A Letter to ZOS
Recently several traders from guilds were banned on suspicion of gold duping. This topic has been discussed on both Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/pug22z/account_suspended_for_gold_duplication/) and the TESO Forums (https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/587396/major-bug-pc-eu-widespread-false-bans-solution-not-yet-found/p1?new=1%20). One of them is an active member of our community. He reached out to you more than once asking for clarification on what they did to deserve the ban. He approached you with respect, yet he received harsh mails and accusations in return.
Screenshots of correspondence with ZOS regarding this can be found in this imgur album: https://imgur.com/a/d8vyj8i
On Sunday the suspension expired and they were allowed access to their accounts again, but as far as we know they were stripped of almost all their gold, both from characters as well as personal bank. They had millions and now have a few thousand left. They received no explanation, no additional information, nothing. At this point it isn't even about who is wrong or right anymore, it's about communication. They may have done something they're not aware of, we don't know. The issue is: neither do they. These are adults and paying customers who put a lot of time and money into not just your game, but also your community. They're not children that need to be disciplined. To us your tone comes across rather rude.
Not only has this treatment angered the trading community, it has also brought fear and uncertainty to other players. Many of us trade a lot - will we get banned and have years of effort stripped away from us without knowing why if we click on something we’re not aware of is TOS breaking for whatever reason? How do we know we’re doing anything wrong if you’re not willing to disclose what it is in the first place? How does any of us know to rely on being treated fairly? Guild masters are wondering how they can keep stores open in good conscience while being aware that there is a bug around that might get people banned for reasons unknown. Or even worse: not knowing if anything involved in the process of hosting auctions will get people in trouble. For those unfamiliar with the concept: auctions are fundraising events guilds hold. Their proceeds help fund a trader. To many trading guilds they are essential for survival.
On Monday people received a mail with vague information: “This account was found using an exploit with the mail and guild trader system to duplicate gold.” To us it feels like we're going to be gambling every time we buy something. Every time we sell something. We don’t know if any of our actions will put ourselves or anyone else at risk due to a bug we’re unaware of, resulting in losing all our gold, despite you claiming only the fraudulent gold was removed. We sell millions a week; if anything is slightly off with incoming mails, we will not notice.
To be clear, we are not against investigating. As traders we are happy that you do. People that gain gold in wrongful manners are a blight on our community and we'd rather see them leave sooner than later. We're asking for communication and respectful and fair treatment of members. Not just ban them and strip them of their gold without explanation. We understand you wouldn’t want to share an exploit, but for example saying: “We’re currently working on it and once it’s fixed, we will inform you and look into your situation.” is a lot friendlier than the finger pointing people have received so far. If more information is needed, many of us would be more than willing to provide it or cooperate to get to the bottom of this.
We’re asking of you to right this wrong. Provide players with the information they need and take a better look at if taking away everyone’s gold is really the rightful course of action.
Well, it's just been deleted on the official forums and on the ESO subreddit.
