Unjust ban.

You were using a hack and also admitted to it, it does not matter what you used it for or for how long you used it, you just did. I do not know how GGGs logs work on hacks or how they are able to find out about it, but I myself as an Arma 2 DayZ epoch admin know, that some hacks are undetected and once they get detected people usually try to tell they just "tested" the hack or used it for the first time. Talking to other serveradmins about those people usually shows that they hack on every server. In my opinion, you used a hack, you even admitted you did so you deserved a ban. Regardless on what you say you used the hack for or how long you have been using it.
Also you said you did not know about it, does that mean you cannot get punished for it? Think about it...

Just...No...

"

Wikipedia

Maphack

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maphack is a generic term that refers to a method or third-party program that enables a user to see more of a level than intended by the developer. A maphacker is a user that deliberately executes such a method or program in the context of a relevant game, whilst maphacking is the act of such.
A common aspect of real-time strategy games is the player's partial limitation or complete inability to see beyond the visibility range of individual game objects that are under their ownership (typically units and structures), this concept is controlled by a mechanism known as the Fog of War. Maphacking usually enables the user to bypass this mechanism, either by removing it entirely and/or by rendering objects through the fog that would not normally be visible. In multiplayer modes, this allows for a distinct advantage against the other players that are subject to the intended settings. The advantage gained can be substantial, especially for the average real-time strategy games that rely on the rock-paper-scissors dynamic to balance out individual objects' varying strengths and weaknesses.
See also

Cheating in online games
Exploit (online gaming)

No Mercy!

Thanks for your response Drakier. For the first time I actually feel someone has read what I have written and tried to engage in a proper conversation and not spout venom with a holier-than-thou attitude. Thanks for your sympathy and clarifications.

I can understand and respect GGGs stance on cheaters. That's a good direction. I however refuse to accept there's only one way out and that's the best they can do. A single punishment for all instances is probably the easiest and most effective way of dealing with such things but definitely not the most fair. There's always room for improvement. With a bit of good intentions and resources my case could be handled differently and resolved quickly to the satisfaction of both parties. The warning system makes the most sense to me - compulsive cheaters get banned in the end and one-time offenders like me get scared off and stop trying any third-party software. If you introduce it once then be fair and consistent and give a second chance to all the users. Sadly, my mistake came too late and I wasn't given a warning. That would have straightened me up for sure - the company would reach its goal of preserving the in-game economy and still keep one more user at the same time. But the priority here is the game's economy and not keeping players or judging their wrongdoings and that I will have to accept.

"

Nothing positive will come of this thread and your attempts at justification are simply going to draw ire, waste your time, and eventually waste the time of the mod who has to come in here and lock it.

Sorry for your loss - create a new free account and don't cheat this time.

I reckon anyone can understand my inability to let this go - even those who feel I got what I deserved. Thus this thread. Writing here and publicizing my case is the only thing I can do right now. I don't have anything to lose right now. I dislike the attention, but I guess this just goes to show how much I liked the game. All I achieved was through many hours of honest playing and trading. I decided to give it one last shot and try to recover what I long worked for. An unchangeable, compulsive cheater would probably just move on. I feel my honesty, remorse and elaborate determination for a fair punishment prove that I'm not yet another devious crook. I'm also concerned about the GGGs best interests and want justice done.

---

I'm slowly beginning to accept the fact that my adventure with PoE has come to an abrupt end. I'm not registering a new account - maybe to most of you that's not a big deal but for me it is. What I am is a casual player who found it very difficult to build a well-working level 88 character. I don't have the time nor the luck nor the patience to start anew. I still see a glimmer of hope that GGG will grant me a reprieve someday and open my account again - I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll probably try to contact the support team every now and then to see if the company's policy has changed or what are my chances of "getting out on a parole". Until then - goodbye and good luck fellow exiles! This was fun. I hope my case and this thread can serve as a warning to other inexperienced online gamers.

@bazzo:
a warning system that warns would be helpful for cheat builders to test whether their cheats get detected.

would it really make a difference to you if ggg issued a 6 months ban instead a permanent one?
most players need 4 weeks of a little bit above average playtime to get the chars of your level.

"

geradon wrote:

@bazzo:
a warning system that warns would be helpful for cheat builders to test whether their cheats get detected.

Yes, possibly, I didn't think about that. I'm not aware of the extent of cheating GGG have to deal with. Then again, there has to be a way to track and permanently ban even those who register multiple accounts and keep coming back just to hack the game.

"

geradon wrote:

would it really make a difference to you if ggg issued a 6 months ban instead a permanent one?
most players need 4 weeks of a little bit above average playtime to get the chars of your level.

I honestly would go for that right now. Even if I started playing again I would probably still go back to the old account. I doubt I could get to where I was in 6 months. I'm not just talking about the character level, but also the hours spent trading and gathering gear, orbs and maps. There's also the luck factor in case of drops and I never was particularly lucky so I doubt I'd start finding exalts on a daily basis. I probably didn't achieve much in the eyes of an experienced PoE gamer, but I just don't have that much time or determination anymore to start from scratch.

Fair: : treating people in a way that does not favor some over others

How can you say it's not fair to treat everybody the exact same way?

Technically you are not permanently banned from the game.. you can go and make another account and be playing again within minutes just not on the account that you were cheating on which is very fair... at least they didn't ban your IP! Seems to me like they were already lenient with you as a cheater!

I have to say that unfortunately players are being made a scapegoats of egotistic staff, RMT cheats on the community. Also, banning players will not stop map hacking, because if loaded at the title screen it is undetectable.

¨666 Games¨ has a standard answer of ¨contact us¨ and then refuse to discuss the issue ¨we are not commenting any further¨, they say. And then ask to bring it to the forums for some more, public, harassment.

The whole point of a TOS is to discern what software is legal what is not. Unlike all other games I´ve seen so far, there´s nothing on their TOS about map hack software or ¨hacking¨, even in general terms. I personally pointed out the TOS issue before launch and they said to be fixing it, but it never happened. I also figured out the desync issue, but that also was a bannable offense. Desync will not get fixed. Not while POE continues with its bigoted and unskilled management.

IMHO ¨666 Games¨ attitude constitutes not only bullying and online harassment but financial fraud. That would be specially true if any $ is involved. By their logic, If you have a 4k tv or a multi-monitor setup, you would be ¨cheating¨, because that would have ¨hacked the fog of war¨.

POE is now an alienating, dying game, and it won´t get any better. $incerely I hope all staff is enjoying the increasing desyncs and security issues. Players should think twice before spending anything on ¨666¨games, specially involving any kind of personal information.

Feel free to vent the hypocrisy on the replies. Peace.

"

(b) Modify or adapt (including through third parties and third party tools) the game client or its data, other than in the normal course of POE gameplay as permitted in accordance with the Licence.

Is map hack not modifying the data to show you areas the game client hasn't decided to show you yet?