But is that not the point? I am not accusing anyone of anything here,but what did u expect them to say? "Yeah man, i had like 30+ (fill in the blank) items that were duped in my possession?" Do not be ridiculous!!!! I do not know any of these people and frankly, if you were honest, neither do you!
None of you have looked into their bank boxes, houses, etc. and know for sure if they had the duped items or not.
Heck, if i got caught up in it, i would say the same thing they did. Sometimes folks, honest people do dishonest things. Perhaps only once, but when the net was tossed, that once was enough to ruin their UO lives. Kinda like saying, "but officer, this was the first time i even tried crack. I was only here buying it just this once."
If some are innocent, then they have been provided the vehicle by which to attempt to get their account(s) back. Some say that they do not get an answer...and it may be they deserve one...and...maybe not.
EA has done this in the past, on a couple of occasions, that I can think of, and after investigation, restored accounts, etc.
But, as was stated by that old post of Wilki's, and also this go around by Jeremy...
Many, many, many of these people had the goods, and lots of goods...not just one or two or five or ten...lots of them. The one "Innocent" that had 160 duped runics...how many of you even have 160 runics, besides Theo?
The lady that Wilki referred to that was just a housewife that loved UO? In his poignant words "Pfffffffffft".
We can never know...and to me, that is the downside in all of it. I wish they could publish names and reasons, but they never will.
I had to fire a friend of mine (whose name I cannot disclose) because she falsified her own time clock info (she worked in my Payroll office for three years). I had just taken a class on "Controls", and learned about time record audits, for Payroll employees.
When I audited hers for the prior pay period, she delivered a printed version of the period, with copious notes about edits that she had made (they weren't supposed to edit their own time without my knowledge, so that was strike one). When I noticed a punch in at 6:34 AM on a Sunday, I got an oogy feeling. The punch in was at 6:34 AM, and she had noted that she forgot to punch in, but she knew it had been at that time, because that is what her computer monitor said, when she sat down that morning, to process payroll
I went and asked our Facilities Manager if the security card times noted when someone uses their badge to open a door in the building was specific, and could be proven...the answer was no.
I then asked, since it was a Sunday, and the alarm would have to be disarmed to gain access to the building...was THAT definite.
The answer was Yes. When I asked who had disarmed the alarm that morning, my heart fell. It had been disarmed at 8:45 AM, by the VP of Merchandising, using his code.
Not good...not good at all.
Whn my employee showed up, I took her in my office, and prefaced our conversation by saying "Now...you know, like I do, that our building alarm is specific, with regard to when it is disarmed, and by who, right?"
She said she knew that.
Keep in mind...this person is a friend of mine, and she goes out with my wife's cousin...keep that in mind.
Then I asked her if her time for that previous Sunday was accurate in her records...if the edit she had made for 6:34 AM was accurate.
She looked me in the eye and said "Absolutely".
I knew right then what I had to do. I suspended her, pending an investigation of the other days she had punched in early, and helped her gather her things. She opted to resign her position, rather than be suspended, and then terminated once the investigation was through.
As she walked out the door that morning, she turned around and looked me in the eye again, and said "You are making a big mistake..."
That was many years ago, and needless to say, I am no longer friends with her. I also do not believe I made any mistake, at all.
That was my friend.
I can most likely assure you that all of HER friends got a whole different story, than the one I just told. But the facts were 100% all there...she had stolen from the company, and I will never allow something like that to occur, no matter who the person is.
Now...perhaps some of the people here, on the boards, that have been actioned, are indeed truly truly innocent. Maybe they stepped over a not super clearly defined line in the sand, and just really didn't know it.
That is possible.
It is also possible none of them are as innocent as they would like all of us to believe. It is also very possible that EA, who can see their time records, so to speak, knew exactly what they had done, and no one, not even their closest ingame friends, guildies, and associates knew.
That is also possible.
What is also possible is that if they are persistent enough, if they truly are innocent, and I mean persistent enough with the right people at EA, that they, like the couple of others that have had their name cleared, and are back playing, after being falsely accused, could be back playing again, themselves.
But at the end of it all, we may have a bit of a Performance Management issue here, it appears on the surface. The people banned say they have never been warned, etc., and that may be true. But we can never know any of that, with the certainty required to make absolute judgment calls on the issue.
I bought two heartwood runics from a vendor in Luna a while back. I had burned them, and mentioned them to one of my TS buddies My ingame friend went to the vendor, and in TS, mentioned how many Val runics the guy had, when he went and looked. When I went back and looked, I was a bit shocked. He had like 25 Val Hammers. Hmmmm. Needless to say, I realized that there was no way for most anyone, except maybe 40,000 BOD Theo to have that many hammers, and I don't think he plays my shard, so I steered way clear. That vendor was taken down, when all the hubbub about the dupes came to the surface, and now I truly feel bad for having given my gold to a cheater. The vendor house that allowed the vendor is still there, however.
I have no idea if that vendor was taken by EA, or by the owner, but if I get banned for unknowingly buying and using two Heartwood runics, and using them, then I will take my lumps.
I do own a Luna Vendor house, and I do have about 250 mill liquid gold on my vendors, but I am no trader. I either make or loot what I sell, and I can say that I am not too worried about a false banning. I don't rent out vendor spots at all...they are my vendors, that I stock myself.
It is possible that EA could come down on me for buying those two Heartwood kits, I suppose...but I have played since Beta...I don't do anything to jeopardize my account, and God willing, when I get home from work tonight, I will be able to log in, like normal.
But if not...then I will come back and let you all know it, and confirm that buying a runic or two WILL get you banned. There would be no innocence, other than the less than well defined line in the sand, and the lack of the "Duped" tag on the kits I bought.
My silence on the matter will indicate that Jeremy tells the truth about who they took out of the game, I would think...at the very, very least for my accounts.
And...if mistakes really were made, then I do hope that those falsely accused get a chance to restore their name, characters, and possessions.
Hopefully EA really checked their time records very, very carefully, before taking such drastic action.
job!
