Cheating explained, sort of. Is this really what Ubisoft considers customer service? | Forums

[Murc_]

I was accused of cheating on the Song of the Dryads server. When I questioned the customer service staff about the issue and asked for clarification I was essentially told to take it shut up. They suggested I was still welcome to play as long as I played fair going forward. Before that could happen it would make sense to me that I need to know what I had done that was considered cheating.

Here is the entire exchange if you are interested in reading it. Once I posted this to the HOMMK us forums I was banned from accessing the forum although I am told the post is still there and that ChemZero left it up for his "amusement"

The really amusing this to wonder why Ubisoft thinks people will continue to play this game if their customer service staff respond in this fashion with all their.. former paying customers. There are other games out there.

If you are interested, here is the entire conversation.

I was very disappointed with being labelled a cheater and responded to the accusation suggesting that what is allowable and not allowable via the TOS is not as clear as what they might think it is. In the end they have the power as game devs to do as they like, but as a paying customer, I have ultimate decision on whether or not I will accept how they decide to treat me. In the end I am deciding I will not accept their conduct and I am leaving this game altogether. I will not pay for the privelidge of having an individual arbitrarily rule that what I am doing is against the rules when I do not find the rules clear and there is no consultation or warning on the topic in advance.

If you are interested... Here is the entire exchange.

Friday, November 26th 2010
M&M HK Support
Murc,
After careful review your account has been in violation of the terms of use on the server Song of the Dryads. Large unilateral resource exchanges, whether or not delivered or sent via legitimate means, are strictly prohibited. Your activities on the auction house are in clear violation of the ToS.
As a 1st offense, rather than being banned from SotD, you have had your resources stripped and mines frozen for 72 hours. Any losses from maintenance costs are your responsibility, and will not be reimbursed.
We encourage you to continue to play on this server, but do so without circumventing the rules of the game or attempting to gain an unfair advantage.
There is a zero tolerance policy towards cheating of any kind, and this is what ensures that our servers remain a level playing field for all player types.
Thank you,
ChemZero
HK Support

Friday, November 26th 2010
Murc
Chem, I have watched the forums constantly on this issue and find that there is a fine line between what constitutes pushing and what is considered legitimate team play. A warning regarding my conduct would have been a much better response than a punitive action from my point of view particularly considering that I am not pushing from several accounts in a manner that would be a clear violation of the TOS. These are your quotes from http://forums-mightandmagicher...2191,92541#msg-92541

Pushing sounds vague but it's actually pretty clearly defined. - Large unilateral exchanges, with no reciprocation, that have the intent to propel another player beyond a naturally obtainable state in the game. Pooling resources to get a tear is not pushing, that's gameplay. and.... Seeing as how an alliance is only allowed a single grail structure, it would be might backhanded of us to consider pooling resources in end-game "pushing." However, if we look at your kingdom and see that you spent the resources on your army, I don't care if you're the top player/most important person in your leading alliance, I'll ban you faster than I can down a pound of bacon. ...which is really fast.

I am building a tear oven, a cartographers library, and am trying to hold our border off against a determined foe who has been successful in preventing my allies from playing their troops on the border. In addition I have coordinated my allies (a ragtag group of players whom have no prior association) into a formidable force fighting for a place on the podium. We have no intention of cheating, most of our transaction are completed via the Auction house in order to make them 100% transparent. If there were an issue with the way we were using the AH I would have hoped you would have contacted me and let me know far in advance of this. The entire concept with this alliance is that I anticipated a 50% attrition rate of players quitting the game before the season was over. That is why we recruited close to 80 members at the start. I figured half would quit and I assumed that alliances would be around 40 members in size by the end game completion (apparently I was off by 10). This is necessary because it is, at this point, exceedingly difficult to move troops from one location to another. You cannot abandon cities, so instead I gathered a large number of allies together and encouraged all of them to build a city in our core region, regardless the location of their other cities. We pool resources for tear construction and alliance defense. Once my grail was complete I would be funnelling resources, collected from all the members, to the next member building a tear structure and grail and so forth. I have not been able to find in the forums where this would be considered cheating. In addition, these contributions benefit each player by earning him a place in our final alliance (if we have more active players by that point in the game.. at this rate that might not be a problem. We even have subscribers who have gone inactive. It is a huge frustration as an alliance leader, poof, they are gone, and I cannot move a backbencher into this hole in our border because they are stuck in the cities they started the game with) Regardless, you have deemed it necessary to brand me as a cheater, strip my resources and freeze my mines. Clearly a punitive action. I will re-iterate, it was never my intention to cheat. I thought I had created a rather interesting alliance model that tracked and rewarded player contribution. I am not sure exactly what part of my program is considered cheating, the whole thing? I don't think so because as far as I understand you are allowed to build tears with collected resources. Because I built troops? Again I dont think so, I have found examples on the forums where alliances have thrown resources at a single player to stave off maintenance costs and it has been deemed acceptable. A casual warning would have been appreciated. I work hard at this game and in the process have created a fun game environment for 60+ players. We have suffered attrition but when I look at other areas of the kingdoms and see wide swaths of inactive players I think I have done my part to keep people in my alliance energized in the game. At the same time I have given our server a focal point with our combat with Idylls of the Green and proximity to MITBBS and dragons. Is it coincidence that the top alliances on our server are all on my borders? Maybe. I appreciate the work you put into this game as well, from the other side, but on this action, am left sitting here pondering what the point is for further participation in the game. I do not find my actions to be a clear violation of the TOS.

