Public Statement (Important)

[Goku]

Hey guys, hope you all are doing well. I am making this post and I have to be honest... it's very hard to do. We all are aware after the recent update a lot of players have been getting that scary message regarding client tampering. I have received the message myself. I made an immediate report and was not banned, although I am going to tell the truth... I lied in my report. I informed the Staff that there was no Macro Software on my phone..., except there was. I did indeed have an auto clicker app on my phone. At the time I guess I was just delusional or afraid of the worst. I deleted it before filing my report. Even though I never used it for PokeMMO, the app was most definitely on my phone and I did remove it before making the report, of course. This message is just to make it clear to several players that if you have received that "Client Tampering" message, it is a clear indication that you do indeed have an auto clicker app (Not to say that you are using it) and that Staff / Devs do know. Get rid of it on your phone with immediate effect. At the moment I am not banned, but that does not matter to me. I am writing this as an apology for not being honest and wasting the time of our Staff. I value my reputation more than my account and when @Rache told me I was dishonest, I could not handle it. She is my friend and has always been good to me and this includes several staff members. So I am writing this post as an awareness to what is happening to several players. This is also an apology to @Kyu and @Teddiursa and anyone else who reviewed my report. I am SORRY. You can ban my account like I have stated; I don't care. At least you will know I am Honest and maybe... hopefully forgive me for not stating the obvious in the beginning. At least I know in the end I have shared my heart and a heartfelt apology. To the community, if you received that "Client Tampering" message, don't file a report. Just remove your Auto Clicker app on your phone and keep enjoying this beautiful game. Sorry for the post and thank you for reading♡. I hope you all have a great week ahead.

[Vertania]

3 minutes ago, Goku said:

This message is just to make it clear to several players that if you have received that "Client Tampering" message, it is a clear indication that you do indeed have an auto clicker app (Not to say that you are using it) and that Staff / Devs do know.

Speak for yourself. Just because you lied about it doesn't mean everyone else is.

[XanarchyNL]

aint nobody care about you little bro. 

[Goku]

3 minutes ago, XanarchyNL said:

aint nobody care about you little bro. 

Love you all

[Doctor]

Nah bro a lot of friends who just play PokeMMO on their phone without any 3rd party apps like autoclickers or multitasking apps are also getting the warning, which makes it funny to see devs address it as "you're the problem here, not our update", because it's such a massive ban wave that you have to be delusional to think everyone is wrong and your system is perfect.

[Alfalow]

This forum has become some really strange place to be.
I don't know if all this is a meme, a trend, some sarcastic thing or whatever.
Only thing I know is that am not in the movement so all I can do is dance until hallo came, maybe we can all do the same. 🙃

 

[Poufilou]

I always wonder what comes through the head of cheating people when they publicly make a fool of themselves like that. Why does this happen so often why can't they just stop at first warning keep playing and call it a day lmao 

[TechnoVortex]

Rip

[Goku]

22 minutes ago, Poufilou said:

I always wonder what comes through the head of cheating people when they publicly make a fool of themselves like that. Why does this happen so often why can't they just stop at first warning keep playing and call it a day lmao 

Woah woah. You missing the entire post here. I never cheated. If I did, my account would be banned. I am simply stating that everyone who recieved the Client Tampering message had some form of an automation application. In my case I had one but I never used it or tried to in PokeMMO. I failed to mention that I had one because I guess I didn't know what to expect and the point of this post is to apologize to staff for not admitting that I had one and to share awareness of what the cause is of all these players recieving that message. It seems the majority of players have these automation applications and just because they have them doesn't mean they use them in PokeMMO. Although I can understand this procedure that was implemented because by doing things this way, you are basically not able to play the game on android if you have such an application, which forces you to get rid of it and in return, it's just an absolutely great way to prevent botting. Big Improvement.

[Doctor]

7 minutes ago, Goku said:

Woah woah. You missing the entire post here. I never cheated. If I did, my account would be banned. I am simply stating that everyone who recieved the Client Tampering message had some form of an automation application. In my case I had one but I never used it or tried to in PokeMMO. I failed to mention that I had one because I guess I didn't know what to expect and the point of this post is to apologize to staff for not admitting that I had one and to share awareness of what the cause is of all these players recieving that message. It seems the majority of players have these automation applications and just because they have them doesn't mean they use them in PokeMMO. Although I can understand this procedure that was implemented because by doing things this way, you are basically not able to play the game on android if you have such an application, which forces you to get rid of it and in return, it's just an absolutely great way to prevent botting. Big Improvement.

