banned for -not- macroing?

[Kasumi_Chan]

Ok well I hope this post is ok here. I just came back to UO after quitting in November 2006. I shelled out over 100$ to get the two new expansions, a 7th character slot and 6 months game time. So I read up on stratics how to train ninjitsu (trammel, in town, not in a guild) so I was training manually (with UO Assist) for about 2 hours a day trying to push for 120. Each day for three days naturally people reported me for unattended macroing without bothering to ask me if I was there. A GM opens a chat with me and I of course respond right away. So on the fourth day, someone reports me I assume, but I finish and go on a different character before a GM responds. By the time the GM responds, I was on my fisher getting ready to fish for a bit, and stopped to take a potty break (with NO active skills going). I come back to find a GM chat open and say hi. The GM doesn't respond so I go about fishing while I wait for a response. About two minutes later I get "you have been kicked by Flippi", and get an email saying I am banned for 48 hours for macroing. What kind of nonsense is this?

I mean seriously, I paid a good amount to come back. How stupid would someone have to be to macro unattended IN PUBLIC? That is like paging a GM and asking them to ban you. Has this happened to anyone else? I'm calling EA tomorrow to argue my situation with them. If previous GMs kept notes on my account they will see I responded promptly every previous time.

 

[Raptor85]

The GM's don't even bother checking anymore, welcome to the lovely new level of service we get for the extra $3 a month UO costs now. They are not trained like the old ones were, they are just told "xxx account has been paged on, if xxx account doesn't respond to chat kick",

chances are when you didn't chat back he was already in the process of kicking you, and never even saw your reply. They really need to force GM's to log in and show in person again, like they used to have to....or at least train them.

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

wow ... the "word" is suspended (not banned) BUT
this link (in the local FAQ)
http://vboards.stratics.com/1653588-post10.html

not really where you want to go ... this one is ...
My Notification Requests

and (locally to stratics)
PM this guy

http://vboards.stratics.com/members/cal_mythic.html (contact tab)

and there's a chance someone will do a Phone number for ya ...

And there's a Video HOC coming sometime tuesday (unknown time or process to ask questions)
BUT
Your query ... is very likely to be brought up.

keep the forums uptodate on progress, please.

 

[Kojak]

I think I have a more appropriate question that has bothered me for YEARS - why would you intentionally work a skill IN public

I never understood the logic behind working a skill in a town and daring people to report you to a GM - it's like playing the lottery with your account

it just boggles my mind that people keep working skills anywhere near town or anyplace that anyone would actually even walk by

I always train my characters in my most remote houses and if anyone happens to walk by, I usually log off or something - especially if they pause to see what's going on and this guy's post is exactly the reason why so don't say it can't happen because it just did

why take the risk - why go anywhere near people when you're working a skill - you can say "I shouldn't HAVE to go and hide to train skills" like the typical EDP would say (every day person) but that still doesn't explain why you would take the unnecessary risk in the first place - I don't think I'll ever understand the logic of stupidity

 

[Raptor85]

I think I have a more appropriate question that has bothered me for YEARS - why would you intentionally work a skill IN public

Because those of us that have been gone 4-5 years are used to GM's showing up and asking you a QUESTION, and making sure you're doing something while afk before banning. This remote banning without even making sure is fairly new.

The sad part is, even with this...they still can't manage to ban the ones doing actual scripting...

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

I think I have a more appropriate question that has bothered me for YEARS - why would you intentionally work a skill IN public

I never understood the logic behind working a skill in a town and daring people to report you to a GM - it's like playing the lottery with your account

Might have an answer ...
I also have the same question and field similar from the kids ...

Its the way that scripts get promoted and handed out ...
the vets that know that
there's never really a cop around ...
and in tram ... they be harassing >the criminal< for dropping website addy's, search function sites, idoc spotting bots, ghost cams ...
you be kojak ...
you know what I'm saying ...

remember the wilki "cheater rant" ?
the 16 trillion GP sweep ?
burning "scam houses" ?
punkbuster?

what do we have now?

a spread sheet that(there's a link some where) That Cal "picked a few from for action ..."

aw nuts!


There will be no "MMORPG that kills UO"

bone rot is what is gonna do it in ... inside out.

*sigh*

So! other than this ... How ya doing kojak?

 

[popps]

I think I have a more appropriate question that has bothered me for YEARS - why would you intentionally work a skill IN public

I never understood the logic behind working a skill in a town and daring people to report you to a GM - it's like playing the lottery with your account

Rather than bank sitting doing nothing, training up skills at a bank while checking out trades announcement can lead to good sales or purchases.....

