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[MThanded]

Yeah, OP, what are you keeping from us? HUH! HHHUHH!!!

Incidentally, how does sharing an account differ from logging my account on another Xbox at a friend's house?

Because from a pattern matching standpoint one looks like you going some place every now and then the other looks like possibly daily IP address oscillation.

There are pretty easy and clever ways to get the important data points from the noise. Dat data mining.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

You know what's awful here? Regardless of the oman thing, getting banned should not lock you out of items you have actually purchased.

That's just wrong.

 

[MercuryLS]

I beat you

 

[hawk2025]

I'm a little scared about the whole "sharing" thing that's apparently bannable.

Is it not ok to log into my account in a friend's console? If I do it, can I not download my own games? I also have two consoles in two different countries as a simple matter of convenience, am I not allowed to download games I've bought on both of them? And if I do, should I tell other family members not to use my downloaded content?

 

[TrueGrime]

What are your thoughts on Pricing Errors?

Pricing errors are generally completely unknown to the person until the company makes it known. 9 times out of 10, the company won't penalize you and will allow you to keep what you paid for.

 

[Rubius]

What? Is this shit real?

Yep. Read your TOS if you can.

 

[Foghorn Leghorn]

This is why I wouldn't by digital on a console, if you screw up it's ALL gone. At least steam you can keep your other games it's just engine specific and you can just rebuy that specific game. Never cheated before though but have plenty of friends that have.

 

[Papercuts]

Pricing errors are generally completely unknown to the person until the company makes it known. 9 times out of 10, the company won't penalize you and will allow you to keep what you paid for.

This region exploit stuff is the exact same. Pricing errors are loopholes.

 

[Vire]

This is why I wouldn't by digital on a console, if you screw up it's ALL gone. At least steam you can keep your other games it's just engine specific and you can just rebuy that specific game. Never cheated before though but have plenty of friends that have.

How hard is it to follow the rules? Jesus.

Been an Xbox Live member for 9 years, never once a problem.

 

[Brainiac 8]

All those legally bought DD games being taken away as well is BS though

You OWN those

When it comes to digital games...you don't own anything. It's all code, a glorified rental. They can be revoked at any time. It's why the moment the industry goes all digital, I quit.

 

[Silky]

Pricing errors are generally completely unknown to the person until the company makes it known. 9 times out of 10, the company won't penalize you and will allow you to keep what you paid for.

You mean like this then.


9/10, assuming this is true, than the OP is just the poor 1/10.

Question because I'm kind of sleepy: Gamesharing = downloading a game on one account/one xbox, and playing it on a different account/same xbox? Or, downloading a game on one account/one xbox, and giving the account info to another xbox to download those from?

 

[louiedog]

I don't really find these suspensions ending end of year 9999 to be very fair. People who were banned today get the same date as people who were banned in 2009. Why should today's offenders have 4 fewer years of punishment?

 

[amnesiac]

Microsoft makes an error = You lose your console

Even though you exploited it, a console ban is still extreme.

 

[purpletentacle]

Because from a pattern matching standpoint one looks like you going some place every now and then the other looks like possibly daily IP address oscillation.

There are pretty easy and clever ways to get the important data points from the noise. Dat data mining.

That I'm fine with. Not that i care, I'm done with live by this end of this month.

Probably for reasons like this.

 

[TrueGrime]

This region exploit stuff is the exact same. Pricing errors are loopholes.

What?? A pricing error is exactly what you called it. An error by another human being. If you buy something at $10 meant for $20, you're still going about both "buying" it and going through the correct channels to buy it.

Oman wasn't the first exploit. There was another one I remember before that involved Morocco and that has since been patched. With Oman, you are knowingly bypassing and/or exploiting to gain access by using the system for which it wasn't intended. It has a lot to do with ethics too, but won't get into that.

 

[Zumblakladla]

Because from a pattern matching standpoint one looks like you going some place every now and then the other looks like possibly daily IP address oscillation.

