[Solved] mahouking

[melkior]

After a scamming/stealing report from Tibor (Yellow Assassin), mahouking's accounts have been blocked until full investigation on the matter could be done. The server logs confirmed Yellow Assassin's story, or at least the parts where mahouking deleted his character.

The investigation further revealed that mahouking also took at least one item from Yellow Assassin before deleting that character. He also changed Yellow Assassin's password before doing so, returning the password to the original one after the character deletion.

mahouking was present (with his alt Tintin_) when I first talked to Tibor about this issue, and he was there, active. Minutes later both of them were recalled to the botcheck map to offer their sides of the story while Frost investigated the issue in the server logs. Tibor talked, mahouking didn't. He was given almost an hour to do so, he ignored us (Silent Dawn, Frost and myself) completely. The fact that he was active immediately before that, and immediately after that (on a newly created char) makes any claims about being AFK very suspicious.

I have contacted mahouking afterwards, both directly, and through others to talk to us and give us his side of the story. So far he hasn't acknowledged any of those attempts to contact him.

His accounts will remain blocked as we cannot finish the investigation without hearing his side of the story. Again, the blocking of his accounts is not a punishment, but rather a preventive measure that's normally done to protect any items that might've been obtained from the victim of scamming.

[Silent Dawn]

The GM log say it all,

"[2013-11-09 19:23:51] botcheck(33,38) Frost's Homunculus(2212851) : @l mahouking was afk to answer questions about account theft. Blocked mahouking/cady/chemed until he is available to talk.",
so i dont understand the fuss of some player(s) wanting to acuse GMs of not being transparent on their actions.

Mahouking's accounts were temporarily banned as a security measure until he decides to tell his version of the story to the GMs, which he has refused until now.
Note that by doing what we did, we are not accusing anyone, we are just trying to understand what happened by letting the 2 sides explain themselves.

[Frost]

I hesitated to post about this, because the GMs and I don't yet know the whole story. A misunderstanding can look much worse than it really is, and sometimes the drama affects someone's reputation long after the reasonable explanation is forgotten.

We asked mahouking to explain his side of the situation. When he remained silent, I began to dig through backups and game logs. As I discovered new details, I said them in open chat (in Botcheck) so that all sides had equal information. At every step in this process, mahouking has the opportunity and is encouraged to talk about what happened.

Out of respect to the people involved, I have not posted details. If mahouking wishes them to be public, I can do so. Frankly, the evidence looks damning.

[Fortunato]

Since this is still pending (?) I would like to ask for an update on this situation.

Also, for reasons of language barriers, hurt feelings and hubris on my end, I'd like to add my two cents:
I'm aware that account scamming is a serious matter. But this situation seems quite strange to me. Not that it's unheard of, but what reason could someone with several 90+ chars have to scam someone out of his level 50ish char, someone who plays this game on a many-hours-per-day-basis and is afaik not known for this or similar kinds of abusive behavior? On the contrary, I for one experienced mahouking as a helpful and commited player.

Since the other side of the story reads: yellow assassin gave his login data away claiming he wanted to leave the game (also not unheard of), it is not surprising that the logs tell... well, that story. Naturally this looks "damning". Let me remind you that "yellow assassin/ Tibor" is a grown man of whom some reason should be expected. And frankly, I've witnessed him doing all kinds of weird things, so giving away his account information wouldn't seem that improbable to me. Not that this proves anything. Nor do I have anything against him personally. It's just what it is and this imho at the very least warrants some reasonable doubt in this matter.

While I'm aware some might not like this posting as an invasion of their turf (or I'm completely mistaken, who knows), I still ask you to consider this.
[/end speech]

[melkior]

First of all, this is not a discussion forum, blah blah. Second of all, as the community was in a way dragged into this matter, you might as well have an update.

There was a rather public discussion between mahouking, Prsm and myself last night in the middle of Hurnscald. Some of the things that mahouking said made sense. Some of the things didn't. Or he didn't explain them at all.

The ones that I personally find unusual were if he thought the account was his now, why did he changed the password back to the original and return it to Yellow Assassin after the deletion of the character. He claims the account was his to own. He should've said the same thing to Yellow Assassin. To be honest, the return of an empty account seems as if he was taunting him.

He absolutely refused to talk to the GMs. He had so many chances to speak up during the last couple of days that it's not even funny. We had to drag things out of him. If I was accused of something, I 'd be pissed off, too. Doesn't matter if it was rightfully or wrongfully, I'd still be pissed off, just for different reasons. So, I understand that. But the initial @block done on him could've been prevented if he had spoken up. His answer to this was:

[02:05] Melkior GM: If you were innocent, all you should've done is talked, man.
[02:05] mahouking_: i dont want talk with cheldren

After that, he made a new character, hid it behind a VPN, and refused to talk to GMs. I have whispered him. Others told him to talk to us. None of it worked. I cannot see how someone who is innocent would act like this.

