these types of programs will result in immediate termination of the Account and may subject you to civil and/or criminal liability.
16. Engage in any behavior that is contrary to the 'spirit of the game' as defined by Broadsword Online Games in its sole discretion.
The Dark Age of Camelot In-Game Support Dispute Team will be unable to overturn the account suspension due to the blatant nature of the violation. This violation will remain on the violation history for the lifetime of the account. This issue has been reviewed by the in game support supervisor and as such the decision in the matter is final. Additionally, In-Game Support does not distinguish between multiple users of the same account. As such, our policies apply to anyone to whom you have provided access to your Dark Age of Camelot account. You are personally responsible for any consequences which include, but are not limited to: warnings, long term account suspensions or permanent account termination. In the future, I highly suggest that you respond to a CSR directive to prevent any action being placed on your account and/or remove any hardware or software that allows your character to perform actions that are otherwise impossible unless you're sitting at the keyboard.
I'm sorry to inform you that the decision in this matter is final, please know that it is possible and quite likely that no further correspondence regarding this violation will be acknowledged. You will be able to log into the account once the suspension period has expired.
Cordially,
Dark Age of Camelot Dispute Team
dispute@darkageofcamelot.com
Broadsword Online Games
The initial ban email -
Your account for Dark Age of Camelot has been temporarily suspended for 5 day(s) due to violations of our Code of Conduct. The details of the violation are as follows:
CSR ticket number 9305561
Policy: Prohibited Conduct [clauses: 13,14,16] (Scripting/Macroing)
Character: Durin
Account: xxxxxx
Server: ywain
Time: 7:07 PM 4/10/2021
This account has been issued a 5 day Suspension.
Customers were logged and subsequently observed using a Scripting/Macro program by Broadsword Employees.
This type of behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in Dark Age of Camelot. Any further violations from this account will result in a long-term suspension or possibly termination of the account, depending on the severity of the violation.
The reply to my appeal -
Greetings,
Thank you for contacting Dark Age of Camelot Dispute. Per your request, account ID: xxxxxx has been reviewed. It appears this account has been suspended for 5 days due to the following critical violation:
Policy: Prohibited Conduct [clauses: 13, 14, 16] (Scripting/Macroing)
Character: Durin
Account: xxxxxx
Server: ywain
Time: 7:07 PM 4/10/2021
The above account has been suspended for 5 days. You have already been forwarded information regarding which clauses of the Terms of Service (ToS) and/or Rules of Conduct (RoC) your account was found to have violated. Scripting/Macroing/Multiboxing is unacceptable behavior and will not be tolerated in Dark Age of Camelot. We regret to have had to take this action against your account, however these policies are in place to protect the integrity of Dark Age of Camelot and the wellbeing of its community. Your account has not been scheduled for termination at this time. Please understand that any subsequent violations of this nature will result in further action taken against this account, including but not limited to long term account suspension, and permanent account termination. You acknowledge and agree to the following:
PLAYER MAY NOT USE THE DAoC SERVICES TO:
13. Use any scripting or macroing tools or software.
14. Use any game hacking/altering/cheating software or tools. Use of these types of programs will result in immediate termination of the Account and may subject you to civil and/or criminal liability.
16. Engage in any behavior that is contrary to the 'spirit of the game' as defined by Broadsword Online Games in its sole discretion.
The Dark Age of Camelot In-Game Support Dispute Team will be unable to overturn the account suspension due to the blatant nature of the violation. This violation will remain on the violation history for the lifetime of the account. This issue has been reviewed by the in game support supervisor and as such the decision in the matter is final. Additionally, In-Game Support does not distinguish between multiple users of the same account. As such, our policies apply to anyone to whom you have provided access to your Dark Age of Camelot account. You are personally responsible for any consequences which include, but are not limited to: warnings, long term account suspensions or permanent account termination. In the future, I highly suggest that you respond to a CSR directive to prevent any action being placed on your account and/or remove any hardware or software that allows your character to perform actions that are otherwise impossible unless you're sitting at the keyboard.
I'm sorry to inform you that the decision in this matter is final, please know that it is possible and quite likely that no further correspondence regarding this violation will be acknowledged. You will be able to log into the account once the suspension period has expired.
