RN Bias

Hi there. I have removed parts from your comment Randell Raven to make it hard to identify players from your post. It is still an important topic so thank you for bringing it up.

I know it is hard for players to accept and continue with the game if friendly accounts are banned at a crucial moment. The timing though does not change anything if rules were broken, a multi-account is always risky for those around them, and also against the rules.

One important misunderstanding to fix: Player reports will never lead to punishments or bans, unless the Rail Nation team can find clear proof and confirm someone broke the rules. With multi-accounts for example, it is never enough if a player reports their suspicions, while we do appreciate the tips we get. Even if a player says in public they are a multi, this does not lead to a ban unless we have clear proof that they actually are breaking the rules - and not just trolling. All ban decisions are documented together with proof, and there is no room for bias.

I can see you are here to help a player or players who were banned. I will leave a quote here from another post to explain why ban decisions cannot be discussed on forum: Bans and similar account related decisions to be kept out from forum

Account related decisions made by Rail Nation team members, be it in support, chat, in private conversations or anywhere else are to be kept out from public forum.

Why can't these things be shared in public?

Players are protected by data protection laws, and RN team members can never participate in the conversation and share the full story. All background data will be kept safe between the player and the team members. There can never be a free and fair discussion on any public forum. Players can throw their arguments, but it's impossible for RN team members to confirm anything or argue in these discussions. There's no goal or final stop so to say.

RN team members have access to data that we can't always share with players. Some ban situations can include technical details or player's history details that only team members will know of. Other players will never know why someone has been banned, but there is always a reason and documentation to back it up. Players do get a warning or multiple warnings before any penalties - unless it's a particularly grave rule violation.

I have to agree to some point with Randell Raven , I know couples who get banned too. Even known personally by the support members who banned them. It is very hard to see the difference between a multi account or a couple / father/mother-child who are using the same device to play with. I also know people get banned who asked first how to handle the situation playing with multiple family members from the same IP adress. Their honesty was punished.

In the end the honest people always are punished and the sneaky ones still can continue with cheating. I have seen it happen. And it was admitted the accounts were known for multies and password sharing. Untill today they can play after some small bans of a few hours.

If anyone wishes to complain about a ban decision made by the RN crew, they should be in contact with game support. That discussion needs to happen between customer service and the owner of the account that was banned. I'm unable to speak for any bans if they were false or not, and I would appreciate if players here on forum would not make claims I'm not able to confirm to be true or not. Feel free to request an address from support where you can write a complaint, if you feel you aren't getting the answers you need.

Samisu wrote:

If anyone wishes to complain about a ban decision made by the RN crew, they should be in contact with game support. That discussion needs to happen between customer service and the owner of the account that was banned. I'm unable to speak for any bans if they were false or not, and I would appreciate if players here on forum would not make claims I'm not able to confirm to be true or not. Feel free to request an address from support where you can write a complaint, if you feel you aren't getting the answers you need.

This is all done but not taken serious. I know the paths to follow but when all those paths are dead ends this is the only place to keep this alive. It happens at almost every server. And most crews dig their heads into the sand like an ostrich.

There is always documented proof to back all ban decisions. I've said this many times in the past.

Bans are never taken lightly, and it is one of the tasks the crew would rather not do as it always comes with negative emotions and disappointments. That's not something you wish on any customer. But, for the sake of everyone else who do follow the rules, we must act.

Documented proof means, the events that led to ban for playing with multiple accounts are checked and confirmed from all directions. Proof must be solid. This is why when players see a clear case of multi-accounts, those aren't removed until we can be 100% sure it is the right decision.

There's not much else I can do or say to change someone's beliefs or opinions. Perhaps we have failed somewhere along the road if it is hard to believe the crew bans only with solid proof... but that's how we do things. We are taking bans seriously, always.

Having this discussion now, in the past or in the future does not change the facts - we always follow clear guidelines with bans. Players have their routes to complain about decisions made or service they received. If someone made a mistake with a ban for some reason - we are happy to fix it and compensate.

