Several countries here and a few on the Alliance server have been deleted for use of proxy connections/VPN, which is against the rules. These accounts will be watched for future violations in addition to any newly created accounts as that might be an indication of someone attempting to play unnoticed using the same type connections. Typically this use is associated with someone attempting to run multiple countries on single country game servers or evade an IP ban so, as a result, any country/account associated with the recent deletions will continue to be investigated and also possibly deleted. Repeated violations may result in complete bans from the game.

As always, report something ingame you think might need investigated. You may PM a mod to let us know a report has been submitted if you'd like, but the current mod team typically views reports in a timely fashion. Multiple reports of the same countries at one time do not get our attention faster so please refrain.

good job Light team!

way to go cheaters.

Leto, care to share to us who owned those countries?

First and foremost, I appreciate Prime's comments for clarification and his interest to protect the integrity of the game.

Issue:
Some players circumvent detection of cheating by changing their IP address before logging in/out of game.

EE's current solution:
Prohibit methods which allow a player to change their IP address.

Problems:
1. Language of rules doesn't list VPN as not allowed. It only lists "proxies" and not "vpns". They are not the same.
2. Preventing both still doesn't prevent a user from using their wifi at home IP vs their cellphone IP (not on wifi).
3. Disallowing users to use VPN makes them exposed to hackers on public or unprotected wifi. (namely to man-in-the-middle attacks)

I personally use a VPN because its main purpose is to "encrypt" your data and to provide anonymity.

I have proposed a solution to the developers on other ways that would be far more effective at detecting cheaters; but, they chose not to implement them.

I do understand the MODs have the final say of what is/is not allowed in the game & if the decision is to not allow VPNs please let me know and I will not play.

As an extra note, my statement of not playing is not meant to be read as an ultimatum. I respect the rules. I would stop playing to be in compliance of the rules but I'd likely still interact with people on forums.

Hello. so block us, Russian speakers too. We live in countries where everyone uses VPN. some for work, some for personal use on the Internet, some for something else. I also use VPN for work. VPN TunnelBear. sometimes I connect to the USA, sometimes to Germany. I never thought that using a VPN leads to blocking. I have it installed on both my computer and my phone. sometimes I would play and forget to turn it off, or couldn’t turn it off because I was working at the time. Will I be blocked now too? I think using a VPN is part of life now. You need to reconsider the rules of the game. Something needs to be decided.

It becomes harder to argue for VPN use when clan associates use it to run multiple accounts.

Well thank you to all mods and admins who quickly looked into the issues.

Good that we are no longer in the darkness about these cheating individuals now that the light has been shined on their actions.

VPN use isnt the problem. VPN use + multiple game accounts for 1 person = the problem ;)

If you notice, you can use as many IPs as you want because ya know we travel, work, go to school, use mobiles, etc. This is like using a VPN. But if you cross paths with another game account with similar attributes that are too coincidental to ignore especially paired with other evidence, then that is when you have a problem.

So TLDR, if you have 1 game account and use a VPN... you should be all gravy baby and should have nothing to worry about.

The IP approach is too easily exploitable.

Tell the developers to look up Browser Fingerprinting. (ie. Canvas fingerprinting, WebGL fingerprinting).

Also unless you have a dedicated VPN IP you're likely to get a different IP every time.

check my account. I have 1 country. and I sometimes played with VPN (but this is not certain).

It was strange to go into the chat and see guys writing that their accounts were blocked and they didn’t understand what was happening.

Anyone that knows me, knows I don't cheat. I'm anti-cheat as it comes. In all the years I have played this game in its various forms, I have never once cheated ever. I've logged in to my 1a account while using a VPN several times but it was while I was watching a free stream of a sports game. TonIght I logged in to my Team country while watching a sports event to check if I was still alive. A little while later I get msg'd I was deleted. I fought too long against cheats to have my reputation tarnished with a purple country. I even made statements against what happened this morning. I get why it was done on the heels of the deletions earlier today, well yesterday now. It just sucks to be caught up in a sweep of vpn use and now have others possibly look my way as if I sm cheater. Not one time since day one. Never or ever.

I have been playing this stupid game for over 20 years and I have never cheated. In my time I have used my TCP/IP knowledge with my clan to root out cheaters or impersonators. I worked in IT Security, so when VPNs came along, I used them to protect my privacy and stop the ISP from tracking my activity. There were no bad things going on for me but I did not want to contribute to the ISP (and others) data harvesting me for advertising.

A determined cheater can use several methods to create multiple accounts and not be caught. Deleting players for using VPNs without any evidence that they are cheating is wrong.