There are pretty easy and clever ways to get the important data points from the noise. Dat data mining.

Nothing

2 of 3 accounts from my console are banned, including primary and oman. US account is intact. But i havent logged to that account for ages. Only thing that can lead to this ban is because i played Oman games from my primary account.

I talked with support. If enforcement team cant help me they told me that i can't do a shit...

 

[MThanded]

Nothing

2 of 3 accounts from my console are banned, including primary and oman. US account is intact. But i havent logged to that account for ages. Only thing that can lead to this ban is because i played Oman games from my primary account.

I talked with support. If enforcement team cant help me they told me that i can't do a shit...

I'm interested to know the exact reason for the ban. Legally I wish that digital services were required to justify to the consumer that their ban actually aligned with breaking the TOS in some way.

Do you mind expounding upon in behavior beside the game sharing that could flag your account? Honestly.

 

[TrueGrime]

You mean like this then.


9/10, assuming this is true, than the OP is just the poor 1/10.

Question because I'm kind of sleepy: Gamesharing = downloading a game on one account/one xbox, and playing it on a different account/same xbox? Or, downloading a game on one account/one xbox, and giving the account info to another xbox to download those from?

I'll be honest with you, I've been an XBL member for ever 10 years and I haven't done the smallest bit of gamesharing so I wouldn't know, unfortunately. =/

 

[FinalStageBoss]

Ugh. That sucks OP. Fuck going digital.

 

[smarmyjerkface]

Microsoft makes an error = You lose your console

Even though you exploited it, a console ban is still extreme.

Microsoft didn't make him do whatever he did that got him banned. If G4 has taught me anything, it's that on Cops when they drive the truck full of DVD players into the poor neighborhoods and open all the doors, those people don't have to steal them.

 

[Zatoichi's Cane]

And that's how it should be. I just find it strange that a company can just take away from you what you purchased and is yours. And of course some cases might warrant that kind of reaction but to punish any violation of terms of service with such severity is not good business. Especially when you're selling a product geared towards young people.

How is it exactly they can ban what you legally purchased? that's insane.

 

[FStop7]

If it were the Oman thing, the appropriate response from Microsoft would be to revoke the licence to that one game, not banning the system. "Hurr you broke the rules, suck it up" people have a scary idea of appropriate reaction.

Of course, there's usually more to these stories.

Sums up exactly how I feel. A blanket gamertag and console ban that cuts him off from legitimately paid-for content is an overreaction. I wouldn't put it past MS to overreact so badly. But I also wouldn't put it past OP to be withholding the full truth...

 

[louiedog]

What?? A pricing error is exactly what you called it. An error by another human being. If you buy something at $10 meant for $20, you're still going about both "buying" it and going through the correct channels to buy it.

Oman wasn't the first exploit. There was another one I remember before that involved Morocco and that has since been patched. With Oman, you are knowingly bypassing and/or exploiting to gain access by using the system for which it wasn't intended. It has a lot to do with ethics too, but won't get into that.

Agreed. Before a couple of weeks ago, people took advantage of games that were listed in other regions' marketplaces for free. Sometimes it was a region specific deal due to a holiday or other event and sometimes it was just priced incorrectly. The Oman and Morocco things are different from a pricing error. They do not have marketplaces. Getting those games involved specifically working around Microsoft's system to download those games.

Should Microsoft have a better system? Yes. That doesn't mean it's open season for the taking. It's like justifying that because a company failed to put DRM on a game that you're entitled to distribute it to all of your friends.

 

[big_z]

The free game on live trick has been used on various games for over a year now. with the trick being posted on sites like slick deals and redflagdeals thousands of people took advantage of it yet no one has been reported banned as a result.

My guess is that the OP shared the same dummy account with friends for Downloads or he was recovering his own profile on other machines to copy content for them.

