So, is it a violation of the ToS to use alts? Unresolved question

[Wanderlust]

There is nothing in the ToS banning alt accounts. Yet, there is rampant speculation spread on the Internet and in the game suggesting that there are permanent bans for using alt accounts. A few individuals have claimed that several of their warband were permanently banned for using alts, but when asked for links they provided none.

The only official comments I have found on the subject from Starry Studios are the following, taken verbatim from an October 22, 2024 "Fair Play Announcement" on Twitter (X), and updated October 26, 2024. Here's a link and relevant quotes from it.

https://t.co/PoY8RYm4r4

**************

1. Regarding Multiple Alternate Accounts by Studios

We will be tightening our monitoring of alternate accounts. Accounts involved in exploiting resources through multiple linked accounts (alternate accounts) will be closely monitored and targeted. We will take strong actions, including permanent bans, against studios and malicious alternate accounts.

AND

4. Cheating

We have increased the penalty for using cheats and hacks from a character ban to an account ban. Furthermore, the penalty may be extended to alternate accounts belonging to the same player. We will also closely monitor and combat the use of alternate accounts for resource farming.

The following is the list of players penalized for using cheats or hacks from October 9 to October 22:

***************

This statement was followed by a list of ALL accounts actually banned from October 9 through October 22. In EACH and EVERY case, the reason given was "Use of Unauthorized software and Malicious Code Cracking"

So, what do you take away from this ambiguous statement of policy? Is simply the creation of an alternate account in order to have a character who can get oil, for example, a bannable offense? Or does it require the "use of unauthorized software or malicious code cracking"? The statement that "we will also closely monitor and combat the use of alternate accounts for resource farming" seems to suggest that the simple creation of an oil alt, for example, "will be combated". But I'm not certain this is all being translated accurately.

What's the community think, and what other sources of official info are available?

EDIT: according to Wildcard on the official Discord, "There is nothing in the current ToS making alts illegal as the ToS is written". He added that the devs don't want alts but realize they can't stop them and just want to scare people"

[Monarch]

Use some common sense and logic. Or try.

"Fair Play"
Game bans cheaters because why? Because cheaters has an UNFAIR advantage in comparison to a regular normal player.

What does a normal player has access to?
- A list of memetics specialisation
- Specific amount of memetic cleanser per season
- Single territory

So what does a player with multiple accounts have access to?
- Multiple list of memetics specialisation
- More memetic cleanser for multiple characters
- More territory than a single player could've claimed

So this comes back down to "Fair Play".
Is this fair to a regular player?

Alt users can theoretically have ALL of the valuable memetic specialisations in a single season. A regular user will be limited to their RNG, and make do with what they get, or be at the whims of another player.

Sure ToS doesn't mention it by word, but almost every single ToS has a line that protects the company, which is - "We can do whatever we want, without any given reason, because you don't hold the right of access"

They may or may not be able to ban alt users for "using alts", but they can certainly chalk that up as "cheating", and banning alt users still.

But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what You, I, or anyone else feels about this subject. You've been warned, now go play the ♥♥♥♥ around and find out game.

[Wanderlust]

I just asked the question for clarity. No need to be insulting. I look forward to the day that people can return to discussing diverse viewpoints without your little preface.

[JBT]

If more than one character in the same scenario is against the rules, then it shouldn’t be allowed to join it with 2nd character. One character per scenario would solve the problem; no bans, no wasted time and money.

[Wanderlust]

I like it, a simple solution. Except maybe they really are ok with alts, just not the ones who abuse the system.

[Wampejawed]

alts are and have always been a thing in mmos etc. type games, its not cheating stop making it a big deal

[Martin]

Personally I feel it is cheating and exploiting.

Why? Because it makes the game easier for you and not everyone does it. Not because they can't, but because they feel like me that it is not vanilla.

Should they be banned? I don't feel that they should, at least not immediately, i'd warn them, maybe temp ban them for a week. Before account banning them.

People who used Hacks or bots, I'd perm ban for at least 6 months. But I would not ban them for life. Short of physically harming someone, there is never a call for that.

In my humble opinion.

[Sleepy]

To clarify the statement from legalize to a layman's understanding. Alts that are used by exploiters of malicious code are targeted more harshly. Basically cheaters are hit the hardest.

Alternate accounts in general will be monitored to verify if they are farm alts which will likely be targeted with lesser punishments but still punished.

I can see why they would do it a good focus on this particular season is working together as a community. You and five other accounts of yourself isn't really working together as a community it's just being one person with five accounts.

MMO games tend to have alt farming problems, while this doesn't effect the individual player in the short term in the long term it fosters an isolation mindset which goes against the real idea of the game's PVE premise which is suppose to be cooperative. Memetic Specializations being the way they are means in order to get some resources you have to make friends or cooperate with other users fostering a player driven economy during the seasons.

Farming say Acid or Star Source with an alt would mean that one person can do everything meaning there is no reason for them to trade or cooperate with other players. No reason to have hives or warbands.

[agnt]

Rather fix the problem by making QoL changes that removes the need for alts. RNG lottery with meme specs and limited territory locations and power is what creates this problem in first place

[Sleepy]

It's basically a concept of work together don't work alone. It's not so much a problem that the memetic specializations are RNG it's more people want to keep to themselves in a game designed (so far as I can tell) to foster cooperation.

