Account suspension discussion [merged]

[mrstealth.6701]

> @"Obtena.7952" said:

> I don't get that. You think their reason to ban people is somehow going to change because people don't like how they handled the situation? That makes no sense. Again, Anet said why they banned people. If you don't want to miss out on playing the game, simply don't do things that would get you banned.

 

Negative feedback has gotten things changed in the past. The game might even be dead now if Anet never listened to negative player feedback, and kept the course they'd set for the game from original launch through HoT's release. The change in direction and handling of content releases since season 3 have definitely brought new life to the game.

 

So yes, I do think there is a chance that their stance will change, or go back to what it has been for the last 6 years.

[SkyShroud.2865]

I don't see why people are defending anet so much.

 

If the objective is to eliminate cheats, shouldn't people question anet why they did not ban all debuggers?

 

I think people's objective isn't about cheat at all.

[mrstealth.6701]

> @"SkyShroud.2865" said:

> I don't see why people are defending anet so much.

>

> If the objective is to eliminate cheats, shouldn't people question anet why they did not ban all debuggers?

>

> I think people's objective isn't about cheat at all.

 

It would be more effective to make a larger list of debuggers and known GW2 cheats/hacks/trainers, continue detecting them, and prevent the game from running if they are active instead of banning for their presence (which could be a false positive). Also continuing the monitoring of ingame activity that they've done all along to catch new/unknown cheats, macro abuse, or players that find ways to circumvent detection.

 

With that, you discourage/prevent use of cheats without having to ban as many players (you get to keep customers), but still ban the more troublesome players that insist on finding other ways to cheat or bypass detection.

 

The downside would be having the detection system ingame permanently. So it would have to be more carefully built to insure minimal performance impact, and assurances made that it's only calling home for positive detections to eliminate privacy concerns as much as possible. And, of course, not be used as the sole determination of guilt for ban decisions.

 

I'm no fan of Anet, or anyone else, telling me what I can or can't have running on *my* computer (as long as it's not actually impacting their game), but it's a lot better than just banning a bunch of people because randomthingwedontlike.exe was running.

[Obtena.7952]

> @"mrstealth.6701" said:

> > @"Obtena.7952" said:

> > I don't get that. You think their reason to ban people is somehow going to change because people don't like how they handled the situation? That makes no sense. Again, Anet said why they banned people. If you don't want to miss out on playing the game, simply don't do things that would get you banned.

>

> Negative feedback has gotten things changed in the past. The game might even be dead now if Anet never listened to negative player feedback, and kept the course they'd set for the game from original launch through HoT's release. The change in direction and handling of content releases since season 3 have definitely brought new life to the game.

>

> So yes, I do think there is a chance that their stance will change, or go back to what it has been for the last 6 years.

 

So negative feedback is going to change the fact that Anet doesn't want people cheating in their game and they took action against people that were at risk of doing so? That's just naive.

 

You aren't a fan of Anet's rules for what you can and can't run simultaneously with GW2 ... you have a choice. One thing is certain, Anet will make that choice for you if you don't want to yourself. It's not like there is some negotiation here. You know the risks.

[SWI.4127]

Quick question, and excuse me if it's been answered already (hard to follow this thread). But is it okay if I just have Cheat Engine installed on my PC but never have it open when GW2 is open? I just installed it the other day for another game to make a few things more convenient (100% offline play). I am being very careful to never have the process running along side GW2, but I'm a bit paranoid with these bans. I know they didn't check to see if Cheat Engine was accessing GW2, so I'm just wondering how sensitive this detection system they have going is.

[mrstealth.6701]

> @"Obtena.7952" said:

> > @"mrstealth.6701" said:

> > > @"Obtena.7952" said:

> > > I don't get that. You think their reason to ban people is somehow going to change because people don't like how they handled the situation? That makes no sense. Again, Anet said why they banned people. If you don't want to miss out on playing the game, simply don't do things that would get you banned.

> >

> > Negative feedback has gotten things changed in the past. The game might even be dead now if Anet never listened to negative player feedback, and kept the course they'd set for the game from original launch through HoT's release. The change in direction and handling of content releases since season 3 have definitely brought new life to the game.

> >

> > So yes, I do think there is a chance that their stance will change, or go back to what it has been for the last 6 years.