 

[TrueGrime]

The one thing I don't understand is when you switch your region, does the Oman marketplace list these games as being free. Meaning, are they advertised free there? Or does that region simply have some kind of a backdoor/hack that allows games to be downloaded for free?

 

[K' Dash]

Highly doubt the OP was banned for Oman, there was hundreds of people if not thousands who took advantage of that and were not banned. He's not letting on something else he did.

Happens in every banning thread, I don't know why people are so indignant about it.

he probably was using a modded console to play legit games and pirated ISOs, a couple of friends did this a few years ago and MS dropped the ban hammer.

 

[illmatic19]

I created a Japanese account to get a free 2 day XBL code. If they ban me for that I'm just going to give up.

 

[SenkiDala]

But why are you talking about the Oman thing? It's not the reason why he is ban now... At least I really don't think so. There are hundreds (thoussands?) of people who did this thing on GAF or another website, and we didn't heard of a "ban wave" recently...

I think that now everybody who is ban and did the Oman thing feel "omg it's because this Oman thing", but I suppose there is another reason. Or why only them? Why not everybody who did it? With IP adress it's pretty easy to catch everybody and then ban everybody, so why just doing it randomly? :/

And also it doesn't fit with the reasons of the ban.

- "Duplication of purchase" the Oman thing don't "duplicate" anything, if you and your wife both have an account on the 360, and your wife buy Hexic 2 (for exemple) you'll also be able to play this game for "free" on your account, it's not duplicating and so it's not against the ToS.

- "Microsoft Points Fraud"... Well no, he didn't try to earn any MS points by any means, so it can't be it.

- "Illegitimate acquisition of redemption code", he didn't do that either, he didn't use a "fake" code or something...

So it's why I don't feel the reason is the Oman thing.

 

[Yukiari]

But why are you talking about the Oman thing? It's not the reason why he is ban now... At least I really don't think so. There are hundreds (thoussands?) of people who did this thing on GAF or another website, and we didn't heard of a "ban wave" recently...

I think that now everybody who is ban and did the Oman thing feel "omg it's because this Oman thing", but I suppose there is another reason. Or why only them? Why not everybody who did it? With IP adress it's pretty easy to catch everybody and then ban everybody, so why just do it randomly? :/

And also it doesn't fit with the reasons of the ban.

- "Duplication of purchase" the Oman thing don't "duplicate" anything, if you and your wife both have an account on the 360, and your wife buy Hexic 2 (for exemple) you'll also be able to play this game for "free" on your account, it's not duplicating and so it's not against the ToS.

- "Microsoft Points Fraud"... Well no, he didn't try to earn any MS points by any means, so it can't be it.

- "Illegitimate acquisition of redemption code", he didn't do that either, he didn't use a "fake" code or something...

So it's why I don't feel the reason is the Oman thing.

I'm not saying it is true but Oman thing could fall under the illegitimate acquisition tag, it might be to MS he obtained those games and shouldn't have.

 

[TrueGrime]

But why are you talking about the Oman thing? It's not the reason why he is ban now... At least I really don't think so. There are hundreds (thoussands?) of people who did this thing on GAF or another website, and we didn't heard of a "ban wave" recently...

I think that now everybody who is ban and did the Oman thing feel "omg it's because this Oman thing", but I suppose there is another reason. Or why only them? Why not everybody who did it? With IP adress it's pretty easy to catch everybody and then ban everybody, so why just doing it randomly? :/

And also it doesn't fit with the reasons of the ban.

- "Duplication of purchase" the Oman thing don't "duplicate" anything, if you and your wife both have an account on the 360, and your wife buy Hexic 2 (for exemple) you'll also be able to play this game for "free" on your account, it's not duplicating and so it's not against the ToS.

- "Microsoft Points Fraud"... Well no, he didn't try to earn any MS points by any means, so it can't be it.

- "Illegitimate acquisition of redemption code", he didn't do that either, he didn't use a "fake" code or something...

So it's why I don't feel the reason is the Oman thing.

