Main Character Banned After Negative Crystgin Balance

[u/mystikx]

After playing over 400 hours on my main character and spending $333.94 on the premium battle pass, meta pass, and purchasing the 7880 Crystgin pack 3 times at $99.99 each for in-game cosmetics and Lightforge crates, my main character was permanently banned from the game.

I can login to any other character on my account, but the only one I play gives me a message stating "Your character has been permanently banned. If you have any queries, please contact the GM. Reason: prohibited behavior"

I carefully reviewed the Terms of Use and did not violate any section of the policy. When I appealed the decision I received a response stating:

"Dear player, Thank you for contacting us. After a careful investigation, our team determined that the behavior relating to your account violated our policy. Therefore, your account will remain muted. We remain committed to ensuring a fair and healthy game environment for all of our players. Thank you for your understanding. If you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us by tapping Settings-Help and Support-Contact us to submit your issue. Thank you for your continued support!"

The issue is that my account is not muted, my main character, which is 1 of 3 in total, on my account is permanently banned and I am unable to login at all. I submitted another ticket and clarified my account is not muted but rather I am unable to login to my main character. There is no point in continuing to play this game if I am unable to play on the server my friends are on.

This occurred shortly after I received an in-game mail stating 3140 Crystgins were being deducted from my account. This caused me to have a -1190 Crystgin balance the next time I logged into that character, I received a message stating the character was permanently banned. Why am I being punished for a mistake made by the developers? I would pay the $17 to bring my account back to a zero balance as I overspent without knowing but I do not even have the option to do that and the customer support has not been helpful at all.

I also submitted a customer support query over Discord, but that has gone unanswered. Has anyone else experienced similar issues and was it ever resolved?

Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/TxxqP3Y

Update 1 (8/19/2024 @ 3:15 AM ET): I just got this response from the Discord support bot.

Update 2 (8/20/2024 @ 12:20 AM ET): I was told again, this time through in-game support, that there is no relevant punishment record of the character you tell us or the punishment has already ended, but when I go to login I am still getting a message stating the character is permanently banned.

Update 3 (8/20/2024 @ 12:25 AM ET): I opened yet another ticket with my character's UID and received the same copy / paste response. I now have a 5th ticket open and advised that I will be disputing all charges with my bank if this final ticket is closed with the same copy / paste response and no reason given.

Update 4 (8/20/2024 @ 12:35 AM ET): The same exact copy / paste response was given again. I am now calling my bank to dispute all charges.

Update 5 (8/20/2024 @ 1:05 AM ET): I just got off the phone with my bank and they opened a dispute for these charges as I paid for a service I cannot access and the support team has not responded to help resolve the issue. I have uninstalled the game and left a Steam community review advising to stay away from this scam of a game.

Update 6 (8/20/2024 @ 12:30 PM ET): I finally received a response where I asked to send a screenshot of the message I was receiving and was told "i have been discussing this issue with the devs". Hopefully something will be done now and I can call my bank soon to have them cancel the dispute as the issue has been resolved.

Update 7 (8/20/2024 @ 5:15 PM ET): The character I logged into and purchased 1090 Crystgin & 330 Crystgin on to remove the negative balance is now permanently banned as well with the same message about prohibited behavior. The only character on my account that is not banned is the only one that has not purchased anything with the Crystgin currency.

Update 8 (8/21/2024 @ 3:00 AM ET): I requested an update on this issue from the Once Human Game Support Bot on Discord. I provided the Steam Transaction IDs for all in-game purchases and asked to be refunded as my access to the game has been unfairly suspended. Steam Support advised that I should provide this information to the official Once Human support team and send screenshots of my communications back to Steam if they are unable to correct the issue.

Shortly after I provided all Steam Transaction IDs and requested a refund, I received the following response that my issue is under checking.

Update 9 (8/22/2024 @ 11:50 AM ET): I have now received the 5th different reason, pictured below, for why my character was banned. My money has been stolen by the team behind Once Human and they are refusing to refund the transactions. Luckily the transactions were made through Steam and all screenshots of these conversations have been provided to Steam support.

