On Co-playing and MultiAccounting

Having read the recent changes to the GTC by BP on the Announcement section of the forum, several question came up to my mind, which I would like answered asap, thank you, they are as follows,

1. Is Co-playing, i.e. the usage/access of a singe gaming account which has characters on a particular server by users from different 'geographical locations/IP addresses' at different periods of time during a day, legal/allowed?, (as of November the 1st 2016, after the changes to the GTC are applied), does this process qualify as 'pushing/boosting' ?,

2. Is the usage of another character of a different gaming account by the same user simultaneously via usage of different tabs in a browser, for the purpose of EXP block alone, allowed/legal?, (as of November the 1st 2016, after the changes to the GTC are applied), does this process qualify as 'pushing/boosting'?,

3. Is the process of simply/merely holding multiple gaming accounts (with no interaction between them whatsoever) which have characters in the same server , legal/allowed?, (as of November the 1st 2016, after the changes to the GTC are applied), does this process qualify as 'pushing/boosting/Multi-accounting' ?, or in other words is multi-accounting whilst having characters in the same server but with no interaction between them whatsoever, legal?.

 

I was going to reply to these, but as I started to type my answers, it occurred to me that you are basically asking if it is OK to cheat except in #3 which would be subject to the line where it says:
"Users are authorized to create multiple accounts on the Portal. Several Games, however, prohibit the use of more than one Account by one and the same User (“prohibition of multi-accounts”). Detailed information is provided in the rules of the respective Game(s)."

In the past, DSO has actually said "Yes" to having more than one account, so unless you are breaking one of the other rules, there is no reason to believe that this has changed.

The key here is "will they catch you?" And my answer to that is "It isn't worth risking it." You saw what they did to the anniversary event cheaters... I'm not going to risk my account over something stupid to gain a small advantage.

 

I'll add a few question...
Is it prohibited to let my brother play with my characters when I can't (and vice versa)? Or it's like "you can but it's your problem if some items are deleted"?
Can i get banned if the internet company with I signed a contract (i mean, who gives me an internet connection) locate me in different geographic location of the same country?

 

1. A/C sharing has always been prohibited and, if there is evidence of it, the a/c may be perma-banned
2. Dual-logging is strictly prohibited and can result in both a/cs being perma-banned
3. You can own 50 DSO a/cs if you like. Just don't use them to cheat.

1) A/C sharing has always been prohibited. You must never ever share your a/c details with any other person or non-Big Point website. Doing so is a serious violation of the BP DSO T&Cs of Use. If you do allow any other person to access your a/c, you remain 100% responsible for anything they do to/with your a/c - including if they access your stored financial details.
2) Why would your ISP deliberately obfuscate your true Geo-ID?

 

Double posting...

On #2, my company is using hardware vpn to put the dev teams from across the globe into single subdomain. That results in all the IPs being from the same country, lets say US. Just a use case.

Actually binding the user to its Geo is not always accurate. Im legal resident of two countries, spend tons of time in third country, and travel a lot overall (100 flights a year). BP has bound me to a country where I dont have residency (for immigration purposes), but I do have residency for taxing purposes and I use that country CC. Nevertheless, Im not a national of above country, and originally started playing the game in another. Now I pay more, because they seem to use the origin of the CC.

Just a use case. What coutnry prices should be used in the following scenario?

Czech national, with Polish parent, who has permanent residency in both Czech and Poland (thanks to a Pole's card), who spends aprx. 140 days a year in the US (for the last 3 years), thus becoming subject to US taxes and Residency for taxing purposes, and he also spends another 200 days in Bulgaria (becoming resident there too). He pays with the CC from Malta, where he has some equities. What should be his BP country?)

 

The one where his a/c was created. Or, if he is no-longer generally there, the one he is mostly in. This has not changed.

 

I've seen people do this. I would imagine that it's also pretty easy to catch. The question is do the devs care enough to enforce the rules.

 

Why don't you ask the busted Anniversary event exploit abusers? Or those who were bot busted? There were many people smugly boasting of their cheating and claiming that BP would never do anything about it .... before they got nabbed.