Yeah. I think most of GAF feels it's either a sharing violation or something the OP didn't specify.

 

[tsumineko]

This would all be cleared up real quick if someone just asked about it on that Xbox forum.

 

[Lima]

The one thing I don't understand is when you switch your region, does the Oman marketplace list these games as being free. Meaning, are they advertised free there? Or does that region simply have some kind of a backdoor/hack that allows games to be downloaded for free?

Oman doesn't have Xbox Live. There was a glitch that allowed people to download some games for free using your recent games history and specifically searching for these games. Nobody knows how it worked and why it worked but it was nothing like the other promotions or making a second account to download some free game.

But why are you talking about the Oman thing? It's not the reason why he is ban now... At least I really don't think so. There are hundreds (thoussands?) of people who did this thing on GAF or another website, and we didn't heard of a "ban wave" recently...

That is because they don't do ban waves anymore. They haven't for years, they actually stopped doing ban waves when LT 3 came out and MS couldn't tell if people are playing pirated games anymore.
They now do it on a case by case basis to make sure there is less room for error.

If it is true that only the Oman and his main account are banned but the other US account is fine, then yeah this probably has to do with the Oman thing. Let's see if we get more reports about this over the next weeks.

 

[Harlock]

Maybe because he is from east europe MS is more unmerciful.

 

[SnakeEyes]

Glad Sony don't do this, but that is some Bullshit!

I've always had both a US and NZ login for the PS3, with my US account usually being for Demos and Trailers and the occasional game that releases sooner and cheaper, and I just buy US PSN cards online.

 

[jwhit28]

The Oman thing and sharing games could be grouped together. I'm guessing the guy was playing his Oman account games with his American Xbox Live account. Unless you come up with a compelling "my family was visiting from Oman" story, they would have to assume you are account sharing with someone from Oman.

 

[Gormless Noodle]

Console bans only happen when it's discovered that the user has a flashed console. That happens either by going online or when the repair centre discovers it.

Account bans happen for all the crap you can pull on Xbox Live.

And also, calling Xbox is no use since the support reps can't do a thing about it, even if they wanted to.

At any rate, there's more to this then is being told, 100% guaranteed.

 

[baphomet]

How hard is it to follow the rules? Jesus.

Been an Xbox Live member for 9 years, never once a problem.

I was locked out of thousands of dollars of purchases because I logged into a Windows 8 PC. That was basically the tipping point that I would never purchase another Microsoft console. It took hours and hours of bitching at piss ons over the phone, giving them all my correct information, and threatening court to get access back. I have since sold all I my 360 bullshit.

 

[Altered Juice]

shouldn't have exploited in the first place *slaps op upside the head*

 

[TrueGrime]

Oman doesn't have Xbox Live. There was a glitch that allowed people to download some games for free using your recent games history and specifically search for these games. Nobody knows how it worked and why it worked but it was nothing like the other promotions or making a second account to download some free game.

Ah. I see. Well, I wouldn't do it. If you do it and get away with it then more power to you. However, it's safe to say this is more than questionable. If you find yourself banned and receive an answer that is too broad to pinpoint as to why you're banned but you are knowingly doing questionable shit anyway, then you got what was coming to you. Regardless if anyone else is getting banned for the same thing or not.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Nothing

2 of 3 accounts from my console are banned, including primary and oman. US account is intact. But i havent logged to that account for ages. Only thing that can lead to this ban is because i played Oman games from my primary account.

I talked with support. If enforcement team cant help me they told me that i can't do a shit...

Sorry, but let this be a lesson to you. And I'm sure you're all on the "well this makes the next gen console decision so much easier". Don't do it next gen on your PS4 either.

Actions have consequences. It sucks that they can ban legally purchased games as the result of an account ban, but it is what it is, and the ToS was quite clear about the terms. Regardless of whether or not their practice is wrong, so was yours and your punishment is precisely what they told you that your punishment would be, in advance, in the ToS.

