First of all i want to present myself, MY account is Hippopotamus [460247] (https://www.torn.com/profiles.php?XID=460247). I have been playing Torn for over 9 years and about 2 months ago i got banned on the basis that i 'bought the account'. I started the account from scratch and it really hurts to see that i got banned because one of the staff member cannot stand losing a war against my faction.
After seeing a post about a staff abusing of their privileges (https://www.torn.com/forums.php#!p=threads&f=2&t=15988073&b=0&a=0) a friend told me to write a post about how i was unfairly banned. I sent a mail to the staff members as well as an e mail to Chedburn explaining what happened. Below is the e mail i wrote to the staff members and Chedburn:
Hello Mr Chedburn,
I am sorry for having to write to you this e mail but this was something which I had to do to attract your attention. First and foremost, I would like to bring into your attention that I am a responsible free to play player of the game and I understand very well the rules and regulations and what implications it could lead if any of those rules are to be violated.
I shall begin by expressing me displeasure and frustration to what happened to my torn city account named Hippopotamus (ID 460247). My account was put into the federal jail as the ownership of my account was revoked. Next follows brief events of my torn history and an explanation of what I believe happened and led to this ban.
Next, I would like to explain how all this started so that you can have a better overview of the situation. I have been playing this game for over 9 long years now, including a long period of time during which I was inactive because I was busy with my studies in real life. I decided to stop torn so I gave away all my items and money to friends. When my studies were over and some time passed by, a friend which I met via torn contacted me on Facebook and while talking I decided to play torn again. I started torn again, made some cash and eventually increased my stats, this was about 1 year and a half ago. During all the time since I started playing again I had no issues with my account until recently. My faction (Legion of White Fruits) warred against Haka which had several staffs in it (Divalicious, Jackson and Dexter). After a few days we adopted an unorthodox strategy to win, the strategy wasn't appreciated at all by the enemy faction members. After 5 days of serious warfare I found my account in federal jail. I made my friend enquire about this matter with staffs and the only information he received was that a federal jailing bearing 666 days meant that someone reported my account for being hacked. This was pretty ironic to me as I aforementioned that I am the sole owner of this account and have been playing this alone. I feel I have been victim of the dirty warfare conspiracy by one or more Haka members. Not making any accusations yet, but I also wonder if this was anyhow related because Haka had 3 staffs and they used this to their personal advantage as I was a big contributor for my faction during the war and me getting federal jailed would obviously give Haka a huge advantage over the war. I strongly feel haka members have had me fed by using their staff connections so that they could win the war or asked one of their friends to report or fed me. I feel terribly concerned about the game continuity and player security if something so cheap was used to get an advantage during a war now or in the near future. They were ready to destroy an account where I have been playing for over 9 years just because we frustrated them with our tactical approach to the war by kicking all members of our faction.
When I got federal jailed, I immediately started the process of bailing out my account out of federal jail as I knew this was some surely misunderstanding. I submitted a report to recover my account and I was asked questions such as, the email I used to create my account, the internet service provider, city finds and many more. I answered what I could remember but it was very difficult to answer all these questions as I created this account 9 years ago and at that time I had several e mails that I used for fly for fun (which is a game I used to play) where we were allowed to have several accounts. I had several e mails at that time so I was unable to answer the question concerning the e mails correctly as the e mails got lost or eventually were deleted for being inactive. I told some friends about the questions asked and they also told me they would be unable to answer these questions as their accounts are old as well and they can't remember so much detail about it. For some questions, such as the internet provider when I started my account, I named all the internet providers I had in the past years as I am unable to say which internet provider I had 9 years ago. This is completely outrageous how my account was revoked because the staffs can't accept losing a war and this cost me my account which I have been playing on for 9 years.
Also while doing part 2 Divalicious refused to help as she cannot help friends, factions or people in her warbase. Please note that at that point in time I was not in any faction whatsoever and still she refused to help a torn player as she pretended that I was active in her warbase. If you check my account, you will notice that I have been kicked of my faction and hence I was not active in her warbase although she claimed the opposite. She deliberately refused a torn player who needed help which seemed very suspicious to me.
After part 3, I was disheartened to find that my account was not to be released from federal jail. When I asked for further explanation I was told that they were told that several people used this account. I can assure you that from day 0 till date it was only me who was logging into this account. I felt no respect was given to a player who had contributed over 9 long years of play which lead to this mail. I request you to look into this matter or request trusted people to look into it. Also, if a list of staffs or admins or people names who have reported me could be provided will be highly appreciated as I want to make my own investigation. I want actions to be taken against anybody who is found guilty. This is outrageous that I have been fed because of a war and this ends in my account being fed indefinitely because I cannot remember of something which happened 9 years ago. I am outraged because I started this account from scratch, saw torn change over the years, and made friends on torn and this end up in me being fed because I was unable to remember small pieces information of my account. Please note that I have been inactive for a long period of time and I had to clear my head because my studies in real life are more important than torn, obviously I forgot most of those small pieces of information of my account but provided the staff with whatever I information I could.
I am completely outraged by the way it turned out, the staffs potentially making misuse of their privileges for their own gain and nothing being done about it. I want the fed to be revoked or reviewed and actions taken against those who lead to this unfair ban. I am a responsible player which has been abiding to the rules for 9 years and seeing that my account was fed for an unfair reason makes me feel that I have wasted 9 years of my life playing torn.
Please not that I have created this account only to send this mail privately; there has been no transaction between my account Hippopotamus (ID460247) and this account since it is in federal jail. Once again, I am a responsible player who is abiding to the rules set by torn.
Regards,
Hippopotamus (ID 460247)
I would like to point out that i stopped playing torn for a few years and i started playing it again around 1 and a half year ago. I have so many questions which keeps me wondering how can staff members abuse of their privileges and yet nothing is being?!? Are the staff members being given too much privileges? What happens to the accounts of the players who have been unfairly banned due to the staff abusing of their privileges?
Another important matter that i would like to point out is why did i get banned during the faction war with the staff? why didn't i get banned 2 months or 2 weeks after i started playing again? This would have been more plausible as they would say why did i start playing again after such a long time, but why during the faction war with the staff? To me, the staff were obviously abusing of their privileges to win the war as taking out a high stat during the war would give them a huge advantage.
To staff member:
A staff member told me that i had to wait till my account has been processed to start a new account. This was 2 months ago so i guess i should be good now.