- Large unilateral exchanges, with no reciprocation, that have the intent to propel another player beyond a naturally obtainable state in the game.

My exchanges have reciprocation and have not propelled me beyond a naturally obtainable state in the game. In addition, we are in end game, I am building two tear structures and will be funding the builds of all grails across my alliance network. Please review my response and consider re-instating my resources and removing the accusation of cheating from my account name. I have no clue how long you have been considering this issue before acting and therefor have no reference for how fast you can consume a pound of bacon but hope to hear a reply from you in a timely fashion all the same.

Friday, November 26th 2010
Murc
My situation would not have required "careful review" if it were a "clear violation of the TOS" and "large unilateral resource exchanges, whether or not delivered or sent via legitimate means" are NOT strictly prohibited. As a customer, my expectation in a situation with numerous grey zones like this one is an opportunity to address your concerns prior to punitive action and judgement on your part. This is a game of weeks and months. This strategy has been in place for us since the beginning. I had just accumulated the resources in my oven city to synthesize the crystal... all gone. After 2 weeks of troop building in an attempt to secure our alliances border after three individuals in the same region went inactive I was finally able to gather enough troops together to put a stop to the bombardments my opponent has been dishing on us, just yesterday... and then today, with no warning, no opportunity to address your concerns or even be aware that my conduct is troubling you, you pull the plug on me. Yesterday, your server blip cost me 400k in troop strength at a critical moment. I have a ticket lodged for this. I was patient, I did not rant, I simply gathered the info and presented it to you for review. Today, you hammer me from the other side. Stripping my ability to defend my border and reducing my troops even further due to the excessive maintenance costs I invoked by pooling my troops together in an attempt push the border back far enough for a couple days to give my ally an opportunity to get his reinforcements in place. As a customer, I expect more from anyone I am pay for a service.

Monday, November 29th 2010
M&M HK Support
"It is forbidden to abuse or exploit any bugs, anomalies, development errors or problems arising during the game. Under no circumstances is a player authorized to use a function for anything other than its intended use."
"Any action that aims to acquire a bonus by misuse of a game function is forbidden. Using several accounts with the aim of giving an advantage to one of them - sometimes referred to as 'pushing' - will result in the closure of the accounts of the incriminated parties."
"Any conduct that Ubisoft, at its complete discretion, deems contrary to 'the spirit of the game' is forbidden."
As a GM, I expect more from my players.
Play fair. If it seems too good to be true; it probably is. I can appreciate your sentiments on timing, but there was no question whether or not you were exploiting a game mechanic.
Your punishment has been dealt, and I have no further issue with you. However, if you wish to put yourself on my bad side by complaining that your punishment was inconvenient, you are not only free to do so, but will consequently limit the benefit of the doubt that I would have otherwise extended to you in the future. The choice is yours.
As it stands I have no issue with you as a player, and merely request that you keep it clean and play fair. This is most definitely one place where the adage "better to ask forgiveness than permission" is most definitely NOT true. If you have a question on a game mechanic; ask. I answer dozens of tickets every day from players wanting to know if a certain action is prohibited or not. The consequence of not doing so is authorizing a swift and merciless judgment.
Good luck in your endeavors,
ChemZero

Monday, November 29th 2010
M&M HK Support
Also, as a point of clarification, your interactions between your alliance mates for the purpose of accomplishing end-game objectives were not the cause over which we cried foul play.
Your resources were stripped and mines frozen because of how you were using the auction house to trade large amounts of resources quickly (like stacks of 20-30 crystal and other resources selling for 1g bid 2g buyout) between alliance members. The title of pushing had to do with the way we track out tickets. I wasn't saying the pooling of resources is why you got the hammer.
You were using the auction house in an unintended manner. In any other MMO this wouldn't matter, but in MMHK it is. This is largely a result of the resource-centric gameplay.