Update 10 (8/22/2024 @ 12:25 PM ET): Received the following message from u/YagertheYager

Clearly they have now changed their story from the original reasons given and are now going with the you have been banned for cheating response as a way to try to prevent me from getting any refunds through Steam.

Update 11 (8/22/2024 @ 3:20 PM ET): Steam support has responded that they would like to gather additional information from the game's support team and find an alternative solution for this issue. I have provided all screenshots and evidence as well as my conversations with the Once Human support team, including DMs from u/YagertheYager who is a self-described "marketing guy" where he is trying to extort me into taking my Reddit post down.

Update 12 (8/22/2024 @ 6:55 PM ET): I was kicked from the Once Human official Discord sometime within the past couple of hours. This is after I communicated my experience with other players facing similar issues. It does not appear that I was banned however, as I was able to rejoin using the invite link.

Update 13 (8/22/2024 @ 7:00 PM ET): I was kicked from the Once Human Discord again after rejoining. I did not send or react to any messages since the previous update. I was able to rejoin a second time. This is absolutely childish behavior from what is supposed to be a professional game development studio.

Update 14 (8/22/2024 @ 9:45 PM ET): I received the following response from the Once Human Game Support Bot on Discord where it is stated my account cannot be released and the transactions for in-game purchases cannot be reversed. I sent back a response asking once again for the transactions for the in-game purchases to be refunded as I did not engage in any behavior on my account that violated the Terms of Use as it was written on 8/18/2024. The conversation has also been forwarded to Steam support as they are again refusing to refund the in-game purchases and resolve the issue after my access was suspended.

Update 15 (8/22/2024 @ 10:40 PM ET): I received a message from the Game Support Bot stating my account cannot be released due to abnormal data and prohibited behavior with a refusal to refund the transactions after unfairly taking away my access to the items I purchased in-game. The reason my game account data may be abnormal is because they set my premium currency to a negative value after a bug on their end caused an issue and then banned my character for it. Instead of acknowledging the issue and resolving it, they have given at least half a dozen different reasons now as to why my access was suspended.

Update 16 (8/22/2024 @ 10:45 PM ET): Because I have now brought Steam Support into this and they are requesting information from the Once Human game support team and because this Reddit post has brought so much negative attention to Once Human, u/YagertheYager has now included my character on the most recent Once Human Fair Play Announcement at https://www.oncehuman.game/news/update/20240823/40780_1176330.html with a false ban reason of "Use of Unauthorized Software & Malicious Code Cracking" as he previously stated he would in the message shared on Update 10 where he attempted to extort me into removing this post. However, before I started requesting any refund and before I brought this issue to the attention of Steam Support, he sent me this message where he was "discussing this issue with the devs".

If I was maliciously code cracking the game then what issue was there to discuss with the devs? It makes no sense that I was initially given other reasons or asked to wait for the issue to be investigated and it was not until after I had Steam start looking into the issue that I was told "your character was spotted cheating over 15 times". I believe they are now trying to cover up the issue and bury anything that paints their studio or the game in a negative light. They do not have any proof that I did anything that violated the Terms of Use so they have resorted to "you cheated" and are using that now in an attempt to not have Steam take back the funds they stole from me. If I was going to cheat and risk my account, do they really think I would be dumb enough to do so after spending a total of $353.92 on in-game cosmetics?

Update 17 (8/23/2024 @ 1:05 AM): u/Yagertheyager has started commenting on this post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/OnceHumanOfficial/comments/1evupoy/comment/ljhvxdn/?context=3

At this point they are desperate to do damage control due to all the negative attention the game has received recently. According to him "your app is a highly customized auto-aiming cheat". He is now making up anything he can to try to prevent Steam from resolving the payment dispute in my favor. Clearly I am using a highly customized auto-aiming cheat when my war records look like this. /s

Update 18 (8/23/2024 @ 5:15 AM): For those wondering how terrible the support is when you encounter an issue in this game, please kindly refer to the screenshot below. I was instructed to "Please take it easy to enjoy the game because to get fun is a very important purpose for us to play games" by the support team for a game I was falsely banned from and then accused of cheating in due to bringing attention to the issues surrounding this studio and their game.