Cordially,
Dark Age of Camelot Dispute Team
dispute@darkageofcamelot.com
Broadsword Online Games
Comments
it can happen to you
I'm sure when we get to the bottom of this that we will find carol@broadsword for sale behind it
she has no clue what a macro group is or how its controlled yet she is making recommendations for people to be banned on only her visual evidence...this is unacceptable and must change
Ok
So you refuse to properly validate my accounts and rely on visual account and misstatements in appeals which offer no real proof of violation
That’s sad
You must be afraid of what you might learn in doing so
I again reiterate
I have NEVER macro scripted in the years that I have played doac
My group consisted of 3 different classes with different specs and different abilities…hardly macro/scriptable
I use only in game functionality to achieve their operation
I don’t even use any custom interface, this is a very generic set up
in frontiers people assist and stick all the time, if suddenly this is bannable, the violations are your own fault for having the functionality in game in the 1st place. stop actioning account and severing your income for something that is easier to solve via technology
It’s only 5 days, people have been perma-banned for that.
Da fly family - 4501 4502 4503 4504 4506 4508 4509
Da spider family - 441 442 443 444 445 447
Ywain 1 Mid - Carlingford Hib - Tullamore Alb - Dalton
https://divoxutils.com/user-characters
It's interesting to see that you believe receiving a ban for no reason is ok. I would think that a 1 day ban given to anyone without cause is not acceptable, but that's my own belief.
https://www.granks.com/daoc/signature/char/e7I0A3ruDmc.jpg
https://www.granks.com/daoc/signature/char/IY0C9fELOGQ.jpg
Correct, that's exactly what they stated the ban was for! Only I was running one account and not scripting/macroing or violating any rules. The reason for my post is merely to inform other paying customers of what can happen to any of you, and there's nothing you can do about it if they decided to.
Is that acceptable in your opinion? What if you're grouped with someone using radar and you have no idea they are using it? Should you be given a ban w/o any discussion, warning or any kind of real investigation? What if your account has no prior violations? Are you responsible for the actions of someone else because your are grouped with them? Is this how you want to be treated?
This reminds me of a certain "type" of employee that i used to work with a few years ago. They would see the company abuse their fellow employee but chose to make excuses and find reason as to why they deserved it. They would even turn on their fellow employees to make themselves look better to the company for self gain. Until the day would come, and it always did, when the company turned on them as well and then they learned the hard truth that they just refused to see before. If it can happen to him/her, it can surely happen to you as well.
You can ignore and look away when someone else gets abused by Broadsword, sure. But when a company begins to abuse it's power the only way to put it back into check is by the customer putting it back into check.
i do remember all the cya later im leaving when the big radar ban happened...
I"m all for having rules and enforcing them. You cannot have a decent game if the rules are not enforced. But, banning someone the way i was is an abuse of power. If i had done something wrong and deserved it, i would not be here sharing my story with everyone.
why are you in favor of them??
https://divoxutils.com/users/user_2ZTPHy8tjVF9LWMgujSZfCY9Mos/characters
Thank you Fateboi for the advice. But i was told by a few players that it was probably her that did this to me and that she doesn't understand how scripting/macroing works. One player in particular said that she had accused him in game of scripting/macroing a few times when he wasn't.
13. Use any scripting or macroing tools or software.******************
Wait, wut? I think they need to update their verbiage because their rules literally state no scripting which has recently (and always) been the talk about if it's against the rules or not... when apparently here it clearly is lol
I cannot say if my account was the only one banned. It's up to the person who i was grouped with to say if his three accounts were banned or not. That is his private information. What i can tell you is that my account was banned for scripting/macroing while running one character/account and breaking no violations. I received no in game contact, warnings or any type of investigation before the ban was applied to my account. Even when i appealed the false ban they did no investigation. I did not and have never before broken any rules of conduct. Now i have a permanent blemish on my account for a violation that i did not commit.
I think that it's pretty obvious by what happened to me that it does not matter what is written or not written in their rules of conduct. They can do whatever to your account whenever they see fit, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Much as a feel for ya, people on here don't care and will troll you and see that Broadsword was right about the ban even when it wasn't your fault. I for one wouldn't group with macro groups but if you didn't realise that then that's very unfortunate. All i can say is speak to Carol and see if you can get the ban removed from your account, tho I'm not sure how much success you will have there.
I'm surprised the moderator hasn't removed this post yet as they call this a so called "strict forum".
The "odds" are not in your favor friend. If he was macro'ing... i had no idea. It is just as i told you it is. Like it or not or agree with it or not.
As they say "You can lead or horse to water, but you can't make him drink". At least i did what i felt is right and shared my experience with the player community.
I thought we couldn't assume genders anymore.
Soon we will be jailed for such abusive language!
Was your friend's other characters performing ANY actions at the same time? If so, they were macro/scripting, or appearing to be. The rules basically state that IF you run multiple accounts and IF it looks like you are multiboxing IN a RVR zone, you risk getting blapped. If you are grouped with someone that is breaking the rules, it's fairly common for you to be affected as well. Group with multiboxers in RVR zones at your own risk.