Heroes of Arkesia,
Combating bots and player-to-player real money transactions (RMT) is a key focus of our team. While many of our past actions have been focused on reducing the efficacy and number of bots to improve the player experience of every adventurer in Arkesia, we have also been developing measures to better identify and action against RMT at scale.
Our team conducted a major ban wave targeting accounts that transacted large amounts of RMT Gold earlier this week. To accompany this ban wave, we wanted to take a moment to reiterate our stance on RMT and correct some misconceptions we’ve seen circulating in the community. While we can’t share all of the measures that our team is taking (as that would grant those attempting to break the rules an upper-hand), we can share a general look into those policies.
- Infractions will be punished on an escalating basis, taking into account the severity of the RMT and the number of previous infractions, all the way up to permanent bans.
- If a player RMTs Gold, we will take it away. Spending the Gold after receiving it will not prevent disciplinary action. If the player spends the Gold and it can't be taken away, that increases the severity of the infraction, leading back to the point above.
- We track RMT Gold through multiple accounts, so washing the Gold through secondary accounts will not protect an account from action. Every account involved in the chain will face punishment.
- There is a false perception that spending money in the game prevents significant disciplinary action when RMT-ing. The recent ban wave included users that monetarily invested in Lost Ark.
We know that RMT is a top player concern and negatively impacts the in-game economy for all players. While we can’t always share a look into our plans, we are persistently combating bots and RMT. Thank you for your feedback and support as we work to continually improve the Lost Ark player experience.