Account locked for breaking terms and conditions?

[Logan Terrick]

Has anyone else ever had their account locked for breaking the games terms and conditions? Apparently mine has been.

I was away for an extended time and someone else I know was wanting to try out the game so I gave them access to use my account whilst I was away. I didn't think this would be a problem.

Whilst I was away the guy using my account contacted me to tell me that Frontier had contacted them querying why the account was suddenly being used in the USA (I'm based in the UK). He didn't really understand why they were contacting him and told them he didn't see why they were asking him this after which they informed him they were locking the account until they were provided with a reasonable explanation so as to ensure the security of the account.

The guy was a bit freaked out at this point so he told me he'd leave it for me to sort out when I got back.

I'm now back in the UK and raised a ticket with Frontier last Friday to see about getting my account unlocked, I explained exactly what happened and provided all my details to prove my identity and asked for my account to be unlocked now I was back. I was polite and said if there was anything else they needed just to let me know.

I haven't heard anything so I contacted them again today, asking if the issue could be resolved soon as I want to get back in the game. I received this reply:

Hello,

Thank you for providing those details to us. But, unfortunately account sharing is against our EULA, part here:

2.1 Subject to your compliance with the terms of this EULA, we grant you a non-transferable, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, revocable, limited licence to use the Game.

You can read our complete End User Licence Agreement and Terms of Use here: https://www.frontierstore.net/ed-eula/

The Elite Dangerous Code of Conduct can be viewed here: https://www.frontierstore.net/code-of-conduct

As this is the case, we are unable to remove this restriction from your account. Our apologies.

Best regards,
Support Agent Zenit
Data Protection & Customer Support
Frontier Developments

To which I have replied:

Hello,

I don’t understand??... You’re saying that you’ve locked my account so I can no longer use the game that I have paid you nearly a thousand pounds for?.. That I paid you £200 pound originally to help back the development of the game?.. …and have since spent many more hundreds of pounds on in your store… …because I shared my account with someone? When I didn’t even realise that would be an issue?!

You are surely joking?

Please help me get this sorted as your response below seems ridiculous to me. I sincerely apologise for breaking your terms and conditions but I didn’t realise that I was, so please can we find a reasonable resolution and get this sorted so I can get my account unlocked?

Best Regards.

Mark.

I haven't had any reply yet. Not sure what to make of all this. I mean I have spent almost £1,000 on this game and now I can't play. Surely that's not right. What am I supposed to do now?

 

[Logan Terrick]

Account sharing is prohibited by the ToS and Frontier doesnt give a toss if you spent 1 quid or a thousand the rules apply to everyone.

So is there anything I can do about it now? Do I get a refund? Every other game I have ever bought I have been able to let a friend use it. How am I supposed to know that you can't with Elite Dangerous? I mean who actually reads the terms? I never do.

 

[Logan Terrick]

Refund? I very much doubt it.

Well I certainly can't just throw away a grand.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

So is there anything I can do about it now? Do I get a refund?

No. Game bans do not mean a refund. You literally waived your right to one by playing the game, which by default meant agreeing to the ToS.

Rule 1 of online games: You own nothing, not even your own account.

 

[Logan Terrick]

No. Game bans do not mean a refund. You literally waived your right to one by playing the game, which by default meant agreeing to the ToS.

Rule 1 of online games: You own nothing, not even your own account.

Well if I had known that I never would have done it, surely Frontier can take that into account?

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

So is there anything I can do about it now? Do I get a refund? Every other game I have ever bought I have been able to let a friend use it. How am I supposed to know that you can't with Elite Dangerous? I mean who actually reads the terms? I never do.

Account sharing is common breach of ToS. Now you know.

 

[Logan Terrick]

You might have considered that when sharing your account with someone.

If I had known I would have done!

 

[Vandaahl]

I would send a personal message to a community manager, and be as informative as possible.
Threads like these usually don't solve much

 

[rootsrat]

So is there anything I can do about it now? Do I get a refund? Every other game I have ever bought I have been able to let a friend use it. How am I supposed to know that you can't with Elite Dangerous? I mean who actually reads the terms? I never do.

@Logan Terrik - please email community@frontier.co.uk and provide as much information as possible. I will bring this thread a Community Manager's attention.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

...

Well if I had known that I never would have done it, surely Frontier can take that into account?