There's no way you actually mean this. How is it a big improvement to have people randomly banned for "client tampering", some of them for even 3 days, and not in all cases because they had some sort of automation application. I'm sorry but I'm not buying the whole "everyone who got the warning had these apps!" thing when it's clear it's a widespread issue among Android players, sorry. This update and the ones that came before this, right after Johto, are an absolute mess, both in terms of bugs, HORRIBLE decisions like the hordes change, Gallade getting 1,4x Sharpness now, and in communication. Some bugs were fixed and were never addressed (like Suicune appearing before getting all the badges), some mechanics got randomly nerfed without any mention of it in the changelog (Pickup rates I'm pretty sure, and Cute Charm is confirmed to be nerfed even though devs stated it was an already existing bug).

 

Also, if you implement a measure to prevent botting and that measure bans every single Android user, it's not a good measure, it's a mistake. Even if it directly addresses some botting problems, banning SO MANY PLAYERS randomly and without reason other than "hmmm you might have something installed idk it's your fault" is a clear sign of something done wrong or a bad decision taken. 

Edited October 22, 2023 by Doctor

[PSTLV]

Idk man is it really a bug that most people get banned because playing on android? I wish I received the client tampering warning too, since I also played on android. Welp unfortunately I dont get that warning 🤷‍♂️.

[LeZenor]

1 hour ago, Doctor said:

There's no way you actually mean this. How is it a big improvement to have people randomly banned for "client tampering", some of them for even 3 days, and not in all cases because they had some sort of automation application. I'm sorry but I'm not buying the whole "everyone who got the warning had these apps!" thing when it's clear it's a widespread issue among Android players, sorry. This update and the ones that came before this, right after Johto, are an absolute mess, both in terms of bugs, HORRIBLE decisions like the hordes change, Gallade getting 1,4x Sharpness now, and in communication. Some bugs were fixed and were never addressed (like Suicune appearing before getting all the badges), some mechanics got randomly nerfed without any mention of it in the changelog (Pickup rates I'm pretty sure, and Cute Charm is confirmed to be nerfed even though devs stated it was an already existing bug).

 

Also, if you implement a measure to prevent botting and that measure bans every single Android user, it's not a good measure, it's a mistake. Even if it directly addresses some botting problems, banning SO MANY PLAYERS randomly and without reason other than "hmmm you might have something installed idk it's your fault" is a clear sign of something done wrong or a bad decision taken. 

It's pretty bold to claim all of these things while lacking all the knowledge behind it. All your assumptions are based on anecdotal evidence gathered from complaints of forum users and players without any way to tell which one is lying and which one isn't. A sudden ban wave isn't necessarily random nor does it prove the system faulty, far from it. "So many bans, they can't be all real bans!" is not a real argument, there's no logical reasoning behind this nor is there any factual evidence brought forward nor does it correlate to anything. This is just your assessment of things as they are unfolding. You're supporting information that confirms your view while ignoring contrary information such as Goku admitting to have lied. How can you distrust the devs but trust in the words of a bunch of random players when in BOTH cases you have no way to distinguish which one is being deceitful to you? What makes them any less trustworthy? You're not really being fair here.

Edited October 22, 2023 by LeZenor

[Doctor]

15 minutes ago, LeZenor said:

It's pretty bold to claim all of these things while lacking all the knowledge behind it. All your assumptions are based on anecdotal evidence gathered from complaints of forum users and players without any way to tell which one is lying and which one isn't. A sudden ban wave isn't necessarily random nor does it prove the system faulty, far from it. "So many bans, they can't be all real bans!" is not a real argument, there's no logical reasoning behind this nor is there any factual evidence brought forward nor does it correlate to anything. This is just your assessment of things as they are unfolding. You're supporting information that confirms your view while ignoring contrary information such as Goku admitting to have lied. How can you distrust the devs but trust in the words of a bunch of random players when in BOTH cases you have no way to distinguish which one is being deceitful to you? What makes them any less trustworthy? You're not really being fair here.