I mean, if while I am training up a skill at a bank someone comes up looking for an item that I have spare, I can land a sale there......

Or, while I am training skills up at the bank, I might be able to also finally buy that item I was looking for at a good price....

I mean, there could be good reasons for training up skills at a bank....

 

[Omnius]

here is a heads up. If someone reports you for macroing, and you're later found on a boat that is moving(even if you do nothing). UO's GMs are so ignorant of the game they will ban you.

 

[Nexus]

here is a heads up. If someone reports you for macroing, and you're later found on a boat that is moving(even if you do nothing). UO's GMs are so ignorant of the game they will ban you.

There's some truth to that statement, the Truth is UO doesn't have GM's Bio-ware/Mythic does, we share with DAoC and I suspect but I'm not positive Warhammer...

 

[Ahuaeyjnkxs]

everyday, a new FAIL.

 

[G.v.P]

I think I have a more appropriate question that has bothered me for YEARS - why would you intentionally work a skill IN public

Because those of us that have been gone 4-5 years are used to GM's showing up and asking you a QUESTION, and making sure you're doing something while afk before banning. This remote banning without even making sure is fairly new.

The sad part is, even with this...they still can't manage to ban the ones doing actual scripting...

Heh, I'm with Kojak. I never train skills in public. And it isn't just because people will call a GM, it's also because people will ask you questions. I hate that, lol, it's like, err I'm training, I really don't have time to gate you or give you an in lor or explain whatever.

GMs might not be what they used to be, but the players are still pretty much the same. Funny thing is invising someone in Trammel can be called in as harassment. I used to check AFK people by first confirming they weren't there by response, then, if I could, I'd just invis them or peace (for the sake of ninjitsu DS on pet cat scripts) then leave them be without paging. Better scripts have a re-flag check though. And then one time, I paged on my neighbor, who was AFK macroing three accounts at a time, heh. And now I have his house spot. Bwhahaha.

 

[Cetric]

I was working a skill the other day and thought i was going to get banned, was funny

I saw the gm chat thing pop up asking me a question, but i missed the part which said which button i had to hit to initiate the GM chat back to him.

started typing over my head..no answer, typed in other chats, no answer. So then i decide to start hitting buttons, found it, answered his question, and it instantly said "Thanks" or something.

Was like it was all automated.

 

[phantus]

There's some truth to that statement, the Truth is UO doesn't have GM's Bio-ware/Mythic does, we share with DAoC and I suspect but I'm not positive Warhammer...

The last time I called a GM he thanked me for playing warhammer online.

 

[Winker]

The last time I called a GM he thanked me for playing warhammer online.

Last time i talked to a GM he told me, you go up ladders and down snakes.

 

[Babe Wink]

Hmm player just back in game. Wonder how many remote houses they own.

 

[Podolak]

The last time I called a GM he thanked me for playing warhammer online.

Same thing happened to me, a GM actually fixed something for me but ruined the whole positive experience by thanking me for playing War Hammer.

Regarding the OP, I have made it a habit of logging out whenever I step away from the computer, even if I am just standing at a bank or something. I can't fully trust GM's to realize that I am not actually doing anything. I also have a group that is stalking me trying to get me banned/suspended so in my case extra care is needed.

 

[Tinsil]

I get nervous about things like this as well.. I don't trust a GM to do their job and see you AREN'T unattended macroing, so I give as little reason for someone to page on me as possible.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I was working a skill the other day and thought i was going to get banned, was funny

I saw the gm chat thing pop up asking me a question, but i missed the part which said which button i had to hit to initiate the GM chat back to him.

started typing over my head..no answer, typed in other chats, no answer. So then i decide to start hitting buttons, found it, answered his question, and it instantly said "Thanks" or something.

Was like it was all automated.

It probably was....Which, I am ashamed to admit, never occurred to me until right now that they might do. Just automate the process almost-totally.

That's depressing.

I remember some years ago, noting a disturbing pattern that GMs who were personable and really helped never seemed to last very long. From this I formed the impression that EA was using raw number of pages answered as their primary performance indicator for the GMs. At some point I guess they realized that when it comes to speed, lack of personability (personable-ness?), and lack of helpfulness, nothing beats a computer?

Let's face it that in-game customer service has always been one of UO's weakest spots. It's also never gotten better that I can recall.

-Galen's player

 

[Surgeries]

The last time I called a GM he thanked me for playing warhammer online.

I will never forget that. Ugh.

I hope you at least bought the game, with the nice response and all.

