retaliative permanent ban on PUBG for critizing false detection on disallowed software (vmware, which I do not have, if it wasn't clear enough)

[Derek_Z]

first of all, I can swear on my life every word I say is based on fact and the best of my knowledge, I never, ever used any cheats, micro of any sort, on any game, ever. (probably except for when I was about 10 playing red alert2 single player) 

 

this is the BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT EVER, THANKS PUBG!

 

 

It all started on April 23 2020, where I was kicked off in the middle of a game while playing with a mate, claiming: BattleEye: Disallowed Program [VMware]. Now, as a computer enthusiast, I know about vmware, and its many use cases, however, I have never heard of it being used for cheating. However, the strange part is, I DO NOT have it installed on my computer, or any computer on my network.

I uninstalled any software on my computer that not absolutely needed (among others, there were some software for my old windows phone drivers that I tried to unlock bootloader and do some experiements on a few weeks back), removed any virtual network adapter (comes with stock windows) and none helped. nothing helped. Eventually I decided to download the latest version of windows and do a fresh install, and it still happened. 

 

As a responsive human being that really enjoy having fun with friends playing this game, I did everything I can think of that might be able help with the situation and pin down the cause, I made a list of all the running processes, all the services I have on the computer, and all the installed programs with their version numbers. 

 

 

Sorry if I sound a little frustrated in the post, cuz I really was. I was playing squad and got kicked off in the middle for no reason. How can one not be?

 

a few days went by, people starting to reply that they had a similar experience, someone asked if I had hyper-v, then I replied with a screenshot that indicates that I do not have hyper-v, docker, also uninstalled WSL which I actually needed. I even ran a command in powershell to remove the whole hyper-v (Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V-All) that also didn't help at all. 

 

 

after many discussion on how pubg falsely detects vmware, even on a fresh install, a staff member came in replying (which he later deleted):

 

 

if you even just read the title, you'd know, THIS IS NOT ABOUT REMOVING VMWARE!!

will you not be mad? is this the level of support we are expecting? if you are just replying based on keyword then even modern ai can do a much better job!

 

later on, I quoted his reply with something goes like this:

 

Quote

It is not about removing vmware, we do not even have it installed. I believe it can't get any cleaner than a fresh new install of windows. Please, don't treat us like a bunch of idiots, thanks!

 

I do not have a screenshot nor do I remember the exact words because apparently he's intelligent enough to delete my reply as well. However, this is where I believe I crossed him. Later, he replied:

 

 

I had my hesitation for a brief moment, but I'd never imagined that he would be so disgusting as to just ban me for pointing out a bug on their end (a little harshly I admit). So I replied with my id, if they could gather any data they may think helpful, I'd be happy to help. and now as i thought he's actually trying to do his job and trying to help, I already felt bad for being a bit rude earlier. 

 

 

However, this is what happened. 

 

 

 

I did a fresh install of the release version of windows, and first game in (where I had one kill, which is more kill than most of my game), without any inspection, warning, I was banned, permanently. 

 

(the reason I was on insider build is, as I mentioned, I need to access WSL(2, for better performance), and that I'm a developer and the release version of windows doesn't recognize the new line break symbol from linux/unix machine)

 

 

I'm not even a remotely skilled player, I'm just occasionally playing with friends for fun. I'm probably the one made up your kd, there are many many cheaters roaming around. just that day (my birthday if I may add), my whole squad was killed by some guy shooting AK, without a line of sight, shoulder sighting the sky. He's not even looking at our direction! (match link)

 

 

video recorded by friend, I was the last person that killed in the clip.

 

 

I play on a laptop from 2015, (if that's not frustrating enough), and my games were ruined countless times by cheaters, and since 2017 when I first started playing the game, I never felt so disappointed, frustrated and angry. For someone never cheated, I am now forever marked as a "cheater" and have a stain on my profile that will never wash away, Also, just a number on pubg's monthly report for banned cheaters? is that what's it for? 

 

 

Being a custom support (or Assistant Community Coordinator in my case) does not mean that you can abuse your power, play god or just ban whoever you feel like. Is this the image PUBG want to build?? 

Being a good citizen, I immediately contacted pubg support and issued a ticket:

 

 

I will need an answer for this, or I'll do everything I can to defend my right, as a gamer, as a human. I will NOT allow this injustice to happen. everything is on the table, including legal actions. 

 

 

 

[Derek_Z]

for all the time/love/effort/money invested in the game, that a staff can just go ahead and take it all away, without accountabilities of any sort, and even brand you as a cheater, is it really worth it? what options do we have, as a gamer, to stand against this disgusting behaviour? 

