Ever got a suspended account back? : FFXI General Discussions

"Hugs All,

I got wrongfully suspended too in Sea Serpent Grotto last week. Apparently, the /say filter blocks GM says and in some instances it blocks remote tells as well when the system is bogged down. I keep many chat filters on so I don't miss fishing messages that can easily scroll off. In SSG, if your sneak wears and you miss fishing messages, ya might reel in a monster that is difficult to solo. I also have dyslexia, and can't read very fast, so keeping extraneous noise down is essential for me as a veteran fisher of 2 years.

On Monday Morning, 12/05/2005:
I was actively chatting with a friend in SSG between casts when all of a sudden I see a flashing GM Window which I can't read or respond to because the GM window was malfunctioning. It should have remained fixed, but because the system was undergoing search failures and login issues the GM Window would fade in and out in less than a second. So I tried to send the GM a tell which did not work. Next thing I know, my character is in Jail and the GM won't talk to me or return my tells when I clicked on him to chat. Both tell and say were not functioning. I did see one line of Japanese text appear, which led me to believe the GM might be Japanese. So I used the auto-translator function and sent a: (I don't understand Japanese.) Then I DCd and found that my account had been suspended.

I managed to contact the same GM that suspended me via a friend's account. The GM was impatient and would not listen to me. I tried to get him to check the chat logs. I also told him that I have disabilities that make it difficult for me to type fast or respond in the manner he expected. And that is when he told me the he was tired of hear my "Million Excuses" and said that if I was caught cheating again, I would be banned. I had to ask him what I was being suspended for, because it was a shock to me. I was in SSG for less than 10 minutes when this incident occurred. He said that I am guilty of using third party software because I did not respond to him or follow his orders. Then he disconnected from chat.

I filed grievance and bug reports at the Playonline website and also contacted Playonline via Web Chat and Phone Support. Both Web Chat and Phone Support told me that my grievance is not within their departmental jurisdiction. They would not forward me to a Senior Executive when I requested one.

On Tuesday, I filled complaints with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the Federal Trade Commission. I also got the contact information for the online operations manager for Square-Enix from the BBB website.

On Wednesday, I filed grievance reports to Square-Enix customer support with carbon copy emails and faxes being sent to the Square-Enix online operations manager and the BBB. Each communique I sent, I asked for a Senior Executive to contact me. Each reply I received sent me to the same Playonline departments I had already contacted. I kept telling Square-Enix customer support that the places thay had referred me to had already denied juristiction of my grievance and to please have a Senior Executive contact me. After about the 6th email with Square-Enix customer support, I was asked to REFRAIN from contacting them again.

I was about to file a Title III Americans With Disabilities lawsuit with the U.S. Justice Department because of the way the GM had tried to shut me up when I told him that I have disabilities that prevent me from typing fast or reading fast, when the OPR manager who I had been CCing contacted me.

He apologized and had the Head GM investigate. They checked my chat logs and found that I was indeed telling the truth.

I was vindicated of any wrong doing, the GM that suspended me was disciplined, and I am waiting to see if my account is creditted for the down time. The Square-Enix OPR manager then set new policies with the GM team and customer support at Playonline and Square-Enix.

The person who reported me to the GM may have been suspended. I no longer see him online or at SSG. This guy was the real fishbotter. I had blisted this person because everytime he would find his character dead several minutes later he would pester me to go raise him. He fishes on a lv1 job in SSG.

I wrote a short primer to the GM team on how to spot the real fishbotters in SSG:

Typical profile of someone who uses third party software in Sea Serpent Grotto:
1) Fishes with no battle gear or weapons because they need inventory space.
2) Fishes on a low level job for minimal exp loss. We legitmate fishers call them Suicide Fishbots.
3) Suicide Fishbots won't cast sneak or reraise while fishing because they expect to suicide if they fish-up a monster or catch aggro from nearby monsters.
4) After several hours, a fishbot's inventory space fills giving repeated:
"regretfully releases Grimmonite/Bastore Bream/Nebimonite" synthesis results.
5) When the Suicide Fishbot notices his inventory is full, he aggros a monster so it will kill his character and he can Home Point to deliver his catch.

If you guys ever get wrongfully suspended because of communications difficulty with a GM, here's the person to email to cut through the red tape you may encounter at Playonline and Square-Enix customer support:

Franko Fonseca, Online Player Relations Manager
franko@square-enix-usa.com

Maybe Rilu can forward her grievance to Mr. Fonseca as we have similar issues."