For starters, two of my teammates were banned because of this, and yeah, they don't have any of the mentioned apps installed. For seconds, implementing a new auto banning method without telling your playerbase about it and then not really dealing with it in any other way than "read this link, thanks, come back later" is bolder than me assuming they messed up something (again) and aren't facing the backlash (as always)

 

As always, if I'm completely wrong, I'll eat my words, but I don't think the disbelief is misplaced considering this is what we get every single time they don't communicate with the playerbase at all. Late fixes, maybe a mention of it in the changelog, and that's about it.

Edited October 22, 2023 by Doctor

[LeZenor]

1 hour ago, Doctor said:

For starters, two of my teammates were banned because of this, and yeah, they don't have any of the mentioned apps installed. 

People lie to safe face all the time because they just can't cope with the fact they got caught their pants down. You would be surprised the length some people can go to lie their way out. This is not uncommon, this situation is not any different.

1 hour ago, Doctor said:

For seconds, implementing a new auto banning method without telling your playerbase about it and then not really dealing with it in any other way than "read this link, thanks, come back later" is bolder than me assuming they messed up something (again) and aren't facing the backlash (as always)

I'm sure you're aware that they cannot reveal how and what method they use to catch cheaters right. Because otherwise it would render them pretty much useless. Why should cheaters be deserving of a heads-up. Besides, third-party software have always been against the rules so this isn't anything new. The nerves to be surprised when you are caught knowing you're doing something wrong.

 

EDIT: I'm not saying the system is flawless either. I've dealt with ban appeals in the past, I've seen this situation again and again. People blindly defending guilty players because they're friends or teammates. False positive is a thing yes but it's not as common as people think. I'm not saying no mistake has ever been made, but if there are mistakes then they are corrected in ban appeals.

Edited October 22, 2023 by LeZenor

[Doctor]

1 minute ago, LeZenor said:

People lie to safe face all the time because they just can't cope with the fact they got caught their pants down. You would be surprised the length some people can go to lie their way out. This is the case every single time, this situation not any different.

I'm sure you're aware that they cannot reveal how and what method they use to catch cheaters right. Because otherwise it would render them pretty much useless. Why should cheaters be deserving of a heads-up. Besides, third-party software have always been against the rules so this isn't anything new. The nerves to be surprised when you are caught knowing you're doing something wrong.

The thing is, they are not doing something wrong. Even the link we're provided as an explanation for the bans says that even multi-app management apps (such as watching YouTube while playing PokeMMO) trigger it. So yeah, it's not just cheaters, it's everyone affected by it.

 

And lol, sure, your theory is that my own friends are lying to me because that's the only explanation, but refuse to admit that devs can make mistakes and the bot running these scans might be overdoing it. I don't get how that's so impossible for you but a mistake in a program is out of the question.

 

And I'm not saying cheaters deserve a heads-up (??????) but if you're gonna implement something that detects apps that apparently a lot of people are using as "cheating", maybe say something about it? Much like with virtual machines not being allowed for pretty much the same reason. That's not giving any information, nor a "heads-up". It's communicating with your playerbase. But I guess I'm asking too much at this point considering the history of this game.

[Seth]

18 minutes ago, Doctor said:

The thing is, they are not doing something wrong. Even the link we're provided as an explanation for the bans says that even multi-app management apps (such as watching YouTube while playing PokeMMO) trigger it. So yeah, it's not just cheaters, it's everyone affected by it.

 

And lol, sure, your theory is that my own friends are lying to me because that's the only explanation, but refuse to admit that devs can make mistakes and the bot running these scans might be overdoing it. I don't get how that's so impossible for you but a mistake in a program is out of the question.

 

And I'm not saying cheaters deserve a heads-up (??????) but if you're gonna implement something that detects apps that apparently a lot of people are using as "cheating", maybe say something about it? Much like with virtual machines not being allowed for pretty much the same reason. That's not giving any information, nor a "heads-up". It's communicating with your playerbase. But I guess I'm asking too much at this point considering the history of this game.

You are the typical example that trust too much in your friends. We see this too much in the rulebreaking environment, and players lying their asses off to save face. I can't count how many times players have defended their banned friends when I as a GM literally knew that they were guilty due to the evidence that got them banned. A

 

I am not saying that the system is perfect and that there couldn't be false positives, but there is also a chance that our friends are lying to us. My example is actually Goku here as he came to me a few days ago asking for help about this whole thing, and he didn't admit to me that he was in fact holding macro/auto-clicker tools, but that it could be some other thing. I am glad he is coming clean now, as not many people would actually do it. 

