Darkne55 Banned for Game Hack in CoD5....

Subject: Darkne55 Banned for Game Hack in CoD5.... Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:10 am

Violation information from PBBans.com:
Ban Date: January 08, 2009 at 6:21:32 am EST
PBBans BanID: 106501
GUID: bd66683ce988393bc96cc0c87b0b6066
Game: Call of Duty World at War
Violation: VIOLATION (GAMEHACK) 89184

Yes, I was banned. I was removed from the server I was playing on and labeled a cheater. You could probably imagine that I was not happy about that. Actually, I was devastated by it. Confused too since I don't cheat. I submitted a support ticket at Even Balance and after a week their response was...

Even Balance wrote:: We do not find this violation to be triggered in error, and it will not be removed. It is at the discretion of the third-party ban list administrator to remove any ban given as a result of this violation.

I wasn't about to accept that, so I added a new response to the ticket. Since Even Balance is swamped with work which makes them slow to respond, I had the time to respond about 3 or 4 times before they locked the ticket without responding again.

Support Ticket #2
This one I had to open because they locked the first one. I briefly explained about the locking of the first ticket and that I had a theory as to why I was banned. I asked for someone to take the time to examine my situation. This time they were much quicker to respond with the same formatted answer...

Even Balance wrote:: We do not find this violation to be triggered in error, and it will not be removed. It is at the discretion of the third-party ban list administrator to remove any ban given as a result of this violation.

Now as a lot of you know, I'm about as easy going as they come. By this time though I was ready to burn Even Balance to the ground.

Darkne55 wrote:: Lets move beyond the fact that you "do not find this violation to be triggered in error", and look at what I've been trying to tell you. If I was the type of player who had morals low enough to allow myself to cheat, I'm man enough that I would accept the end result of my actions. It seems that your response could very easily come from a macro. How about some personal assistance.

That was my response to their response. What? Whatever, but out of desperation I also fired off an email to the research department at Even Balance pleading my case and asking for someone to take the time to sort it out. Luckily there is at least one person working at Even Balance who is a reasonable, intelligent person that is willing to take the time and give the personal attention that I so desperately needed. His name is Glenn Courington. I will be building a shrine in his name before I die. This is what he had to say...

Glenn Courington wrote:: Yes, I can confirm for you that this violation was most definitely due to Quick Macro, and going forward it will continue to be detected and a kick will be issued for it. However, a violation will no longer be registered as a result of this. Quick Macro was found to be used in cheating, so such will continue to be the case. I will update your tickets to reflect this information, which you may share with any third party group. If they have an questions regarding this, they may contact me directly at glenn@evenbalance.com

I was using Quick Macro for text macros when I would admin servers in 2142, and I had never had a problem. I went from 2142 right into CoD5 without killing Quick Macro and paid for it. But I fought the good fight, and not only did I get my ban overturned, but also managed to changed the policy regarding this violation. Needless to say, the macro program has been uninstalled. I'm pure once again, and having been a member of the other side from Jan. 8th through Jan. 23rd, I can tell you that it weighed heavy on my soul. It was laziness of not wanting to have to type certain things over and over that made me use that program. Lesson learned. I will never let anything like this happen to me through any fault of my own. And because I wouldn't accept it and a result of my persistence, nobody will be banned for this violation again. Go me!

It only takes one person to make a difference. Don't ever accept things if they aren't right. If you don't stand up for yourself, who will?

Game on!!
Darkne55 Banned for Game Hack in CoD5.... D4rk