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MindArk's Statement Regarding Unauthorized Use of Official Items

Henrik|MindArk

Henrik|MindArk

MindArk Official
Staff member
MindArk Official
Joined
Feb 4, 2019
Posts
55
Based on reports from the community regarding potential use of official-only items by player avatars, MindArk initiated a thorough investigation into the matter over the past 12 days. In this statement I will detail the steps taken by MindArk, including our investigation of this issue, the actions taken based on our investigation, and adjustments to our policies and procedures to prevent such issues in the future.

Our investigation confirmed that two avatars had used items intended for use exclusively by official avatars. The items in question were acquired, without the permission of either MindArk or Arkadia Studios, from Planet Arkadia Official avatars.

Those official items were immediately removed from the offending player accounts, and all other instances of the Arkadia-specific Prototype Regeneration Field Chip items were removed from Entropia Universe. The player accounts in question were also immediately locked once the reports were confirmed by our investigation. Those accounts will be banned from Entropia Universe for a period of five months. In addition, the following skills and attributes have been reset to 1 for the involved avatars: Bioregenesis, Concentration, Force Merge, Mindforce Harmony, Power Catalyst, Translocation, Intelligence, and Psyche. Any skill implants of the skills listed above have been removed from the involved accounts.

In order to prevent such issues from occurring in the future, MindArk will be taking several steps related to Official avatars. A comprehensive security review of all Official avatars is already in progress; any avatars that are no longer used or deemed unnecessary will be deleted. Access to the remaining Official avatars will be reviewed and monitored very carefully, especially those created for Planet Partners. Finally, all official-only items will no longer be tradable, nor will they be usable by player avatars.

MindArk takes the security and integrity of Entropia Universe very seriously, and we apologize for the concerns and uncertainty that these issues have understandably caused within the community. We will make every effort to ensure that such issues are not possible in the future. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Henrik Nel
CEO MindArk
 
I am satisfied to outcome.
 
so there was 1 more secret account that used devo gear , who was it :confused:
 
Henrik|MindArk said:
Those accounts will be banned from Entropia Universe for a period of five months. In addition, the following skills and attributes have been reset to 1 for the involved avatars: Bioregenesis, Concentration, Force Merge, Mindforce Harmony, Power Catalyst, Translocation, Intelligence, and Psyche. Any skill implants of the skills listed above have been removed from the involved accounts.
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That's fair. :wise:


MindArk takes the security and integrity of Entropia Universe very seriously
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Nice to know.
Now let's fight PvP cheaters, aim-bot etc.. :wtg:
 
It is a relief to know this has been dealt with now, and not just lost in the aether. It seems fair that any possible advantage that could have been gained through the abusing of items has been negated, in addition to making sure that nothing like this can happen again. Thank you.
 
Nice! Glad to see it wont ever happen again. Punishment definitely fits the crime. GG MindArk
 
Henrik|MindArk said:
Those accounts will be banned from Entropia Universe for a period of five months. In addition, the following skills and attributes have been reset to 1 for the involved avatars: Bioregenesis, Concentration, Force Merge, Mindforce Harmony, Power Catalyst, Translocation, Intelligence, and Psyche. Any skill implants of the skills listed above have been removed from the involved accounts.
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DannyO, I think you got off lightly. Still, we should be out of lockdown in five months - as will you.
 
Great response :yay::yay::yay:
 
The guys are EXTREMELY lucky and MA EXTREMELY generous :rolleyes:
 
Good job Mindark, i hope the investigation also covered the extend to which skill chips had already been brought into circulation and where the money earned from this went. Or if chips were produced and given to others below market value. I dont want to insinuate anything, i just hope that market values of named skills will recover from any tempering that might have taken place due to these actions.
And im glad the avatars in question will be able to return to the game after 5 months, everyone deserves a second chance :)
 
Henrik|MindArk said:
Our investigation confirmed that two avatars had used items intended for use exclusively by official avatars. The items in question were acquired, without the permission of either MindArk or Arkadia Studios, from Planet Arkadia Official avatars.
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1. It's good you guys took some action for it, but it's lacking in my opinion.

2. Can you reveal the name of the other avatar (in-game name) ?

3. What about punishment for the Planet Arkadia Official avatars who borrowed/gave these items?
They should be fired by Arkadia Studios imo.

4. How long were these two player avatars in possession of official items?

If they used the official items to skill, don't forget they get lots of defense skills since they can't die and can take lots of mobs at once.
There is a pic posted on that previous thread that DannyO also had an official TP chip. You didn't mention anything about removing that from them.

5. Can you confirm if one of them used official TP chip, and if so will u remove it/nerf their skills associated with it?