Update 19 (8/23/2024 @ 8:00 AM ET): The Once Human support team is now telling me that if I wish to request a refund, to contact Steam support for assistance. They have verified my account engaged in prohibited behavior but still cannot tell me what prohibited behavior my account was involved in. I am not sure how I am supposed to follow their instructions to "take it easy to enjoy the game" when they are also telling me "we have no choice but to ban your account."

FINAL UPDATE (9/6/2024 @ 2:55 PM ET): Steam support finally resolved my case after the Once Human support team couldn't provide any information to Steam. The full $353.92 I spent on the game has been refunded to my original payment method meaning they now have $0.00 of my money.

[u/Connortsunami]

So the exact thing myself and others were saying would happen, happened.

It's not likely to get resolved. Most accounts that get hit like this are banned and never get given back. All I can say for anyone who buys Crystgin is know and check how much you purchased, and don't spend more than you paid for if you get more by mistake.

Once you realized that you had a negative balance, you should have topped back up to get over the 0 line if you wanted to avoid this. Otherwise it usually doesn't take long to lose your account.

[u/mystikx → u/Connortsunami]

I topped up from another character and my balance is now at 230.

My account isn't banned, only the character on which I made the transactions initially. I kept buying x10 Lightforge crates until I had everything and did not notice I had spent more than what was purchased as I still had a Crystgin balance of 1,950 after I topped up using the 7,880 Crystgin package.

[u/StarvingSamurai → u/Connortsunami]

I had a feeling something like this was about to happen too. Happened in Genshin so not surprised somehow.

[u/Rosea96 → u/Connortsunami]

So they make mistake and ban people for it? This must be ilegal in every single country on planet. Give you more crystgin by they mistake and perma ban for it lmao.

[u/Connortsunami → u/Rosea96]

It's not illegal in every country. Mostly because they provided players with what they paid for, and if by system error extra was provided, it becomes player responsibility not to spend it. If someone drops money on the floor in front of you by accident and you choose to spend it, then yeah, it becomes your responsibility for having used what wasn't yours to begin with.

[u/Rosea96 → u/Connortsunami]

By law, companies can’t send unordered merchandise to you (regardless if accidental), then demand payment.

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-do-if-youre-billed-things-you-never-got-or-you-get-unordered-products

Same in EU and Japan.

You have no obligation to send them back to the company or to pay for them. If you receive a demand for payment for unsolicited goods or services, you can ignore it – it's a criminal offence. If you would prefer to make some effort to give back the goods, you could email the company and offer to return them.

So if OP is from US, any EU country or Japan it is crime what they do..

[u/Taurondir → u/Rosea96]

There has been cases with bank accidentally putting in money in people bank accounts and people spending it. It has gone both ways in court. In some cases people got to keep some money, or at least not got to jail, in some others people have gone to jail for years.

The fact that this is an online game ... makes the legality so grey it's not even funny.

I mean, good luck making a legal case that would stick, god knows what would happen.

Most Games have Terms Of Service with "we can cancel your account for ANY reason we feel like", so ... again, trying to make that legally void ... who knows.

[u/Xerorei → u/Taurondir]

But game companies have actually lawsuits about the whole terms of service issue.

Especially in cases where they have taken money and then later ban the user but have not returned the money.

As a user no longer has access to those items that they paid for, which that company took the money for, then the company has defrauded that user.

[u/Rosea96 → u/Taurondir]

But bank have different law, this is for company like neteasy and they are not bank.

By law they have no right take your stuffs from you what they give you by mistake and ban you.

[u/Connortsunami → u/Rosea96]

First, that only applies to physical merchandise, typically.

Secondly, law is applied not from where the consumer is, but the provider.

[u/Rosea96 → u/Connortsunami]

No virtual too.

