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MS banning users over Halo 4 DLC debacle

D

DarkJC

Member
I don't understand what the upside for MS is of all these automated bans. I know that if I was banned for playing my legit (yes, it was legit MS, as much as you would like to think otherwise) copy of a game, I'd seriously think twice before ever buying Microsoft product again.

Ditto for this situation, I certainly would think twice before buying anything off their online store, even if it was marked 'free'. Why create all this grief for your customers right before the holidays?

And I have said it once and say it again, there is a serious lack of accountability here. Also, if players without fault are getting screwed and depending upon how much time it'll take to affected account, I hope MS has some form of compensatory awards.
Click to expand...

The 'reward' will be they'll graciously allow you to log back into their online service that you pay for every year. Pray they don't decide to change the definition of what's legitimate.
 
R

Resilient

Member
Monumental said:
Get through to what? What are you even saying? In fact I agree with your first response here:

But my first post, and all subsequent posts have only said one thing. That I don't think that the free DLC is the reason why this is happening, there is some different reason all together.


Nope. I never said that. I think any and all Xbox Live members have a right to bitch at Microsoft and demand an explanation. But where does Halo 4 sucks, 343 sucks fit into that?
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This is the straw that broke the camels back, again. M$ clearly suck because its their service screwing up.
 
I

i-Lo

Member
Cyan said:
Though you have to admit it'd be pretty topical if everyone in this thread got banned.
Click to expand...

It certainly won't be comical
XD

DarkJC said:
The 'reward' will be they'll graciously allow you to log back into their online service that you pay for every year. Pray they don't decide to change the definition of what's legitimate.
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Well, are they republicans?
 
M

McLovin

Member
I can see it now... Ms accidentally offers 1yr gold memberships for 1 dollar. Then proceeds to ban anyone that uses the code.
 
U

U2NUMB

Member
DarkJC said:
I don't understand what the upside for MS is of all these automated bans. I know that if I was banned for playing my legit (yes, it was legit MS, as much as you would like to think otherwise) copy of a game, I'd seriously think twice before ever buying Microsoft product again.

Ditto for this situation, I certainly would think twice before buying anything off their online store, even if it was marked 'free'. Why create all this grief for your customers right before the holidays?



The 'reward' will be they'll graciously allow you to log back into their online service that you pay for every year. Pray they don't decide to change the definition of what's legitimate.
Click to expand...


I think what we can safely assume is that something with the combo of the new DLC and how their auto ban system works is messed up. In no way would they ever want this to happen to legit copies of the DLC. We will have to see how they react to it tomorrow.. hopefully fast as hell as they should.
 
davepoobond

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
it adds insult to injury because you can be assured that 99% of everyone that got banned pays for Xbox Live. They are paying customers being treated like shit.
 
I

i-Lo

Member
McLovin said:
I can see it now... Ms accidentally offers 1yr gold memberships for 1 dollar. Then proceeds to ban anyone that uses the code.
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This. It's a major souring point if you can't trust the legitimacy of offers being disseminated by the official sources.

davepoobond said:
it adds insult to injury because you can be assured that 99% of everyone that got banned pays for Xbox Live. They are paying customers being treated like shit.
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Everyone who plays online requires gold, so isn't that a 100%?
 
K

Kazuma Kiryu

Member
gaming_noob said:
Rofl go ahead and find a post where I make fun of Sony or Nintendo. Meanwhile, you like to show up in nintendo and MS threads with your drive by trolling.
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damn, and i thought i really liked nintendo, i even bought a wii and a ds! and to think i almost bought an xbox a few months ago! the nextbox is out of the question though, because someone *wink wink* can't understand that people are critising the subsidized subscription deal.
i guess it must have been my evil twin who defended the gamecube library in a thread a while ago, or that said that xbl had the best online platform/os features. i gotta keep an eye on him, sometimes he gets out of the cage and posts stuff like that, i apologise for that, totally unacceptable. i'll make sure it never happens again.
 
O

Orca

Member
i-Lo said:
This. It's a major souring point if you can't trust the legitimacy of offers being disseminated by the official sources.
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Doesn't it seem a tad obvious that these bans are the result of a false-positive of some kind in the system, like the wave of Linux users banned in Diablo 3?
 
D

DarkJC

Member
Sure but why even have a system that's so aggressive that paying customers get screwed instantly and have to wait with no communication as to what's going on until MS figures their shit out? Is fraud on the Xbox Online Store some huge epidemic that justifies this?
 
T

TimeEffect

Member
If this is only happening during split screen, it's not like MS is intentionally entrapping.

Whether or not they will fix it is another matter
 
I

i-Lo

Member
Orca said:
Doesn't it seem a tad obvious that these bans are the result of a false-positive of some kind in the system, like the wave of Linux users banned in Diablo 3?
Click to expand...

