PB Bans Question

[Shamu]

While having been an Admin in mostly MoH side of clans using Autokick and similar programs I have a question.

 

While PB automatically scans for hacks / cheats and bans those caught can't a Clan member, with the proper authority, implement a PB ban themselves? Meaning it becomes a clan members judgment call which, despite all good intentions, is often in error.

 

As a member of [FS] we basically left cheat detection to solely to PB. But somewhere in the back of my mind I thought a head Admin could impose a PB ban.

 

I may be confusing this issue with a permanent server ban.

 

Granted this is a sympathy post, I feel bad seeing some of your members having to remove tags which are often cherished.

 

If they hacked by all means they deserve what they get. If the ban was placed by a human member of a PB participating clan I would not be too sure the call was right.

 

I am quite sure many of your Admins or better players are well used to cheat accusations when in reality it is just good play. If a PB ban can be implemented because of a suspicion I think the ban might be questioned.

 

This all might have been a dumb question but in the back of my mind I thought it could happen.

 

PS...... Please do not ban me for my screen dot

[Sonovabich]

Yes Shamu, i think we do have the facility to place a PB  ban on players that play in the servers we are streaming PB in, but all the time i have been in XI i can't ever remember any admin doing that, we just implement our own bans, but i do see where you are going with this

[hxtr]

But his was automatic right SOB or was it placed by and Admin?

[greywolf2]

The members that were asked to remove there tags was because there game guid was banned by pbbans and not by a admin banning them via a pb ban. When a members guid showes up as a pb ban we go and run the guid ourselves and determine if it is a legitimate ban. If a guid was banned by a admin which was banned as a pb ban then when we run his guid at pbbans or the several other sites we can there it will show wether the ban is a ban by Hack/cheat/injected .dll or others then it will show  up as a ban.       

           If it was just a admin banning them by pb the guid will show up clean.  Also when i update the streaming daily it would also remove any none pbbans from the list.  

So thanks for your concern for those having to turn in there tags, As this was not a easy choice made---- but one that was made.. I for one hope all will appeal there ban and win. But till then they are free to play on any XI servers (only if they buy a new game) as a guest....  

               Shamu i hope this helps you understand a bit more.... If you or anyone has questions on how pb works or anything pm me and i will do my best to answer or lead you to the right person to answer your questions.

 

[greywolf2]

hxtr

But his was automatic right SOB or was it placed by and Admin?

All of the members asked to remove tags were not banned by a admin.   Any and all who show up on our pbbans list are checked by me to ensure that the ban was due to a hack/cheat/injected .dll or such before anything is discussed.  So I myself will make sure of this.

[LaRSin]

I have a question , If you get a new key , they will be a loud to play on the servers right ?

 

I thought I read some where if you get a pb band that it will be connected to some peace of hardware on the computer and a new key won't help unless you change your computer hardware, Hell maybe I'm just out to lunch on this , But I thought I read it some where  ??

[HarryWeezer]

Yes, with a new key you may play on the servers (though there are some previously permanently banned folks we don't ever want to see back here; but that doesn't include anyone dropped from XI membership due to a discovered PB ban;) ; no, a PB ban is not tied to any system hardware.

[DEEJAYKEG]

The discomfort I feel when I read of such bans is born of two things:

i) my ignorance as to how PunkBuster works;

ii) the possibility that people are being branded as something they are not and made to suffer because a piece of software doesn't work as it should.

 

In my mind, there is a radical difference between conduct observed and recorded on the clan servers (and the subsequent ban by Admin and appeal process, that I see as fair to all) and a piece of software dredging through historic records elsewhere, the reliability of which cannot, by their very nature, be verified by the Admins here.

 

The conclusions reached by the latter may be, to use a legalese term, "unsafe and unsatisfactory".

 

If one has never hacked or used an exploit of some kind, this shouldn't be a concern but does one have 100% confidence in PunkBuster and the associated data??

[greywolf2]

LaRSin

I have a question , If you get a new key , they will be a loud to play on the servers right ?

 

I thought I read some where if you get a pb band that it will be connected to some peace of hardware on the computer and a new key won't help unless you change your computer hardware, Hell maybe I'm just out to lunch on this , But I thought I read it some where  ??

There is a ban which is placed through hardware but that is placed by PB themselves as for those who dare to alter or try to manipulate you pb files them selves. If )And the ban #  is in the 13000's ) you get a hardware ban then any and every game that runs PB you will not be able to play in a pb enabled game.........      If you did not get a pb hardware ban    ---  then yes all you need to do is buy a new game and you can play in any pb enabled server without any trouble( unless you caught cheating)

[greywolf2]

DEEJAYKEG

The discomfort I feel when I read of such bans is born of two things:

i) my ignorance as to how PunkBuster works;

ii) the possibility that people are being branded as something they are not and made to suffer because a piece of software doesn't work as it should.

 

In my mind, there is a radical difference between conduct observed and recorded on the clan servers (and the subsequent ban by Admin and appeal process, that I see as fair to all) and a piece of software dredging through historic records elsewhere, the reliability of which cannot, by their very nature, be verified by the Admins here.

 

The conclusions reached by the latter may be, to use a legalese term, "unsafe and unsatisfactory".

 

If one has never hacked or used an exploit of some kind, this shouldn't be a concern but does one have 100% confidence in PunkBuster and the associated data??

