A multiple account is an additional account created by someone who has one already. The player basically uses these extra accounts to make money which they then transfer to their main account in some way. Cheaters may also use multiple accounts to attack, bust or revive their main account.
Multiple accounts are against Torn's rules, and until now one of our preventative measures was blocking transactions and interactions for players using the same IP addresses.
Over the last decade, we've been improving our tactics to determine within 99.99% probability whether an account is a multiple account, and today we've just launched a new, advanced system for our staff to use. The system is called 'Multi Hunter'.
Multi Hunter checks hundreds of randomly selected accounts per day and automatically flags suspicious activities for staff to check. Staff then reviews the suspicious account very thoroughly. They either determine the account is okay and removes the red flag on it or bans all accounts involved if it is clear the player is breaking the rules.
It's the icing on the cake, and we feel there's no longer a need to block users on the same IP address from interacting with each other. We know this has been a royal pain in the ass for many players, and it's been detrimental to gameplay and to growing our player list.
If you're one of two or more people living in the same household or on the same IP address, you have absolutely nothing to worry about and now have total freedom to interact and trade in whatever form you like: you will not be banned. Just make sure neither of you have access to or use (in any way) each other's accounts.
How do we find multiple accounts?
We have five main methods of determining whether an account is a multiple account. We use these methods to assess an account to make sure it is breaking our rules before we consider banning or deleting it. These methods are so clever and unthinkable that banned users are almost always angry and shocked that they've been caught in the act, and protest their innocence even when we have certain proof.
Today, I'm sharing with you just two of our tactics. We want to show you how tedious and ultimately futile creating and trying to use a multiple account is. We're giving out this information so we can prevent people from even starting extra accounts in the first place. We don't want to lose valuable active players who think they can get away with it.
This new tool is just one of more than 25 at the staff's disposal. It shows staff the total values of wealth transferred to other players and areas. From here, we can see where every dollar goes from account to account. We track values of items, points, properties, stocks - anything that has a monetary value and can be sent / traded. We can even see transfers made via factions, russian roulette, racing, and so on.
Suspicious rows are flagged for staff who will then thoroughly check for the telltale signs of multiple account activities. Once again, staff will only ban accounts that are obviously multiple accounts - if they're even slightly unsure, they pass it up to an admin for an even more comprehensive investigation. Because staff have so many methods of confirming multiple accounts, it really is impossible to get away with it for any length of time.
This is an activity graph of my account (red) and someone else's (blue). Staff have been using this tool for years, and can easily spot the trends of multiple accounts. It'd be incredibly tedious to forge an extra account's activity to get around this tool, which is why we're happy to share this with you.
That's just a couple of tools at a staff members disposal. We're confident we can continue to accurately remove multiple accounts without IP restrictions, so you can be confident that the players you run into in Torn City are not using illegal tricks to get an advantage over you.
Thanks.