Tuesday, December 07th 2010
Murc
"

Any conduct that Ubisoft, at its complete discretion, deems contrary to 'the spirit of the game' is forbidden." As a GM, I expect more from my players. Play fair. If it seems too good to be true; it probably is. I can appreciate your sentiments on timing, but there was no question whether or not you were exploiting a game mechanic. Your punishment has been dealt, and I have no further issue with you. However, if you wish to put yourself on my bad side by complaining that your punishment was inconvenient, you are not only free to do so, but will consequently limit the benefit of the doubt that I would have otherwise extended to you in the future. The choice is yours.

Agreed, the choice is mine. The choice to play and the choice to pay. I have until this point CHOSEN to do both. As a CUSTOMER, I expect more from my supplier. I expect communication and clear direction in advance. You have the power to make unilateral decisions and deem that you have no issue with me. Deem it all you like, I have issue with you, and I am the one paying your salary and supporting the game, not the other way round so your decision that you have no further issue with me is irrelevant. You can stand righteous in your own justification at the risk of standing there alone. In the end you state that the reason my production was stripped was not my game play interactions but rather my use of the auction. Selling a stack of materials for 1 gold was not acceptable. Show me clearly where this is stated in the TOS. The explain why the Auction allows me to perform an action that you deem "clearly" prohibited. The explain why it is only now, after this explanation, that I truly understand why I was targeted and deemed a cheater. Then answer... how much is acceptable? What if I were selling the stacks for 100g, 1000g or 10000 gold. What is acceptable in this "clearly" prohibited action. Despite the "clarity" I still do not know. In the end it is also irrelevant. I have chosen to NOT continue playing or paying for this game. You may not have an issue with me any more, I do however have an issue with you and how you have chosen to handle this situation.

So in the end it was not the collection of resources that was deemed the issue, it was using the marketplace to move the resources between players. I had suspected it was the other way round but was not sure. In fact, I had pushed to use the market place as it was transparent and I figured would be more acceptable than players using caravans, apparently this was wrong. I do not know if I trust this answer completely, the problem with the scenario is the way "justice" is meted out. Individually, and arbitrarily along with the thinly veiled threat to take your lumps or get even more. I pay for this? I don't think so.

Guys, I was having fun in the game, bringing my collection of 4 alliances together, waging an epic battle against Idylls of the Green, strategizing to bring a rapid succession of Grails online one after the other.. all of it. I put a ton of time and effort into the game. I was trying to play competitively within the rules. The rules were a bit vague, so I kept in touch with the forums and tried to ensure we were operating within a legitimate fashion. If the devs had contacted me with a concern about how we were playing I would have thanked them for the heads up and modified our strategy. For someone to arbitrarily bring their "hammer" down on me without consultation is too juvenile for me to accept as something I am willing to pay for and devote time towards.

I enjoy strategy gaming, but this is far from the only strategy game on the market. I will look for another outlet for my gaming interests. One that deals with its players/customers in a more respectful manner. To all members of The Lunatic Fringe / HOMMK it is with regret that I am departing from the game but I am far too stubborn to abide this scenario. If there is interest in maintaining an alliance connection but moving it to another game we can discuss that in another topic on our alliance forum.

I will be assigning a co-manager to my accounts on both servers and abandoning this game.

Murc

[Murc_]

I was accused of cheating on the Song of the Dryads server. When I questioned the customer service staff about the issue and asked for clarification I was essentially told to take it shut up. They suggested I was still welcome to play as long as I played fair going forward. Before that could happen it would make sense to me that I need to know what I had done that was considered cheating.

Here is the entire exchange if you are interested in reading it. Once I posted this to the HOMMK us forums I was banned from accessing the forum although I am told the post is still there and that ChemZero left it up for his "amusement"

The really amusing this to wonder why Ubisoft thinks people will continue to play this game if their customer service staff respond in this fashion with all their.. former paying customers. There are other games out there.

If you are interested, here is the entire conversation.