 

Thank you for clarifying, I read the rules/GTC from the following pages (https://board-en.drakensang.com/thr...l-terms-and-conditions-from-01-11-2016.72366/ and https://legal.bigpoint.com/EN/terms-and-conditions/en-GB) , but it seems I made the wrong inference from them while doing so, I was unable to understand what exactly qualified as 'cheating' per se (a link to a page where the rules are more clearly explained would be much appreciated). cause in the above links the GTC seem to suggest that 'Account Sharing' is not 'advised and do so at your own cost' , it doesn't state that it is prohibited all-together. as for 'Dual-logging and Multi-accounting', the existing GTC or atleast the GTCs that I 'read/came across' seem to suggest that they are only prohibited when the IGCs are used for 'pushing/boosting' (again no information is provided on what exactly qualifies as pushing/boosting), If 'EXP blocking and Co-playing' come under this process, then they should be mentioned under the appropriate sections of the GTC.

To conclude, I think the rules/GTC should be modified to explicitly state (if not already stated elsewhere that I'm unaware of) that the very process of 'Dual-logging and Account sharing' is strictly prohibited and Multi-accounting is also prohibited if the IGCs are used under 'such and such conditions', alas more information needs to be provided on the conditions/activities which qualify as pushing/boosting in game.

Regards.

 

Dual-logging:
1.2 Subject Matter of the Contract, Usage of and Changes to the Games and Services

1.2.7 ... Even in Games permitting Users to have multiple accounts, communication, or any kind of interaction whatsoever, between accounts of the same User is prohibited (ban on “pushing”).

8.3 Just grounds for termination
The User violates the prohibition of pushing (see Sec. 1.2 above).


A/C Sharing:
9.3 Further Obligations of the User

9.3.2 The User is obligated to treat all data provided by Bigpoint for the purpose of accessing the Games and Services (login, passwords etc.) in a strictly confidential manner..... In the event that a third party gains access to Bigpoint’s Games or Services with the User’s access data because the User neglected to sufficiently protect the account from unauthorized access, the User must, due to the danger of an uncertainty caused by him/her regarding who misused the account or was responsible for a contractual or legal infringement of said account, assume the responsibility for said actions as if he/she had performed these actions himself/herself.... The User is solely responsible for the access to and use of their Account.
9.3.4 The User is not entitled to sell their account to a third party or in another way, shape or manner to transfer it.

Note: these terms and conditions are not up for negotiation or debate. You have accepted them when you create an a/c and when you choose to play the game.

 

In both cases cheaters targeted elements that BP monetizes (gems; glyphs, anders, and gems). Regarding xp block, this is not the case. Hence, my comment. Kudos to them if they do enforce it.

 

I agree/concur with @-Skyfire- on his/her view about EXP blocking, and I Suggest some sort of 'measure/Feature implementation' needs to be undertaken to address Co-playing and EXP-blocking (even-though they violate the existing GTCs when done with username/pass share) in game, as according to my opinion they do not qualify as 'pushing/cheating' nor do they affect game-play of other users/players or BP's profit adversely, in fact they will definitely serve to attract more customers/players for BP, improve the gaming experience for the existing customers/player base, and improve BP's profit/turnover, if implemented based on the feature-model mentioned below,

• Possible Feature that could address the Co-Playing and Dual-Logging issue -

• Sitter Feature (permanent and temporary) - a feature granting the Ability to the user to set a maximum of '1 to 3 other players/users of the same server' to play his/her account on a temporary (24 hours to a month or more) or permanent basis, who can login their 'original account' and a maximum of one other account to which they have 'sitting access' to, either 'simultaneously as a grouped member (provided the character is on a non-full group) or in a single window which replaces their original account window' (the sitter will also have the ability to open the sitting-account as a separate tab in the browser/client or in a screen-split) for the purpose of EXP-Blocking/Farming/Co-Playing only, but with limited access/control i.e., he/she who serves as the sitter will be logged out with an 'intimation/warning notification-timer' of 1to3 minutes when the original user logs in and also will be unable to -
  • 'Destroy/melt locked items such as gems, gears, dyes, etc..,
  • Unlock locked items,
  • Lock existing/new items,
  • Add/Remove sitters of the account,
  • View the saved credit card details of another sitter or original user,
  • Access forum linked with the original user's account,
  • Play pvp via simultaneous log-in,
  • Change/View the 'User-name/password and linked-E-mail' (basically the account detail section/page) of the original owner's/creator's account and
  • login into a sitting account while 'sitting by another sitter or login by original user' is in progress'.