To all you VPN users, check to see if your app has "Split-tunneling", you can dedicate one browser to services that block or frown upon VPNs (my bank and an online game currently do, now I need to add EE). I hate MS so I use Edge for my exceptions. There are many browsers available for other stuff Brave, Dissenter, Chrome, Opera

The mods should look at a better solution (IP addresses are not Identity). There is an app called Authenticator, which can tie an email address to a site and create a 6 digit one time password.

I know people can fake email addresses just as easily as they can fake IP addresses but at least you wont punish VPN users.

Thunder, Academeus, Abramichik - sorry you guys got caught up in all this.

My intention when I brought this info to Leto and Doug was to deal with it behind the scenes. I knew that a lot of good people were getting caught up in Milks schemes, and as I told them, I didn't want Leto/Doug or PDM's name tarnished. I waited days and days before I let other people know the truth, hoping they would stop being jerks and actually care.


When they went on this relentless attack against me, spreading lies to their teams, and just acting insanely aggressive, I saw that they were more concerned with defending him then doing anything, and I had to take this to other people.


Again, sorry you all got caught up in this. My best advice is to distance yourselves from the cheaters and the people who knowingly harbor and defend cheaters, so that you aren't guilty by association in the future.

Thanks BlackHole, my post was meant to be informative and helpful.

I dont feel caught up in it but I do think some innocent players will be unfairly punished.
The game is dying and the last thing we need is pushing good players out by unfairly and without evidence accusing them of cheating.

Oh, I 100% agree.

Listen, I've admitted to multis, so I'm not trying to hide anything here. But I also know that in Doug and Leto's witch hunt against me, they deleted a few people who are not running multis, and also use vpns or proxies. I mentioned it to Prime, but I also get where he's coming from. VPN's obviously make it super easy to make multis so... what's the solution?


I hope you guys get to stick around and play.

I agree with this.

If a technically savvy person wants to run multiple countries, it can be done without detection, so it is a false sense of security to say that VPNs are not allowed while making people choose between the benefits of a VPN vs playing EE.

So one of the countries that were deleted belonged to Terd Crawlier.

Color me surprised!

Whether VPNs or even Tor should be permitted or not it's immaterial, they are in fact not against the rules, only proxies:

Proxy use
The use of proxies to login to your account is not allowed. Some players, such as those using satellite internet, may require the use of proxies to access the internet. We ask those players to contact us to request special exemption. We generally do not allow proxies because they can be used to facilitate ingame cheating.

Many people have computers with VPNs installed, and based on the current rules as posted would not feel the need to contact anyone to request exception.

Mods made a mistake here.

You can see it in the obfuscation of the post too, which lists many things the mods are not accusing anyone of and almost certainly isn't happening.

Mods should enforce the rules as written, not act arbitrarily, creating new roles and enforcing them on a whim.

If one wishes to introduce a new rule, as seems to be what is happening here, then put it on the rules page and give people time to adapt to it.

Did you get deleted TC?

Omg wheres Slag

I hate to say it but I agree with TC here. The mods are wrong to start interpreting the rules to suit their own ideas. Plus Requiem is correct, a tech savvy person can play multiple countries without detection.

I will never go to a hotel, airport, flight, etc. _without_ using a VPN. In 2024 it is very necessary. Plus what TC says about the difference is also true.

The difference is that proxies strictly act as a gateway between the internet and users. 
VPN traffic runs through an encrypted tunnel and the user's device, making VPNs an effective solution for 
ensuring network security.

Plus, let's not forget about the cookies that are used without our consent.

we all need to make some decision. Blocking players for using VPN is not correct.

VPN usage for more than ONE game account



It wasnt their first rodeo dealing with MULTIS for the kost part as Ive gathered.

3-5 people explained what VPN is/does to me and I can see why its used in cases outside of cheating. The MULTIPLE times a few of these bad apples have used it to cheat with several countries is the issue and why they're scrutinized closely, I THINK :p

Yup Celphi keeps getting ignored by developers.

So maybe the summary is that VPN can be okay if you effectively get approved / safelisted by the mods, but don't be surprised if they say no if there are any suspicious anomalies? I certainly have used VPN overseas, but connected to my "home" IP range.

I'm completely fine talking to anyone that has been affected by deletions to clear things up. We are not aiming to remove or discourage legit players in an already shrinking game. Proxy use, paid VPNs, and tor have been used by multiple players to cheat. When you associate yourself with these players and use the same methods to mask your online identity, casualties are bound to happen. I've already reinstated two players.

can I find out who? Who are these people, and why were they blocked? so that this does not happen to other players.