>

> So negative feedback is going to change the fact that Anet doesn't want people cheating in their game and they took action against people that were at risk of doing so? That's just naive.

>

 

 

I wouldn't expect them to change their mind on not wanting people cheating in their game. I don't want people cheating in their game. But banning people because they are "at risk of cheating" is ridiculous. You punish people because they *did* do something wrong, not because they *might* do something wrong. I'm just as much "at risk" of using cheating because of my keyboard and mouse software as someone that has CheatEngine running for another game or purpose (i.e., no risk because neither of us have any intent of using the programs to cheat). I just don't see how it is acceptable in any way to ban someone based only on the existence of something could potentially be used to cheat, especially when said program is a common tool with many uses that are not related to GW2.

 

> You aren't a fan of Anet's rules for what you can and can't run simultaneously with GW2 ... you have a choice. One thing is certain, Anet will make that choice for you if you don't want to yourself. It's not like there is some negotiation here. You know the risks.

 

One problem. We don't really know the risks anymore. Anet seems to have changed rules, and what qualifies as a risk, when they started banning for people for something that should have been fine based on their own words.

 

Anet has been fine with Logitech Gaming software running on my computer for the last 6 years. Is it now acceptable for them to decide that I'm at risk of using it for macros, and ban me without so much as a warning or notice that their stance on this program has completely changed?

[mrstealth.6701]

> @"SWI.4127" said:

> Quick question, and excuse me if it's been answered already (hard to follow this thread). But is it okay if I just have Cheat Engine installed on my PC but never have it open when GW2 is open? I just installed it the other day for another game to make a few things more convenient (100% offline play). I am being very careful to never have the process running along side GW2, but I'm a bit paranoid with these bans. I know they didn't check to see if Cheat Engine was accessing GW2, so I'm just wondering how sensitive this detection system they have going is.

 

Based on what Anet went after with this wave of bans, you should be fine. But we don't have any way of knowing what measures they will take next, or what their decisions on what is and is not allowed will be next week. It's possible, though I think unlikely, for them to resort to checking the list of installed programs or scanning hard drives for programs they don't like.

 

It's just hard to say for sure what's safe or not when rules of the game can change without warning, and the bans start hitting before anyone knows what's happening. But I wouldn't worry too much because I don't think Anet will want to do anything more drastic than what they already have.

[Zushada.6108]

> @"usnedward.9023" said:

> > @"Zushada.6108" said:

> > To be perfectly honest, I don't agree with banning people without direct identification of what they did. Blanket statements do not inform the user of what software/hack etc is the problem. I have read a fair number of comments in this thread and many claim to have never used illegal software.

>

> If those who got hit with the ban open a ticket ANET will tell them what they did. ANET post in general what they did. YOU wanting to know specifics of what they did is a privacy concern unless those who request an answer decide to share it.

> **Senior GM Heart

> Guild Wars 2 Support Team**

>

Thank you for the response, I appreciate you taking the time to pop-in and attempt to clarify. Normally I just accept a response and move on; however, in this case I must tell you that you misread/misunderstood my opening statement.

 

The one that you misinterpreted, and centred out, specifically says, "To be perfectly honest, I don't agree with banning people **without direct identification of what they did. Blanket statements do not inform the USER of what software/hack etc is the problem.**"

 

This clearly states that the user should be informed -- not me as a community member. I am very bothered by your implication that I suggested breaking confidentiality of another community member. My entire post is very clear and states very well that I respect the rules of this game and have zero interest in impeding the confidentiality/privacy of other users.

 

I will also restate, that it seems to me like everytime Anet launches legitimate (and understandable) account bans, the forums light up with "why me" threads and the service desk is flooded. It is just ineffective and inefficient and makes matters worse for folks in the Community/CS area. If the devs would just change a line of code and tell those people in the ban message, which programs/add-ons/macros were used in the infraction, a lot of these discussions would be resolved and any forum debates null and void.

 

Again, thank you for your response.

[Nightlark.4029]

> @"IndigoSundown.5419" said:

> > @"mrstealth.6701" said:

> >

> > By the standard of "it's a tool that can be used to cheat", I should have been banned for using Logitech Gaming Software way back in 2012. But Anet appears to apply some actual care and effort in determining whether or not a macro-capable program like LGS is actually being used for macros in GW2. Anet even goes so far as to actually allow macros for musical instruments, which shows that they are very much capable of determining what you are really doing ingame with these tools. Why is there a double standard for a program such as Cheat Engine, and its mere existence along side GW2 is considered proof of guilt?