[Praesi]

I got banned from so many CS Servers back in the 1.0-1.6 times, that i lost count. Always because of "aimbot"...i never used a cheat in my life. Those Idiots were so easy to bait and just slaughter. They never understood the Game Mechanics or any kind of Tactic. The difference, People or "admins" did this. Not an automated software like these days. Which is even worse.

 

In your Case, a new Copy is maybe less expensive than a Lawyer.

They deal with thousands of tickets a Day. No Support realy cares. They just ban you and be done with it.

[SkyHound0202]

Battleye proactively scans and monitors your disk to keep an eye out for suspicious files and executables. You either had used or have been using WSL2 that contains code which "resembles" virtual machine (not necessarily VMware, but likely open source code that are also utilized by VMware). This prompted Battleye to flag you as suspicious and eventually get you banned after your repeated attempt(s) to start the game.

[Derek_Z]

2 minutes ago, SkyHound0202 said:

Battleye proactively scans and monitors your disk to keep an eye out for suspicious files and executables. You either had used or have been using WSL2 that contains code which "resembles" virtual machine (not necessarily VMware, but likely open source code that are also utilized by VMware). This prompted Battleye to flag you as suspicious and eventually get you banned after your repeated attempt(s) to start the game.

That is not possible as I do not have wsl or any virtualisation for the second and third install. furthermore, it is unacceptable pubg will flag some software installed by default by windows as "illegal" and leads to a permanent ban

[Praesi]

3 hours ago, Derek_Z said:

That is not possible as I do not have wsl or any virtualisation for the second and third install. furthermore, it is unacceptable pubg will flag some software installed by default by windows as "illegal" and leads to a permanent ban

Im sure their EULA gives them the right to do what ever they want.

[JabroniBaloney]

Please sue over this. I want to laugh at the headline.

[LogicalDrm]

I really want to know on what grounds you will be going for legal actions. Only thing I can think is that they aren't willing to or haven't disclosed their side of things properly. Still, with our legal system you have nothing to sue about. Might be different where you live.

[Derek_Z]

 

 

8 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

I really want to know on what grounds you will be going for legal actions. Only thing I can think is that they aren't willing to or haven't disclosed their side of things properly. Still, with our legal system you have nothing to sue about. Might be different where you live.

 

all i really want is to raise the awareness of the issue in the community and pubg management, and would be nice for everyone to push them to the right direction of being responsible

 

the truth is, that I did not violate any of the rule and still get banned, just for pointing out a bug in their detection system. 

[Praesi]

2 hours ago, Derek_Z said:

 

 

 

all i really want is to raise the awareness of the issue in the community and pubg management, and would be nice for everyone to push them to the right direction of being responsible

 

the truth is, that I did not violate any of the rule and still get banned, just for pointing out a bug in their detection system. 

Awareness?

Bethesda for example, is releasing unfinished horseshit with ridiculous mtx mechanics, treating their customers like shit, try to milk those fools wherever they can and People still give them Money.

Awareness...

[Stockholmes]

14 hours ago, Derek_Z said:

 

 

 

all i really want is to raise the awareness of the issue in the community and pubg management, and would be nice for everyone to push them to the right direction of being responsible

 

the truth is, that I did not violate any of the rule and still get banned, just for pointing out a bug in their detection system. 

What they did is complete bull****, you did the right thing informing us. You should try and get someone else from their side to review your case again. I mean, PUBG isn't free is it? So they banned you even though you did nothing wrong and even went to some lengths to try and troubleshoot the issue for them. After you paid them money. That's real bad PR for their company. Hope they unban you!

[DropTopGPU]

I got banned by BattleEye when Arma 2 was popular, it was total BS. I never got my account back, they wouldn't even respond to me other than being told I was using 3rd party software?! arma 2 was all about the mods but I never used 3rd party cheats or had anything that could be considered a cheat.

 

Ive stayed away from games that use BattleEye ever since

[Jihem T.]

On 5/14/2020 at 4:35 AM, Derek_Z said:

first of all, I can swear on my life every word I say is based on fact and the best of my knowledge, I never, ever used any cheats, micro of any sort, on any game, ever. (probably except for when I was about 10 playing red alert2 single player) 

 

this is the BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT EVER, THANKS PUBG!

 

 

It all started on April 23 2020, where I was kicked off in the middle of a game while playing with a mate, claiming: BattleEye: Disallowed Program [VMware]. Now, as a computer enthusiast, I know about vmware, and its many use cases, however, I have never heard of it being used for cheating. However, the strange part is, I DO NOT have it installed on my computer, or any computer on my network.