 

Don't always trust your friends. We want to, but just because they are our friends it doesn't mean that they always tell the truth, sadly. 

[Vertania]

Just now, Seth said:

You are the typical example that trust too much in your friends. We see this too much in the rulebreaking environment, and players lying their asses off to save face. I can't count how many times players have defended their banned friends when I as a GM literally knew that they were guilty due to the evidence that got them banned. A

 

I am not saying that the system is perfect and that there couldn't be false positives, but there is also a chance that our friends are lying to us. My example is actually Goku here as he came to me a few days ago asking for help about this whole thing, and he didn't admit to me that he was in fact holding macro/auto-clicker tools, but that it could be some other thing. I am glad he is coming clean now, as not many people would actually do it. 

 

Don't always trust your friends. We want to, but just because they are our friends it doesn't mean that they always tell the truth, sadly. 

Should I also not trust myself? Because I'm 100% sure I didn't install anything remotely related to PokeMMO that would be causing it to think I'm using macros or auto-clickers. Unless using a Razer Kishi as a controller is doing it.

[Seth]

1 minute ago, Vertania said:

Should I also not trust myself? Because I'm 100% sure I didn't install anything remotely related to PokeMMO that would be causing it to think I'm using macros or auto-clickers. Unless using a Razer Kishi as a controller is doing it.

As said, I am not saying that there couldn't be false positives. But if there is a slim chance that you have some kind of tools causing you the trouble of ban, do yourself the favor and remove it. If you really do think that it could be the Razer Kishi, make a support ticket if you haven't already (although you probably have?). 

 

My whole point is that we cannot always trust what other people tells us. I am 100% sure that many players out there are malding towards the devs on behalf of their banned friends even though these so-called friends are in fact both lying and are guilty of having such tools in their devices. 

[Doctor]

9 minutes ago, Seth said:

You are the typical example that trust too much in your friends. We see this too much in the rulebreaking environment, and players lying their asses off to save face. I can't count how many times players have defended their banned friends when I as a GM literally knew that they were guilty due to the evidence that got them banned. A

 

I am not saying that the system is perfect and that there couldn't be false positives, but there is also a chance that our friends are lying to us. My example is actually Goku here as he came to me a few days ago asking for help about this whole thing, and he didn't admit to me that he was in fact holding macro/auto-clicker tools, but that it could be some other thing. I am glad he is coming clean now, as not many people would actually do it. 

 

Don't always trust your friends. We want to, but just because they are our friends it doesn't mean that they always tell the truth, sadly. 

While I completely agree and understand what you’re saying, especially with the experience as GM that you have, it still doesn’t invalidate that the bot might be a little too excited when it comes to detecting certain softwares as client tampering. And again, I’m sure that it’s doing marvels and reaching a lot of bots that went under the radar, but I still think that a) there are better ways to handle it than just implement it without a warning to users having such apps in their phone, going radio silence and let staff tank the backlash and b) systems like the captcha pop up or even the global trade filter are known for being unreliable in a lot of cases to say the least, but they don’t carry something as severe as a 3-days long ban, while still serving as living proof about automated tools in this game not being bulletproof.

 

I don’t know, I hope I’m wrong, but I seriously doubt every single person affected by it was cheating, and I also doubt that every app that the bot detects as client tampering could even interact with PokeMMO at all. Hope it’s the first option and I’m wrong and all those bans are issued accordingly.

Edited October 22, 2023 by Doctor

[Desu]

This has so far been a very successful rollout of a new preventative anticheat system. Less than 3% of players who have logged in since the update have been kicked off due to it, and most of them have been able to resolve the issue by following the instructions provided.

 

So far, we've identified a few apps which are incorrectly coded which makes them look like an autoclicker. The ones we've noted are ad skippers which hijack all apps / surveillance software (e.g. for parental monitoring of kids).

 

We recommend anyone affected by this to follow the instructions here and disable everything to determine if they have a misbehaving application we haven't identified.