Kidding...kidding...

But still...pretty bad, in my opinion. Everybody makes mistakes, but Wendy's folks hopefully don't thank their customers for shopping at McDonald's!

Even if the same company owns them both!!

 

[Lynk]

I don't trust a GM to do their job and see you AREN'T unattended macroing.

This is why it is best to remove all doubt, and ONLY work skills when you are AFK macroing.

 

[DevilsOwn]

Last time i talked to a GM he told me, you go up ladders and down snakes.

 

[Demonous]

what i don't understand is why Cal never does anything about this, you're the uo producer, well be the UO producer and improve the damn customer service, its so beyond horrible, worse than any game's customer service, seriously if Mesanna can train EMs, you can train GMs to do the right thing, i mean they don't even use common sense anymore, its all automated nonsense, i will gladly trade off new content for awesome customer service, i remember the days when gms would come down and show themselves, suspend scammers for pretending to repair a weapon and running away with it, someone scammed me out of my house one time and a gm got it back for me and suspended the guy, really if i was an EA gm i would make the rest of the gms look horrible with how good of a job id be doing, I WANT A POST FROM CAL OR MESANNA ON THIS ISSUE NOW, do your job and let us know you're at least looking into the issue with how useless the gms have been the last 6 or 7 years, thanks

 

[Ashlynn_L]

I think I have a more appropriate question that has bothered me for YEARS - why would you intentionally work a skill IN public

I never understood the logic behind working a skill in a town and daring people to report you to a GM - it's like playing the lottery with your account

It's not daring people at all. I recently worked up a bunch of skills while outside the bank in New Haven and the reason is simple. While I'm performing the fairly dull task of spamming spells, I'm hoping chat to random passers by at the same time, including any new or returning players. I'm not doing anything wrong, so would should it be considered some kind of Ban Roulette?

That said, I never had any problems with being reported either anyway.

 

[Picus at the office]

I've left my bard at the bank after casting one of the mastery spells which sparkles around you. I've wondered if I'm going to comeback to a suspension but it hasn't happened yet.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

keep the forums uptodate on progress, please.

Ditto

 

[Cal_Mythic]

Ok well I hope this post is ok here. I just came back to UO after quitting in November 2006. I shelled out over 100$ to get the two new expansions, a 7th character slot and 6 months game time. So I read up on stratics how to train ninjitsu (trammel, in town, not in a guild) so I was training manually (with UO Assist) for about 2 hours a day trying to push for 120. Each day for three days naturally people reported me for unattended macroing without bothering to ask me if I was there. A GM opens a chat with me and I of course respond right away. So on the fourth day, someone reports me I assume, but I finish and go on a different character before a GM responds. By the time the GM responds, I was on my fisher getting ready to fish for a bit, and stopped to take a potty break (with NO active skills going). I come back to find a GM chat open and say hi. The GM doesn't respond so I go about fishing while I wait for a response. About two minutes later I get "you have been kicked by Flippi", and get an email saying I am banned for 48 hours for macroing. What kind of nonsense is this?

I mean seriously, I paid a good amount to come back. How stupid would someone have to be to macro unattended IN PUBLIC? That is like paging a GM and asking them to ban you. Has this happened to anyone else? I'm calling EA tomorrow to argue my situation with them. If previous GMs kept notes on my account they will see I responded promptly every previous time.

Responded to your PM

- C

 

[Kasumi_Chan]

Ok well I waited on hold with EA for about a half hour to be told the desk jockey doesn't have authority/access to remove a ban so he passed it up to someone who does, which can take up to 72 hours to review.

Thanks all for the responses. As far as "being stupid enough to work skills in town", maybe I just didn't realize the nice person to jerkwad ratio changed so much in 4 years...

** OK I talked to someone in the live chat support and got passed to "senior support" tech who tell me only a GM can unban me in-game, yet I can't get in-game to talk to one.... And I know 100% for fact some players on my shard have some of the GM's phone numbers to call them directly...

 

[Kasumi_Chan]

Thank you for contacting Ultima Online support!

It appears your account was suspended for 48 hours for Unattended Macroing. You should have received an email concerning this suspension. We highly recommend reviewing this email for further details.

After reviewing the matter, the actions you have performed on your account have warranted the suspension. You have been provided with the information on why it would warrant the suspension via email. Again, if you would like more information about the UO Rules of Conduct, you can read the document at ***

The action taken against your account was just and will stand. If you would like to see any changes made to our Rules and Policies, please feel free to submit feedback via the UO Herald by visiting http://uoherald.com/feedback/index.php

Any further replies regarding this subject will not be acknowledged. Take care.

