Old aRO Forums

Server Updates & Info => Announcements => Topic started by: GM Ai on October 09, 2014, 04:03:00 pm

Title: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: GM Ai on October 09, 2014, 04:03:00 pm

First, the good news!

The Voting Center has been updated!
We've removed the faulty 30-hour voting link and replaced it with two new 12-hour voting sites: TopG (http://topg.org/server-anesisro-id394708) and Top Servers 200 (http://www.topservers200.com/details-13277.html).  That is why it may look like you've lost voting bonuses, but you actually haven't!  Extremely sorry that we didn't realize this would be cause for so much alarm!  We also adjusted one of the 12-hour voting sites to reflect its correct 24-hour cooldown.  Overall, this change means roughly .24 ad credits possible per day without voting bonuses.  :D

---

Now for the not-so-good news...

Concerning character names under 4 characters in length:
Until somewhat recently, our current client allowed players to use an exploit to bypass the default 4 character minimum.  This was an oversight in the client and wasn't supposed to be possible, as should have been clear from the method used to bypass the character limit check.  Although the exploit has been fixed, leaving the resulting character names is neither fair to those who used ad credit towards their 3-character names nor those who were unaware that this was possible.  You will still have the option to keep your 3-character names, but you will need to spend 5 ads per name like everyone else.

We were originally going to change these names first and then request that all affected players submit support tickets, but after further consideration, we decided that doing it this way would be less startling.  However, any characters that have not been addressed through a support ticket by Monday, October 27, 2014 will have their names changed regardless.  (In most cases, this means we will add symbols or numbers until the character name becomes valid.  Inappropriate names will be changed entirely.)

(http://i59.tinypic.com/i26h7d.gif)

If you've created a character through character creation with a name under 4 characters in length and would like to either keep its name or choose your own replacement, please submit a General Questions support ticket with the following information: Subject: "Character Name Length" Affected game account name and password Affected character on the account Would you like to spend 5 ad credits to keep the affected character's current name? 1- and 2-character names will not qualify for this option. If not, please simply provide a new name for the character.  This change will be free, as if you had created the character normally in the first place. Addition: Please find 2–3 names per character in case the first one is taken by the time we get to it. Also, characters under level 40 may not qualify for name changes if support ticket volume is too high. (It's rather easy to make a replacement character with the new name you want.) Include any additional affected characters and account information in the same support ticket. New character names must be available, appropriate, and valid through normal character creation. Characters created before the switch to eAthena and those whose names were changed through spend credit requests will be unaffected.

As this exploit did not result in the gain of zeny, items, or ad credits and is fairly minor, we will not issue any bans, but please remember that this server runs on donations.  Luxuries like 3-character names and other services show our thanks for supporting the ad credit system that helps keep this server alive.  We understand that names can be very personal and meaningful, but we'd really appreciate in return if everyone could understand that even "harmless" exploits like this can still impact the server's well-being.  Please, please report them in the future.

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Kerax on October 09, 2014, 09:11:17 pm

Was that so hard? (http://bit.ly/1BZ04QC)

Dunno why you're addressing it now, even though it's been like this, and past GMs and Admins have been fine with it.

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: GM Ai on October 09, 2014, 09:50:23 pm

Quote from: GM Ai on October 09, 2014, 04:03:00 pm

[...] neither fair to those who used ad credit towards their 3-character names nor those who were unaware that this was possible [and thus presumed they were obtained through the spend credit method, as had been done in the past].

The bit at the end of the announcement is also meant to address that response.  :-\

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Haruu on October 09, 2014, 10:58:11 pm

I was waiting for this announcement regarding < 4 characters in length ever since that day.

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Kerax on October 09, 2014, 11:01:59 pm

Quote from: GM Ai on October 09, 2014, 09:50:23 pm

Quote from: GM Ai on October 09, 2014, 04:03:00 pm

[...] neither fair to those who used ad credit towards their 3-character names nor those who were unaware that this was possible [and thus presumed they were obtained through the spend credit method, as had been done in the past].

The bit at the end of the announcement is also meant to address that response.  :-\

Quote from: Kerax on October 09, 2014, 09:11:17 pm

Was that so hard? (http://bit.ly/1BZ04QC)

This is meant to address the whole thing, google has all the answers, why don't people look stuff up before doing things.  :-\

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: GM Ai on October 09, 2014, 11:50:20 pm

Yes, we postponed for quite a bit since we couldn't decide upon a proper time for it—not that there would really be any "good" time, per se.  :(


Kerax - it's difficult to search for a workaround that one isn't aware even exists, particularly if you are a player who has been familiar with other players making their names shorter only via Spend Credit requests.  If such a person meets a character with a shortened name, he or she would likely not even question it.  The possibility that there is an exploit like this might not come to mind unless the person happens to catch mention of it or starts noticing peculiarities (such as Novices popping up in rapid succession at Payon Dungeon with names along the likes of ,, ', /\/, and ^-^, just as some examples).

If this issue had been posted in the Bugs & Reports section of the forums where it could have received an official, public verdict for future reference, and if it was widely known and pointed out to all players as a valid, endorsed option rather than kept relatively secret among certain circles, we would likely have responded differently.