 

[Moosehole]

I agree that ban whining in general is crap. The problem is he can't download any previously purchased content that's not currently on his hard drive. You can play your stuff online, but only if you've already got it downloaded. If not, you're out of luck. That seems like a legitimate issue to raise.

Thats all fucking well and good but its in the ToS. If you didnt read it and/or did it anyway then whos fault is that really?

You dont have to like MS's policies, but they exist and they are what they are. Ignorance, moral disagreement, or fairness is not an excuse. Everyone who plays an xbox agreed to those terms.

 

[TrueGrime]

Glad Sony don't do this, but that is some Bullshit!

I've always had both a US and NZ login for the PS3, with my US account usually being for Demos and Trailers and the occasional game that releases sooner and cheaper, and I just buy US PSN cards online.

It's not bullshit.

What you are doing is legitimate. The console isn't region locked and you are free to download from other regions that might be cheaper than others. You are purchasing these games though. Not going through a back door to get them for free.

 

[DR3AM]

Does op ever say anything about the free Oman games? I don't think that's what got him banned. Free games/dlc downloads have been here since day one and people have been abusing the system for years.

 

[Pristine_Condition]

Lots of sony shills too, in this forum...better start checking dem e-mails.

Sure about that? You should call somebody out, if you are so brave to make that proclamation.

 

[TrueGrime]

Does op ever say anything about the free Oman games? I don't think that's what got him banned. Free games/dlc downloads have been here since day one and people have been abusing the system for years.

Yeah. The Op said:

"Don't know if there's a connection to Oman thing or whatever but im furious!"

Which leads me to believe he was using Oman, but doesn't know if that's what got him canned.

Edit: I just noticed that it said the reasoning behind the ban was: Marketplace Theft

 

[yami4ct]

Thats all fucking well and good but its in the ToS. If you didnt read it and/or did it anyway then whos fault is that really?

You dont have to like MS's policies, but they exist and they are what they are. Ignorance, moral disagreement, or fairness is not an excuse. Everyone who plays an xbox agreed to those terms.

No. I totally agree. I don't think there's a valid excuse for saying "I didn't know MS would lock out all my content when I was banned". You should know that going in. I certainly live my Xbox Live life knowing that. It doesn't bother me, though, as I'm not really the type that would take the kind of chances with my account to get banned.

I will say, though, I don't think the policy is a great one. I realize it exists, I won't bitch if I somehow got hit by it, but that shouldn't mean I don't get to voice the fact that I don't think it's a particularly great way to handle things.

 

[Jack_AG]

I love how the console ban message is 'we won't tell you why you're banned and there is no recourse.'

The very definition of arbitrary. Just imagine, we almost had a whole console subject to this.

B-b-b-but its to PROTECT PEOPLE! Knowing why a ban took place is synonymous with unbridled power. Do you know what the common rabble could achieve with such knowledge? NO. It is beyond comprehension for the human mind! This information can destroy entire universeseses!

 

[bakedpony]

I was locked out of thousands of dollars of purchases because I logged into a Windows 8 PC. That was basically the tipping point that I would never purchase another Microsoft console. It took hours and hours of bitching at piss ons over the phone, giving them all my correct information, and threatening court to get access back. I have since sold all I my 360 bullshit.

That sounds horrible.

 

[TechOne]

Welcome home

Bwahahahahahahaha! Awesome gif.

 

[TrueGrime]

No. I totally agree. I don't think there's a valid excuse for saying "I didn't know MS would lock out all my content when I was banned". You should know that going in. I certainly live my Xbox Live life knowing that. It doesn't bother me, though, as I'm not really the type that would take the kind of chances with my account to get banned.

I will say, though, I don't think the policy is a great one. I realize it exists, I won't bitch if I somehow got hit by it, but that shouldn't mean I don't get to voice the fact that I don't think it's a particularly great way to handle things.

This might be my most favorite GAF response ever. Well said and you presented your argument maturely.