EA Rep Inarea
Player Relations
Electronic Arts

 

[Demonous]

Responded to your PM

- C

thats a start Cal, now improve the customer service, stop hiring GMs with very low IQs

 

[soze]

LOL...

This is a classic example of a stupid/lazy cop who is more concerned with busting Grandma
j-walking instead of catching the guys robbing a bank a block away.

It's somehow justifies their job, but doesn't really help overall gameplay....

 

[[JD]]

I have dealt with Filipi (sp) GM and every time his competency has been laughable at best.

Cal these problems in your customer service have to stop. If you call into customer service and they tell you only a GM can assist, they should be assigning you a ticket that you can present to the GM. The ticket will have notes and the GM can pull them up for appropriate action. Without such a system, it amounts to a sanctioned brush-off.

At its core, UO is a SERVICE. It may also be a game, but it is a SERVICE first. Imagine if you were treated this way by your utilities, telephone, or cable company. Do you think you would stick with that company for long?

 

[vwrmic]

Thank you for contacting Ultima Online support!

It appears your account was suspended for 48 hours for Unattended Macroing. You should have received an email concerning this suspension. We highly recommend reviewing this email for further details.

After reviewing the matter, the actions you have performed on your account have warranted the suspension. You have been provided with the information on why it would warrant the suspension via email. Again, if you would like more information about the UO Rules of Conduct, you can read the document at ***

The action taken against your account was just and will stand. If you would like to see any changes made to our Rules and Policies, please feel free to submit feedback via the UO Herald by visiting http://uoherald.com/feedback/index.php

Any further replies regarding this subject will not be acknowledged. Take care.

EA Rep Inarea
Player Relations
Electronic Arts

I think you might have to bite the bullet on this one. The GM may well have been wrong in this situation but since you have posted on here regarding it, (I would of done the same) and it has gathered some attention, for EA support to un-ban you and accept responsibility would look bad on them.

 

[Tinsil]

This is why it is best to remove all doubt, and ONLY work skills when you are AFK macroing.

Oddly enough this seems to work based on how many of the same people sit in luna 24/7...

 

[Kasumi_Chan]

Oddly enough this seems to work based on how many of the same people sit in luna 24/7...

While working ninjitsu, I saw at least 4-5 people sitting there unmoving, untalking and never seeming to log out due to inactivity. To be fair, there is a small chance they were in guild chat or something. I should have took the hint when people scattered every time "tami does tram" showed up. (apparently she is a big troublemaker on the shard)

 

[Bill Gates OSD]

thats a start Cal, now improve the customer service, stop hiring GMs with very low IQs

*Like* *un-checks "Like" and clicks "Loves with a burning passion that makes the sun appear dim in comparison"* Savvy, Cal?

 

[Viper09]

thats a start Cal, now improve the customer service, stop hiring GMs with very low IQs

That's up to EA, not mythic.

 

[G.v.P]

I have dealt with Filipi (sp) GM and every time his competency has been laughable at best.

There's gotta be a form somewhere to fill out and get the guy fired if everyone hates him/her.

 

[Malek234]

Cal these problems in your customer service have to stop. If you call into customer service and they tell you only a GM can assist, they should be assigning you a ticket that you can present to the GM. The ticket will have notes and the GM can pull them up for appropriate action. Without such a system, it amounts to a sanctioned brush-off.

At its core, UO is a SERVICE. It may also be a game, but it is a SERVICE first. Imagine if you were treated this way by your utilities, telephone, or cable company. Do you think you would stick with that company for long?

I have dealt with a fair amount of gm's in this game and got very mad one night (alcohol didn't help) and demanded that he show himself and fix my problem, like in the old days And he did after about 5 pages demanding it and i wasn't going to stop till i had one appear, with the threat of getting suspended and about 2 hrs of doing it he appeared did his job and left. Never could i get another one to do it nor do i think there is really one there. I believe it is all automated and has been for some time, if there is life forms its monkeys throwing sh*t because thats about has much help as one person can expect from uo customer SERVICE!

 

[Warpig Inc]

I have to go with Kojak also. If someone is honestly playing the game why beat on a golum or horse. Should train and gather vs the many leveled creatures. Cows Bulls Lizardmen Ratmen RatmanArchers EarthEli DullCopperEli Boura Raptor Sith LesserHiryu Hiryu. Just a few for leathers ore and arrows gathering. And could be covering quest as well while training.

