Case for retrial for some beta test exploiters

Some posts on reddit surfaced that some spending players read the "Beta testers aren't charged for this in-App purchase, and it will only be available during testing."
They admit they were wrong to recharge <$800 once they found out the purchases appeared to affect their main account. I think for some cases they should be allowed a different ban decision. Of course that decision falls upon Kabam. I just want to encourage a second look.

Comments

ZzyzxGuy

Pretty sure Kabam took this into consideration since not all bans were perma bans.

peasant

ZzyzxGuy wrote: »

Pretty sure Kabam took this into consideration since not all bans were perma bans.

That's true.. I guess I was sympathizing with/giving the benefit of the doubt to the supposedly didn't recharge that many times people who claim to have gotten permanently banned.

Either way, I do like that there's now a permaban in place so cheaters will think twice.

GroundedWisdom

They don't allow discussions on actions taken on the Forum.
Having said that, I'm glad I didn't buy anything while in the Beta. Lol.

Jaded

Unfortunately they won’t discuss this situation further. But imho both parties are at fault. Kabam messed up their programming but the player base that saw this should have reported it and not exploited it. It’s a game, they were banned for being stupid about it. Fortunately life still goes on for them.

Maidril

I was on Kabam’s side before seeing the screenshot. But if the screenshot is real, then it’s on Kabam, not the testers IMO.

Taking away all the items purchased/attained with the units makes sense, sure. But permanently banning someone because you (Kabam) worded the message poorly and without giving players guidance is not fair. That’s the company’s fault for not doing their due diligence before releasing the beta test.

Jaded

Maidril wrote: »

I was on Kabam’s side before seeing the screenshot. But if the screenshot is real, then it’s on Kabam, not the testers IMO.

Taking away all the items purchased/attained with the units makes sense, sure. But permanently banning someone because you (Kabam) worded the message poorly and without giving players guidance is not fair. That’s the company’s fault for not doing their due diligence before releasing the beta test.

Well there should be a responsibility of the player to report the case promptly. While I do agree with a permanent ban being a little harsh considering the other exploited material of past not giving harsher punishments compared to this situation.

GroundedWisdom

That all depends on the degree of the exploit I suppose. A Player that isn't aware of what they're doing is different than one who knowingly takes advantage of a situation. For me, an exploit involves having an awareness of what is being taken for granted.

Maidril

Jaded wrote: »

Maidril wrote: »

I was on Kabam’s side before seeing the screenshot. But if the screenshot is real, then it’s on Kabam, not the testers IMO.

Taking away all the items purchased/attained with the units makes sense, sure. But permanently banning someone because you (Kabam) worded the message poorly and without giving players guidance is not fair. That’s the company’s fault for not doing their due diligence before releasing the beta test.

Well there should be a responsibility of the player to report the case promptly. While I do agree with a permanent ban being a little harsh considering the other exploited material of past not giving harsher punishments compared to this situation.

Yes, they could have reported it. But assuming the reddit is accurate - why were free units an option for testers? And why would testers assume they weren’t meant to use them to test content?

I agree that some should be punished ($45k in units ridiculous). But a ban is also ridiculous when Kabam is at least as culpable as the test exploiters. Roll back their accounts, suspend them a week or two, that makes sense.

GroundedWisdom

$45,000 In exploitable Resources doesn't warrant a ban for you? Lol.

Maidril

GroundedWisdom wrote: »

$45,000 In exploitable Resources doesn't warrant a ban for you? Lol.

It would if Kabam had told them that the free units were part of the test environment but should not be purchased. And that abuse of the units would result in x, y, and z.

I just have the reddit thread to go on, but since it sounds like that didn’t happen. No. I don’t think it warrants a ban.

You have people of all ages and mental capacities playing this game and probably acting as testers - why should they be punished so severely for the company they’re helping for free not being clear about something?

Edit: just to clarify - I do think the big exploiters should be punished. But I also think a ban is over the top if the circumstances we’ve been presented are accurate.

GroundedWisdom

I'm not apt to trust Reddit as a source of factual information. A SS could be anything. Could have been from the last Beta. I was a part of this one, and no purchases were necessary for it. There was a Beta Quest to test MD/Dex, and both were Max when you entered.

GroundedWisdom

I don't have specifics on the case in question. Just making the statement that if someone exploited 45k worth of Resources, you'd have a hard time convincing me of innocence. That would warrant one, IMO. That's not an "oops". Exploiting something also includes "We can blame Kabam if we get caught.".

Maidril

I agree Reddit isn’t a great source. But it’s no different than hearsay on the forums from other strangers (no offense).

As to which beta, they clearly state it’s for the overheating fix.

And yeah, I get units weren’t necessary - but they were there as a free option. Why were they included? And if they weren’t meant to be used, why wasn’t that made clear?

GroundedWisdom

Ah. This was for the Patch. Well, that really makes it in bad taste for me. People volunteered to help fix a problem. Not cool.

NOOOOOOOOPEEEEE

So hold on let me get this straight people bought beta unit packs, didn't use some of them on the beta, noticed it was in the live game, used them in the live game and then didn't report it? Still seems pretty wrong to me.

Pool

Someone changed profile pic to avoid flags. Lmao

GroundedWisdom

If you're referring to me, I changed it because I get bored of the same Champ after a while. I could care less about Flags, really. If people want to abuse them, that's on them. Doesn't affect me a bit.

