Bans on VMK?!

[PinkCinderella]

Hi everyone. I just wanted to know any info on being banned on VMK. Today I left to go talk on the phone and eat lunch so I left my VMK window open. Well when I came back, my connection was lost so when I signed back in and it said that my IP address was blocked and that I can come back in a MONTH!! I was SOOO shocked about this and surprised! I had not done anything at all! So I went to the contact page and it said I was banned for "continuously" asking for someones person info? Ok, I'm pretty sure I had not done this, especially since I know it is against the rules. This is pretty funny though because my sister got banned today for the same reason when she didn't do it either. I contacted them and told them that it was unfair. I also told them that the ONLY reason I could think of asking someones "personal" info was when I asked someone was a dis member, making sure it was actually them when I came to visit them at their room. Thats really not even a reason! I am very angry about this because I love VMK. I mean, a MONTH??!! How can I wait a month? School will well started by then and I won't be able to play much! Now I am also very sad and I don't know what to do now. If anyone can help, please tell me.

Now I just wanna know if anyone here has been banned and why. Even if it was an accident. I just wanna know some reasons why people have been banned or how many people actually have been.

You know what I just realized? Because of this dumb ban (which I think is unfair), I have completely lost my chance of ever becoming a Community Leader! Now I am extra sad because I wanted to be one! All because of this...

 

[PinkCinderella]

W-O-W. I just got news from my MOM that she is banned also . Same exact time and date when my sister, me, and her are allowed back on. My mom was really confused and she told me she was banned for a whole month for no reason at all, and that was before she knew I was banned. She called my dad and he said that all of our computers in the house have the same IP address. That means if my sister did something to get banned, that means the whole entire family cannot log on or play VMK. This really bites! My mom contacted them so I hope they reply. If anyone has something to say about bans or questions you can ask me! Also, I need some help too if anyone can give some advice!

 

[AKbabe]

I am Pink Cinderella's mother. I have been playing almost since the beginning. I got my kids hooked. I have been at school all day (kids come back next week) and when I finally signed on after work, I was banned as well. My whole family has. This is ridiculous, I haven't even been on the computer and I am banned for an entire month!

 

[AKbabe]

Saw Alice's message. Don't know my youngest did anything wrong. She doesn't believe she did what the moderators claim. Just an FYI.

 

[WDWTigger72]

Someone in your family definitely said something that was monitored and as a result your physical ip address was captured. Your probably using a firewall that all computers within your house connect to before connecting out to the internet. Your firewall actually sends out a single ip address, but internally all your computers have different ip addresses. Because your firewall sends out this single ip address all computers within your firewall have been banned. There was definitely an individual family member who said something that raised a flag to the vmk staff. There are some technical ways around your problem, but I will not discuss them further...Sorry to hear you where banned!

 

[PinkCinderella]

Thanks so much for your info!! I'll have to tell my dad about this since he is the biggest techincal computer geek in the family thanks again! I'll have to use what you said and see if it works!

 

[Jackoman]

Thanks so much for your info!! I'll have to tell my dad about this since he is the biggest techincal computer geek in the family thanks again! I'll have to use what you said and see if it works!

What Is He Gonna Do? Hammer Open The Computer Like This?? LOL!

 

[AKbabe]

Someone in your family definitely said something that was monitored and as a result your physical ip address was captured. Your probably using a firewall that all computers within your house connect to before connecting out to the internet. Your firewall actually sends out a single ip address, but internally all your computers have different ip addresses. Because your firewall sends out this single ip address all computers within your firewall have been banned. There was definitely an individual family member who said something that raised a flag to the vmk staff. There are some technical ways around your problem, but I will not discuss them further...Sorry to hear you where banned!

Thanks Tigger. My daughter is only 10 and pretty innocent. If she said anything, it was misunderstood. Nonetheless, like Cinderella said, her dad is a top security programmer for the government. If he can't help us, no one can. I will ask him. And if all else fails, we can log onto the neighbor's!

 

[GBShorts]

Based on what you say, it seems all parties are innocent but here's some extra added information on bans:

1. Usually the first ban is just on your username. I know of other players who, after being banned on one character can easily log in on another.

2. Bans are usualy in increments, meaning the first ban is usually 2 hours, the next 24, then 1 month, then permanently (until 2015, though I have heard 2017 claimed). I'm not sure which levels are IP bans and which are character bans.