As with any game now days some sort of anti cheat software will be associated with it.  Let me give you just a rough figure-----

 

Out of the Millions of COD4 games sold-------------- to date there is only 65000 + bans on the pbbans list (it is probably closer to 68K but i am at work and do not have the exact #)   Thats a small ammount considering the ammount of games sold........

 

No one is forcing any one to play a game that has a anti cheat program attached to it.... Simple do as millions have done so far-------- Enjoyed the game.  (And yes i know not every one has hacked------  but pb is a good tool for many clans.......

 

 You think by removing the very few  here due to pbbans is ruff? Try going into many servers and try swearing as we can in ours--------- you would be banned without notice............/.

[LaRSin]

greywolf2

LaRSin

I have a question , If you get a new key , they will be a loud to play on the servers right ?

 

I thought I read some where if you get a pb band that it will be connected to some peace of hardware on the computer and a new key won't help unless you change your computer hardware, Hell maybe I'm just out to lunch on this , But I thought I read it some where  ??

There is a ban which is placed through hardware but that is placed by PB themselves as for those who dare to alter or try to manipulate you pb files them selves. If )And the ban #  is in the 13000's ) you get a hardware ban then any and every game that runs PB you will not be able to play in a pb enabled game.........      If you did not get a pb hardware ban    ---  then yes all you need to do is buy a new game and you can play in any pb enabled server without any trouble( unless you caught cheating)

 

Thx for explaining it , It's confusing with PB sometimes .

Hope everyone gets there appeals approved,

Good luck guys.

[Shamu]

A lot of the anti-cheat options come down to which is the best alternative, not saying any are perfect.

 

In a former clan we simply trusted PB to monitor the cheats. Accusing someone of cheating was taboo and considered whining. If PB does not catch them just game on on don't worry yourself about it.

 

That philosophy worked quite well and seemed to be the best alternative in addressing cheats.

 

But like the real world nothing is ever perfect, you just do the best you can with what you have.

 

IMHO >XI< is doing the best they can. It is no easy task and takes a lot of work by, usually, a few active contributing members.

[USAPLISKEN]

DEEJAYKEG

 

"The discomfort I feel when I read of such bans is born of two things:

i) my ignorance as to how PunkBuster works;

ii) the possibility that people are being branded as something they are not and made to suffer because a piece of software doesn't work as it should."

 

I know I have ben kicked because of errors in game files after play for 2 hrs.

then went back in and it was ok . The old clan we had (BHD game) didnt use punk buster because

it was not reliable as I recall.

Greywolf  I know you will do your best and im shure pb is much better than in the old days of BHD

but no soft wear is 100% we all have learned to deal with problems in them..

And I too use the dot on my screen and steady aim to hip shoot like Shamu ,,

but my internet sucks and some times I dont get the shot or all the map files and get kicked by pb.

my 2 cents

[greywolf2]

USAPLISKEN

DEEJAYKEG

 

"The discomfort I feel when I read of such bans is born of two things:

i) my ignorance as to how PunkBuster works;

ii) the possibility that people are being branded as something they are not and made to suffer because a piece of software doesn't work as it should."

 

I know I have ben kicked because of errors in game files after play for 2 hrs.

then went back in and it was ok . The old clan we had (BHD game) didnt use punk buster because

it was not reliable as I recall.

Greywolf  I know you will do your best and im shure pb is much better than in the old days of BHD

but no soft wear is 100% we all have learned to deal with problems in them..

And I too use the dot on my screen and steady aim to hip shoot like Shamu ,,

but my internet sucks and some times I dont get the shot or all the map files and get kicked by pb.

my 2 cents

I have never said pb is a 100% anti cheat program.... But most of the time it works.....    Your instances in getting kicked by pb as to others getting a

game hook

multi hack

aimbot

wallhack

pb hack

are really different.

[Shamu]

 

And I too use the dot on my screen and steady aim to hip shoot like Shamu ,,

Lets understand my dot is not from a file modification but simply a dot I physically mark on my PC screen.

 

I do not want anyone thinking I modify any Config files or anything like that.

 

I do get kicked by PB if I forget to turn off my spy ware program. I use PC Tools "Spyware Doctor", game mode does not work either. I have to shut it off entirely or PB kicks me. Fortunately just a kick but personally it is embarrassing thinking I may look like i am running a hack.

 

It's like shopping at Walmart, paying for your purchases, and then having the damn security alarm go off because something was not desensitized.

 

If they screw up and the alarm goes off, scaring and embarrassing me, I should get an automatic 25% off my order.

[Sitting-Duc]

You have to understand about reasons that PB will kick you for.. these are when you are running programs that will affect the performance of the punkbuster service running on your PC. The reason Punkbuster kicks you when you are running one of these programs is to prevent false positives and also to insure the integrity of the application and the game. These are the following reasons you may be kicked.

 

Technical Violations: (Resolution: Reinstall PunkBuster from the latest game update patch) #101 - Communication Failure #102 - Communication Failure #131 - Initialization Failure #132 - Protocol Error #141 - Distress (This indicates a problem trying to update to the latest version of PunkBuster - it may indicate a problem reaching one of our Internet-based Master PB Servers which can be caused by firewalls, router problems, etc.) Miscellaneous Violations: #111 - Bad Name (Resolution: Change player name or play on a different server) #112 - Too Many Bad Names #113 - Too Many Name Changes (Designed to eliminate name change spamming) #114 - Protected Name (Resolution: Change player name or play on a different server) #121 - Negative Score Too Low (usually from Killing Teammates) #151 - Extended ASCII Characters in Player Name (Resolution: use regular letters, numbers and symbols or play on a different server)