Nope. Once you play you are assumed as having read the ToS in detail.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

This thread is a good reminder to ALWAYS READ TERMS OF SERVICE

 

[avow555]

It's a bit draconian of Fdev but it is in the terms.
Most people never actually read them unfortunately.

If it was up to me I would reinstate your account after explaining the situation not to mention the cash invested.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Well I certainly can't just throw away a grand.

A grand? Hells bells. They'd love you over in Star Citizen land. They'd even pat you on the back for spending that much.

But seriously, you let someone else use your account, which is against the ToS, you run the risk of a ban. Let alone the ToS, you never know even if a friend will do something stupid like using cheats or break some other things that you agreed to when you bought the game.

In short, you're going to have to suck this up as a life lesson learned.

I'm also curious about this part:

Whilst I was away the guy using my account contacted me to tell me that Frontier had contacted them

How did FD contact them, when any contact should have been through your email. Please tell me you didn't give your friend access to your email as well? FD should have had no way to contact your friend directly.

 

[Ashnak]

... I mean who actually reads the terms? I never do.

That is obvious. You may want to read them now (they're pretty short, and you provided both links in your first mail).

Publicly contesting any moderation action taken against Frontier accounts is not permitted, and any posts related to such will be removed from Frontier channels.

and

We request that all users keep the contents of any personal messages, chats, or emails between users, moderators, or Frontier staff private unless otherwise agreed. Such messages can easily be taken out of context and subsequently misinterpreted. Simply asking the originator of the message if it is ok to post the content of the message publicly with some context can avoid this.

are a couple of other parts from the code of conduct.

 

[Logan Terrick]

A grand? Hells bells. They'd love you over in Star Citizen land. They'd even pat you on the back for spending that much.

But seriously, you let someone else use your account, which is against the ToS, you run the risk of a ban. Let alone the ToS, you never know even if a friend will do something stupid like using cheats or break some other things that you agreed to when you bought the game.

In short, you're going to have to suck this up as a life lesson learned.

I'm also curious about this part:



How did FD contact them, when any contact should have been through your email. Please tell me you didn't give your friend access to your email as well? FD should have had no way to contact your friend directly.

I appreciate I messed up, but surely I don't need to lose my account? I changed the contact details on my account to his before I gave the guy the password. I didn't want my real contact details being there for him to see.

 

[thistle]

I mean it sounds harsh written that way, which I've no reason to doubt, but it's how accounts presumably get sold and hence the account is banned when a red flag is tripped.

 

[thistle]

I appreciate I messed up, but surely I don't need to lose my account? I changed the contact details on my account to his before I gave the guy the password. I didn't want my real contact details being there for him to see.

That would be exactly what a sold account looks like. That's the problem.

 

[znôrt]

I mean I have spent almost £1,000 on this game and now I can't play. Surely that's not right.

it sure isn't but any lawyer would disagree.

this is frontier just being d's. they can restore anything to some cmdr no matter how reckless his loss, they will erect emotional memorials on any occasion but they will not condone even the suspicion of an attempt at (even potentially) 'lessening their revenue'. not even to a huge contributer like you who did it with best intentions (and might have actually been contributing to widen the game's audience). the whole might of law shall fall upon you.

What am I supposed to do now?

it's up to you, if you still itch to play for some reason, rebuy, it's now cheap and nothing compared with what you already invested. cosmetics is junk anyway, ignore it or start again. it's clear money isn't a concern for you.

if you can't get around it, then giving them the finger is also a very sane option, life doesn't end with elite.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

I mean it sounds harsh written that way, which I've no reason to doubt, but it's how accounts presumably get sold and hence the account is banned when a red flag is tripped.

That is exactly why all MMOs and any other online game has such clauses in their ToS.

 

[Morbad]

How am I supposed to know that you can't with Elite Dangerous? I mean who actually reads the terms? I never do.

It's in the terms you didn't read.

Most of the other games you refer to are likely have nearly identical terms. Lack of enforcement shouldn't be taken as absence of a rule.

I appreciate I messed up, but surely I don't need to lose my account? I changed the contact details on my account to his before I gave the guy the password. I didn't want my real contact details being there for him to see.

That's probably even worse. It makes it look like you transferred or sold the account, which is a practice also expressly forbidden in the license agreement, as it's a direct threat to the revenue model of online games.

On a side note, you were willing to give someone your account password (meaning they could have logged in and changed anything about it, including that password) whom you didn't trust to see your contact information?