Moderation Announcement Today 11/27/23

Nicolino Di Benedetto · 11-27-2023, 10:58 AM

A large number of accounts have been banned today due to violations of Terms of Service. We are continuing to review the situation and it's impact. Other steps may still be taken. None of the banned accounts will impact the qualification for the PTCS.

kq76 · 11-27-2023, 01:58 PM

That's a scary announcement. Can you be more specific than just due to violations of ToS? I logged in after not logging in for awhile just to see if I somehow got banned. And I don't think I'd do anything that would violate the ToS.

dishnet34 · 11-27-2023, 03:27 PM

The context behind this, based on my observations of what was noticed in the community, is that we got reports there were accounts filling tournaments, mainly quicks and dailies, with incomplete rosters and they all had the same players (or lack of players) so it looked like some kind of coordinated effort to fill them up and prevent others from joining/winning.

I believe some observations saw one daily where 40/64 teams were of this criteria and a quick where there were about half that had the same roster.

Hwilensky · 11-27-2023, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dishnet34

The context behind this, based on my observations of what was noticed in the community, is that we got reports there were accounts filling tournaments, mainly quicks and dailies, with incomplete rosters and they all had the same players (or lack of players) so it looked like some kind of coordinated effort to fill them up and prevent others from joining/winning.

I believe some observations saw one daily where 40/64 teams were of this criteria and a quick where there were about half that had the same roster.

While that is a step in the right direction(finally)...what about all the teams passing money from one team to the next?

ChessSafari · 11-27-2023, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hwilensky

While that is a step in the right direction(finally)...what about all the teams passing money from one team to the next?

...yes, that too, or a team indirectly impacting (even if unintentionally) playoff finishes or relegations by other teams as a result of Tanking during the latter stages of a season.

Much 'less than optimal' stuff going on in the Perfect Team realm of this community IMO. Speaking as one dedicated user, I am pleased to see some of it getting addressed.

While not technically violations of TOS, did I mention the price gouging in the card market? I thought the 10-copy limit per card would fix that. Maybe we need a 3-card limit. Card speculation is one thing, but we shouldn't block the average user who supports the game from the feasibility of completing the majority of missions. The "good" cards should be kept in circulation and enough of them created to ensure a reasonably fair card market.

Don't even get me started on the Limited Editions, or the hugely negative EV of Spotlight Packs.

Really, I love this game as well as most of the members of the community that I have encountered during the past 3+ years. I spend 10 hours a day 7 days per week playing this game and have done so since the advent of Covid. I will continue to do so. But there needs to be a leveling of the playing field IMO.

Among the positive changes that I have observed (yes, there are many of these, but they are not the subject of this thread) is that there is not as much foul language or personal attacks in the stream chats as in previous years, so kudos to the Stream moderators. Enjoyed PT Live. Big fan of PT-plus. Love the new tourney formats, prize distributions and pop-ups. The new team scores are really cool. The changes to the auction house/card market and addition of Perfect Drafts last year were huge improvements to the in-game experience. Every year the replay graphics advance forward. So, I'm not just trying to be negative.

The willingness of OOTPB leadership to take action to make the competitive environment better for each user is appreciated.

Nicolino Di Benedetto · 11-27-2023, 07:01 PM

Thank you for the messages. All of those violations that you describe are reviewed and handled by the Moderation Team. Action is taken, but it's not made public. If you see something you suspect to be a violation, please use the game's reporting function and that will alert the Moderation Team. You can also send me a private message, and I can forward that on to the team to investigate.

The team is very busy reviewing all violations of our Terms of Service. These don't always result in bans, and we do not make these actions public. Please know that we take moderation very seriously.

Thank you.

Hwilensky · 11-28-2023, 08:53 AM

While I appreciate the hard work behind the scenes to prevent the cheating, I do have one request....Is there any way for the team to review the technology behind the game as well.. this 90's tech they are using is just not working...I am tired of venting the same issue with rosters not being loaded correctly for tournaments, but it would be nice if the roster submitted is the roster that play's....

11-27-2023, 10:58 AM	#1
Nicolino Di Benedetto PT Director of Product Management Join Date: Jul 2016 Posts: 406	Moderation Announcement Today 11/27/23 A large number of accounts have been banned today due to violations of Terms of Service. We are continuing to review the situation and it's impact. Other steps may still be taken. None of the banned accounts will impact the qualification for the PTCS.

11-27-2023, 01:58 PM	#2
kq76 Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 12,048	That's a scary announcement. Can you be more specific than just due to violations of ToS? I logged in after not logging in for awhile just to see if I somehow got banned. And I don't think I'd do anything that would violate the ToS. __________________ My OOTP Wishlist \| My FAQ List OOTP Wiki \| Your Recommended Team Nicknames, By City (A Crowdsourced Project) For Beta/Devs: Full screen (1920x1080)

11-27-2023, 03:27 PM	#3
dishnet34 All Star Starter Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,730	The context behind this, based on my observations of what was noticed in the community, is that we got reports there were accounts filling tournaments, mainly quicks and dailies, with incomplete rosters and they all had the same players (or lack of players) so it looked like some kind of coordinated effort to fill them up and prevent others from joining/winning. I believe some observations saw one daily where 40/64 teams were of this criteria and a quick where there were about half that had the same roster. __________________ OOTP's Official Perfect Team Hype Man / host of TWIPT Saturday Showdown and Perfect League World Series "Find a way to be alone in a baseball stadium at sunrise, when the only sound you hear are about nine birds that got lost, and found themselves in a stadium, and they’re chirping across the grandstand trying to figure out where the f*** they ended up." -Dan Besbris Last edited by dishnet34; 11-27-2023 at 03:28 PM.

11-27-2023, 07:01 PM	#6
Nicolino Di Benedetto PT Director of Product Management Join Date: Jul 2016 Posts: 406	Thank you for the messages. All of those violations that you describe are reviewed and handled by the Moderation Team. Action is taken, but it's not made public. If you see something you suspect to be a violation, please use the game's reporting function and that will alert the Moderation Team. You can also send me a private message, and I can forward that on to the team to investigate. The team is very busy reviewing all violations of our Terms of Service. These don't always result in bans, and we do not make these actions public. Please know that we take moderation very seriously. Thank you.

11-28-2023, 08:53 AM	#7
Hwilensky All Star Reserve Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 787	While I appreciate the hard work behind the scenes to prevent the cheating, I do have one request....Is there any way for the team to review the technology behind the game as well.. this 90's tech they are using is just not working...I am tired of venting the same issue with rosters not being loaded correctly for tournaments, but it would be nice if the roster submitted is the roster that play's....