3. If you are using a high speed connection, often times unplugging the modem for 1 to 30 minutes (correct me folks, are those numbers right?) can renew your IP address, therefore letting you back into VMK. I'm not sure on this one, I've just heard it from other people! (I wouldn't suggest this one...VMK could get reeeeeeaaaaallllyyyy mad)

4. Right now, your best (and only) bet is to use the contact us button like you said you've done. If they say they feel their ban was just, press them for further information such as a transcript. Check to see that your daughters have not given our their usernames and passwords to any friends or that someone else did not come over (friends?) and start typing things.

5. Lastly, check with your daughters (I'm not accusing, just giving ideas for trying to get to the bottom of this) to make sure they never mentioned their age, what grade or level school they are in, or what part of the country they are in, including "prime time tv is on now!" sort of stuff. I have been warned about all this stuff before, and I'm grown! Things that may be included in this list are as follows: asking age, giving age, school level, talking about starting school, discussing your career, talking about driving, discussing weather, talking about if it's dark outside, mentioning what is on television at the moment, talking about what is going on in your area (I saw a girl earlier today discussing the child abduction "near her" in O Hi O"), and mentioning it's breakfast/lunch/dinner time. Anybody else here notice this list pretty much knocks out everything but "want to get mery?" "want to be my dog?" and "let's play army!"???

I'm sorry to hear this happened to you and I hope some of my information helps!

 

[AKbabe]

Based on what you say, it seems all parties are innocent but here's some extra added information on bans:

1. Usually the first ban is just on your username. I know of other players who, after being banned on one character can easily log in on another.

2. Bans are usualy in increments, meaning the first ban is usually 2 hours, the next 24, then 1 month, then permanently (until 2015, though I have heard 2017 claimed). I'm not sure which levels are IP bans and which are character bans.

3. If you are using a high speed connection, often times unplugging the modem for 1 to 30 minutes (correct me folks, are those numbers right?) can renew your IP address, therefore letting you back into VMK. I'm not sure on this one, I've just heard it from other people! (I wouldn't suggest this one...VMK could get reeeeeeaaaaallllyyyy mad)

4. Right now, your best (and only) bet is to use the contact us button like you said you've done. If they say they feel their ban was just, press them for further information such as a transcript. Check to see that your daughters have not given our their usernames and passwords to any friends or that someone else did not come over (friends?) and start typing things.

5. Lastly, check with your daughters (I'm not accusing, just giving ideas for trying to get to the bottom of this) to make sure they never mentioned their age, what grade or level school they are in, or what part of the country they are in, including "prime time tv is on now!" sort of stuff. I have been warned about all this stuff before, and I'm grown! Things that may be included in this list are as follows: asking age, giving age, school level, talking about starting school, discussing your career, talking about driving, discussing weather, talking about if it's dark outside, mentioning what is on television at the moment, talking about what is going on in your area (I saw a girl earlier today discussing the child abduction "near her" in O Hi O"), and mentioning it's breakfast/lunch/dinner time. Anybody else here notice this list pretty much knocks out everything but "want to get mery?" "want to be my dog?" and "let's play army!"???

I'm sorry to hear this happened to you and I hope some of my information helps!

Wow! Thanks for all the help! I am still waiting to hear a reply and the reason so I really appreciate it. I can understand banning her (even if she said something innocently) but we have 3 other people here that are being punished for her supposed infractions of the rules. I will check into this further! Thank you!

 

[Haluci]

I don't understand why VMK issued an static IP ban instead of a client ban.
If it was what someone else did on your IP adress, there should be no reason that you should be banned as well.
Ask the VMK staff which username they are trying to block, then explain to them that other people play on the same computer, and lift the bans on the other players that use the same IP adress.
A client ban instead of a static IP ban would have not caused this confusion.

 

[pumpkinfish]

WOW! This is a very interesting thread and I am very curious as to how this turns out. Here is hoping that everything gets settled. Keep us informed!

 

[LisaInNc]

I would like to see the parent getting the warning along with the user. When a minor registers they have to provide a parents e mail. VMK could easily notify the parent in the case of a kid who broke a rule.

It would also help the child realize what they did wrong.

My DSD was here for 2 weeks and got got hooked on VMK and my paltry credit balance after the shopping spree for her and I last weekend proves it. She had a 24 hour suspension Saturday. It was her first. We went over
it and she said something about she guessed that she was in a room of middle school kids. I told her to strike that word from her VMK vocabulary.

