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Why I've Left AGE

hybridchichybridchic Member Posts: 20

I've been a member with these forums for some time even though anyone reading this would never know it because I've never posted until now.

I searched this on the web even went to the library to see if there were any magazines or news articles on this issue but I came up with nothing. I was looking for information concerning gamers where the terms of service were violated by the same company that was charged to uphold the terms of service. All I found was story after story about a gamer caught botting/gold buying/duping/ doing something else illegal and very much bannable. My feeling is that if you were not guilty of these things then you should file a BBB complaint and notify the FTC if the company is based in the USA (like many gaming publishers are). And then there's the other group of persons who feel as though they deserve to not be banned regardless of what they did because they spent money on a game. I guess they learned the hard way that knowledge trumps money any day because if they were knowledgeable they would've known that no company is obligated to maintain service with you if you use their products in ways they were not intended.

Moving away from that tangent, I'm a former AGE customer. Up until about three weeks ago, I considered myself a reluctant member because I stayed on about 8 months longer than any sane person would have in the hopes that AGE would apologize to me for what they did.

If anyone here that reads this is familiar with AGE and their products you know that AGE has a GS program. Well on Saturday November 27, 2010, at about 2 in the afternoon I was threatened by a GS, verbally abused, and pretty much told that even if I reported him, nothing would happen. I reported him and he was right. AGE has a pretty standard terms of service. I've read that thing frontwards and backwards and I knew I was allowed to use the Report Behavior forum because ToS said I could, there's a topic in that section describing how to use it, and I'd used it before. The thread I made was deleted by forum GS georgerav because "you cannot post in that forum if the person that should be reported is a GS" or something like that he said. I asked him to provide me with a link to where it said that, and he said there was no link. I set forth on creating another thread, this time to report him as well for abuse of his abilities as forum GS since he was denying me my right to use the forums as they were to be used. When I went to create the thread, I had found I could not. My account was "inactive". I logged in to another account assuming my account was buggy. A GM told me to friend her so she could message me. The GM never told me I was banned. She only told me she was aware that I wanted to report a GS and that an investigation would be launched and that nothing would happen because "you cannot harass a person in a private chat such as whisper." Nowhere in AGE's terms of service did it say that. At the same time I was reacting to that bit of information, I was messaged by the GS i had set out to report in the first place. I screenshotted what he said to me, logged out and set out on creating another ticket. The ticket read "No further action will be taken against the account even though it's not the outcome you want."

So pretty much the only action taken against his account was that he was no longer a GS. In the meantime, my other account was still in active. I asked another available GS if this was normal since there was no ban notice of any kind in my email. Two days later I received a ban notice. According to AGE's ToS they can disrupt my service at any point in time without notice. I used the ban appeal option and asked if the ban could be lifted. I was told it would not be lifted. I asked why I was being banned since they said I was banned just nto what for. I was banned for "posting private information on a public forum, harassing a game sage on the public forums, harassing other players on a public forum, and spamming."

I had no evidence to support or disprove their claims since I didn't think to SS me doing something correct. But I did ask if now they had enough reason to ban the GS I had originally sought out to report. The answer was still 'no.' Meanwhile he had harassed me  again for a THIRD TIME on the public forums, before I had even read about the ban notice. They still "would not take further action on the account."

Since tickets were not working, I decided to yet again, use the forums as they were meant to. I made three new threads in the report behavior section. One for incident of harassment. One of the purposes of those forums was to warn other players of players who were black sheep in the community. Two of the threads were deleted, the last was locked but had a single reply from a GM. It said I would be banned for spamming if I continued to bring up the topic. click here

Yes, a GM threatened to ban me because I was using the forums as they were meant to be used. Not only that she pretty much stopped upholding the Terms fo Service I had agreed to.