 

[Gheed]

I always train my characters in my most remote houses and if anyone happens to walk by, I usually log off or something - especially if they pause to see what's going on and this guy's post is exactly the reason why so don't say it can't happen because it just did

Jeesh same here. I have an awfully nosy neighbor that seems to be on all the time

 

[Petra Fyde]

Can we get names removed please folks? They can't come here to defend themselves and naming them is against the rules.
Here's the address for gm reviews when you have a complaint: My Notification Requests

 

[Ahuaeyjnkxs]

Thanks Petra...

I too don't think EA customer support will be any help, and when they say they will not reply to any further message, they won't. And if you call on the phone, they will see you attempted to continue "this subject" further...

Last message I got from them was : We are sorry if we have deleted all your veteran characters from your old account (dated 1998) ; we rarely do this but when we do its to clear some space on our servers.

What ?

When I opened a new topic as to why I was unable to get upgraded to SA, I got no reply of course, when on the phone I got with people who felt uncomfortable because there was that "don't respond" flag on my account I assumed.

When I messaged Cal about it, I asked a few other questions along as to why I could not upgrade. Well Cal you answered my two other questions, and forgot to help me upgrade to SA, which is why I left PM history as quote in my subsequent messages.

But it seems I'm too much a pain to be helped... heck I'm wondering if its worth it now.

 

[Omnius]

EA customer support is crap. I had a random object blocking a housing location for 2 months before a GM finally responded and moved the broken object blocking housing. 2 months of regularly paging....

 

[Kojak]

only 2 months - that's a record speed

must be because it had electrolytes (obscure movie reference - hehe)

 

[Cetric]

While working ninjitsu, I saw at least 4-5 people sitting there unmoving, untalking and never seeming to log out due to inactivity. To be fair, there is a small chance they were in guild chat or something. I should have took the hint when people scattered every time "tami does tram" showed up. (apparently she is a big troublemaker on the shard)

LOL, just wanted to point at this for my fellow great lakers!

 

[Tinsil]

I've had GMs show up within 30 minutes and do a good job.. while other ones just like to feed canned messages and do a poor job.

Just page a lot and hope for a good one, I guess..

 

[[JD]]

Also people in Luna are idiots. I was actively training a weapon skill, while shape changing, casting nukes, and moving around. It was painfully obvious I wasn't AFK watching TV. I had no less than 3 twerps cast invis on me. People in Luna just like to be *****. And as to the "why don't you hunt low level monsters", after the 50 billionth time hunting ettins, it gets a little boring. People just want to up their skill so they can do "big boy" stuff. If you like to hunt orcs after 13 years of playing the game, have fun with that- but don't assume some sort of guilty behavior just because others choose different ways.

 

[jack flash uk]

Also people in Luna are idiots. I was actively training a weapon skill, while shape changing, casting nukes, and moving around. It was painfully obvious I wasn't AFK watching TV. I had no less than 3 twerps cast invis on me. People in Luna just like to be *****. And as to the "why don't you hunt low level monsters", after the 50 billionth time hunting ettins, it gets a little boring. People just want to up their skill so they can do "big boy" stuff. If you like to hunt orcs after 13 years of playing the game, have fun with that- but don't assume some sort of guilty behavior just because others choose different ways.

So players at luna have to be exposed to your training? great and you call them "*****"

just train at home out the way and stop spamming the crap outta the place then maybe you will be left alone

THINK OF OTHER WHO PLAY THIS GAME AS WELL!

 

[Trebr Drab]

Also people in Luna are idiots. I was actively training a weapon skill, while shape changing, casting nukes, and moving around. It was painfully obvious I wasn't AFK watching TV. I had no less than 3 twerps cast invis on me. People in Luna just like to be *****. And as to the "why don't you hunt low level monsters", after the 50 billionth time hunting ettins, it gets a little boring. People just want to up their skill so they can do "big boy" stuff. If you like to hunt orcs after 13 years of playing the game, have fun with that- but don't assume some sort of guilty behavior just because others choose different ways.

So players at luna have to be exposed to your training? great and you call them "*****"

just train at home out the way and stop spamming the crap outta the place then maybe you will be left alone

THINK OF OTHER WHO PLAY THIS GAME AS WELL!

The same could be said to you.

I get tired of seeing lively things in UO go away because some players don't want to see other players do something. As long as it's legit, let players play. It's not a Single Player game. Accept other players.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

Tho I see it quite regularly, I never understood why people use Luna with as much traffic as it gets, especially since there's many Other places, even fenced in areas, in guard zones, that are very vacant and rarely traveled.