Samisu wrote:

I know it is hard for players to accept and continue with the game if friendly accounts are banned at a crucial moment. The timing though does not change anything if rules were broken, a multi-account is always risky for those around them, and also against the rules.

While not positive, I think this is an issue that I heard about on Discord. If so it would appear that rules were not technically broken. From my understanding a married couple were playing the game together. Because a single computer was shared between the two of them, the accounts were banned. If that is the case it does seem that before a 48 hour ban a simple email could be sent to the two accounts for a very quick investigation.

Samisu wrote:

If anyone wishes to complain about a ban decision made by the RN crew, they should be in contact with game support. That discussion needs to happen between customer service and the owner of the account that was banned. I'm unable to speak for any bans if they were false or not, and I would appreciate if players here on forum would not make claims I'm not able to confirm to be true or not. Feel free to request an address from support where you can write a complaint, if you feel you aren't getting the answers you need.

Fair enough.

Jalistair wrote:

While not positive, I think this is an issue that I heard about on Discord. If so it would appear that rules were not technically broken. From my understanding a married couple were playing the game together. Because a single computer was shared between the two of them, the accounts were banned. If that is the case it does seem that before a 48 hour ban a simple email could be sent to the two accounts for a very quick investigation.

And this here is why bans cannot be discussed here on forum. I cannot nor can anyone else in the team comment or confirm if what you heard in Discord is true or not.

The banned player or players are always protected by privacy laws, so whatever the reason for ban is, that is between the player and us. We will always look bad no matter what, since we have no response to give.

In general, I can say that we have a lot of families playing the game together from the same household, even the same computer, without any issues or reasons for bans or warnings. People take turns and make sure never to give others access to their account in the same household - and we completely support that. Families that play together, stick together!

Samisu wrote:

And this here is why bans cannot be discussed here on forum. I cannot nor can anyone else in the team comment or confirm if what you heard in Discord is true or not.

The banned player or players are always protected by privacy laws, so whatever the reason for ban is, that is between the player and us. We will always look bad no matter what, since we have no response to give.

In general, I can say that we have a lot of families playing the game together from the same household, even the same computer, without any issues or reasons for bans or warnings. People take turns and make sure never to give others access to their account in the same household - and we completely support that. Families that play together, stick together!

and that's not true, it depends which crew is dealing with it. There is not one line inside Travian how to handle this.

naike wrote:

and that's not true, it depends which crew is dealing with it. There is not one line inside Travian how to handle this.

And that is your opinion.

If you have proof to back up your claims, you know where to contact to get a response and have those claims checked. Repeating "he said she said" here on forum will not change anything or lead to anything.

I found out this round in Cylinder Head that RN has banned couple and their children from playing RN. I had always thought RN to be a family game but it now seems that if you are not part of the 1% then you mean nothing to RN. RN banned my friends that are actual family aka husband/wife and daughters/sons. I also can't understand why RN would allow its staff to play on a team that they can easily manipulate. If it takes teams to get people banned to win in an EG, then maybe them teams need to be disciplined not the people that have done nothing wrong..

The main point is that why you put ban just two days before the End Game..?

If they are Multi so, why you do not recognize them In the 6 Era.. This is not seem fair..

you say that we have proof we have proof so why you are not Ban them in starting..??

It sounds like we are mixing two different topics here, so let's try and separate those so it is easier to follow the actual facts.

1. Someone cheats and breaks the rules -> we act on it. It hurts the playmates if someone close to them is suddenly banned, but it also hurts everyone else competing against an association where someone cheats. Hard to say why something was not recognized earlier, perhaps whatever an account or accounts did wrong happened later and was worth an instant ban. That's between the banned player and support.

Easiest solution is: Please do not cheat or break the rules.