[Gelle and Hades]

Originally posted by Wampejawed:

alts are and have always been a thing in mmos etc. type games, its not cheating stop making it a big deal

Alts in other games don't work the same way as they do here.

Since everything is random when it comes to memetics and abilities - the more alts you have, the more resources, memetics, and abilities you have....Not to mention territory. You gobble up all of the map for yourself instead of playing the game as intended.

Vending machines are a thing for a reason. This game is meant to be a team-playing game. You're meant to buy and trade -- not just hoard it all for yourself and be the only beneficiary.

If EVERYONE had alt accounts, then no one could play the game.

Not to mention the resources it puts on the server. People complain about the server issue because so many people have alt accounts where they eat up all the space on the map. Done with one account? You just log out and log in on another, which puts strain on the server.

The amount of data that you take up for one person when you have that many alts is an issue.

Alts on other games like WOW or COH is completely different - you can choose different classes, skill sets, and abilities on an entirely different tree. This MMO puts everyone in the same boat. You get the luck of the draw, not an actual real build that you choose from in a skill tree.

The difference in how this game works vs traditional MMOs is staggering. You're being intellectually dishonest - or just plain greedy if you think it's okay to have multiple alts. If you build on all the oil fields - where are other people going to get to build on said oil fields?

You basically just have corporation argument "I was here first, and I did this first - so I deserve all the things! I'm so clever and smart."

Okay, well if everyone did what you did - then no one would have anything.

There was a reason why Thanos wanted to snap away half the population in End Game over the lack of resources....and that's because they aren't endless, even in a digital sense.

FFS, just think about it for a second, or be honest with yourself and you'll understand why your stance is so skewed in the wrong direction.

[Wanderlust]

Alts definitely create an advantage for the person using them, so I totally support policies prohibiting them. How they do it is important, however, because permanent bans with no appeals process is harsh and should only be for those who are actively and maliciously hurting the game.

At the very least, the company should be clear what their stance is, instead of issuing vague statements about "actively monitoring" and "combating". Tell us one way or another: are alts a violation, an unfortunate reality, or not something they intend to do anything about at all.

[-Tr¡Ρ-]

Just don't do it on a PvP server, I doubt they even check for alts on PvE.

[Gelle and Hades]

Originally posted by -Tr¡Ρ-:

Just don't do it on a PvP server, I doubt they even check for alts on PvE.

They do. Especially if someone reports them. That's the thing here - is people can report you, so if you're taking advantage of your server, they can turn on you pretty fast.

It happened on my last server, I watched it in chat. Someone named all his characters like (some version of Taco-related names?), and built on all the good spots. No one could get anything, because he had like 10 alts all across the map, and his vending machines clogged up Blackfell.

Anyway, I caught the end of it in world chat - but he told them to 'get good' and everyone was like 'lol, kay' - and no one saw him again.

I don't keep up with world chat, but I remember that one in particular because the text was FLYING, and I was like "WTAF?". So, just saying - maybe don't do it at all, or at least don't taunt your fellow server mates with it? IDK. I just showed up for the aftermath with the popcorn.

You do you...but alts are against the TOS.

[Gelle and Hades]

Originally posted by Wanderlust:

Alts definitely create an advantage for the person using them, so I totally support policies prohibiting them. How they do it is important, however, because permanent bans with no appeals process is harsh and should only be for those who are actively and maliciously hurting the game.

At the very least, the company should be clear what their stance is, instead of issuing vague statements about "actively monitoring" and "combating". Tell us one way or another: are alts a violation, an unfortunate reality, or not something they intend to do anything about at all.

I believe that the word 'combating' is a pretty poignant word to use on how they feel about the subject. If they're perma-banning people, it's probably more than likely that it's against TOS. They have to use people as examples.

Should they have an appeal form? Absolutely. However, they don't have to do that. It's their software, and they maintain the servers. Server health is dependent upon everyone playing fairly. People who play unfairly ruin said health, ergo - it's against TOS.

I hope that helps, or makes some sense. Sometimes it's best to just understand by example; and in this case, it's the banning of your fellow metas. They got banned for alts, ergo - you can to.

I just think that the best bet to not get banned, is to just play the game as intended - and that is to not have multiple alts on the same server. You can have different characters to play with friends on other servers -- but to have 10 of them on the same one so you can dominate the world is pretty telling as to intent, and against TOS.

You can have different characters - just not on the same server, does that make sense? I have two characters I play on, but they are on totally different servers and share nothing. That is fine because it's not exploiting anything.

Bottom line is that if it is exploitative, it's against the TOS. It's why they have a clause that is worded along the lines of "for use as intended". The intention to make other characters is to play with other friends - not to hoard resources.

**TL;DR**
So I believe they rely on us to garner that alts used to exploit is against TOS. Alts to play with friends across other servers is fine. So they are and aren't allowed -- it's all about how you use them.

When in doubt, Unlce-Ben-it-out. "With great power, comes great responsibility"....only this is alts.... Just use them to not exploit, and you're savvy.

[MrMayhem187]

If you like this game and these players aren't hacking they are more than likely players that have spent lots of $ in the game and continue to do, which fuels the content creation of the game. So in the long wrong what is it that truly bothers you? That someone likes the game enough to warrant making alts to have a more enjoyable time? or that you don't feel like doing the same? ( this is just towards anyone, not op directly}