 

I uninstalled any software on my computer that not absolutely needed (among others, there were some software for my old windows phone drivers that I tried to unlock bootloader and do some experiements on a few weeks back), removed any virtual network adapter (comes with stock windows) and none helped. nothing helped. Eventually I decided to download the latest version of windows and do a fresh install, and it still happened. 

 

As a responsive human being that really enjoy having fun with friends playing this game, I did everything I can think of that might be able help with the situation and pin down the cause, I made a list of all the running processes, all the services I have on the computer, and all the installed programs with their version numbers. 

 

 

Sorry if I sound a little frustrated in the post, cuz I really was. I was playing squad and got kicked off in the middle for no reason. How can one not be?

 

a few days went by, people starting to reply that they had a similar experience, someone asked if I had hyper-v, then I replied with a screenshot that indicates that I do not have hyper-v, docker, also uninstalled WSL which I actually needed. I even ran a command in powershell to remove the whole hyper-v (Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V-All) that also didn't help at all. 

 

 

after many discussion on how pubg falsely detects vmware, even on a fresh install, a staff member came in replying (which he later deleted):

 

 

if you even just read the title, you'd know, THIS IS NOT ABOUT REMOVING VMWARE!!

will you not be mad? is this the level of support we are expecting? if you are just replying based on keyword then even modern ai can do a much better job!

 

later on, I quoted his reply with something goes like this:

 

 

I do not have a screenshot nor do I remember the exact words because apparently he's intelligent enough to delete my reply as well. However, this is where I believe I crossed him. Later, he replied:

 

 

I had my hesitation for a brief moment, but I'd never imagined that he would be so disgusting as to just ban me for pointing out a bug on their end (a little harshly I admit). So I replied with my id, if they could gather any data they may think helpful, I'd be happy to help. and now as i thought he's actually trying to do his job and trying to help, I already felt bad for being a bit rude earlier. 

 

 

However, this is what happened. 

 

 

 

I did a fresh install of the release version of windows, and first game in (where I had one kill, which is more kill than most of my game), without any inspection, warning, I was banned, permanently. 

 

(the reason I was on insider build is, as I mentioned, I need to access WSL(2, for better performance), and that I'm a developer and the release version of windows doesn't recognize the new line break symbol from linux/unix machine)

 

 

I'm not even a remotely skilled player, I'm just occasionally playing with friends for fun. I'm probably the one made up your kd, there are many many cheaters roaming around. just that day (my birthday if I may add), my whole squad was killed by some guy shooting AK, without a line of sight, shoulder sighting the sky. He's not even looking at our direction! (match link)

 

 

 

video recorded by friend, I was the last person that killed in the clip.

 

 

I play on a laptop from 2015, (if that's not frustrating enough), and my games were ruined countless times by cheaters, and since 2017 when I first started playing the game, I never felt so disappointed, frustrated and angry. For someone never cheated, I am now forever marked as a "cheater" and have a stain on my profile that will never wash away, Also, just a number on pubg's monthly report for banned cheaters? is that what's it for? 

 

 

Being a custom support (or Assistant Community Coordinator in my case) does not mean that you can abuse your power, play god or just ban whoever you feel like. Is this the image PUBG want to build?? 

Being a good citizen, I immediately contacted pubg support and issued a ticket:

 

 

I will need an answer for this, or I'll do everything I can to defend my right, as a gamer, as a human. I will NOT allow this injustice to happen. everything is on the table, including legal actions. 

 

 

 

 

He he, was even banned myself despite I only made a single game and lasted 3 minutes without even shooting anybody...got banned after I got a message about vmware while being in lobby...

 

Was a very cool experience.

 

Note something similar already happened to me in DAYZ despite I did'nt even played, was only in menu...but with a decompiler launched since I am a dev as well...VAC BAN just because I play on my work computer :)

[Nalgasp3ludas]

On 16/5/2020 at 3:06 AM, DropTopGPU said:

I got banned by BattleEye when Arma 2 was popular, it was total BS. I never got my account back, they wouldn't even respond to me other than being told I was using 3rd party software?! arma 2 was all about the mods but I never used 3rd party cheats or had anything that could be considered a cheat.

 

Ive stayed away from games that use BattleEye ever since

I got lucky with bohemia studios then, I bought an used physical copy from amazon and the key had a global ban, they just asked me for proof of purchase and gave me a new key. I think this was before the game got popular with all the youtubers (frankieonpc)