The perpetrator behind these bans is most likely an automated system. However, the point is about the causation that led to this moment. From what I understand, MS screwed up their own offer and now I assume there is sort automated date of download verfier or/and glitch checker that may be tied closely which is resulting in people getting banned left and right for acquiring the DLC.
 
U

U2NUMB

Member
DarkJC said:
Sure but why even have a system that's so aggressive that paying customers get screwed instantly and have to wait with no communication as to what's going on until MS figures their shit out? Is fraud on the Xbox Online Store some huge epidemic that justifies this?
Click to expand...

I honestly can not remember a time when any of the auto ban systems they have in place produced MASS bannings. Yes one or two here or there but if this turns out to be a good number of people that is a new issue. And perhaps something like this will make them rethink it but not likely.
 
gaming_noob

gaming_noob

Member
Kazuma Kiryu said:
damn, and i thought i really liked nintendo, i even bought a wii and a ds! and to think i almost bought an xbox a few months ago! the nextbox is out of the question though, because someone *wink wink* can't understand that people are critising the subsidized subscription deal.
i guess it must have been my evil twin who defended the gamecube library in a thread a while ago....
Click to expand...

I'm sorry dude. Sent you a PM.
 
S

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
Watch out, guys; next thing you know, Microsoft will be lying out of their asses and making baseless accusations. Trust me, I know ;)


Your DLC is pirated. This case has been investigated and re-investigated again; and this case of Crimson Map Pack DLC is very complicated. That's all I'll say about this particular case, period.
 
S

SolarPowered

Member
watership said:
Halo banning happens all the time. En masse. This sort of thing works itself out. But maybe this is another halo4/xbox/microsoft/console gaming sucks can't wait for my pc thread in disguise? (looks at the posts above) Yes. Yes it is.
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Nah

The PS3 is awesome with PS+/Blu ray. The Wii is cheap and has a ton of niche jewels/Nintendo greats and the 360 has it's massive library of kick ass third party games with a tiny bit of high quality first party games. Stuff like banning people over DLC sucks ass though. Wii U is a gigantic enigma wrapped in a cloak at this point in time. Won't comment on that console yet.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Clearly, something went awry, and the ban hammer went wide and hit more people than intended, but I'm wondering what MS was trying to do in the first place. Is there an under-reported exploit they were trying to target? Or did the retroactive fix they put in place to make access to the "free" map pack end up triggering automated ban hammers?

I'm doubtful we'll get the full story, but I'm really curious what the goal was here.
 
R

Respawn

Banned
SolarPowered said:
Nah

The PS3 is awesome with PS+/Blu ray. The Wii is cheap and has a ton of niche jewels/Nintendo greats and the 360 has it's massive library of kick ass third party games with a tiny bit of high quality first party games. Stuff like banning people over DLC sucks ass though. Wii U is a gigantic enigma wrapped in a cloak at this point in time. Won't comment on that console yet.
Click to expand...

Ahh subtle and sneaky. You had my curiosity but now you have my attention. Please tell us more.
 
J

Jack_AG

Banned
DarkJC said:
I don't understand what the upside for MS is of all these automated bans. I know that if I was banned for playing my legit (yes, it was legit MS, as much as you would like to think otherwise) copy of a game, I'd seriously think twice before ever buying Microsoft product again.

Ditto for this situation, I certainly would think twice before buying anything off their online store, even if it was marked 'free'. Why create all this grief for your customers right before the holidays?



The 'reward' will be they'll graciously allow you to log back into their online service that you pay for every year. Pray they don't decide to change the definition of what's legitimate.
Click to expand...
"This deal is getting worse all the time!"
 
H

hwy_61

Banned
Oh jeez. I hope this is cleared up by tomorrow. Microsoft should also make it up to the banned. Maybe kick a few weeks of gold sub?
 
O

Orca

Member
GhaleonEB said:
Clearly, something went awry, and the ban hammer went wide and hit more people than intended, but I'm wondering what MS was trying to do in the first place. Is there an under-reported exploit they were trying to target? Or did the retroactive fix they put in place to make access to the "free" map pack end up triggering automated ban hammers?

I'm doubtful we'll get the full story, but I'm really curious what the goal was here.
Click to expand...

I doubt there was a 'goal' at all. It's probably something stupid like someone screwed up and didn't flag the DLC as being available to everyone after whatever the mishap was that allowed everyone to have it, so the automated system is seeing people with access who aren't tagged as being able to have it and dinging them accordingly.

