Torebaraku
Dalayan Beginner
Allow me to preface this post by stating, quite clearly, several things:
First of all, I have searched for other threads pertaining to this topic but found none. So my I offer my apologies if I am beating some dead, long-forgotten horse. I am in no way trying to undermine or challenge the administration's rules or decisions in the to-be-referenced situation, rally support of any kind, or get any type of sympathy for whatever reason. I don't intend for this post to come off as whining or complaining, or like I'm trying to be some type of attention whore.
I am posting this because I, personally, was not aware that this could even happen until it did. And it absolutely sucks. I want to see if this happens frequently or if it is common knowledge that this type of scenario should be avoided. I'd also like to help insure that this doesn't happen to anyone else.
To fill all of you in, here is a very brief description of what happened:
This occurred when I was new to SoD. I was playing my lowbie when a higher level (45) character approached me and stated: "I'm done with SoD. You can have my account if you want, the information is blahblah / blahblah. Later." He then logged off and I had no way of ever contacting him again.
I thought to myself that this was a terrific stroke of good luck to have a retired player donate his account to me. I logged onto the account, changed the password, and made myself at home. Once my own character was high enough, I two-boxed the characters almost exclusively.
Personally, and like many of you, no doubt, I do not have a lot of time to play or commit to groups, so my progress is very slow and spread out. In fact, the only reason I was even able to gain worthwhile experience on my own was because I had both accounts and characters at my disposal. Needless to say, getting each character to 63 was an extremely time-consuming ordeal for me - as it is for everyone. I invested a great deal of time and effort into the account for more than a year.
At one point, I became very busy with work and my classes, so I decided to take a break while I focused on those areas. To my great dismay, when I decided to return, I found that the account's password had been changed. I checked the Fomelo and discovered that someone had started playing the character again - they had leveled him up and gathered a few AAs.
It turns out that the original owner had decided to come back to reclaim his old account. He took the account that I had worked so hard on.
Unbeknownst to me at that time, since he was the only one that knew the original registration email, he held ultimate control of the account the entire time and there was no way I could change it. While under the premise that the account was now mine, I was disillusioned: The final result would be that I had simply, unwittingly, equipped and leveled a stranger's character through some of the game's hardest levels.
I understand now that the law of the land states that the original account owner always has rights to reclaim an account.
Couldn't this be exploited by, for example, creating a new account and a new character, leveling the character up some, giving the account to someone that the creator believes (for whatever reason) will level it up, and then abandoning the account only to come back later and reap the other's hard work?
I am by no means saying that I believe what happened to me was done maliciously, but does it matter? The result is the same.
If this is to be the rule, shouldn't there be a way to give absolute ownership of an account to someone else? Otherwise, it should be stated, very explicitly, that if you are given a stranger's account, accept it at your own risk. Maybe it is stated somewhere, I wish I had seen it. I wish I had known that while I played that character, my time and efforts were always jeopardized beyond my control.
The administration said they could do nothing to help me and that I must contact the person currently playing the account and discuss it with him. I have had no luck contacting the person these past several weeks.
I should also clarify this, I'm not arguing with the administration's decision. I disagree with it, of course, but I know they do their best to be fair. Honestly, assuming the original account creator did not do this intentionally, I can hardly blame him. He must have come back some time later while I was on my break and figured that I, too, had decided to quit, abandoning all of my work. I absolutely hate that this happened to me and hope that no others have found themselves in this unfortunate situation.
So, please discuss. Did I screw up from the beginning by accepting the account? Did I just miss all of the signs early on that I was falling into a potential trap? Does anyone else think that there should there be a way to permanently transfer ownership of an account to another player? And I apologize if I'm making a big deal out of something that is, in fact, made blatantly obvious somewhere (I remember reading the rule about original account ownership somewhere, I don't remember).
Anyway, thanks for your time and input.
First of all, I have searched for other threads pertaining to this topic but found none. So my I offer my apologies if I am beating some dead, long-forgotten horse. I am in no way trying to undermine or challenge the administration's rules or decisions in the to-be-referenced situation, rally support of any kind, or get any type of sympathy for whatever reason. I don't intend for this post to come off as whining or complaining, or like I'm trying to be some type of attention whore.
I am posting this because I, personally, was not aware that this could even happen until it did. And it absolutely sucks. I want to see if this happens frequently or if it is common knowledge that this type of scenario should be avoided. I'd also like to help insure that this doesn't happen to anyone else.
To fill all of you in, here is a very brief description of what happened:
This occurred when I was new to SoD. I was playing my lowbie when a higher level (45) character approached me and stated: "I'm done with SoD. You can have my account if you want, the information is blahblah / blahblah. Later." He then logged off and I had no way of ever contacting him again.
I thought to myself that this was a terrific stroke of good luck to have a retired player donate his account to me. I logged onto the account, changed the password, and made myself at home. Once my own character was high enough, I two-boxed the characters almost exclusively.
Personally, and like many of you, no doubt, I do not have a lot of time to play or commit to groups, so my progress is very slow and spread out. In fact, the only reason I was even able to gain worthwhile experience on my own was because I had both accounts and characters at my disposal. Needless to say, getting each character to 63 was an extremely time-consuming ordeal for me - as it is for everyone. I invested a great deal of time and effort into the account for more than a year.
At one point, I became very busy with work and my classes, so I decided to take a break while I focused on those areas. To my great dismay, when I decided to return, I found that the account's password had been changed. I checked the Fomelo and discovered that someone had started playing the character again - they had leveled him up and gathered a few AAs.
It turns out that the original owner had decided to come back to reclaim his old account. He took the account that I had worked so hard on.
Unbeknownst to me at that time, since he was the only one that knew the original registration email, he held ultimate control of the account the entire time and there was no way I could change it. While under the premise that the account was now mine, I was disillusioned: The final result would be that I had simply, unwittingly, equipped and leveled a stranger's character through some of the game's hardest levels.
I understand now that the law of the land states that the original account owner always has rights to reclaim an account.
Couldn't this be exploited by, for example, creating a new account and a new character, leveling the character up some, giving the account to someone that the creator believes (for whatever reason) will level it up, and then abandoning the account only to come back later and reap the other's hard work?
I am by no means saying that I believe what happened to me was done maliciously, but does it matter? The result is the same.
If this is to be the rule, shouldn't there be a way to give absolute ownership of an account to someone else? Otherwise, it should be stated, very explicitly, that if you are given a stranger's account, accept it at your own risk. Maybe it is stated somewhere, I wish I had seen it. I wish I had known that while I played that character, my time and efforts were always jeopardized beyond my control.
The administration said they could do nothing to help me and that I must contact the person currently playing the account and discuss it with him. I have had no luck contacting the person these past several weeks.
I should also clarify this, I'm not arguing with the administration's decision. I disagree with it, of course, but I know they do their best to be fair. Honestly, assuming the original account creator did not do this intentionally, I can hardly blame him. He must have come back some time later while I was on my break and figured that I, too, had decided to quit, abandoning all of my work. I absolutely hate that this happened to me and hope that no others have found themselves in this unfortunate situation.
So, please discuss. Did I screw up from the beginning by accepting the account? Did I just miss all of the signs early on that I was falling into a potential trap? Does anyone else think that there should there be a way to permanently transfer ownership of an account to another player? And I apologize if I'm making a big deal out of something that is, in fact, made blatantly obvious somewhere (I remember reading the rule about original account ownership somewhere, I don't remember).
Anyway, thanks for your time and input.
