First, let me start off by saying that I do not wish for this thread to become a flame war so only constructive feedback is appreciated. If you have nothing better to say, don't. TLDR: I still feel that there is some kind of grey area in the T&C where one might potentially exploited it / be wrongfully banned and would like some clarification on those issues. I might be lacking the technical knowledge for some of these issues e.g. regarding IPs and MAC addresses etc so maybe someone can help shed some light. A 100% accurate and detailed run down on how the GMs / Admins are going about their business is not needed but some clarification would be nice. Most of the scenarios made up here are for simplification purposes. 1) Sharing of account information Let's make up this hypothetical situation where I have 2 siblings and all 3 of us are playing in the same house. How would you be able to tell who is playing which account? I'm just trying to understand the logic behind this rule. Is there a game breaking reason for not wanting us to share our accounts when we're already able to make multiple accounts and multi client? Yes, I've read this. 2) Voting with multiple IPs on multiple accounts by the same person Let's make up this hypothetical situation where I have 2 laptops, a phone with 3G connection and a WIFI address. Would it be possible for you to determine if someone is account sharing when one laptop is 24/7 tethered to the phone's 3G and the other to the house's WIFI? 3) Playing together at one IP Third hypothetical situation. My girlfriend and I plays this game, one day I decided to go over to her house to play. Would this be considered a bannable offence since technically, she may very well just be playing my account for me? 4) Voting on different IPs with 1 account I understand that for every account, you are only able to vote once at one IP every 24 hours. However what is unclear here is if a) said account is restricted from voting every 24 hours or b) if the IP is being restricted from allowing another account to vote. Let us say I have 5 hours till I can vote again. I am meeting my friends tonight and I tried to vote 4 hours and 50 mins later (let's assume that I forgot what time I should be voting again). Now would this account be able to vote? 5) Playing from another IP (just for personal clarification) I am currently studying overseas and when I return to my home country, I intend on playing MR as well. However, would I somehow be banned because I'm currently playing / voting on another IP that was not my original IP? And again referring back to point 1, how would you know if I didn't sell my account to someone and that the person playing is me? Any clarification is much appreciated! Thanks guys
1) To prevent players from hacking eachother and flooding the report/character issues sections with even more nonsense. 2) They can do crazy shit to determine whether someone is account sharing. 3) You will have to submit a whitelist request so you don't get banned for voting fraud. 4) You can vote wherever you want, as long as two people don't try to vote from the same location. I vote at home, at work, and on my phone. 5) That's fine. Even if an issue arose, you could explain that.
In response to this, what if I'm only at her house to play and not to vote. Would we still need to apply for a whitelist?
There have been countless threads on the topic, I'd suggest looking them up for more clarity. To add to what Goofy said: 1) MAC addresses (computer specific codes) can help tell players apart that play on the same IP. Also, about a year and a half ago there was a "player" called OneType (I think) that was actually multiple players on the same account. They came out of no where on the rankings and shot to #1. Multiple players on one account gives an unfair competitive advantage over other legit players. 2) In short, yes. What Goofy said. 3) As long as you don't log on to each other's computers I think you should be fine. 4) The 24 hour restriction is both account and IP based to hinder vote abuse. 5) If you're playing from your laptop then your MAC address should be enough proof. Just avoid logging in at public places if you can avoid it.
I'm responding to each point as you mentioned them. 1) In the example given with said player appearing out of no where, who is to say that that isn't just one player attempting to reach #1 spot for personal satisfaction? Like how were they able to prove that it was multiple people? Linking MAC addresses to accounts to tell players apart does not tell you who is actually playing the account. 3 computers, 3 accounts. Each account might be tied to one MAC address but 3 people who live together can be playing that same account no? What I'm more concerned about is what falls under "sharing of account information" and how to prove it. I understand the power leveling part but what I don't understand how is that any different from leeching other than leeching being slower than training? Could I not have a group of friends from all over the world leech me 24/7 if I told them my personal goal was to hit 200 in a month. If there are rules against power leveling then why aren't there rules against leeching? 3) Can a GM / Admin confirm this? The penalties for breaking the rules are quite harsh and I don't wish for anyone to be unknowingly banned because of a minor mistake they made IRL. 4) same as 3. 5) so is that to say, if I were to buy a new laptop (which will have its own unique MAC address) I need to inform the GMs / Admins here? Thanks for the response Rob. Just for your information, I understand that you were once a GM but things might have changed from then so just to be sure, I'm asking for a current GM / Admin's confirmation. I'm not trying say your opinion isn't as appreciated so don't take it the wrong way okay?
Oh don't worry about it, it's been quite a while since I was GM. Also more clarification: 1) It boils down to competitive advantage and risk. It's simply not fair for multiple players to play one account, power level it, and make more Mesos than people playing legitimately. And it's a headache to sort out the "who dun it" if something does happen to the account. 5) Unless you get banned, which is unlikely, you won't have to worry about it. But if it does happen it'll be nice to have the proof.