I was very disappointed with being labelled a cheater and responded to the accusation suggesting that what is allowable and not allowable via the TOS is not as clear as what they might think it is. In the end they have the power as game devs to do as they like, but as a paying customer, I have ultimate decision on whether or not I will accept how they decide to treat me. In the end I am deciding I will not accept their conduct and I am leaving this game altogether. I will not pay for the privelidge of having an individual arbitrarily rule that what I am doing is against the rules when I do not find the rules clear and there is no consultation or warning on the topic in advance.

If you are interested... Here is the entire exchange.

Friday, November 26th 2010
M&M HK Support
Murc,
After careful review your account has been in violation of the terms of use on the server Song of the Dryads. Large unilateral resource exchanges, whether or not delivered or sent via legitimate means, are strictly prohibited. Your activities on the auction house are in clear violation of the ToS.
As a 1st offense, rather than being banned from SotD, you have had your resources stripped and mines frozen for 72 hours. Any losses from maintenance costs are your responsibility, and will not be reimbursed.
We encourage you to continue to play on this server, but do so without circumventing the rules of the game or attempting to gain an unfair advantage.
There is a zero tolerance policy towards cheating of any kind, and this is what ensures that our servers remain a level playing field for all player types.
Thank you,
ChemZero
HK Support

Friday, November 26th 2010
Murc
Chem, I have watched the forums constantly on this issue and find that there is a fine line between what constitutes pushing and what is considered legitimate team play. A warning regarding my conduct would have been a much better response than a punitive action from my point of view particularly considering that I am not pushing from several accounts in a manner that would be a clear violation of the TOS. These are your quotes from http://forums-mightandmagicher...2191,92541#msg-92541

Pushing sounds vague but it's actually pretty clearly defined. - Large unilateral exchanges, with no reciprocation, that have the intent to propel another player beyond a naturally obtainable state in the game. Pooling resources to get a tear is not pushing, that's gameplay. and.... Seeing as how an alliance is only allowed a single grail structure, it would be might backhanded of us to consider pooling resources in end-game "pushing." However, if we look at your kingdom and see that you spent the resources on your army, I don't care if you're the top player/most important person in your leading alliance, I'll ban you faster than I can down a pound of bacon. ...which is really fast.

I am building a tear oven, a cartographers library, and am trying to hold our border off against a determined foe who has been successful in preventing my allies from playing their troops on the border. In addition I have coordinated my allies (a ragtag group of players whom have no prior association) into a formidable force fighting for a place on the podium. We have no intention of cheating, most of our transaction are completed via the Auction house in order to make them 100% transparent. If there were an issue with the way we were using the AH I would have hoped you would have contacted me and let me know far in advance of this. The entire concept with this alliance is that I anticipated a 50% attrition rate of players quitting the game before the season was over. That is why we recruited close to 80 members at the start. I figured half would quit and I assumed that alliances would be around 40 members in size by the end game completion (apparently I was off by 10). This is necessary because it is, at this point, exceedingly difficult to move troops from one location to another. You cannot abandon cities, so instead I gathered a large number of allies together and encouraged all of them to build a city in our core region, regardless the location of their other cities. We pool resources for tear construction and alliance defense. Once my grail was complete I would be funnelling resources, collected from all the members, to the next member building a tear structure and grail and so forth. I have not been able to find in the forums where this would be considered cheating. In addition, these contributions benefit each player by earning him a place in our final alliance (if we have more active players by that point in the game.. at this rate that might not be a problem. We even have subscribers who have gone inactive. It is a huge frustration as an alliance leader, poof, they are gone, and I cannot move a backbencher into this hole in our border because they are stuck in the cities they started the game with) Regardless, you have deemed it necessary to brand me as a cheater, strip my resources and freeze my mines. Clearly a punitive action. I will re-iterate, it was never my intention to cheat. I thought I had created a rather interesting alliance model that tracked and rewarded player contribution. I am not sure exactly what part of my program is considered cheating, the whole thing? I don't think so because as far as I understand you are allowed to build tears with collected resources. Because I built troops? Again I dont think so, I have found examples on the forums where alliances have thrown resources at a single player to stave off maintenance costs and it has been deemed acceptable. A casual warning would have been appreciated. I work hard at this game and in the process have created a fun game environment for 60+ players. We have suffered attrition but when I look at other areas of the kingdoms and see wide swaths of inactive players I think I have done my part to keep people in my alliance energized in the game. At the same time I have given our server a focal point with our combat with Idylls of the Green and proximity to MITBBS and dragons. Is it coincidence that the top alliances on our server are all on my borders? Maybe. I appreciate the work you put into this game as well, from the other side, but on this action, am left sitting here pondering what the point is for further participation in the game. I do not find my actions to be a clear violation of the TOS.

