Crowns Code Ban

[JaredSpellFrost]

@edward sky


How can we hold anyone accountable for simply redeeming a Crowns Code made to be redeemed, especially if KingsIsle never makes their limits explicitly clear? And even if KI has a problem with multiple accounts redeeming this code from a single IP address, there is a stupidly simple solution: Since they can clearly track how many accounts redeem it per IP address, instead of cruelly shadowbanning folk just make the code fail after "X" number of redemptions.

This isn't a "problem" that needs solving, but there are a bajillion of better ways KingsIsle should go about this, if they still feel the need to.

[edward sky]

It's kind of the "Free food" but it's common courtesy/sense to only take one or two. Awful metaphor but that's where I'd have my mind, rather than "Let's blame the hand that feeds us." kind of mindset. I wouldn't blame the person who made the food for having a simple expectation of us not to be greedy.

Just my two cents, while I agree with everyone the lack of clarity on it stinks, but that's business for you. They'd rather not give a hard number as to not disappoint a large family (I'm sure there'd be a clear difference in account details so they could identify that) than somebody with just 10 accounts who made them to farm redemption rewards I'm not KI, by any means but that's where I'd kind of be at. I'm sure it's NOT black and white, and this player falls under the later category.

[YourAverageWizHead]

I hate to play devils advocate but have we not all learned?

There's reasonable limits to most things... this (most obviously) is one of them, we had quite an uproar last year for discounts reason, it echoes to me we're not giving them enough grace to take the "lesson learned" when they have released accounts in the past.

We can't keep doing the same actions and expecting a different result when they've made it clear that it's an intentional ban should someone go overboard (with anything)

Yes, vague "What is overboard." but let's think some logic, 3 accounts? No that's two siblings and mom for all they know, what's the max of a family account? "a total of 5 linked accounts" It's pretty safe to assume 5 per household/IP seems reasonable.

Beyond that your own risk.

I appreciate that you bring new viewpoints to the discussion, but your entire argument goes on the assumption that I was aware of this banning fiasco; when I had no clue that this was even a thing. I also think the fact that I among other players were not aware of these bans implies that it is not as clear as you make it seem. As for the 5 accounts argument, I side with Jared on the fact that Kingsisle could very easily implement this rather than have the players guess how many accounts they're allowed to redeem it on. I'm glad that you bring something new to the discussion but I think its rather unfair to place the full brunt of the blame on me when kingsisle has not done a great job on dealing with the situation and i'm sure anyone who plays the game can understand how awful it feels to have all your characters simultaneously deleted with no explanation as a result of using a built-in mechanism provided by the game's administrators.

Even with our disagreements, I hope you are enjoying your Christmas and spending time with your family

- - - Updated - - -

It's kind of the "Free food" but it's common courtesy/sense to only take one or two. Awful metaphor but that's where I'd have my mind, rather than "Let's blame the hand that feeds us." kind of mindset. I wouldn't blame the person who made the food for having a simple expectation of us not to be greedy.

Just my two cents, while I agree with everyone the lack of clarity on it stinks, but that's business for you. They'd rather not give a hard number as to not disappoint a large family (I'm sure there'd be a clear difference in account details so they could identify that) than somebody with just 10 accounts who made them to farm redemption rewards I'm not KI, by any means but that's where I'd kind of be at. I'm sure it's NOT black and white, and this player falls under the later category.

Sorry to double reply, but I believe there is no actual system to check rather than just the # of accounts and the IP address there on. Because in the post, every account I mention should have been caught in the difference between alts made for the code and alts that are actually used to play the game.

[JoshyWoshy]

Kingsisle is the posterchild of terrible, arbitrary rulings. They banned players for stacking plants years ago with no warnings, they kick players and are potentially banning(?) players for jading in PvP instead of fixing the problem, and now they ban players for using multiple crown codes. Instead of getting 250 crowns which can't buy one of their predatory gambling packs, why not give all players the same reasonable(5000?) free crowns?

I'm not an anti-Kingsisle person by any means but they really have the most egregious microtransaction riddled game and then ban players who dare try to get good deals, not even mentioning this player's accounts are all legitimate.

[The Dragoness]

I find it very unfair when they have written rules and unwritten rules, and we're beholden to the unwritten ones. I have five family accounts under a family one. I've redeemed every year these accounts have been around with no issues. I usually redeem all promos on all of them, unless it's a limited promo, since that seems inconsiderate. Free crowns are not limited at all, so I redeem the crowns on all of them.

Obviously, KI doesn't *love* this, but it's a harmless thing. They place restrictions, with what I think is a new one this year that all accounts need to have a wizard above level 5.

In order to be eligible for the FREE Crowns giveaway, your account must have been created prior to 8:59am US Central Time on December 19th, 2021 and must have played through level 5 on at least one character. No new accounts created after this time will qualify for the free Crowns giveaway.

