Wave of GTA Online bans go out following recent update

[Cal Jeffrey]

It happens almost every time developers of online games update their cheat detection. Scores of “innocent” players come out of the woodwork and hit the forums claiming they were banned for no reason. Sometimes there are legitimate mistakes, but usually, it’s just cheaters trying to get their accounts reinstated.

Following Rockstar’s latest update to GTA Online (Southern San Andreas Super Sport Series update), users have flooded the game's support forums and Reddit saying that their accounts have been banned for no reason. The bans are without appeal which makes them difficult to overturn even when it has happened by mistake.

In the GTA Online subreddit, MikeRaven11reports that devs rolled out an update to GTA Tunables, which included new coding for Hotring races. It also patched a known car selling exploit. A few hours after the patch people began reporting getting banned.

The number of bans involved coupled with the fact that some of the accounts have logged minimal amounts of playtime seems to indicate that something in the update is falsely triggering the suspensions.

“At first, people were skeptical (after all, everyone and their mother who gets legitimately banned claims they didn't do it) but the sheer number of posts, tags, and claims that they were unfairly banned should at least draw some concern,” wrote MikeRaven11. “Some of these accounts have less than 10 hours of in-game time, supporting the idea that the ban wave is picking up people incorrectly.”

At first, Rockstar was not responding to support tickets regarding the bans. Its stance was “all bans are final and cannot be appealed.” However, pressure both from a spike in negative reviews on Steam and media stories about the issue has caused Rockstar to reevaluate its position.

Developers are now saying that they “are aware of the issue and are looking into it.”

If they find that the suspensions were in error, they will indeed reinstate those affected. However, it is unclear how they will go about this. The reporting systems automatically reject support tickets for unappealable bans. Some users suggest that this can be avoided by not using the word “ban” and the like in the support ticket.

“If you use the word ban or choose the ban category, your support ticket will be auto-closed,” wrote one Redditor. “Try to explain the situation without using that word.”

However, others are reporting that in addition to being suspended, their accounts have been “wiped.”

“If you check your account on socialclub all the stats are wiped (cash earned, achievements, etc.),” said PM_ME_YOUR_TRUESELF. “I hope to god they have a backup and this all gets overturned or this will be a real shitshow.”

It is unclear if these accounts are recoverable.

PM_ME later found out from a Rockstar support rep that at least for his account the ban was legitimate and there was nothing further they could do.

Rockstar has yet to issue an official statement on the issue.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/73883-wave-gta-online-bans-go-out-following-recent.html

 

[TomSEA]

I love it when cheaters claim it wasn't them. And the excuses they come up with are classic. "My dog was at the keyboard." "I loaned a friend of a friend of a friend my log-in account - it must have been him." "There was a power-outage while I was playing that must have been the problem." "I left the keyboard just long enough to go to the bathroom and my brother jumped on. It was him." You name it, and I'm sure they've heard it.

I'll bet the actual amount of false positives leading to legitimate players getting banned is less than 1/2 of 1%.

 

[cdgfanatic]

I love it when cheaters claim it wasn't them. And the excuses they come up with are classic. "My dog was at the keyboard." "I loaned a friend of a friend of a friend my log-in account - it must have been him." "There was a power-outage while I was playing that must have been the problem." "I left the keyboard just long enough to go to the bathroom and my brother jumped on. It was him." You name it, and I'm sure they've heard it.

I'll bet the actual amount of false positives leading to legitimate players getting banned is less than 1/2 of 1%.

Not so sure it is actually as rare as that. I played GTA V online for a long time. I saw cheaters everywhere. I'd be minding my business when suddenly I'd turn into a tree, or end up falling from the sky clear across the map. I decided to gather together some friends to fight these cheaters. We'd gang up on them, surprise snipe them, and all sorts of chaos against these *******s. Out of the blue one day, I got an email (just me, not my friends) saying that I was banned for 30 days for cheating. To this day I still have no clue how someone who battled cheating gets accused of it. No matter what I tried to say to Rockstar, they ignored all communication. So, I never went back. I won't play a game where all your fun is sapped away by cheaters, all the while worrying that you could be targeted as one yourself. Maybe when Rockstar gets their **** together I might go back. I'll stick with single player.

 

[oldikes]

I love it when cheaters claim it wasn't them. And the excuses they come up with are classic. "My dog was at the keyboard." "I loaned a friend of a friend of a friend my log-in account - it must have been him." "There was a power-outage while I was playing that must have been the problem." "I left the keyboard just long enough to go to the bathroom and my brother jumped on. It was him." You name it, and I'm sure they've heard it.

I'll bet the actual amount of false positives leading to legitimate players getting banned is less than 1/2 of 1%.

Legitimate GTA V players have been getting wrongly banned for YEARS and even steam reviews reflected this. Join a lobby only for a modded player to force 1 billion gta dollars upon you? youre at risk for a ban. Grind particularly hard for a single day and get an unusually large amount of money? ban risk. Be in a lobby with a modded player? ban risk.

Rockstar is one of the worst companies in the industry right now in terms of interaction with its community, and this "you cant even appeal your ban" issue is a big part of it.

 

[Uncle Al]

I tried the online version a few times but there were PLENTY of cheaters so I just play the single player mode. Wish they would throw us a bone with a new map or some of the other goodies but it's clear they are all about the money and not about their loyal followers .....

 

[whom1]

I love it when cheaters claim it wasn't them. And the excuses they come up with are classic. "My dog was at the keyboard." "I loaned a friend of a friend of a friend my log-in account - it must have been him." "There was a power-outage while I was playing that must have been the problem." "I left the keyboard just long enough to go to the bathroom and my brother jumped on. It was him." You name it, and I'm sure they've heard it.

I'll bet the actual amount of false positives leading to legitimate players getting banned is less than 1/2 of 1%.

...... & I love it when folks make comments as if based on facts trying to bignote themselves. Unless you're either Rockstar tech or the account holder you're not in a position to comment......

@TomSEA.. mate I'm one of those players hit with a suspension 2 days ago & I have offered ROCKSTAR a $100 surety to review my account. I assure u I have never cheated, never used mods, never used 'glitch' and have played majority of time in solo public lobby (90%)... I dont see any reason I would risk real money spent on a game & a sharkcard when I could just purchase a 'modded' acct... wheres the fun/challenge in that!!!!!

 

[Paulx]

Banned for no reason, you deserve a refund.
65 $ for the games and 100 $ for every 8,000,000 GTA$ earned ingame.