Originally Posted by
memox
Dirty stats is a delicate problem for sure, but let me start by answering your first questions about the rules:
1. You are solely responsible for your account. Your account will never be restored or rollbacked unless the damage has been inflicted by the Crew. Credits might be restored if there is sufficient evidence of abuse.
This rule was created to make sure that players understand that what happens on their account is their responsibility. For example, if someone logs into your account without permission you are responsible for those actions. This does not mean or imply in any way that you are not responsible for stats or any other item that might end up on your account. The rule says "You are SOLELY responsible for your account", not "You are ONLY responsible for your account" that is a big difference.
3. You are not allowed to log in to another player's account or share accounts in any way. This also means you are not allowed to pass or exchange it.
This rule is important for the single account system but also for the safety of the account itself. In the past we have had problems with friends betraying each other and destroying accounts when they shared. To sort out this problem we created the trusted account system as you probably remember. I am fully aware that people are using different services to remote control their friends' computers and frankly we can't do shit about that at the moment. Transferring stats between accounts has never been against the rules and rule 3 doesn't even imply that. This also goes for drugs, credits etc. Rule 3 only limits the sharing (logging in) of the account itself in any way.
13. Violating or attempting to violate any of these rules will result in a penalty decided by the Crew. Gaining advantages via another account which has broken any of these rules can result in a penalty, each case will be judged individually.
This is the grand finale of the rules - what happens if you break them. We have a set of standard ban times for different types of cheating. Instead of explaining every ban type we have generalised them with the information in this rule. Each case is judged individually and a punishment is decided based on that judgement and the standardised ban times. This rule also says that "Gaining advantages via another account which has broken any of these rules CAN result in a penalty" which means we are aware of situations that you are talking about. We both know that there is a difference between milking and hunting, occasional attacks on a cheater will not lead to ban.
It is not the first time that dirty stats and "who knew what" is discussed. I personally think that banning for dirty stats is the worst type of ban in TC and I want to do something about that. I totally agree that you as a player shouldn't have to step on your toes when you have found a victim to hit. I am looking into the possibility of automatically clearing dirty stats from an account but it is a quite delicate process. The idea is that this should work in a similar fashion as the removal of kills on banned accounts. Dirty stats can be transferred in many ways and it is important to remove the correct and a fair amount of stats. There is also the question of other benefits that you have received from the dirty stats such as extra production from buildings and hookers. At this first stage I have decided not to take such benefits into account but they might very well do in the future.
If you have input or feedback on this I am all ears.