If you meet those requirements, it is incredibly unfair to punish you for... taking part in a promotion that they set the terms for? Same with the discount promo fiasco last year (like... yes, punish people for trying to SPEND MONEY on something with no physical value so any money made from a discount is money in the bank????) I know people who had fifty accounts explicitly for the crowns promos and never had an issue. If it fits in the parameters of the rules they set, KI has no right to ban you. You can argue it's a bit exploitative, but I'd say someone who dedicates the time to redeem 50 sets of free crowns probably has spent more than enough on the game to make up for this (and this was true). People love to feel like they're getting something, and if it's not harming people, it's good to let it slide OR set clear guidelines. And not after the fact.

Some games set limits that you can have as many accounts as you like but only redeem one of certain promos per person. That is not a parameter they set.

And there's always a gray area. Stacking plants could be an exploit, but they've allowed it, and they even seem to endorse glitching with their housing decorating things. But KI could one day decide that's an exploit, and that's frustrating. I could argue plenty of KI's things are exploitative--making it harder to get mega snacks but removing seeds from double harvest benefits, insane crowns-for-gold ratios that take advantage of people who don't realize how easy gold is to get. Loot box packs. But like... I'm not mad over that. Ultimately, KI wants to make money. They're a business. And that's fine, because we're all in favor of a successful Wizard101. It's great they're hiring more people, and they've made a lot of fantastic QOL improvements these past couple of years.

But then they do things like this. And for the price of, what, fifty cents of crowns..? (assuming accounts 6 and 7 were pushing you over and you got 250 on each which is the most probable outcome) they're risking a player who spends at least 60 bucks a year if you're a member. Even if @sprack or whoever comes through and provides some one on one support to help make things right, are you going to be equally likely to jump the next time there's a crowns sale? Or are you going to remember this and decide it's probably not worth it if you might get banned for some other silly, non-malicious, arbitrarily-decided "exploit" days later.

I mean, I think back to so many things I've done in the game and am like... would I get banned now? Like when we'd have parties in the life tower, or glitch who knows where. And then you hear about people glitching into areas on test realm and being banned. Do I know the full details? No. But I have no way of knowing where the line is in the moment, and it's frustrating that what's honky dory one day is bannable the next, with no warning. And it's entirely unfair to expect people to be up to date on who got in trouble for what over the years when the 12 Days of the Spiral is a major re-engagement campaign for less hardcore players who may not be on social media or the forums and do not know the full history of every single unwritten rule.

[YourAverageWizHead]

I find it very unfair when they have written rules and unwritten rules, and we're beholden to the unwritten ones. I have five family accounts under a family one. I've redeemed every year these accounts have been around with no issues. I usually redeem all promos on all of them, unless it's a limited promo, since that seems inconsiderate. Free crowns are not limited at all, so I redeem the crowns on all of them.

Obviously, KI doesn't *love* this, but it's a harmless thing. They place restrictions, with what I think is a new one this year that all accounts need to have a wizard above level 5.



If you meet those requirements, it is incredibly unfair to punish you for... taking part in a promotion that they set the terms for? Same with the discount promo fiasco last year (like... yes, punish people for trying to SPEND MONEY on something with no physical value so any money made from a discount is money in the bank????) I know people who had fifty accounts explicitly for the crowns promos and never had an issue. If it fits in the parameters of the rules they set, KI has no right to ban you. You can argue it's a bit exploitative, but I'd say someone who dedicates the time to redeem 50 sets of free crowns probably has spent more than enough on the game to make up for this (and this was true). People love to feel like they're getting something, and if it's not harming people, it's good to let it slide OR set clear guidelines. And not after the fact.

Some games set limits that you can have as many accounts as you like but only redeem one of certain promos per person. That is not a parameter they set.

And there's always a gray area. Stacking plants could be an exploit, but they've allowed it, and they even seem to endorse glitching with their housing decorating things. But KI could one day decide that's an exploit, and that's frustrating. I could argue plenty of KI's things are exploitative--making it harder to get mega snacks but removing seeds from double harvest benefits, insane crowns-for-gold ratios that take advantage of people who don't realize how easy gold is to get. Loot box packs. But like... I'm not mad over that. Ultimately, KI wants to make money. They're a business. And that's fine, because we're all in favor of a successful Wizard101. It's great they're hiring more people, and they've made a lot of fantastic QOL improvements these past couple of years.

But then they do things like this. And for the price of, what, fifty cents of crowns..? (assuming accounts 6 and 7 were pushing you over and you got 250 on each which is the most probable outcome) they're risking a player who spends at least 60 bucks a year if you're a member. Even if @sprack or whoever comes through and provides some one on one support to help make things right, are you going to be equally likely to jump the next time there's a crowns sale? Or are you going to remember this and decide it's probably not worth it if you might get banned for some other silly, non-malicious, arbitrarily-decided "exploit" days later.

I mean, I think back to so many things I've done in the game and am like... would I get banned now? Like when we'd have parties in the life tower, or glitch who knows where. And then you hear about people glitching into areas on test realm and being banned. Do I know the full details? No. But I have no way of knowing where the line is in the moment, and it's frustrating that what's honky dory one day is bannable the next, with no warning. And it's entirely unfair to expect people to be up to date on who got in trouble for what over the years when the 12 Days of the Spiral is a major re-engagement campaign for less hardcore players who may not be on social media or the forums and do not know the full history of every single unwritten rule.