>

> Macros are commonly used, legitimate tools in many programs. Maybe ANet doesn't accept that CE has "legitimate" uses. I've seen the claims herein that if it is closed it might take "5-10 minutes" to get back to where one was working. Is that standard for debugging tools, or is CE just not very good?

 

I probably gave a fairly bad case scenario. I haven’t seen many debuggers with a save/restore snapshot feature that lets you pick up right where you left off, except maybe in emulators (eg consoles).

 

The time taken is probably more like: (time to start program + time for program to load whatever data it needs + time for user actions/input required to do what was done last time + time program takes processing data) * some slow down factor for running in a debugger

 

Some of those things like a mix of several steps with user input and loading/processing data can add up quickly. For the “fun” projects I’m doing, it’s probably 1-2 minutes. Of course, doing all the work in a VM can enable snapshots that allow jumping to whatever previous snapshots were taken.

 

Realistically, the best part of CE is probably it’s ability to search for values in memory. Its debugger is flaky — like you’ll go to attach it to a program, set a few breakpoints, and then a little while later the breakpoints will just stop working. Early on I used it, but there are other debuggers that are much more reliable.

 

For work, program run times can be hours, but we have smaller tests to verify functionality (and access to source code, so it’s not quite the same type of debugging).

[IndigoSundown.5419]

> @"Nightlark.4029" said:

> > @"IndigoSundown.5419" said:

> > > @"mrstealth.6701" said:

> > >

> > > By the standard of "it's a tool that can be used to cheat", I should have been banned for using Logitech Gaming Software way back in 2012. But Anet appears to apply some actual care and effort in determining whether or not a macro-capable program like LGS is actually being used for macros in GW2. Anet even goes so far as to actually allow macros for musical instruments, which shows that they are very much capable of determining what you are really doing ingame with these tools. Why is there a double standard for a program such as Cheat Engine, and its mere existence along side GW2 is considered proof of guilt?

> >

> > Macros are commonly used, legitimate tools in many programs. Maybe ANet doesn't accept that CE has "legitimate" uses. I've seen the claims herein that if it is closed it might take "5-10 minutes" to get back to where one was working. Is that standard for debugging tools, or is CE just not very good?

>

> I probably gave a fairly bad case scenario. I haven’t seen many debuggers with a save/restore snapshot feature that lets you pick up right where you left off, except maybe in emulators (eg consoles).

>

> The time taken is probably more like: (time to start program + time for program to load whatever data it needs + time for user actions/input required to do what was done last time + time program takes processing data) * some slow down factor for running in a debugger

>

> Some of those things like a mix of several steps with user input and loading/processing data can add up quickly. For the “fun” projects I’m doing, it’s probably 1-2 minutes. Of course, doing all the work in a VM can enable snapshots that allow jumping to whatever previous snapshots were taken.

>

> Realistically, the best part of CE is probably it’s ability to search for values in memory. Its debugger is flaky — like you’ll go to attach it to a program, set a few breakpoints, and then a little while later the breakpoints will just stop working. Early on I used it, but there are other debuggers that are much more reliable.

>

> For work, program run times can be hours, but we have smaller tests to verify functionality (and access to source code, so it’s not quite the same type of debugging).

 

Thanks for the response. So, 5-10 minutes is not outside the pale for a very complex project, but CE is not exactly the Mercedes of debuggers?

[Oldirtbeard.9834]

My account is safe, not banned. I'm more concerned with the privacy violation. I think this should have been better put together like Blizzards Warden in a way where it prohibits people from logging in or staying logged in if said programs are active, permanent again like Warden, and finally they should have had the decency to tell us what was happening so that we don't have all of these conspiracy theories going around. Personally I haven't logged in beyond making sure I wasn't swept up with the 1500. The lack of transparency has really killed my interest in playing or spending money until we get a statement regarding this program and what data was collected, how it was encrypted (if it was even), and what data they kept. I also think ANet should release a statement to major blogs such as Massively OP because out side of GW2s player base ANet has egg on it's face.

 

I want to avoid any sparring so if I see anything I feel might get my blood boiling it's probably smart of me to not engage.

 

We all have great love for this franchise and I respect your viewpoints so let's keep our discourse civil over this hot button situation.

