Closed Ban Appeal

ALL Your Character Names: nickyhp, nickypope, nickys, nickybuccc, sharpee and some mules but they probably don't matter
Last thing you did: bought a few big value items
Why do you think you got banned?: probably suspected rwt
Ban message when attempting to log in: this is an ID that has been deleted or blocked from connection
What GM banned you (optional): -

if it's for suspected rwt, please inbox me for evidence/history of my funding.

 

Looks like you were permanently banned for account sharing, specifically the accounts relating to sharpee and Papalapupu.

 

sharpee belongs to me and Papalapupu belongs to my brother RobinChai. when were these instances of account sharing because we have never logged in both our accounts on the same computer at the same time.

 

I'll have to get some admin verification on that. Please sit tight for the time being.

 

got it. would also appreciate if you can divulge more information such as the number of times we "account shared", dates of these instances, and activities that transpired during these instances to jog our memory. thank you!

 

we often ask each other to log in on the spot on the same device to transfer gears when the other is not playing as it makes more sense to do so than to boot up another pc.

for the “instances of a character belonging to you or your brother still being online while the other logs in on the same device”, it is unfortunate but yes i do believe it is possible for us to “forget” to close a client on accident. if that’s the case, could it be a lighter ban for minor account sharing? i’m sure it shouldn’t happen more than twice or thrice throughout our two years of playing, and i hope the purpose (transferring items) is not malicious or in any way unfair but reasonable for brothers who share their gears.

and for “characters logging in seconds after your brother logs out on that device indicating account sharing / knowing eachothers' account details”, i think this is reasonable considering we used to live in the same house and sleep in the same room. i mean… he would just call me over to login to transfer gears and by the time he logs off i would already be beside his desk…?

 

it's been more than a month since the last update and this is beginning to feel like the staff is trying their best to find evidence to back their claims on the ban throughout the past month instead of me trying to refute their claims — which unless i'm mistaken, should be the entire purpose of an appeal.

for context, the bases for my account sharing ban with my brother provided both publicly on this thread and privately via my conversation with tim were:-
(1) instance(s) of a character belonging to us still being online while the other logs in on the same device,
(2) instance(s) of characters logging in seconds after we log out on that device indicating account sharing / knowing each others' account details, and
(3) "it seems like one wouldn't mind participating in boss runs like horntail on the others' account".

in response, i claimed that:-
(1) was purely accidental and appealed for a temporary ban given the low number of occurrence(s) (i'm confident it shouldn't be more than 5 times throughout our two years playing actively but the actual number wasn't provided) and the harmless nature of these instances,
(2) was reasonable given our living circumstances and it is a stretch to be ruled as account sharing, and
(3) had no basis nor evidence and was purely speculative.

the explanations i provided along with their circumstantial evidence (in detail below) shouldn't take long for the staff to verify (or verifiable on their part even); yet it is still taking more than a month for the staff to respond, or even acknowledge to any of my replies. if thorough investigations were done before the ban was issued — which should be the case for all bans as claimed by members of the staff, why is there even a five-weeks waiting time on my case? as i suggested, it couldn't be for the purpose of verifying my claims; thus my allegation that the past five weeks were instead spent digging for evidence to back the permanent ban issued. if my claims were reasonable and convincing enough to refute the bases for the initial permanent ban issued, shouldn't the ban status be updated first and another ban be issued later if new evidence is uncovered instead of retaining the permanent ban while the staff attempt to find new bases for the initial ban? if my claims were not convincing, shouldn't the loopholes or discrepancies in my claims be questioned? if that was indeed the case, isn't the ball in my court?

i understand that only the admins (at this point a one-man team) have access to information regarding my case and are overwhelmed by the number of ban appeals on top of their commitments in real life. under such circumstances where the prosecution is understaffed, shouldn't the ban appeal work on an "innocent until proven guilty" system instead of the other way round, which seems to be my case? this server is strict as we all know, and while it is privately owned and the staff has the final decision in what system to adopt and who gets to stay or go, please be reasonable and respect the time and effort players spent on this server; the least the staff could do is give an affirmation that the replies have been read and update on the investigation progress.

for the public, my explanations in the private conversation rebutting the reasons given were:-

(1) instance(s) of a character belonging to us still being online while the other logs in on the same device:
- we often log out on our accounts and ask each other to log in on the spot for the purpose of transferring items instead of asking the other party to boot up his pc. hence, i admit that these instance(s) may be possible throughout our two years of playing but they shouldn't occur often enough to be categorized as major account sharing.
- these instance(s) were purely accidental and the nature of the violation does not provide an unfair advantage over others nor does it harm the game and the economy.
- please relook into the punishment and reduce it to a temporary ban if necessary.

