The Last 24 Hours.

DeletedUser14257

Guest
I've been playing this game for years. Over the last 18 months the lack of transparency, favoritism, and overall abuse of power is appalling and very disappointing. I agree with all of my fellow players above posts. There has to be some protocol to follow or checks and balances on the mods. There has to be a presumption of innocence before proven guilty. And most importantly if it is proved without doubt that cheating is occurring then drop the hammer with harsh punishment. I know i can speak for myself and the players i have played with for years. There is zero confidence in our current system and zero confidence that anything is going to be done about it.

Worlds are getting smaller and smaller. Participation less and less. The MOD's and COMA are a big reason for that. Someone with some common sense and love for the great grepo community please do something to correct these issues.
 

DeletedUser15357

Guest
This is an excerpt from "Changelog 2.159" :
https://us.forum.grepolis.com/index.php?threads/changelog-2-159.11932/:

Dear Community,

On Wednesday March 21, 2018 Grepolis will be updated to version 2.159.

The most visible of changes improves the readability of the city list within the farming village overview. Furthermore we made some code adjustments to improve the situation with 3rd party scripts a bit and fixed some bugs along the way.

Some changes were introduced to the way the positioning of the user interface is determined.
This change should ensure that less issues arise with 3rd party scripts whenever we make smaller interface adjustments.
Disclaimer: Albeit us making some adjustments for your convenience, custom user scripts remain an unsupported, unofficial addition to the game and therefore continue to be used at own risk!


I don't know exactly how these things work but could maybe the changes made to make the scripts better be what caused the false positives?

I use some of the same approved add-ons that many of the banned players use. Why have I not been banned?

Why are players in multiple worlds only banned on select worlds and not all worlds? If you are using something I think you would always have it on.

Why is the number of players being banned so high all at once when people getting banned previously for the same reasons are few and far between?

Seems like if anyone responsible for implementing the banns asked themselves just one of these questions they would have held off on issuing them.

While a great theory, probably not the case. Inno game me some insight to how things work on their end with bannings and the tools used. Bans don't come unless they are "100% certain cheating has occurred". But, that comes from the MODs and COMA to issue and use the tools to "Be certain". Inno just sets the rules. Think of Inno as Govt and Mods/Coma as the police. We have a good Govt with bad police.
 

Selectron

Citizen
§6) Bots, Scripts, Macros and Proxies
...
The use of proxies and other ways of concealing the connection between player and servers is forbidden,...

I was wondering if the offending Grepo script had something to do with VPNs or proxies? Last year, several players in US Paros were banned for using a mobile app that Inno recognized as a VPN or proxy. But those players had a 24 hour non attackable ban, and they were just warned not to use that type of mobile app. I can't recall the name of the popular mobile app, because I deleted mine.
 

DeletedUser16005

Guest
Personally this did not affect me at all but a few of my friends was punished for this when really they were falsely accused.

I think there was so many better ways then doing a 3 Day attackable ban( 3 days is a good amount of time in grepo time to lose cities by the time you get back you could have lost all your cities which would be very unacceptable).

I also disagree with locking support threads when players try to speak to you if they ask you a question be a grown up and answer it.

Come on mods if you can’t handle the pressure retire.
 

DeletedUser15522

Guest
While I have not been banned (YET) for the use of the approved scripts by Inno, I have to say that I am quite disappointed by the lack of action occurring over this obvious screw up. While we all want a crackdown on illegal botting players, the majority of friends, allies, and enemies that I know only use the approve scripts, that are banned is ridiculous - and should warrant someone somewhere saying "woah! something is screwed up here!".
Yet, instead, we get thread deletions; canned responses, and a complete coverup of anything happening at least until lurk posted this thread.
I'm quite disappointed. I've played this game since 2013. I have watched it get smaller, and smaller, old steady players ran off for various reasons, new ones not coming in as they used to, and changes being made to seem to purposefully run us all off.

The handling of this situation has been appalling. For a company that is doing everything possible to gain gold purchases in this game, you would think even a sliver of customer service to keep us would be warranted. The LEAST that could be done is change the bans to unattackable until it's resolved.

You dropped the ball big time on this one, and I for one, as a bit of an old timer player am fed up and will probably be looking for a replacement for my time and money. It's obvious Inno doesn't appreciate any of us, so we need to vote elsewhere with what matters most to them - the big green moolah.
 
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DeletedUser9378

Guest
We all know that it is impossible to get them to admit any mistakes or issue refunds, but we can all clearly see here that there is no other possible options with this, a mistake was made. That really isn't debatable in this situation. This game is different from most games, this mistake has caused irreversible damage. I can only imagine being a player in a world that is in WW that has been effected by this. We are talking about months or even years of work from multiple players that has been wiped out because of mistake in the game. We all know the commitment it takes to be a WW player these days, waking up during all hours of the night with alarms, using your own money to gold up a wall, months of dedication. I can only imagine the impact this has had on multiple players in multiple servers. Based on the history of how Inno has handled issues in the past, I have to imagine players will be forced to look into legal action for any type of resolution.
 

DeletedUser15165

Guest
Ladies and Gentlemen.

I understand all your frustrations and I hate to be the bearer of some bad news.

At this moment of time there is nothing I can tell you with regards to the ongoing situation.

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear and it won't appease you and rightly so.

As soon as I'm able to update you with something more substantial I will post it in here.

I can feel the hate mail already.

Thank you for your patience.

Lurks,
Forum Admin.
 

DeletedUser9037

Guest
Ladies and Gentlemen.

I understand all your frustrations and I hate to be the bearer of some bad news.

At this moment of time there is nothing I can tell you with regards to the ongoing situation.

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear and it won't appease you and rightly so.

As soon as I'm able to update you with something more substantial I will post it in here.

I can feel the hate mail already.

Thank you for your patience.

Lurks,
Forum Admin.

At least you are responding, that is more than we would normally get, and it is appreciated!
 

DeletedUser15919

Guest
I call again for a total boycott of all cash shop, currency offers or in-game service purchases. No one took me serious months ago when I did the community call out. Hate to say I told you all so but....
 

DeletedUser11719

Guest
At this moment of time there is nothing I can tell you with regards to the ongoing situation.
I know this isn't what you wanted to hear and it won't appease you and rightly so.
As soon as I'm able to update you with something more substantial I will post it in here.
I can feel the hate mail already.

No hate mail from me -- there is no point. I'm done with Grepo and Inno after this.

Inno seems to have forgotten who the customer is. It seldom goes well when you start to threaten your customers -- which Inno and the mods have been doing for some time. In a game where being offline for an hour can have bad consequences, attackable bans followed by "oops we made a mistake" -- who am I kidding, even if it gets reversed there was no "mistake."

I have not been banned, even though I use the same legal scripts as everybody else -- but suffer the collateral damage of having teammates wrongly banned and having to work overtime to mitigate the damage.

I enjoyed the game for the past few years and loved all 24+ hour skype sessions with a good, winning crew. I, like so many others, will be leaving with a sour taste in my mouth over this terrible treatment the company hands out to its paying customers.

Good luck.
Brendon.
 

DeletedUser9378

Guest
I call again for a total boycott of all cash shop, currency offers or in-game service purchases. No one took me serious months ago when I did the community call out. Hate to say I told you all so but....
I think there is a big difference with being unhappy about changes made to the game and what we have going on here. Asking for a boycott because you think changes are negatively effecting the game is one thing, player have the choice to keep playing still. This is a mistake made by the game that has nothing to do with anything the players did. They are not left with a choice. It is a decision that was made by mistake by the game. I'm not saying that asking for a boycott at that time was wrong, just pointing out there is a difference and your "I told you so" doesn't really apply to this situation.
 

DeletedUser15111

Guest
The fact that the mods had to make a post about what has transpired the last 24 hours means they are are clueless as anybody. What the post should have read is

"ladies and gentleman in an effort to kill the game you love we have issued random bans across all servers that may or may not have had a drastic effect on your life. We at inno know these are completely random. Yet we have positioned ourselves to do absolutely nothing about the issue."

That would have provided alot more clarity to the situation. By the way. deleting well written posts that players make to express their frustration while not answering tickets at the same time really sends the wrong message. When you screw up which inno has sometimes you just need to sit there and take the lumps and let it boil over. Let people voice their frustrations. You screwed up.

You cant have a real time game that requires people to play 24/7 and not answer tickets for days. That's unacceptable No matter what business platform you run. Its unacceptable.
 

DeletedUser15111

Guest
Ladies and Gentlemen.

I understand all your frustrations and I hate to be the bearer of some bad news.

At this moment of time there is nothing I can tell you with regards to the ongoing situation.

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear and it won't appease you and rightly so.

As soon as I'm able to update you with something more substantial I will post it in here.

I can feel the hate mail already.

Thank you for your patience.

Lurks,
Forum Admin.