[Laila Lightness.8742]

> @"Oldirtbeard.9834" said:

> My account is safe, not banned. I'm more concerned with the privacy violation. I think this should have been better put together like Blizzards Warden in a way where it prohibits people from logging in or staying logged in if said programs are active, permanent again like Warden, and finally they should have had the decency to tell us what was happening so that we don't have all of these conspiracy theories going around. Personally I haven't logged in beyond making sure I wasn't swept up with the 1500. The lack of transparency has really killed my interest in playing or spending money until we get a statement regarding this program and what data was collected, how it was encrypted (if it was even), and what data they kept. I also think ANet should release a statement to major blogs such as Massively OP because out side of GW2s player base ANet has egg on it's face.

>

> I want to avoid any sparring so if I see anything I feel might get my blood boiling it's probably smart of me to not engage.

>

> We all have great love for this franchise and I respect your viewpoints so let's keep our discourse civil over this hot button situation.

 

One reason the warden stuff wouldnt work is its to well known wich hasnt prevented never hacks and can be bypassed what anet did was a way a person couldnt hide unless you play on linux ore mac since anet used windows api

[Arathor.5819]

> @"Laila Lightness.8742" said:

> > @"Oldirtbeard.9834" said:

> > My account is safe, not banned. I'm more concerned with the privacy violation. I think this should have been better put together like Blizzards Warden in a way where it prohibits people from logging in or staying logged in if said programs are active, permanent again like Warden, and finally they should have had the decency to tell us what was happening so that we don't have all of these conspiracy theories going around. Personally I haven't logged in beyond making sure I wasn't swept up with the 1500. The lack of transparency has really killed my interest in playing or spending money until we get a statement regarding this program and what data was collected, how it was encrypted (if it was even), and what data they kept. I also think ANet should release a statement to major blogs such as Massively OP because out side of GW2s player base ANet has egg on it's face.

> >

> > I want to avoid any sparring so if I see anything I feel might get my blood boiling it's probably smart of me to not engage.

> >

> > We all have great love for this franchise and I respect your viewpoints so let's keep our discourse civil over this hot button situation.

>

> One reason the warden stuff wouldnt work is its to well known wich hasnt prevented never hacks and can be bypassed what anet did was a way a person couldnt hide unless you play on linux ore mac since anet used windows api

 

The grammar here makes this really hard to understand.

[Oldirtbeard.9834]

> @"Laila Lightness.8742" said:

> > @"Oldirtbeard.9834" said:

> > My account is safe, not banned. I'm more concerned with the privacy violation. I think this should have been better put together like Blizzards Warden in a way where it prohibits people from logging in or staying logged in if said programs are active, permanent again like Warden, and finally they should have had the decency to tell us what was happening so that we don't have all of these conspiracy theories going around. Personally I haven't logged in beyond making sure I wasn't swept up with the 1500. The lack of transparency has really killed my interest in playing or spending money until we get a statement regarding this program and what data was collected, how it was encrypted (if it was even), and what data they kept. I also think ANet should release a statement to major blogs such as Massively OP because out side of GW2s player base ANet has egg on it's face.

> >

> > I want to avoid any sparring so if I see anything I feel might get my blood boiling it's probably smart of me to not engage.

> >

> > We all have great love for this franchise and I respect your viewpoints so let's keep our discourse civil over this hot button situation.

>

> One reason the warden stuff wouldnt work is its to well known wich hasnt prevented never hacks and can be bypassed what anet did was a way a person couldnt hide unless you play on linux ore mac since anet used windows api

 

I would have thought Blizz would keep on top of that, even if we're talking tweaking it every quarter to throw the hackers off, I guess I'm naive.

[Oldirtbeard.9834]

> @"Arathor.5819" said:

> > @"Laila Lightness.8742" said:

> > > @"Oldirtbeard.9834" said:

> > > My account is safe, not banned. I'm more concerned with the privacy violation. I think this should have been better put together like Blizzards Warden in a way where it prohibits people from logging in or staying logged in if said programs are active, permanent again like Warden, and finally they should have had the decency to tell us what was happening so that we don't have all of these conspiracy theories going around. Personally I haven't logged in beyond making sure I wasn't swept up with the 1500. The lack of transparency has really killed my interest in playing or spending money until we get a statement regarding this program and what data was collected, how it was encrypted (if it was even), and what data they kept. I also think ANet should release a statement to major blogs such as Massively OP because out side of GW2s player base ANet has egg on it's face.