(2) instance(s) of characters logging in seconds after we log out on that device indicating account sharing / knowing each others' account details:
- such activities should be reasonable and concluding that it's an indication of account sharing is unfair for us as we both live in the same house and used to sleep in the same room. i referred to the photo in our whitelist applications where it showed that our desks in the old household were meters apart from each other. i also attached the floorplan for our current household, circling both of our rooms which are opposite each other. for context, we live in a 1,100 square feet apartment.
- there was a period between january 2021 and april 2021 when we lived separately and i attached 11 screenshots of whatsapp conversations between my brother and i where we would text each other to transfer items during this period. if we had access to each other's accounts, why was there a need for us to ask if the other was free to transfer items when we could have just logged in to the other party's accounts ourselves, considering that we each have two pcs?

(3) "it seems like one wouldn't mind participating in boss runs like horntail on the others' account":
- i'm certain there was zero evidence for this and not only is it mere speculation but this claim is just ridiculous.
- for claims that i use his accounts: my brother only has one character capable of participating in boss runs (a lv.200 shadower). if i had used his accounts to participate in boss runs, why would i have lent his perfect 145 kanzir to circulate among my friends for months when he was inactive when i could've used it for myself? why would i try so hard to recruit a shadower for my horntail runs — and cancel it when i couldn't find any when i could've used his shadower. when i was doing the legendary collector medal on two of my characters, why would i use my low-level bishop to two-hit mobs when duo-attacking when i could've used his i/l mage to one-hit instead?
- for claims that he uses my accounts: he only plays with a fixed party when he was active in 2021, and there shouldn't be a time where any of my characters joins them without my brother himself in the party. there was an instance where i brought my sed mule as "his" mule for one of his horntail runs but that was controlled by myself on my pc while i was playing on other clients and shouldn't trigger any account sharing warning.
- if there were any instances where we were participating in boss runs on the each other's account, it should be reasonably assumed that it is done on the pc of the person playing (e.g. if i had used his shadower to participate in a horntail run, i would've done it on my pc) because it wouldn't make sense for me to play on his pcs when i could use mine. if this assumption is true, this claim that we participate in boss runs on each other's accounts can be rebutted as bossing activities or long periods of logins should only happen on my 2 pcs for all of my accounts, and on his 2 pcs for all of his accounts.

in summary, if we indeed shared our accounts, there were a lot of opportunities for us to do so but our actions showed that we didn't. the only justifiable evidence for claiming that we account shared would be the instances when one's character is still logged in while the other log in on the same pc but it was purely accidental and shouldn't be deserving of a permanent ban as explained above.

p.s. i tried to lay everything out as constructively as possible in regard to the ban appeal system but my case is just ridiculous hence the rant.

 

as with the same reason for my initial ban with sharpee and Papalapupu, were the number of times we logged in at the same time on the same device back in 2018 and whatever events that transpired be severe enough for a permanent ban? i don’t recall specifically the events from 4 years back as clear but i’m sure i only played for a short while because i started with only a 11x sniper (nickycsgo) when i rejoined in 2020.

furthermore, for whatever reasons our characters were online at the same time on the same device back then, surely it wouldn’t be of malicious intent? it’s a 3rd job sniper and a 4th job i/l mage…

 

while i know for a fact that i didn’t use my brother’s account for those purposes mentioned, i do not remember the activities from 4 years ago; how long i’ve played or what my brother and i would do together. hence, i think whatever explanations that i could possibly provide would be baseless as well.

it is unfortunate that things ended the way it did and as much as i would like to believe i’m innocent, i do believe the logs are accurate. if the ban was issued based on evidence from the logs and not mere deduction, i’ll fully accept it.

tim sir, i’m sure your investigations are fair and just, and i sincerely apologise for taking up your time on my case. thank you and the staff team as a whole for your effort in serving the players and ensuring that the place i spent my time and effort for the past 2 years was free of cheaters.

and to the friends i’ve made, especially those who believed my innocence, i never intended to cheat you guys as i really don’t recall what i did back in 2018. mapleroyals has been a big part of my life the past 2 years and you guys are to thank for that. with that said, i don’t wish to further my appeal and i hope we will still keep in touch!

p.s. i’ll still be watching you guys from her screen :eyes: