Shared Accounts Actioned

[Gaile Gray.6029]

A message from the Competitive Team:

After a thorough investigation, we identified several players who shared accounts during Season 11. We have given each of the involved accounts three months of Dishonor and have removed them from the leaderboards. Additionally, we’ve rolled back the accounts to a state prior to the end of the season.

As a reminder, sharing an account and match manipulation are against the Guild Wars 2 Rules of Conduct and/or the Guild Wars 2 User Agreement.

[Kovu.7560]

How does one even go about detecting if an account is "shared"?I ask, because I play from my desktop and sometimes I play for my laptop on several different IPs. I'd rather that not be mistaken as someone else playing my account. (Though to be fair I generally only pve on my laptop.)

~ Kovu

[sephiroth.4217]

@"Kovu.7560" said:How does one even go about detecting if an account is "shared"?I ask, because I play from my desktop and sometimes I play for my laptop on several different IPs. I'd rather that not be mistaken as someone else playing my account. (Though to be fair I generally only pve on my laptop.)

~ Kovu

IP's can be tracked I think....

Just wondering about people who use VPN's though, wonder if they were effected.

[Kovu.7560]

@sephiroth.4217 said:

@"Kovu.7560" said:How does one even go about detecting if an account is "shared"?I ask, because I play from my desktop and sometimes I play for my laptop on several different IPs. I'd rather that not be mistaken as someone else playing my account. (Though to be fair I generally only pve on my laptop.)

~ Kovu

IP's can be tracked I think....

Yeah, that's why I'm wondering if playing on my laptop from my friend's house is going to be an issue.There's also nothing stopping my roommates from sitting down at my computer and booting up my account. (They don't, one isn't allowed to touch my computer and neither play gw2.)

Are we working entirely on the honor system here? I honestly didn't even know this was a rule.

~ Kovu

[sephiroth.4217]

@Kovu.7560 said:

@sephiroth.4217 said:

@Kovu.7560 said:How does one even go about detecting if an account is "shared"?I ask, because I play from my desktop and sometimes I play for my laptop on several different IPs. I'd rather that not be mistaken as someone else playing my account. (Though to be fair I generally only pve on my laptop.)

~ Kovu

IP's can be tracked I think....

Yeah, that's why I'm wondering if playing on my laptop from my friend's house is going to be an issue.

I don't think it would be, I'm sure Anet found quite a few shared IP addresses that were local too each other.... (I personally have 3 ISP's at my house, 1 land line and 2 wifi sticks)They might have stung the people who played on different sides of the world in one day.

I'm not Anet though, so don't quote me, just seems like the logical explanation.

[GDchiaScrub.3241]

Can't share account for RP, got it.

D:

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

Alongside of IP tracking, a simple search on text history where someone or some people chat about and admit to sharing an account, would pretty much catch them red-handed.

[altermaven.7385]

Also in cases the account too frequently bounces between two or more IP addresses. Regardless, this is unwise from a security standpoint, even if the account has/had participated in PvP or not. An unsavory actor can swipe the account and do much worse. Still, hope this drives a lesson to those who would use this as an opportunity to gain an unfair advantage -- play fair, or don't play at all.

[Ayrilana.1396]

Any organization using an online service can track its users by their IP address or even the device used to access their service. It's not that difficult to compare the information of one user against another; especially if it's logged over time. Thy'd have a trend of what's normal for one user and can make detecting anomalies easier. A lot of times it's used as a security measure to protect a user's account.

[Crab Fear.1624]

Good news! Sick em Anet!

[SlippyCheeze.5483]

@Kovu.7560 said:

@sephiroth.4217 said:

@Kovu.7560 said:How does one even go about detecting if an account is "shared"?I ask, because I play from my desktop and sometimes I play for my laptop on several different IPs. I'd rather that not be mistaken as someone else playing my account. (Though to be fair I generally only pve on my laptop.)

~ Kovu

IP's can be tracked I think....

Yeah, that's why I'm wondering if playing on my laptop from my friend's house is going to be an issue.

No. Especially if your friend plays GW2 as well, and is logged on, but in general not anyhow.Now, if you travel around the world like a pilot or something, and play in different cities and timezones all the time, maybe you gonna have some troubles...

[Leablo.2651]

@"Kovu.7560" said:How does one even go about detecting if an account is "shared"?I ask, because I play from my desktop and sometimes I play for my laptop on several different IPs. I'd rather that not be mistaken as someone else playing my account. (Though to be fair I generally only pve on my laptop.)

~ Kovu

Based on the action I assume what they actually detected is high level boosting, which is easy to identify . It can be done with obvious metrics like an account being played in shifts 24/7, or a paid boosting service running from a known IP.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@SlippyCheeze.5483 said:

@Kovu.7560 said:

@sephiroth.4217 said:

@Kovu.7560 said:How does one even go about detecting if an account is "shared"?I ask, because I play from my desktop and sometimes I play for my laptop on several different IPs. I'd rather that not be mistaken as someone else playing my account. (Though to be fair I generally only pve on my laptop.)

~ Kovu

IP's can be tracked I think....

Yeah, that's why I'm wondering if playing on my laptop from my friend's house is going to be an issue.

No. Especially if your friend plays GW2 as well, and is logged on, but in general not anyhow.Now, if you travel around the world like a pilot or something, and play in different cities and timezones all the time, maybe you gonna have some troubles...

They use additional methods to detemine "account sharing for the purpose of getting PvP titles/achievements/rewards." They know that people will bring their laptop to someone else's house and pvp from the same room, and so on. They also look at patterns of play.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

But that punishment.. manipulate, cheat, account share... go to the naughty corner and wear the hat for 3months.Gees if it was up to me it would be wear the naughty hat and get the hell out of my town and don't come back!

[GrubySzymek.1362]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@SlippyCheeze.5483 said:

@Kovu.7560 said:

@sephiroth.4217 said:

@Kovu.7560 said:How does one even go about detecting if an account is "shared"?I ask, because I play from my desktop and sometimes I play for my laptop on several different IPs. I'd rather that not be mistaken as someone else playing my account. (Though to be fair I generally only pve on my laptop.)

~ Kovu

IP's can be tracked I think....

Yeah, that's why I'm wondering if playing on my laptop from my friend's house is going to be an issue.

No. Especially if your friend plays GW2 as well, and is logged on, but in general not anyhow.Now, if you travel around the world like a pilot or something, and play in different cities and timezones all the time, maybe you gonna have some troubles...

They use additional methods to detemine "account sharing for the purpose of getting PvP titles/achievements/rewards." They know that people will bring their laptop to someone else's house and pvp from the same room, and so on. They also look at patterns of play.

What methods? And how do you know this?

[Silver.2076]

What about sharing account in PvE or WvW?For example, to get the achivments/items for a friend?

[Crab Fear.1624]

@Silver.2076 said:What about sharing account in PvE or WvW?For example, to get the achivments/items for a friend?

well, that's eazy.

pve has no competitive recognition.

humans versus humans is WAY HUGE difference than facing some crappy AI......

c'mon bro...too easy

[Crab Fear.1624]

dang...dang...dang...why can't i give the double thumbs up?

i'll never take the side of even a "questionable" cheater.

i'll admit something.

i took a break from the game for about 2 years after it came out. i bought gold from another "unapproved" source....i am very grateful to be here...and i deserved to be banned for all the days i was..im grateful they didnt delete my account...

so no sympathy ever from me

[Crab Fear.1624]

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Crab Fear.1624 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Crab Fear.1624 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@SlippyCheeze.5483 said:

@Kovu.7560 said:

@sephiroth.4217 said:

@Kovu.7560 said:How does one even go about detecting if an account is "shared"?I ask, because I play from my desktop and sometimes I play for my laptop on several different IPs. I'd rather that not be mistaken as someone else playing my account. (Though to be fair I generally only pve on my laptop.)

~ Kovu

IP's can be tracked I think....

Yeah, that's why I'm wondering if playing on my laptop from my friend's house is going to be an issue.

No. Especially if your friend plays GW2 as well, and is logged on, but in general not anyhow.Now, if you travel around the world like a pilot or something, and play in different cities and timezones all the time, maybe you gonna have some troubles...

They use additional methods to detemine "account sharing for the purpose of getting PvP titles/achievements/rewards." They know that people will bring their laptop to someone else's house and pvp from the same room, and so on. They also look at patterns of play.

What methods? And how do you know this?

let's be honest with ourselves

they don't just randomly pick people

stop defending cheaters.

be glad they do it.

How is asking questions defending cheaters? Pleases elaborate before I report you for harassment. Previous poster provided information stated as fact so I want him to explain and provide source for his claims.

harassment....

anet won't just action anything.

report me!!!!!!!!!

You didn't explain how my questions are "defending cheaters" in your version of reality :)

You want some kind of proof anet can catch cheaters in their game?

Ask them, submit a support ticket.

The majority are satisfied knowing the company we deal with handles things.

But,

I'll answer it for you.

Player a is normally silver rank. Also player a plays pvp about 7 hours a week.

Player is normally in the west coast IP range.

suddenly player a starts playing 15 hours a day.

they move to plat 2 or 3

and a majority of their games are played in east coast Ip

c'mon...and thats just my guess.

oh, and goodnight...or day...

if im banned..see you guys in a few weeks...

[Ithilwen.1529]

Thank you, Gaile and ANET.