I keep going to how I would've acted in a situation like this, because that's the only reference point I have. I would shout my innocence at the top of my lungs to anyone and everyone. Especially the ones who had my fate in their hands. He didn't.

In my own view, he was given a chance to defend himself last night. He failed to do so. He had numerous chances before that, he didn't even try. Even yesterday, we pretty much had to drag things out of him.

Last of all, he said the outcome doesn't bother him at all.

I'll let other GMs speak for themselves.

[prsm]

It's really a shame that mahouking didn't defend himself.

How many chances do you give someone, yes the evidence was damaging, but that coupled with him refusing to speak to us, well ...... Now we are here.

We will make the final decision as a team, but mahouking please feel free to talk to me or any of the other gm's over the next few days, if you can clear the air it would really help.

[Frost]

this situation seems quite strange to me....I for one experienced mahouking as a helpful and commited player.

Since the other side of the story reads: yellow assassin gave his login data away claiming he wanted to leave the game (also not unheard of), it is not surprising that the logs tell... well, that story. Naturally this looks "damning". Let me remind you that "yellow assassin/ Tibor" is a grown man of whom some reason should be expected. And frankly, I've witnessed him doing all kinds of weird things, so giving away his account information wouldn't seem that improbable to me. Not that this proves anything. Nor do I have anything against him personally. It's just what it is and this imho at the very least warrants some reasonable doubt in this matter.

I totally agree that we need to use an open mind to understand this situation and to take the appropriate actions. Like you, I am surprised at what happened.

I have been assisting GMs with this investigation, mostly by looking at logs and data files on the server. Generally, my approach (and I think that of GMs) is to listen to what people say, look for evidence in the logs, and try to build a sensible story about what happened. To me, the logs show only certain facts -- this account logged in from IP address a.b.c.d at this time. The person at that IP address changed the password at this time (I don't know the password, only that it was changed.) That person traded item X and Y to character ABC at this time. Those facts can support or discredit a story, and certain patterns are extraordinary enough to show intent, but I don't know whether Tibor's story is true from just the logs. I really wish mahouking would stop hiding from GMs and tell his side.

While I'm aware some might not like this posting as an invasion of their turf (or I'm completely mistaken, who knows), I still ask you to consider this.

I'm a player too. I think it's absolutely important to understand how these matters are handled. I believe it's absolutely important for GMs and admins to earn the trust that players put in the rules and administration. Not only am I not offended by these questions, I'm thankful that they are being asked in the open rather than hidden because of fear that administrators will react badly. Thank you!

As admin, I think my job is to do research for GMs (and players when necessary) in a way that gives straight facts for them to make their own decisions. I offer advice to all sides, and if all the solutions look bad, I try to find better ones. I believe I must do these in a respectful way. I believe I am ultimately responsible to the player community: that's you.

Out of respect to the people involved, I'm still not posting details in public, but I will post one thing from a private conversation I had with mahouking. He expressed frustration with the bad situation. I said we might be able to restore things and maybe each person learns better for next time.

[15:32] Frost's Homunculus: Would you give it all back, now?
[15:33] (mahou's alt): no

[mahouking]

Yellow assassin asked me to play his character cause he didn't have time to play anymore, we still stayed in touch cause he claims "his sister" plays another character in game.
anyway since i thought he will not use this acc again i acted like the acc was my own thats why i did everything i did with this acc.
Since i stayed in touch with Yellow assassin through other alts he uses in game, after a while having his acc, he changed his mind and asked me to give it back to him thats the reason i changed the password back and gave it back to him.
I didn't ask for his personal info, he gave it to me, thats the reason i think its his responsibility to deal with whatever i did with his acc. if i did give my personal info to someone cause i dont have time to play, i wouldn't be suprised if i got it back empty. if i asked for it after giving up on it.

[Villain]

Yellow Assassin shared his credentials. Not sure what this "investigation" is about.

As the precedent now exists to block accounts under investigation for a reported violation of rules... Melkior scammed me.

[melkior]

The investigation is about the fact that mahouking refused to talk to GMs until now. And I'll gladly accept an @block if the server logs confirm what you "accused" me of, Villain.

This is not a discussion forum. This topic will be locked until we have updates about the situation.

[prsm]

After much investigation into this we have concluded Mahouking is not guilty of anything, if he had been more forthcoming, perhaps the incident could have been resolved much earlier.

The GM team strives to make the game a better environment to play in. We take hacking, scamming and phishing very seriously, and every attempt will be made to protect the innocent.

Please remember never to give out your user name and password!

[melkior]

Yellow Assassin's character has been restored (he's been given some items, by the GMs, and his level has been restored through a GM command). mahouking's characters have been unbanned.

Apart from not sharing your accounts with people you can't trust, it might be a good idea not to accept accounts from people you don't trust, too.

[prsm]

Just wanted to say a special thanks to silent dawn who got mahouking to talk to her and get the truth out there. Your the biggest part of the team!