​

• Possible Features that could address the EXP-Blocking issue -

• Gap Character Spawn Feature - #1. A feature which grants the user the ability to spawn a maximum of one character of a 'higher exp-gap fulfilling level' belonging to the same-user account as a grouped member (provided the character is on a non-full group) on the active map of the 'lower-gap-needing character's' location. the spawned character could serve as an 'assist' to the lowbie character for fighting mobs in all pve maps or simply serve as an 'exp block dummy'.

• #2. A 'consumable/temporary item/buff' offered by an NPC in all/various/certain urban areas, in exchange for in-game coins/materi/andermant , which spawns a 'NPC SW/DK/RA/SM' at random as a grouped member (provided the character is on a non-full group) to serve as an 'assist or exp block dummy' on pve maps to 'all characters or characters below the maximum exp level'.

​

Regards.

 

You are not in position neither to negotiate nor to make suggestions.
BP made it clear ... I don't know what part of "take it or leave it" is not clear.

 

Obviously not "part" but rather all of it, ROFL. Since this

was quoted and then the post continues to "negotiate/debate"

followed by pointing out that said opinion is invalid.

But this part takes the cake (imho)

Really? Driving players away from PvP or the game entirely is not an "adverse" effect
Nice try though

Luck be with ye,
Mikey,
Tegan

 

that was a 'feature suggestion' not a rule modification request and or negotiation, I don't know what part of that is not clear to you?, do you even read? or are you just mocking me?

nope far from it, I still do not have a complete understanding on the conditions of IGC usage which qualify as pushing/boosting, even though I've already requested multiple times to either grant me access to a page where the conditions are explained clearly and if not be made clear in the future. and no please don't tell me "any form of interaction between two characters" is pushing/boosting, that is just outright exaggeration/overemphasis.

that bracketed statement should've been placed after when I wrote about 'co-playing and exp-blocking', when I said 'even-though they violate the existing GTCs', I was talking about 'Co-playing' and 'Exp-blocking via Dual-logging' with sharing of username and pass. the features I suggested however do not require username/password share and do not violate any of the other the GTCs as well afaik.

what are you even talking about?, how does implementing a feature such as what I suggested cause people to leave the game?, seriously, are you guys just trolling me here or something?

I was expecting that reply to get automatically/immediately moved to the suggestions thread and this thread be closed, not such blind comments :/... damn what a waste of my time to think up a new feature... *facepalm*

p.s. The features I suggested do not violate any of the existing rules as far as I understand it, for example allowing limited access to another player from the same server of your IGC without giving him/her your username/password does not violate section 9.3 of the rules nor is it any-form of pushing/boosting, same goes for the Character spawn feature I suggested (as a buff and a character from the same account).

 

automatically once seen/read by the F-mods or any one of those hired BP employees in charge of forum-keeping/maintenance i.e...

 

@AniMagus93 I appreciate the time you took to think about the issues and for coming up with some creative potential solutions. I really do. It's what the forum is for. But...
1) I could never support a/c sharing in any way, shape or form. Not even with heavy restrictions as to what the pilot(s) could do. I have been processing DSO Support tickets since early 2013. I know exactly what a major pain in the bum a/c pilots are and how much damage they do to a/cs, and how much Support volunteer's time they waste. I don't care how well you think you know your "friend" or how much you trust them. A/C sharing is prohibited for a bunch of very, very good reasons and it will stay that way.
2) "Gapping" is used almost entirely with the intent to make a small character over-powered to the point where they can dominate low-level PvP. While this may seem like a fun route for those who don't like to lose to skilled players, it is unfair for newer players who don't stand a chance of winning and will likely just give up. Gapping is not necessary in order to complete PvE quests. It is only used to make twinks.

 

Does this mean BP will finally do something to xp block and twinks overall?

 

Unfortunately, it's just my opinion. It does not necessarily reflect BP's official view on the topic of twinking.