NOOOOOOOOPEEEEE

Pool wrote: »

Someone changed profile pic to avoid flags. Lmao

Yes because a simple profile pic change makes people think "woah I don't wanna flag this guy"

FloorKiller

typically kabamish, lol. bugged content and someone found the shortcut. And kabam, like a true hero under "we gonna protect you from these abusers" slogan, save us again. WE ALL KNOW YOU JUST CARE ABOUT YOUR FN PROFIT!!! FIX YOUR D4MN GAME AND STOP RELEASE BUGGED CONTENT!!! (рукож.пы мля)

NOOOOOOOOPEEEEE

FloorKiller wrote: »

typically kabamish, lol. bugged content and someone found the shortcut. And kabam, like a true hero under "we gonna protect you from these abusers" slogan, save us again. WE ALL KNOW YOU JUST CARE ABOUT YOUR FN PROFIT!!! FIX YOUR D4MN GAME AND STOP RELEASE BUGGED CONTENT!!! (рукож.пы мля)

No way a company cares about their profit.... What a shocker

DaFaust1

GroundedWisdom wrote: »

Ah. This was for the Patch. Well, that really makes it in bad taste for me. People volunteered to help fix a problem. Not cool.

So if you volunteered to help fix something for my store, you think it's okay to help yourself to the cash register?? Nope. PermaBan was absolutely appropriate!

GroundedWisdom

DaFaust1 wrote: »

GroundedWisdom wrote: »

Ah. This was for the Patch. Well, that really makes it in bad taste for me. People volunteered to help fix a problem. Not cool.

So if you volunteered to help fix something for my store, you think it's okay to help yourself to the cash register?? Nope. PermaBan was absolutely appropriate!

That was my point. We agree. I didnt realize it was from the Patch. Kind of makes it even worse in my mind.

DiablosUltimate

They should be paying for beta testing anyway instead of using players good will for free labor. Beta testing is a work, you need to pay for it

Woody_feder

Let them pay for what they stole. If they do that they can keep their account? I wanna see the guy with 45k worth of cheating send it to kabam lol

Anonymous

DiablosUltimate wrote: »

They should be paying for beta testing anyway instead of using players good will for free labor. Beta testing is a work, you need to pay for it

I’ll beta test for $45k. Where do I sign up?

Bear3

Lol it clearly says they were buying themselves items and allaince members items/crystals etc with the stolen units. Anyone trying to say they just thought it was their “bonus” for helping with the beta test, and they can decide how much or little they want to take as their “bonus”? Gimme a break. Agreed the units shouldn’t have been in the beta test at all it sounds like, but all these people knew damn well they were taking free units they weren’t supposed to get and didn’t stop doing it or report it. If someone has done it unknowingly, didn’t spend it gift items with the units, and brought it to kabams attention (all of those must have been true, not spending them but not reporting it is just waiting to make sure you’re in the clear before spending them) then people shouldn’t have gotten bans. Sounds like everyone who was banned, had it coming. Finally cheaters getting what they deserve. Still tons of accounts who have modded ROL completion as well as other event completion who clearly haven’t done it. Brand new accounts with 2* champs have 4* rhino cyc and Ronan.. and nothing’s done about it.

FlyingPigs

Woody_feder wrote: »

Let them pay for what they stole. If they do that they can keep their account? I wanna see the guy with 45k worth of cheating send it to kabam lol

Actually that's a pretty good idea. Allows an avenue for people that had not exploited it on a big scale (maybe made a mistake or thought it would be funny) to take a punishment and get back to playing their account which they may have spent money on in the past. Kabam brought up $45k as an example but they didn't say what thresholds they used to perm ban players.

Given that the message was pretty ambiguous - "... will only be available during testing" - i can see many honest players thinking that it will just be rolled back when the beta ends.

DiablosUltimate

Nowhere, because as long as long there are people stupid enough to do it for free, that job will not be avaiable

Deadly2016

my thoughts, if you purchased a odin on beta and logen into live seeing you got additinoal 3.1k units there, free without charge, id expect any beta tester to send a ticked that something is wrong. not only the big exploiters of the bug with over 1 mio units gained are at fault.
a beta is per definition something you should find bugs, and a interaction with the live server is a major bug. if you fail to report it you didnt do your job, and if you exploit the 'trust' set into you by buying even more then the permaban is justified in my opinion.
anyone buying one (or maybe 2-3) and reporting the bug however did what they should, should get rolled back to normal and of course be free of any punishment.

Anonymous

Deadly2016 wrote: »

my thoughts, if you purchased a odin on beta and logen into live seeing you got additinoal 3.1k units there, free without charge, id expect any beta tester to send a ticked that something is wrong. not only the big exploiters of the bug with over 1 mio units gained are at fault.
a beta is per definition something you should find bugs, and a interaction with the live server is a major bug. if you fail to report it you didnt do your job, and if you exploit the 'trust' set into you by buying even more then the permaban is justified in my opinion.
anyone buying one (or maybe 2-3) and reporting the bug however did what they should, should get rolled back to normal and of course be free of any punishment.

I agree, they should be banned. But, their offense was way less than the fraud units scam. That involved actual stolen money which was a crime. These are digital items not paid for so no one was stolen from. Fraud units got a 1 week ban basically because kabam still got paid for the units, in this case kabam did not get paid.