To say i was angry is an understatement. More than anything else I was probably shocked that in a public forum an AGE employee just said that I would be banned for spamming because I was using the forums as they should and that not only was the spammage worth baning someone for but the multiple incidents and tickets for harassment were not. This is pretty much what she stated in a public forum. Additionally, if you click here you will see that the GS I reported said he wouldn't get banned, and I assumed it was because he was a GS. Well as far as player favoritism goes, I think that pretty much is the poster child of player favoritism. And according to another AGE employee, implying and I guess proving GMs play favorite is an act that can lead to the termination of an AGE employee. Well for all the world to see, thanks to GM Jecca we know that favoritism is alive and well in AGE.

Even after that I stuck around with AGE thinking at some point you're going to have to realize what you're doing and apologize. Nope.

I was banned again on a different account for "political/religious profile" because it contained the words "christian capitalism". So I ticketed the AGE golden child. His profile contained two whole paragraphs dedicated to his religious and political views. I was not told why he wasn't banned. I was told I was banned because of section 12 of ToS which pretty much says 'we can terminate service whenever we want". The AGE golden child told me, he was told by GM Jeccca to change his profile. I can say "well that's definitely favoritism" but moreimportantly it suggests that GMs do not uphold ToS to all players in the same way. I guess it depends on their mood? That's certainly not what I signed up for when I read ToS and decided to become a customer of AGE.

Several months later, I was still with AGE hoping for that apology. As it would happen, I was banned for harassment. I submitted a ban appeal asking why. I didn't get a response. The AGE golden child sent me an instant message telling me he knew why I was banned because he had read about it on the GS forums. I'll repeat that, a non GS customer knew before I did why I was banned. The correct response is, he shouldn't have known at all. As it would turn out, all of the forums associated with all of AGE's games have a GS forum. In this forum there is a thread where GSes tell GMs of customers to watch out for because they show signs of bad behavior. Yes "signs of bad behavior" not "bad behavior". And in these threads, GSes, who are not AGE employees pretty much get to track and monitor these players and talk about them. They may consider it part of their duties as a GS, but I call it stalking. And when i read everything they had to say about me I was completely floored. The reason why I had yet to receive a response to my ticket is because the GM that banned me was waiting for the result of the status of my account to be determined by the GSes. Yep.

I still stuck around with AGE. And when i finally did receive a response to my ticket, I was told "I made a post that could be seen as harassment." I didn't even respond to the ticket. I contacted a GS I thought I could trust to tell GMs about the leak. Well. I recieved an IP address ban saying I was banned for "confidential information leak, harassment and overall misconduct."

Let's pretend that the obvious breach of my privacy and definitely terms of service was reason enough for me to leave AGE. I was harassed bymultiple GSes by that time. I was made to be persecuted on the forums and in the game. And I was pretty much done. The reason why here I am a few months later still angry with AGE even after I left is because even though I've deifnitely for sure stopped using their products, the harassment hasn't stopped. I've been receiving emails from someone impersonating AGE customer support. I keep blocking the emails, and here comes a new email account. I have about a dozen different filters and still every so often these emails get through. I receive emails where this person(s) threatens me, someone I know, someone I met over an AGE medium or just wants to spam me links to AGE posts.

So I have contacted the BBB. I am in the process of filing multiple FTC complaints against AGE. I don't blame them for the person that is sending me the emails even though I suspect is it a current/former AGE emloyee in which case I will file a lawsuit if it is. I blame them for supporting the harassment. I blame them for facilitating stalking since that thread int he GS only forum is definitely training non GM employees to be future stalkers. I blame them for not upholding the Terms of Service I agreed to. I blame them for the absolute worse gaming experience that could possibly ever exist. I am so angry with AGE and this person that is pretty much stalking me, I have every intent of making sure any and every agency out there that can be contacted will be contacted. I shouldn't suffer alone and I don't plan to.

So that's my story in a nutshell. I could go to the AGE website and spam it with this. Just copy and paste over and over again. But that won't bring me the satisfaction of saying "now agency xyz is watching you"

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