2. We play, and we have volunteer team members who play. A team member will not handle ban situations on their server related to them, but instead forwards those to someone else in the team. Team members can never make a ban decisions to advance their own games, or they would be removed from the team - everything is documented. I've seen how volunteers (players like anyone else) get bullied by other players, badmouthing and false claims made against them, nasty comments that make them think of leaving the team. Why should someone put their time and soul to helping other players, if it means they couldn't play anymore or have fun with their friends... This is a topic very close to my heart, and I truly wish players would treat each other with respect.

just to prove a point my post was removed to censor it ..

staff or volunteers should not be allowed to play full stop

rn is a money making enterprise which i do get.. but the unequal way the so called rules are applyied does make you wonder

and 2 more posts censored!!!

the truth hurts i feel

the whole forum is a joke .. as posts are more censored than a news paper in a federal state

That is really a strange ban, especially after 3 or 4 players once reported a player that said in open thread on US103 server that he had 6 accounts his corporation had 6 players with the same Nickname with the different numbers at the end, that guy finished that round with his 6 accounts with no bans, seeing this discussion and after this situation I only have one thing in my mind. "Looks like RN staff works with some friendship with some players".

Isn't that cheating?

Rmtcp wrote:

That is really a strange ban, especially after 3 or 4 players once reported a player that said in open thread on US103 server that he had 6 accounts his corporation had 6 players with the same Nickname with the different numbers at the end, that guy finished that round with his 6 accounts with no bans, seeing this discussion and after this situation I only have one thing in my mind. "Looks like RN staff works with some friendship with some players".

Isn't that cheating?

it is in every sense of the word but 2 things will happen ... nothing to the player committing the crime and 2 the post is likely to be deleted and censored

Rmtcp wrote:

That is really a strange ban, especially after 3 or 4 players once reported a player that said in open thread on US103 server that he had 6 accounts his corporation had 6 players with the same Nickname with the different numbers at the end, that guy finished that round with his 6 accounts with no bans, seeing this discussion and after this situation I only have one thing in my mind. "Looks like RN staff works with some friendship with some players".

Isn't that cheating?

Food for thought, what if they were "trolling"?

A group of friends create accounts with similar names, then one spreads a rumor that it is just one person behind all these accounts to bring morale down. I've seen this happen before and in different games. Sometimes, the names are very similar because the team decided so when they started playing.

I can't comment on the case, but if the player was reported to support and nothing happened, then there was no water proof case against them.

If anything, this should prove that if a ban reason cannot be documented together with clear proof, nothing is done. Sometimes it takes time to build a case for a ban, and sometimes there is no case. When someone is finally banned for being a multi-account for example, the case has gone through a process and no stone was left unturned.

The truth and reality of things is not always the same how things look on the outside.

Tale of three brothers.

Three brothers were playing a game. One day, admins found out this is all done by one person acting as three different people. This act is hard to accept by those who thought they were playing with three brothers and not with one who put on an act, a long act.

Three brothers were playing a game. Two of them quit the game and the third was given access to the two other accounts, and continue the game on their behalf. This is easier for other players to accept, they weren't really fooled until one started to act like he was three brothers.

Three brothers were playing a game. The brothers shared access to all accounts between each other and this way covered the game 24/7. Other players can see them only as three brothers they are, never knowing each of them actively plays with all three accounts.

The end.

These are just some examples of real cases. If there's enough will, it is easy to slip to cheating. Or even just to test out if you can pull it off. This naturally leads to bans or removal of accounts (at the worst moment), and hurts players around them. But cheating is cheating, and all players have agreed to follow our rules when they created their account and started to play. Spreading false rumors of biased team members is from my perspective complete bull, because there is black on white.

It is really interesting isn't it that true multi's aka the ones that are cheating would not be using the same IP. They are for more sneaky than that. Of course there are probably stupid ones.

So is the criteria then for a ban

1. You are now allowed to run a multiple accounts from the same device?

Is there a 2, 3 and 4?

If this is a golden rule then end of story, but it would be really interesting to know what other criteria there to allow family members to run accounts from the same device.

What really confuses me about the previous comments is:

RN don't just ban people because they don't like them or they wear dodgy coloured trousers. They ban them because they have found proof. You all seem to think these players are being picked on for no reason, which quite frankly, is ridiculous.

Do any of you know 100% they haven't broken rules?