- Large unilateral exchanges, with no reciprocation, that have the intent to propel another player beyond a naturally obtainable state in the game.

My exchanges have reciprocation and have not propelled me beyond a naturally obtainable state in the game. In addition, we are in end game, I am building two tear structures and will be funding the builds of all grails across my alliance network. Please review my response and consider re-instating my resources and removing the accusation of cheating from my account name. I have no clue how long you have been considering this issue before acting and therefor have no reference for how fast you can consume a pound of bacon but hope to hear a reply from you in a timely fashion all the same.

Friday, November 26th 2010
Murc
My situation would not have required "careful review" if it were a "clear violation of the TOS" and "large unilateral resource exchanges, whether or not delivered or sent via legitimate means" are NOT strictly prohibited. As a customer, my expectation in a situation with numerous grey zones like this one is an opportunity to address your concerns prior to punitive action and judgement on your part. This is a game of weeks and months. This strategy has been in place for us since the beginning. I had just accumulated the resources in my oven city to synthesize the crystal... all gone. After 2 weeks of troop building in an attempt to secure our alliances border after three individuals in the same region went inactive I was finally able to gather enough troops together to put a stop to the bombardments my opponent has been dishing on us, just yesterday... and then today, with no warning, no opportunity to address your concerns or even be aware that my conduct is troubling you, you pull the plug on me. Yesterday, your server blip cost me 400k in troop strength at a critical moment. I have a ticket lodged for this. I was patient, I did not rant, I simply gathered the info and presented it to you for review. Today, you hammer me from the other side. Stripping my ability to defend my border and reducing my troops even further due to the excessive maintenance costs I invoked by pooling my troops together in an attempt push the border back far enough for a couple days to give my ally an opportunity to get his reinforcements in place. As a customer, I expect more from anyone I am pay for a service.

Monday, November 29th 2010
M&M HK Support
"It is forbidden to abuse or exploit any bugs, anomalies, development errors or problems arising during the game. Under no circumstances is a player authorized to use a function for anything other than its intended use."
"Any action that aims to acquire a bonus by misuse of a game function is forbidden. Using several accounts with the aim of giving an advantage to one of them - sometimes referred to as 'pushing' - will result in the closure of the accounts of the incriminated parties."
"Any conduct that Ubisoft, at its complete discretion, deems contrary to 'the spirit of the game' is forbidden."
As a GM, I expect more from my players.
Play fair. If it seems too good to be true; it probably is. I can appreciate your sentiments on timing, but there was no question whether or not you were exploiting a game mechanic.
Your punishment has been dealt, and I have no further issue with you. However, if you wish to put yourself on my bad side by complaining that your punishment was inconvenient, you are not only free to do so, but will consequently limit the benefit of the doubt that I would have otherwise extended to you in the future. The choice is yours.
As it stands I have no issue with you as a player, and merely request that you keep it clean and play fair. This is most definitely one place where the adage "better to ask forgiveness than permission" is most definitely NOT true. If you have a question on a game mechanic; ask. I answer dozens of tickets every day from players wanting to know if a certain action is prohibited or not. The consequence of not doing so is authorizing a swift and merciless judgment.
Good luck in your endeavors,
ChemZero

Monday, November 29th 2010
M&M HK Support
Also, as a point of clarification, your interactions between your alliance mates for the purpose of accomplishing end-game objectives were not the cause over which we cried foul play.
Your resources were stripped and mines frozen because of how you were using the auction house to trade large amounts of resources quickly (like stacks of 20-30 crystal and other resources selling for 1g bid 2g buyout) between alliance members. The title of pushing had to do with the way we track out tickets. I wasn't saying the pooling of resources is why you got the hammer.
You were using the auction house in an unintended manner. In any other MMO this wouldn't matter, but in MMHK it is. This is largely a result of the resource-centric gameplay.

Tuesday, December 07th 2010
Murc
"

Any conduct that Ubisoft, at its complete discretion, deems contrary to 'the spirit of the game' is forbidden." As a GM, I expect more from my players. Play fair. If it seems too good to be true; it probably is. I can appreciate your sentiments on timing, but there was no question whether or not you were exploiting a game mechanic. Your punishment has been dealt, and I have no further issue with you. However, if you wish to put yourself on my bad side by complaining that your punishment was inconvenient, you are not only free to do so, but will consequently limit the benefit of the doubt that I would have otherwise extended to you in the future. The choice is yours.