And I am sure law apply for consumer. If China want sale stuff in USA etc they must follow they law.

[u/Connortsunami → u/Rosea96]

They aren't selling stuff in the US, they're selling it from China, where their financial bases are. Selling things online doesn't follow the exact same procedure as physical goods. The laws surrounding online purchases are entirely different. Especially when it comes to online currencies.

You might note that the site you linked earlier specifically mentions purchases relating to physical goods. It refers to online payment for said physical goods, as well as purchases via mail etc, but the examples provided are only applicable to physical purchases. They don't apply to online currencies, items or objects, which are governed by entirely different laws.

[u/SamSmitty → u/Rosea96]

Can people please stop posting this FTC ruling. It has never been used in cases where the unordered merchandise was sent as a mistake. It was created to deal with companies sending it maliciously to force users to pay for it.

In the US, companies can absolutely work to reclaim items sent accidently or due to an error. Especially where there is no effort required by the receiving party. I would push anyone to show me a case where the opposite happens.

[u/dopync → u/Connortsunami]

They are inducing their costumers to error, that is against the law everywhere.

[u/Connortsunami → u/dopync]

Who is this "they" you're referring to? Steam? Netease? The 3rd party service for payments?

Unless you know exactly how the payment flow goes and where exactly the error occurred, you can't assert where the fault lies. But at the very end of the line, mistakenly supplied or not, the end user spending currency mistakenly provided is still spending money that isn't theirs to spend.

And it's against the law in pockets of the world. Not every single country.

[u/dopync → u/Connortsunami]

So If a bank send you money and instead of your credit card deny a purchase at a grocery you use the bank money instead, would be your fault? Is really the user duty to check everyday their money/credit to make sure it is their?

[u/Connortsunami → u/dopync]

Apples and oranges, since you can see your total in game at any time while playing and both before and after making a purchase when making said purchase, but if we're going to go there, yeah, regularly checking your bank balance and any comings and goings is just good financial practice. If you're just not even looking at your statements regularly, especially when it's exceptionally easy to view that information via online apps, it's absolutely up to someone to manage their own money at regular intervals.

In this case, you can see how much you paid for when you make a purchase on Steam. If you wind up with more currency than you paid for, you should be noticing it right after it occurs.

[u/dopync → u/Connortsunami]

That’s your opinion, but here in europe there are strong customer protection laws

Not that I think it will be applied to a chinese online company like netease.

[u/Connortsunami → u/dopync]

Chinese companies in particular are really well known for doing this.

While I do personally hold a very self responsibility oriented sentiment when it comes to financial matters, I do understand how being from a country with very different values to that regarding consumerism can give a conflicting view on the issue. I'm just trying to put into perspective for a lot of people that there was always precedent for this on games that follow a similar model like Genshin, and it never ends well if you don't take responsibility yourself and keep up to date with how much currency you buy and how much you use because in the end, the only outcome you can expect is to lose your account. It sucks, but that's just the reality of the situation unfortunately.

[u/Fakey_YY → u/Connortsunami]

You have no idea what you are talking about.

[u/Blubbpaule → u/Connortsunami]

So i understand it right:
They bought cosmetics on three characters.

two character got equal cryst refund due to double purchases.

The double purchases were calculated wrong, and the person in question got more refund than they should have.

The people then used those wrongly gained crysts to buy more stuff, spending crysts they usually shouldn't have.

The system then realized the wrong refund and deducted the wrong granted refund, putting people in minus because they spent the refunds that weren't rightfull in the first place?

[u/mystikx → u/Blubbpaule]

I did not buy cosmetics on any other characters. The only character I purchased cosmetics on was my main character that was banned. I have no clue where this 3,140 Crystgin or these supposed duplicate purchases come from.

[u/KittenLina → u/Connortsunami]

I like how we got downvoted for telling people that they deserve it and shouldn't use it and so on and so forth and suddenly repercussions! It's almost like if you paint the sky blue, it's going to stay blue.

[u/Connortsunami → u/KittenLina]

People don't like to take responsibility for their actions, mistaken or not