I'd like to reiterate that this wasn't meant to be possible.  It was an oversight in which the server faultily relied entirely upon the client to prevent character creation if a name was too short.  That has already been fixed in newer versions of the client as well, so this is not something that only we corrected.  We're not dealing out any punishment, just rectifying the oversight.  This leaves players with nearly the same result as not having used this exploit in the first place, as we are allowing players to choose their own replacement names (or to offer the appropriate amount of ad credits to retain their current names) rather than simply changing them all without warning.

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Haruu on October 10, 2014, 02:11:11 am

Now I gotta brainstorm for a name change. 5 ads too much for me. I'm broke  :'(

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: DreamerP on October 10, 2014, 11:47:28 pm

Just saw this and I don't quite understand...?

Are you saying even through support tickets we are not allowed to get 3 named characters? If so then why were they allowed before and why is it such an issue atm?

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Mal on October 11, 2014, 11:18:01 am

You can still do it through a support ticket, because it's a privilege that you have to pay for.

If you took advantage of an exploit that allowed you to create a character with a three-letter name, you have to pay to keep it (which is a really stupid way to handle this, by the way) or change it free of charge.

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: DreamerP on October 11, 2014, 06:47:07 pm

Oh ok nvm, I paid for it :D

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Lavitiz on October 11, 2014, 07:41:45 pm

How do you know who paid for it and who didn't? It's not fair for inactive players who paid for it to lose it. Why should the fault of the previous developers fall upon it's players? Last but not least, isn't there more important things to be doing than this? I'd like to see the server move forward and grow, generally it's good practice to prioritize. Especially when you have a limited number of developers who all have lives of their own.

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: DreamerP on October 11, 2014, 08:32:16 pm

You had to send in a support ticket and actually talk to a GM to get it changed and that particular ticket should still be around on file.

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Lavitiz on October 11, 2014, 09:26:34 pm

Quote from: DreamerP on October 11, 2014, 08:32:16 pm

You had to send in a support ticket and actually talk to a GM to get it changed and that particular ticket should still be around on file.

So the question is if they're going to manually check every account? I was assuming it was automated. There is not automated way to check tickets. It's not realistic to check every account ever created.

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Mal on October 11, 2014, 10:26:30 pm

Quote from: DreamerP on October 11, 2014, 08:32:16 pm

You had to send in a support ticket and actually talk to a GM to get it changed and that particular ticket should still be around on file.

I don't know about you, but none of my tickets show up on the site anymore. Not even the closed ones.

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Lavitiz on October 12, 2014, 01:05:17 am

Tisk tisk. If there is a chance that this affects people who actually paid for it, then it should be a no-no. If you have no way to tell, then I wouldn't do it. That's definitely not fair to those that paid using a currency that has a form of monetary value. The only reason I have brought this up is because I am trying to speak out for those that cannot. I'd also like to see development time prioritized on more important matters. HOWEVER, it's not really my position to tell people how I feel things should be done. Bottom line is that in my opinion something like this shouldn't be rolled out IF it can affect those who actually paid for it.

The problem is you can't tell if someone paid for the service or not. Tickets are missing, and even if tickets were NOT missing it is impossible(realistically at least) to go through every players account one by one and verify.

If there is a MySQL database that logs renames and such, you should be fine creating a query to handle it.

From my understanding players are supposed to submit a ticket if they ever had a rename to be excluded from the clean-up?

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Mal on October 12, 2014, 09:06:49 am

If I remember correctly, name changes don't trickle down through friends' lists. Assume some people come back, and try to play, and their friend "cat" no longer signs in. They're not going to know to message "cat1"

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Lavitiz on October 12, 2014, 02:04:05 pm

Quote from: Mal on October 12, 2014, 09:06:49 am

If I remember correctly, name changes don't trickle down through friends' lists. Assume some people come back, and try to play, and their friend "cat" no longer signs in. They're not going to know to message "cat1"

Edit: Nvm.

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: GM Ai on October 13, 2014, 08:39:00 am

Quote from: Lavitiz on October 11, 2014, 07:41:45 pm

How do you know who paid for it and who didn't? It's not fair for inactive players who paid for it to lose it. Why should the fault of the previous developers fall upon it's players? Last but not least, isn't there more important things to be doing than this? I'd like to see the server move forward and grow, generally it's good practice to prioritize. Especially when you have a limited number of developers who all have lives of their own.

I'm sorry for not responding sooner.  Character names are logged upon creation, so any characters who weren't created in this way after the switch to eAthena won't even appear in our list.

Addition:  The missing support tickets have given us a massive clue about the voting timer issue, so we'll be investigating that.  Thanks immensely for discovering it!

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Lavitiz on October 13, 2014, 03:59:24 pm

Wonderful, sounds good GM Ai! Thanks for the reply.

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Orphan on October 27, 2014, 09:33:45 pm

any update on when the voting timer issue will be fixed?

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: GM Ai on October 27, 2014, 10:35:18 pm

We're unfortunately still investigating it...  I really hope we figure out what's wrong soon since the problem seems to be slowly growing (or more people with this issue are speaking up).  :(

Title: Re: ATTN: Voting sites, character names under 4 characters in length
Post by: Orphan on October 28, 2014, 09:43:59 pm

hopefully soon, i've lost alot of ad credits from this.