Agreed, the choice is mine. The choice to play and the choice to pay. I have until this point CHOSEN to do both. As a CUSTOMER, I expect more from my supplier. I expect communication and clear direction in advance. You have the power to make unilateral decisions and deem that you have no issue with me. Deem it all you like, I have issue with you, and I am the one paying your salary and supporting the game, not the other way round so your decision that you have no further issue with me is irrelevant. You can stand righteous in your own justification at the risk of standing there alone. In the end you state that the reason my production was stripped was not my game play interactions but rather my use of the auction. Selling a stack of materials for 1 gold was not acceptable. Show me clearly where this is stated in the TOS. The explain why the Auction allows me to perform an action that you deem "clearly" prohibited. The explain why it is only now, after this explanation, that I truly understand why I was targeted and deemed a cheater. Then answer... how much is acceptable? What if I were selling the stacks for 100g, 1000g or 10000 gold. What is acceptable in this "clearly" prohibited action. Despite the "clarity" I still do not know. In the end it is also irrelevant. I have chosen to NOT continue playing or paying for this game. You may not have an issue with me any more, I do however have an issue with you and how you have chosen to handle this situation.

So in the end it was not the collection of resources that was deemed the issue, it was using the marketplace to move the resources between players. I had suspected it was the other way round but was not sure. In fact, I had pushed to use the market place as it was transparent and I figured would be more acceptable than players using caravans, apparently this was wrong. I do not know if I trust this answer completely, the problem with the scenario is the way "justice" is meted out. Individually, and arbitrarily along with the thinly veiled threat to take your lumps or get even more. I pay for this? I don't think so.

Guys, I was having fun in the game, bringing my collection of 4 alliances together, waging an epic battle against Idylls of the Green, strategizing to bring a rapid succession of Grails online one after the other.. all of it. I put a ton of time and effort into the game. I was trying to play competitively within the rules. The rules were a bit vague, so I kept in touch with the forums and tried to ensure we were operating within a legitimate fashion. If the devs had contacted me with a concern about how we were playing I would have thanked them for the heads up and modified our strategy. For someone to arbitrarily bring their "hammer" down on me without consultation is too juvenile for me to accept as something I am willing to pay for and devote time towards.

I enjoy strategy gaming, but this is far from the only strategy game on the market. I will look for another outlet for my gaming interests. One that deals with its players/customers in a more respectful manner. To all members of The Lunatic Fringe / HOMMK it is with regret that I am departing from the game but I am far too stubborn to abide this scenario. If there is interest in maintaining an alliance connection but moving it to another game we can discuss that in another topic on our alliance forum.

I will be assigning a co-manager to my accounts on both servers and abandoning this game.

Murc

[mtkyebra]

Murc_ I'm sorry.

I'm amazed, not, terrified. On UK we are doing that all the time (well fair trades, but with huge amounts of resources per 1 gold). That has never said it was cheating.

On UK I haven't listened anybody complaining about punishments, but I have a lot of neighbours automatically banned for actions not described (at that moment) as cheating or pushing. Whom obviously complained about becoming banned. EDIT: I mean, in UK there aren't punishments, there are direct bans, or at least I've never listen a player talking about punishments.

I see that on US it's VERY easy to become banned from the Forum (I'm also), soon there will be more people banned than actively posting.

The rules aren't clear, they've never been since first betas times. But having different descriptions on the forums on each country (using same language) and different treatment on players it really doesn't help at all to make this game coherent/consistent.

[Murc_]

Thanks for the reply. I have moved on from this game, I could see putting up with this manner of nonsense if it were strictly a free game but is not and I have a number of other gaming choices available to me. I posted this hoping that it would assist others and hopefully let unified know how the game was being moderated in case they were not already aware. The bully/god mentality of some moderators simply doesn't work with those of us who realize we are the customers in thus relationship and deserve a certain level of respect from the game staff.

Clear rules and responses would be a bonus, but these can becworked out with the game developers through respectful communication.

Good luck to everyone,

Murc

[mtkyebra]

Well, better you specify from who you talk each time, as there are moderators who should only affect the forum (usually volunteers), Game Masters and other staff. And there are also several regions which seem to be completely different: USA, UK, FR, China,...

I say this because I'm UK moderator (volunteer) and I don't like the situation respect the way of punish or ban without previous warning and with rules not perfectly clear, but I also don't do on the game what it's not allowed (in UK and now "rest of UE" and the rest of the world associated to UK servers and forums).

I hope the game will improve in that aspect.