[AARONMEXICO]

I'm still waiting for the bot usage warning to appear (I don't use any bot, but I'm still waiting for it to appear. Just for laughs xd) 

[TheKrimsonKang]

19 hours ago, Desu said:

This has so far been a very successful rollout of a new preventative anticheat system. Less than 3% of players who have logged in since the update have been kicked off due to it, and most of them have been able to resolve the issue by following the instructions provided.

 

So far, we've identified a few apps which are incorrectly coded which makes them look like an autoclicker. The ones we've noted are ad skippers which hijack all apps / surveillance software (e.g. for parental monitoring of kids).

 

We recommend anyone affected by this to follow the instructions here and disable everything to determine if they have a misbehaving application we haven't identified.

I'm sorry but this is absolutely absurd lol, you admit your software is scanning people phones without permission, picking up apps that have nothing to do with pokemmo and then banning them for it, if I want to run and ad blocker or auto clicker for another game that allows it, that's my right and to suggest for players to remove apps that have nothing to do with the game as a solution is disturbing. YOUR SOFTWARE IS BROKEN, YOU HAVE ADMITTED IT SO FIX IT INSTEAD OF BLAMING PLAYERS OR EXPECTING THEM TO BEND OVER BACKWARDS AND REMOVE UNRELATED OR LEGAL APPLICATIONS THAT THEY HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO USE. 

[Quakkz]

Just now, TheKrimsonKang said:

I'm sorry but this is absolutely absurd lol, you admit your software is scanning people phones without permission, picking up apps that have nothing to do with pokemmo and then banning them for it, if I want to run and ad blocker or auto clicker for another game that allows it, that's my right and to suggest for players to remove apps that have nothing to do with the game as a solution is disturbing. YOUR SOFTWARE IS BROKEN, YOU HAVE ADMITTED IT SO FIX IT INSTEAD OF BLAMING PLAYERS OR EXPECTING THEM TO BEND OVER BACKWARDS AND REMOVE UNRELATED OR LEGAL APPLICATIONS THAT THEY HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO USE. 

and they have every right to not letting people play their game who have those apps on their phone

[TheKrimsonKang]

10 minutes ago, Quakkz said:

and they have every right to not letting people play their game who have those apps on their phone

No, they actually don't man. They have no right to probe my phone for apps that don't interact with pokemmo end of story. That's like saying "anyone who has any other pokemon games on their phone is gonna get banned because we only want you playing pokemmo" is that also their right? How about we ban anybody who has Spotify on their phone because they don't pay the artists enough? It's completely unrelated to the game, it's one thing to check what apps are interacting with pokemmo but from what the devs have openly admitted they are overstepping and banning players for using ad blockers and controllers and who knows what else because they won't even tell us. It really boggles my mind how somebody can co-sign something like this, and they did it without even notifying the players as far as I am concerned that's an invasion of my privacy. I haven't been banned and I don't use any of these apps anyway but it's still not ok.

Edited October 23, 2023 by TheKrimsonKang

[Quakkz]

5 minutes ago, TheKrimsonKang said:

No, they actually don't man. They have no right to probe my phone for apps that don't interact with pokemmo end of story. That's like saying "anyone who has any other pokemon games on their phone is gonna get banned because we only want you playing pokemmo" is that also their right? How about we ban anybody who has Spotify on their phone because they don't pay the artists enough? It's completely unrelated to the game, it's one thing to check what apps are interacting with pokemmo but from what the devs have openly admitted they are overstepping and banning players for using ad blockers and controllers and who knows what else because they won't even tell us. It really boggles my mind how somebody can co-sign something like this, and they did it without even notifying the players as far as I am concerned that's an invasion of my privacy. I haven't been banned and I don't use any of these apps anyway but it's still not ok.

no one is forcing you to play and its their right to not let you play their game - its in the ToS everybody agreed to when they signed up.

 

Quote

You further acknowledge that PokeMMO may allow You full or partially restricted access to additional Game Content. Game Content may be modified, removed, or added at PokeMMO's sole discretion.

 

also

 

b) Ownership. You acknowledge and agree that You shall have no ownership or other property interest in any account or identifying information stored or hosted on a PokeMMO system, including but not limited to, PokeMMO Accounts or other Services hosted by PokeMMO (e.g. PokeMMO Forum Accounts.) You further acknowledge and agree that all rights in and to such accounts are and forever will be owned and inure to the benefit of PokeMMO.

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Quakkz