> > >

> > > I want to avoid any sparring so if I see anything I feel might get my blood boiling it's probably smart of me to not engage.

> > >

> > > We all have great love for this franchise and I respect your viewpoints so let's keep our discourse civil over this hot button situation.

> >

> > One reason the warden stuff wouldnt work is its to well known wich hasnt prevented never hacks and can be bypassed what anet did was a way a person couldnt hide unless you play on linux ore mac since anet used windows api

>

> The grammar here makes this really hard to understand.

 

My post or his, I understood it but I can see if perhaps English might not be a native language you may have trouble?

[Nightlark.4029]

> @"IndigoSundown.5419" said:

> > @"Nightlark.4029" said:

> > > @"IndigoSundown.5419" said:

> > > > @"mrstealth.6701" said:

> > > >

> > > > By the standard of "it's a tool that can be used to cheat", I should have been banned for using Logitech Gaming Software way back in 2012. But Anet appears to apply some actual care and effort in determining whether or not a macro-capable program like LGS is actually being used for macros in GW2. Anet even goes so far as to actually allow macros for musical instruments, which shows that they are very much capable of determining what you are really doing ingame with these tools. Why is there a double standard for a program such as Cheat Engine, and its mere existence along side GW2 is considered proof of guilt?

> > >

> > > Macros are commonly used, legitimate tools in many programs. Maybe ANet doesn't accept that CE has "legitimate" uses. I've seen the claims herein that if it is closed it might take "5-10 minutes" to get back to where one was working. Is that standard for debugging tools, or is CE just not very good?

> >

> > I probably gave a fairly bad case scenario. I haven’t seen many debuggers with a save/restore snapshot feature that lets you pick up right where you left off, except maybe in emulators (eg consoles).

> >

> > The time taken is probably more like: (time to start program + time for program to load whatever data it needs + time for user actions/input required to do what was done last time + time program takes processing data) * some slow down factor for running in a debugger

> >

> > Some of those things like a mix of several steps with user input and loading/processing data can add up quickly. For the “fun” projects I’m doing, it’s probably 1-2 minutes. Of course, doing all the work in a VM can enable snapshots that allow jumping to whatever previous snapshots were taken.

> >

> > Realistically, the best part of CE is probably it’s ability to search for values in memory. Its debugger is flaky — like you’ll go to attach it to a program, set a few breakpoints, and then a little while later the breakpoints will just stop working. Early on I used it, but there are other debuggers that are much more reliable.

> >

> > For work, program run times can be hours, but we have smaller tests to verify functionality (and access to source code, so it’s not quite the same type of debugging).

>

> Thanks for the response. So, 5-10 minutes is not outside the pale for a very complex project, but CE is not exactly the Mercedes of debuggers?

 

Yea, it just depends on how much time it takes to reproduce the scenario you’re trying to debug. There are better ones, some of them (more so for ones meant to use with source available compared to no source code) have features that can “rewind” the execution of a program.

[mercury ranique.2170]

> @"Oldirtbeard.9834" said:

> My account is safe, not banned. I'm more concerned with the privacy violation. I think this should have been better put together like Blizzards Warden in a way where it prohibits people from logging in or staying logged in if said programs are active, permanent again like Warden, and finally they should have had the decency to tell us what was happening so that we don't have all of these conspiracy theories going around. Personally I haven't logged in beyond making sure I wasn't swept up with the 1500. The lack of transparency has really killed my interest in playing or spending money until we get a statement regarding this program and what data was collected, how it was encrypted (if it was even), and what data they kept. I also think ANet should release a statement to major blogs such as Massively OP because out side of GW2s player base ANet has egg on it's face.

>

> I want to avoid any sparring so if I see anything I feel might get my blood boiling it's probably smart of me to not engage.

>

> We all have great love for this franchise and I respect your viewpoints so let's keep our discourse civil over this hot button situation.

 

The warden does nothing to stop bad people.

As for privacy. We find it perfectly ok that Arenanet gathers data. This is needed for example to play the game. Store our progress, etc. All data involved has to be sent to Arenanet anyways.