Yeah, I think its very important KI sets the line for the grey area, especially when you're going to just start banning players that have supported you for years on end. Very well written my man.

[AstralFrost]

History does love to repeat itself doesn't it?

Who remembers the fiasco with the discount codes last year during the Yuletide season?

Sorry you going through the ban process mate, hopefully everything will work out.

[YourAverageWizHead]

Kingsisle is the posterchild of terrible, arbitrary rulings. They banned players for stacking plants years ago with no warnings, they kick players and are potentially banning(?) players for jading in PvP instead of fixing the problem, and now they ban players for using multiple crown codes. Instead of getting 250 crowns which can't buy one of their predatory gambling packs, why not give all players the same reasonable(5000?) free crowns?

I'm not an anti-Kingsisle person by any means but they really have the most egregious microtransaction riddled game and then ban players who dare try to get good deals, not even mentioning this player's accounts are all legitimate.

I appreciate what you've written, I was not aware they've gone as far as to ban players for stacking plants when its become an essential aspect of the game.

[jlegendwielder]

I find it very unfair when they have written rules and unwritten rules, and we're beholden to the unwritten ones. I have five family accounts under a family one. I've redeemed every year these accounts have been around with no issues. I usually redeem all promos on all of them, unless it's a limited promo, since that seems inconsiderate. Free crowns are not limited at all, so I redeem the crowns on all of them.

Obviously, KI doesn't *love* this, but it's a harmless thing. They place restrictions, with what I think is a new one this year that all accounts need to have a wizard above level 5.



If you meet those requirements, it is incredibly unfair to punish you for... taking part in a promotion that they set the terms for? Same with the discount promo fiasco last year (like... yes, punish people for trying to SPEND MONEY on something with no physical value so any money made from a discount is money in the bank????) I know people who had fifty accounts explicitly for the crowns promos and never had an issue. If it fits in the parameters of the rules they set, KI has no right to ban you. You can argue it's a bit exploitative, but I'd say someone who dedicates the time to redeem 50 sets of free crowns probably has spent more than enough on the game to make up for this (and this was true). People love to feel like they're getting something, and if it's not harming people, it's good to let it slide OR set clear guidelines. And not after the fact.

Some games set limits that you can have as many accounts as you like but only redeem one of certain promos per person. That is not a parameter they set.

And there's always a gray area. Stacking plants could be an exploit, but they've allowed it, and they even seem to endorse glitching with their housing decorating things. But KI could one day decide that's an exploit, and that's frustrating. I could argue plenty of KI's things are exploitative--making it harder to get mega snacks but removing seeds from double harvest benefits, insane crowns-for-gold ratios that take advantage of people who don't realize how easy gold is to get. Loot box packs. But like... I'm not mad over that. Ultimately, KI wants to make money. They're a business. And that's fine, because we're all in favor of a successful Wizard101. It's great they're hiring more people, and they've made a lot of fantastic QOL improvements these past couple of years.

But then they do things like this. And for the price of, what, fifty cents of crowns..? (assuming accounts 6 and 7 were pushing you over and you got 250 on each which is the most probable outcome) they're risking a player who spends at least 60 bucks a year if you're a member. Even if @sprack or whoever comes through and provides some one on one support to help make things right, are you going to be equally likely to jump the next time there's a crowns sale? Or are you going to remember this and decide it's probably not worth it if you might get banned for some other silly, non-malicious, arbitrarily-decided "exploit" days later.

I mean, I think back to so many things I've done in the game and am like... would I get banned now? Like when we'd have parties in the life tower, or glitch who knows where. And then you hear about people glitching into areas on test realm and being banned. Do I know the full details? No. But I have no way of knowing where the line is in the moment, and it's frustrating that what's honky dory one day is bannable the next, with no warning. And it's entirely unfair to expect people to be up to date on who got in trouble for what over the years when the 12 Days of the Spiral is a major re-engagement campaign for less hardcore players who may not be on social media or the forums and do not know the full history of every single unwritten rule.

You know, if you'd stop using experience, wisdom, and logic in your posts your zucchini might survive KI without getting...squashed.

But unseriously, what I really wanted to say was that your typo was PERFECT!!

Let me elaborate: not just @sprack, but also @batreared, @fulminatea, @ WoofyTone(Ruff!!), @mattnoddoff, @Joel, @kaylyWayly, oh, oh, the list could and should go on!

Be my quest...

[YourAverageWizHead]

Kingsisle is the posterchild of terrible, arbitrary rulings. They banned players for stacking plants years ago with no warnings, they kick players and are potentially banning(?) players for jading in PvP instead of fixing the problem, and now they ban players for using multiple crown codes. Instead of getting 250 crowns which can't buy one of their predatory gambling packs, why not give all players the same reasonable(5000?) free crowns?

I'm not an anti-Kingsisle person by any means but they really have the most egregious microtransaction riddled game and then ban players who dare try to get good deals, not even mentioning this player's accounts are all legitimate.

I appreciate what you've written and wow, I was not aware they've gone as far as to ban players for stacking plants when its become an essential aspect of the game.