I get the need for the protectors but I also think that VMK would help us help ourselves if we knew exactly what we did wrong in the case of suspension.

I think it is easier to scam and cheat on VMK then it is to mention what corner of the world you are in.

 

[GBShorts]

I don't understand why VMK issued an static IP ban instead of a client ban.
If it was what someone else did on your IP adress, there should be no reason that you should be banned as well.
Ask the VMK staff which username they are trying to block, then explain to them that other people play on the same computer, and lift the bans on the other players that use the same IP adress.
A client ban instead of a static IP ban would have not caused this confusion.

This is a great idea in theory, but VMK has to look at it from a worst case scenario. They don't know WHO is on the other side of that monitor, and it could be a dude who lives alone with 13 accounts. Unfortunately, this is the only real way to remove a player from the system. It's especially unfortunate that to do so, it removes all players on that computer.

 

[Haluci]

This is a great idea in theory, but VMK has to look at it from a worst case scenario. They don't know WHO is on the other side of that monitor, and it could be a dude who lives alone with 13 accounts. Unfortunately, this is the only real way to remove a player from the system. It's especially unfortunate that to do so, it removes all players on that computer.

Heh...
Maybe if you get more than four (or three) client bans for the same IP adress, then ban the IP adress.

I didn't think of it that way...

 

[AKbabe]

This is a great idea in theory, but VMK has to look at it from a worst case scenario. They don't know WHO is on the other side of that monitor, and it could be a dude who lives alone with 13 accounts. Unfortunately, this is the only real way to remove a player from the system. It's especially unfortunate that to do so, it removes all players on that computer.

Worse yet, it removes 4 players from 4 computers!

 

[PinkCinderella]

I understand what you are all saying and I agree. Its just bad that it happened to me. I also think its dumb that VMK will ban you for saying stuff like, I am going to middle school or stuff like that. I'm sorry but its not that personal of info. Ive seen people with usernames with the name Katie in it (that is also my name ) so isnt that personal info also? I just thought of this but maybe they could ban your email address. That is another idea but in the case where you are under 13 and have your parents email instead, its not good if your parents is also playing on VMK.

 

[BuddyGenie]

That's it! This is the third case of unnecessary VMK ban I have heard of since joining the dis club, and that's three cases too many for me. I'm seriously considering writing VMK a letter of concern regarding this issue, and I figure it will go something like this:

To whom it may concern,

I am a 31 year old adult VMK player in a game that is primarily for children, and I am not alone. I have been witness to three cases of banning from VMK, and quite frankly, I'm concerned about it because I fear it may happen to me. I have already gotten a warning, which was one warning too many, and if it has ever come to the case where I do get banned, well, I just don't know what I will do except seriously consider having my VMK account deleted with your compliance.

As an alternative, I propose an adult version of VMK, with no restriction on chat, self-regulation, and with the disposable income of the adult community, you can offer to buy credits using major credit cards or online pay services like Paypal, yet still retain the concept of earning credits to purchase items for rooms.

So the kids can have their VMK and all the rules and restrictions that come with it, and the adults can have their own VMK with their own self-guided responsibility. I hope you can take my offer into consideration, and that I do not need to have my account deleted under my authority.

Do you think I may get a positive response with this kind of letter?

 

[PinkCinderella]

Thats a good idea but Im not really sure that VMK would do that. I like the idea, but being a teen myself i would like to use the "adult" version. if that ever happens i may have to lie and say im older haha well anyways im thinking of just pulling the modem plug and getting a new IP address. i dont care what VMK thinks but its not fair that i should be punished for a whole month becuase something that was accidentally said by another family member.

 

[WDWTigger72]

The IP Address type ban actually provides another level of concern I did not think about earlier today. Like GBShorts says, Renewing your ip address after a certain amount of time would probably provide a different ip address therefore allowing you all onto vmk (She Said It Not Me!)...LOL. The concern I have is most isp providers have ranges of ip addresses they assign. Lets say your neighbor down the street was assigned the number 25, and you were assigned 30. Your neighbor actually plays vmk but says some things to get banned, and the next day your ip address renews to 25. An ip address ban would mean you being innocent would not be able to access vmk...There is where my concern lies if this is true...Could you attempt to sign on and post a picture of your message here? I would be curious to see if it says ip address ban, or where you got an ip address ban from...