 

This data is only reviewed by a human in the following situations:

1: when you report a bug

2: when you are reported

3: when you are flagged as suspicious by automatic systems.

 

Even then, the GM is not allowed to sniff through all your file. Only what is relative close to the timestamp of the incident.

[Oldirtbeard.9834]

> @"mercury ranique.2170" said:

> > @"Oldirtbeard.9834" said:

> > My account is safe, not banned. I'm more concerned with the privacy violation. I think this should have been better put together like Blizzards Warden in a way where it prohibits people from logging in or staying logged in if said programs are active, permanent again like Warden, and finally they should have had the decency to tell us what was happening so that we don't have all of these conspiracy theories going around. Personally I haven't logged in beyond making sure I wasn't swept up with the 1500. The lack of transparency has really killed my interest in playing or spending money until we get a statement regarding this program and what data was collected, how it was encrypted (if it was even), and what data they kept. I also think ANet should release a statement to major blogs such as Massively OP because out side of GW2s player base ANet has egg on it's face.

> >

> > I want to avoid any sparring so if I see anything I feel might get my blood boiling it's probably smart of me to not engage.

> >

> > We all have great love for this franchise and I respect your viewpoints so let's keep our discourse civil over this hot button situation.

>

> The warden does nothing to stop bad people.

> As for privacy. We find it perfectly ok that Arenanet gathers data. This is needed for example to play the game. Store our progress, etc. All data involved has to be sent to Arenanet anyways.

>

> This data is only reviewed by a human in the following situations:

> 1: when you report a bug

> 2: when you are reported

> 3: when you are flagged as suspicious by automatic systems.

>

> Even then, the GM is not allowed to sniff through all your file. Only what is relative close to the timestamp of the incident.

 

Thank you for the clarification, this is the sort of thing that should be elaborated by ANet; this would clear up a lot of half truths and out right Mis information.

[Zushada.6108]

Question: given I have never used 3rd party software or received an infraction, I am curious to know why banned accounts can still post on the forums. In my old game this infraction would have been universal to all areas associated with the account.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Zushada.6108" said:

> Question: given I have never used 3rd party software or received an infraction, I am curious to know why banned accounts can still post on the forums. In my old game this infraction would have been universal to all areas associated with the account.

 

~~ANet's chosen to treat the two domains as distinct.~~

* ~~If you violate the forum's terms of service, you can still play GW2.~~

* ~~If you violate the game's ToS , you can still participate in discussions on the forums. ~~

 

~~That seems fair to me. ~~

 

_update: Gaile has replied elsewhere and I've changed to the text accordingly_

 

ANet has chosen to treat the two domains somewhat distinctly:

* Violating the forum's terms of service won't affect whether you can play the game. That seems fair to me.

* Getting suspended from the game _will also_ get you suspended from the forums.

 

The stated reason is to remove the temptation to use the forums as a "court of appeal", since no one here can change the outcome and none of us will have access to the full picture.

 

****

Here's the full quote:

 

> @"Gaile Gray.6029" said [in this post](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/485588/#Comment_485588)

> This may or may not be a bug. Let me explain our policies, which relate to game accounts that truly are suspended (as opposed to those that are not, but for which forum access is blocked, as in the case the OP describes.)

>

> Our intention is that anyone whose game account is suspended should also temporarily lose forum privileges. Certainly that was the case with the old forums, but I've recently learned of at least a few cases where game-suspended people continued to have forum privileges.

>

> Now, if someone loses forum privileges, their game account is not impacted. IOW, it's a one way street:

> * Game Account Suspension = Forum Account Suspension

> * Forum Account Suspension /= Game Account Suspension.

> * (If something on the forums inspires a review of game activity, that still does not mean there's a direct 1:1 correlation, and I think those cases are very rare.)

>

> The reason that we remove forum privileges during a suspension is that we do not intend the forums to become a place to go to air one's grievances, or to be viewed as a "second court of appeal" for every time-out that someone may receive, or every support-related suspension with which someone might disagree. "I was suspended for say 'poo'" and I want you forum people to get my account reinstated" isn't making a valuable contribution to any member here, and having to filter through appeals of game actions amidst a lot of lively and valuable conversations is an utter waste of time for forum members (and forum staff, incidentally ;) ).

>

> Lastly, posting on behalf of a suspended or banned member is expressly prohibited by the [Forum Code of Conduct](https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/the-forums-code-of-conduct/ "Forum Code of Conduct"). Why? See the paragraph immediately above, for the same reasoning applies.