The simplest answer is usually the truth, which is why conspiracies so rarely pan out. When I was a mod at the VN Boards back in the Asheron's Call/EQ days we could do wildcard banning, with an asterisk in place of IP numbers. Someone inadvertantly did it a bit too broadly, and banned almost all of Australia trying to squash a troll who just continued using his ISP's (dial up....that's so old) revolving pool to create new accounts. By the time I noticed the flood of outraged unban requests, tracked it down and undid it, people were already sending in requests with ridiculous theories. My favourite was that the guy was 'obviously' banned by a mod who wanted loot they had gotten earlier that day, since the game didn't have any loot sharing and was first-come, first-grab.
 
T

TouchMyBox

Member
Respawn said:
Wait what? The box was a pretty damn good fake then. Damn I thought he bought the game early.
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It was a legit copy, that dude is either being silly or he's really in love with microsoft.

edit: or maybe not according to kazuma's quote. I haven't looked in that thread in a little while.
 
M

MIMIC

Banned
OK, now I'm a little scared. I used my 14-day Gold Trial (that came with Halo 4) after my regular subscription expired and I kept getting booted out of match making for no reason about 3 or 4 times. The message read that I "needed Xbox Live Gold" in order to play.....even though I had only used the trial for a few hours/days (can't remember).

And now people are getting straight up BANNED? WTF? I thought it was just a glitch on my end and I really didn't think it was a big deal (since I already sent for a new 12-month subscription a few days ago)

EDIT: I can still play; the glitch hasn't happened for a few days.
 
K

Kazuma Kiryu

Member
Respawn said:
Wait what? The box was a pretty damn good fake then. Damn I thought he bought the game early.
Click to expand...

blitzcloud said:
Let's recap.


Guy buys halo4 early
Gets banned for it
Posts about it on GAF. Mixed opinions
shows picture of halo4 copy as of 26/10
stinkles says he will help him
GAF believes on unban
Skelington gives picture with receipt to stinkles

--

--

--

End of November
His situation is not resolved
stinkles does not answer back
Buys new 360 on BF, sells old one.
Still banned but now he only cares about his gamertag

--

--

--

Nowadays
stinkles answers back with a vague implication that skelington is not clean (sorry, but that's my deduction from his wording)
Lexi helps out as well, and the reply is that skelington sent an edited picture and is uncooperative
All hope is lost.


Of course, in the course of everything there was a fight between users.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Assumptions:

1. Microsoft bans without any thresold those who play early.
2. Skelington was banned for violating no terms of service, neither anything that would warrant a console ban.
3. Microsoft call skelington uncooperative for not ratting away the store.

All of the above is extremely abusive in case skelington told us the truth (and I can assume he did as this would warrant a ban in GAF, why making it for getting owned afterwards?) and anyone in favor of it should feel bad for what's to come later on.

In other words, the problem is not that he's not getting unbanned (well, that's the current problem). The real problem is that he got double banned for violating no terms of service.
Click to expand...

i believe this is what happened.
 
Y

Yagharek

Member
Speaking more generally, it seems to me as an outsider that Microsoft seem to have a fairly well-used banhammer. I'm not going to guess at the stats or numbers, but they seem far more willing to ban accounts/consoles or people from individual games for a whole swathe of reasons. Some are no doubt legitimate (piracy), others morally indefensible (street date breaks) and ones like this are completely baffling.

Do other comparable services (steam, psn, origin etc) ban people as often and as readily as xbox live bans are handed out?
 
O

Orca

Member
Yagharek said:
Speaking more generally, it seems to me as an outsider that Microsoft seem to have a fairly well-used banhammer. I'm not going to guess at the stats or numbers, but they seem far more willing to ban accounts/consoles or people from individual games for a whole swathe of reasons. Some are no doubt legitimate (piracy), others morally indefensible (street date breaks) and ones like this are completely baffling.

Do other comparable services (steam, psn, origin etc) ban people as often and as readily as xbox live bans are handed out?
Click to expand...

Sony banned everyone with a fat PS3 from PSN for a whole day :D
 
D

DarkJC

Member
Respawn said:
Damn. goes to show you wait for the outcome before you assume. Guy makes a thread and then does some shady shit. Some folks are really f'd up in the head. That's why I was like why did he run out and get a new 360 so quick. Didn't make any sense. Thanks for the info Kazuma.
Click to expand...

Wait, what? You seriously read that and your takeaway is that the guy is in the wrong?
 
B

Bjoern the Smexy

Member
It's pretty sad that Microsoft is outright BANNING them for having fun, just because some people are having fun a bit early.

"You can't have your premature fun, here's the hammer! *BANNED*"

If that happened to me I would never buy a Halo game, maybe even another Microsoft financed game, ever again.
 
E

Effect

Member
Just another reminder why I'm glad I never signed up for Live Gold or do any multiplayer gaming on the 360. Doing an about face on the copy of ME3 I orderd for the 360. It's going back but that was before seeing this. That they have no problem doing this to paying customers is crazy. Even crazier is that some of those banned will go right out next chance they get and get a new system. :(
 
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