Personally I'd say they deserve to get banned permanently for this. But I understand because at least one of them apparently "deposit big bucks" hence from your perspective a period of 5 months and some nerf in some of their skills can seem adequate.

If not perma-ban. At least reset their evader/dodger level to 1. Also giving them a loot debuff for 5 months wouldn't hurt either. Now that would be a good lesson for them and any others who may try to abuse system in the future.
 
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Sub-Zero said:
It's good you guys took some action for it, but it's lacking in my opinion.
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In fairness, while it'd be nice to be told every little tiny juicy detail, and for them to make sure not a single iota of benefit gained was kept (remember, major skills & attributes are being dropped down to one) the fact is this is more than MA's ever done in the past and I am REAL happy about it.

For now, let's just appreciate what MA did in this case and hope other cheaters take notice and stop their own actions.
 
Seems like a reasonable solution, although 5 months seems a strange number - maybe it's so they don't miss out on Halloween.
 
slither said:
Seems like a reasonable solution, although 5 months seems a strange number - maybe it's so they don't miss out on Halloween.
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Mid September is when Iron missions are due to be removed.
 
JohnCapital said:
In fairness, while it'd be nice to be told every little tiny juicy detail, and for them to make sure not a single iota of benefit gained was kept (remember, major skills & attributes are being dropped down to one) the fact is this is more than MA's ever done in the past and I am REAL happy about it.

For now, let's just appreciate what MA did in this case and hope other cheaters take notice and stop their own actions.
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I do appreciate the action (it's better than nothing, I was half expecting them to forget about giving a statement) and yes it's more than what they've done in the past. But I feel they could improve even more. There's so much we don't know. Imagine if they had these items for several months or heck years, would their punitive action still feel adequate in this case? For me no.
 
I must say I'm impressed. The statement came many months ahead of schedule, and the punishment fit the crime without being overly heavy-handed. As mentioned by others, though, it would be nice to know if any chip-outs had been conducted/investigated/reversed.
 
JohnCapital said:
In fairness, while it'd be nice to be told every little tiny juicy detail, and for them to make sure not a single iota of benefit gained was kept (remember, major skills & attributes are being dropped down to one) the fact is this is more than MA's ever done in the past and I am REAL happy about it.

For now, let's just appreciate what MA did in this case and hope other cheaters take notice and stop their own actions.
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That's exactly what I think.
At first glance it might not seem severe enough, but considering where we come from, it's already quite a lot from MA, especially with some skills and 2 attributes reset to 1.

I sincerely hope this is just the beginning.
That MA will fight effectively against cheaters of all kinds, and punish them properly so that people understand that there are real risks and serious consequences to cheating.
 
~ Cirrus ~ said:
I sincerely hope this is just the beginning.
That MA will fight effectively against cheaters of all kinds, and punish them properly so that people understand that there are real risks and serious consequences to cheating.
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I think it would be amusing to see some other cheaters having their attributes reduced to 1. :whistle:
 
I think this is the perfect punishment for the crime, I was thinking MA should have done this exact same thing and its what they did. +rep to MA and I hope some lessons were learned
 
Thank you for the official statement. It's a step or two in the right direction...
 
finally unlimited armors/amps/plates bug fixed!

who was it? among all others, the one caught?get locked :ahh::cool:








:eureka:!!






KOS list-DCINSIDE,The Prophet

ps. i hope its not so troll job for dannyO &"another avatar",also michael & his brother "russell"
 
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Mega said:
I think it would be amusing to see some other cheaters having their attributes reduced to 1. :whistle:
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Not sure what you mean here, but indeed that would be the perfect punishment (in addition to a temporary ban) for any kind of cheat/exploit.

First of all the Intelligence should be reduced to 1 for any kind of cheating, because that's where the intelligence of any cheater should be... (and Psyche too, that pretty much speaks)

Then another attribute depending on the kind of cheating.

Agility to 1 for aim-bot.
Strenght at 1 for the hunt-bot... etc...

That would be quite persuasive I think, since most people are very "attached to their attributes"... :)
 
A good reponse!! :) I was expecting a very basic response, this is more info than I tought we would receive. Some information is very detailed, but how long have these avatars been using these chips for?

A good punishment, this is the way of setting an example. I am affraid they held on these chips for longer than we know hench the punishment. Translocation also set to 1, a completely useless skill but this does prove they also used the official TP chip atleast.

I hope the Ark staff member has been fired, whoever did it mus be a real snake... more like a cobra maybe.
 
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Well its something i guess....i wonder what you have to do to be banned for life? Still gonna hope for Jason Schreier to do an total investigation, need to clear this house out.
 
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