>

> I hope this explains our intentions and I encourage the OP to work with Customer Support on the game suspension, as the forum suspension will end with the game suspension ends. There may be mitigating circumstances in your friend's case that we do not wish to discuss on the forums. Remember that forum-related questions can be addressed to Forums@Arena.Net. Thanks.

 

 

[Theros.1390]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"Zushada.6108" said:

> > Question: given I have never used 3rd party software or received an infraction, I am curious to know why banned accounts can still post on the forums. In my old game this infraction would have been universal to all areas associated with the account.

>

> ANet's chosen to treat the two domains as distinct.

> * If you violate the forum's terms of service, you can still play GW2.

> * If you violate the game's ToS , you can still participate in discussions on the forums.

>

> That seems fair to me.

 

Well, this is not totally true actually. Why ? Because I noticed that players who got the BAN ig, just made a few posts on the forum about it, and for no reason, got a ban on the forums. Dr Fox is the exemple I remember.

 

And I also can give some exemples like this one, on french forum. Two peoples got the ban IG, wrote 1 or 2 posts on the forum, and then get banned on the forum as well.

 

 

[Ardenwolfe.8590]

> @"Zushada.6108" said:

> Question: given I have never used 3rd party software or received an infraction, I am curious to know why banned accounts can still post on the forums. In my old game this infraction would have been universal to all areas associated with the account.

 

Because those players could possibly appeal their banning if it was made in error. If that person is banned from said forum, their main route to appeal could be cut off too. And honestly? Most players don't even bother reading the forums, much less post on it. Only when those players come here, and then act out due to their in-game actions, does ANet typically remove their forum rights as well.

 

Yes, we've seen this many times here too with the various "I quit!' threads or "You're wrong!" responses . . . before they disappears with those posters. You may have noticed that in this thread too. . . . ;)

[Shikigami.4013]

> @"SWI.4127" said:

> [...] but I'm a bit paranoid with these bans. [...]

 

That about sums it up. We know what they suspended for and why they did it.

 

The fact that they included cheatengine in a list of just 5 different programs to look for tells us that this program was a significant source of cheating. So significant that they felt the need to include everyone in the suspensions who was using it for an amount of time alongside GW2 that exceeded scenarios like "I just finished cheating in my singleplayergame, let me just start GW2 and then close cheatengine". They considered people running cheatengine at the same time as GW2 for a longer period to be so likely to be cheating, that they should not be given the benefit of the doubt. But they did not scan for installations. Why? Because the target were people who were likely to cheat. People who have it installed but never use it when GW2 runs are not likely to cheat, else they would have run the program and not just have it installed. So why include them, it makes no sense.

 

Common sense says they won't do it in the future either. Paranoia says they might do it anyway. Nobody on this forum can tell you if you are safe, including me who would without hesitating keep it installed, if I had it installed. But if you want to make sure, uninstall it.

 

 

 

 

[SunTzu.4513]

Interesting thread. I'm not banned, but my mum got hammered. Seems pretty wired to me at all. She can't even use her smartphone proper or write am email without an written tutorial because she thinks she will do something wrong and blow up her laptop. Installing and using a cheatprogramm? Can't imagin this. It takes me around a month to show her how to use TS/Overwolf/Discord. I will write a ticket for her when i'm visting her at the weekend.

[Oldirtbeard.9834]

> @"Ardenwolfe.8590" said:

> > @"Zushada.6108" said:

> > Question: given I have never used 3rd party software or received an infraction, I am curious to know why banned accounts can still post on the forums. In my old game this infraction would have been universal to all areas associated with the account.

>

> Because those players could possibly appeal their banning if it was made in error. If that person is banned from said forum, their main route to appeal could be cut off too. And honestly? Most players don't even bother reading the forums, much less post on it. Only when those players come here, and then act out due to their in-game actions, does ANet typically remove their forum rights as well.

>

> Yes, we've seen this many times here too with the various "I quit!' threads or "You're wrong!" responses . . . before they disappears with those posters. You may have noticed that in this thread too. . . . ;)

 

I can't get into great detail about this, but I know for a fact that you can be banned on the forums but be able to sign into your account to submit support tickets and get API Keys. I can not elaborate further than that.