We understand. Yet can and will do NOTHING
 

DeletedUser10353

Guest
Ok so here is my personal story... my name is Mark in rl I play under the name 1map and it's the ONLY name i have ever used.
I have played Grepo for 5 years or so won 3 crowns and more importantly 3 HOF FIGHTER awards.
I started as a mobile only player and finally added the computer to my play on a limited basis maybe 3 or 4 years ago. Mostly at work Which is still how I play.
I run NO Legal or illegal add-ons or even had Skype till last week.
NEVER been banned for anything ever in my history playing Grepo until last week either.
I was mentored by Mortamus who I believe helped write the wiki and he told me never to do anything to jeopardise the game you love. Cause back in the day there would be so much spam bot mail in servers.
Anyways last week I decided with a few friends that we were going to switch to a different alliance to keep the world ALIVE and have some fun. (Which is the point of a game) So magically after I switch 3 hours after I get banned with no notice or communication from innogames. I send a support ticket and get assigned to Karma as my mod.
The reason was I guess my computer now magically has the ability to be running a vpn/proxy server suddenly but for 5 years never had any issue.
Me not being a tech guy I was super frustrated I asked friends for help and the gave me a website to check my system and I also asked our internal tech support and they said we don't run a VPN.
So after days of frustration and getting nowhere but back to beginning my alliance I switched to all ghosted and then with a wave of her magic wand suddenly my ban was lifted. With no alliance to back me up I guess I want a threat anymore.
Something has to be fishy when to many coincidences happen usually points to corruption.
And this game is and always be my favorite. Once you play grepo nothing can compare or replace it. Believe me I have tried lol.
Please do us all a favor and enforce the rules for everyone the same and maybe help some of your non tech savvy players out instead of cheating us out of fun.
Sincerely 1map
 

dan10000

Senior Citizen
Sad to see so many friends and good players screwed over by inno.
Mods are poor but its inno that is to blame for not training them, paying them, having enough of them and not caring about their customers. They have always relied on us just putting up with poor decisions and rules and not walking away because we are loyal to our friends and alliances. They play on our good nature and loyalties.
Best to hit them where it hurts by quitting the game and taking business elsewhere.
 

DeletedUser9133

Guest
Ladies and Gentlemen.

I understand all your frustrations and I hate to be the bearer of some bad news.

At this moment of time there is nothing I can tell you with regards to the ongoing situation.

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear and it won't appease you and rightly so.

As soon as I'm able to update you with something more substantial I will post it in here.

I can feel the hate mail already.

Thank you for your patience.

Lurks,
Forum Admin.

At least you have taken the time to listen which is better than our responses from the In-game mods or INNO.

I don't lay this all at the feet of the mods. While I don't know who is responsible for executing the bot detection programs, the fact that this started a few hours after an update tells me that INNO developers rather than mods are responsible for this debacle. It tells me that the detection program is not only defective but that The Program issues an immediate ban for the player and the mods are responsible for investigation after the fact. That being said. The mods dropped the ball. Instead of seeing the massive problem brewing they took the easy way out and responded to the player protests with canned scripts that were, at the least, insulting and bordering on libelous. When they became overwhelmed, they closed tickets without resolution (like sweeping it under the rug will make it go away). Then the forum mods stepped in an began purging the mention of the situation. Not only the angry and insulting posts but the well thought out and rational posts as well. Entire threads were removed in an effort to censor the players legitimate complaints over being wrongfully accused of cheating. This is on every level poor customer service. Only time will tell if the game can survive this fiasco. Personally, I will stick with my team if they choose to stay, but this will be my final server.
 

DeletedUser14648

Guest
Why in the everloving can you not just unban people while you look into it? Jesus Christ this isn't rocket science. Any brain dead moron could tell that this needs looked into, and that the right thing to do while it's being looked into is to not assume guilt and leave them ATTACKABLE BANNED. I and everyone here feel like we're talking to a wall about this.

I frankly don't give half a shit what your internal policies are. Use your brain and grow a backbone. Everyone here knows what the right thing to do is, and if you're too afraid to step out of script to do what's right then you don't deserve to be a mod in the first place.
 
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Why in the everloving can you not just unban people while you look into it? Jesus Christ this isn't rocket science. Any brain dead moron could tell that this needs looked into, and that the right thing to do while it's being looked into is to not assume guilt and leave them ATTACKABLE BANNED. I and everyone here feel like we're talking to a wall about this.

I frankly don't give half a shit what your internal policies are. Use your brain and grow a backbone. Everyone here knows what the right thing to do is, and if you're too afraid to step out of script to do what's right then you don't deserve to be a mod in the first place.
If they unbanned everyone while they were still looking into it, what's to stop everyone from getting banned again? Meanwhile Inno has professional programmers, they're not using "Coding for newbs" and having simple buttons that change everyone's ban to non-attackable. They could probably make one, but it'd take time and would increase the amount of time it'd take to fix the current mess.
 
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