[GrubySzymek.1362]

@Crab Fear.1624 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Crab Fear.1624 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Crab Fear.1624 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@SlippyCheeze.5483 said:

@Kovu.7560 said:

@sephiroth.4217 said:

@Kovu.7560 said:How does one even go about detecting if an account is "shared"?I ask, because I play from my desktop and sometimes I play for my laptop on several different IPs. I'd rather that not be mistaken as someone else playing my account. (Though to be fair I generally only pve on my laptop.)

~ Kovu

IP's can be tracked I think....

Yeah, that's why I'm wondering if playing on my laptop from my friend's house is going to be an issue.

No. Especially if your friend plays GW2 as well, and is logged on, but in general not anyhow.Now, if you travel around the world like a pilot or something, and play in different cities and timezones all the time, maybe you gonna have some troubles...

They use additional methods to detemine "account sharing for the purpose of getting PvP titles/achievements/rewards." They know that people will bring their laptop to someone else's house and pvp from the same room, and so on. They also look at patterns of play.

What methods? And how do you know this?

let's be honest with ourselves

they don't just randomly pick people

stop defending cheaters.

be glad they do it.

How is asking questions defending cheaters? Pleases elaborate before I report you for harassment. Previous poster provided information stated as fact so I want him to explain and provide source for his claims.

harassment....

anet won't just action anything.

report me!!!!!!!!!

You didn't explain how my questions are "defending cheaters" in your version of reality :)

You want some kind of proof anet can catch cheaters in their game?

Ask them, submit a support ticket.

The majority are satisfied knowing the company we deal with handles things.

But,

I'll answer it for you.

Player a is normally silver rank. Also player a plays pvp about 7 hours a week.

Player is normally in the west coast IP range.

suddenly player a starts playing 15 hours a day.

they move to plat 2 or 3

and a majority of their games are played in east coast Ip

c'mon...and thats just my guess.

oh, and goodnight...or day...

if im banned..see you guys in a few weeks...

So you admit my questions have nothing to do with defending cheaters?

[Crab Fear.1624]

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Crab Fear.1624 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Crab Fear.1624 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Crab Fear.1624 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@SlippyCheeze.5483 said:

@Kovu.7560 said:

@sephiroth.4217 said:

@Kovu.7560 said:How does one even go about detecting if an account is "shared"?I ask, because I play from my desktop and sometimes I play for my laptop on several different IPs. I'd rather that not be mistaken as someone else playing my account. (Though to be fair I generally only pve on my laptop.)

~ Kovu

IP's can be tracked I think....

Yeah, that's why I'm wondering if playing on my laptop from my friend's house is going to be an issue.

No. Especially if your friend plays GW2 as well, and is logged on, but in general not anyhow.Now, if you travel around the world like a pilot or something, and play in different cities and timezones all the time, maybe you gonna have some troubles...

They use additional methods to detemine "account sharing for the purpose of getting PvP titles/achievements/rewards." They know that people will bring their laptop to someone else's house and pvp from the same room, and so on. They also look at patterns of play.

What methods? And how do you know this?

let's be honest with ourselves

they don't just randomly pick people

stop defending cheaters.

be glad they do it.

How is asking questions defending cheaters? Pleases elaborate before I report you for harassment. Previous poster provided information stated as fact so I want him to explain and provide source for his claims.

harassment....

anet won't just action anything.

report me!!!!!!!!!

You didn't explain how my questions are "defending cheaters" in your version of reality :)

You want some kind of proof anet can catch cheaters in their game?

Ask them, submit a support ticket.

The majority are satisfied knowing the company we deal with handles things.

But,

I'll answer it for you.

Player a is normally silver rank. Also player a plays pvp about 7 hours a week.

Player is normally in the west coast IP range.

suddenly player a starts playing 15 hours a day.

they move to plat 2 or 3

and a majority of their games are played in east coast Ip

c'mon...and thats just my guess.

oh, and goodnight...or day...

if im banned..see you guys in a few weeks...

So you admit my questions have nothing to do with defending cheaters?

---

[Ben K.6238]

@Ayrilana.1396 said:Any organization using an online service can track its users by their IP address or even the device used to access their service. It's not that difficult to compare the information of one user against another; especially if it's logged over time. Thy'd have a trend of what's normal for one user and can make detecting anomalies easier. A lot of times it's used as a security measure to protect a user's account.

This.

The IP addresses may change location, and hardware signatures may match other accounts that have data showing they belong to completely different people. On top of that, it's theoretically possible you could distinguish different players using machine learning algorithms.

[Panda.3620]

See you in 3 months Mr. DuoQ

[alcopaul.2156]

It is presumed that you play in your domicile and the client identifies hardware signatures.