User blog:Guy Bukzi Montag/Gameloft Customer Care series (3): Cheaterboard


 * This blog entry is part of a series on Gameloft Customer Care. Be sure to check the first part for an introduction.

Background
During the Volkswagen I.D. R Festival, there was a Festival Cup TLE that granted large amounts of, especially for higher ranks. Until one day before the Cup was over, I was in the top 1 % which would have rewarded 60 Coin Packs, resulting in an average of.

The last morning I slipped down to the top 2 % which would have granted 20 Coin Packs less. I still had easy quests to complete ("Use any booster x times"), and there were more Kit Cards waiting as a tier reward, so I was sure I'd be able to upgrade the car further, achieve a better time and get back to the top 1 %.

I had things to do, so I could only log in again 10 minutes before the cup was over. As planned, I activated a lot of boosters, got the Coins, got the Kit Cards from the tier reward, upgraded my car, drove one race and finished with a much better time which would have pushed me back at the top. But when I had a look at the leaderboard, I was suddenly only in the top 10 % instead of 1 %.

A look at the first ranks showed a lot of players with a race time of 00:00:000. This is a clear sign that I had been put on the cheaterboard for no reason. I know from earlier experiences that Customer Care always denies that their cheater detection has made a mistake, they always state that you cheated and they are not willing to accept explanations or requests for compensation. The reason is: They don't even understand the algorithm. They've been told that it's perfect, so they believe and answer with text templates.

Nonetheless, I thought that in this case, it would be possible to convince them as there were very few actions on my side before the ban, and they should be able to see in their data base that everything I did was correct and according to the rules.

Another lesseon learned from this incident: Sudden increases in a vehicle's stats trigger their poorly programmed detection algorithm.

In my mail I didn't say that I already knew what happened in order to hear what they have to say.

First mail
Guy Bukzi Montag 2019-11-16 05:09 Error in Festival Cup rewards, Asphalt 8, Android, Player ID f15ff91

Dear Customer Care,

I have participated in the Festival Cup that finished yesterday at 12:00 UTC. I was in the top 1 % until the last day, but after my last race, I was suddenly only in the top 10 %, despite having a better race time than before. This cost me 42 Festival Coin Packs.

Please send me a compensation of 42 Festial Coin Packs.

Here's all actions on my side:
 * Logged in at about 11:50 UTC and saw that I had slipped down to the top 2 %
 * Completed Festival quests ("Use any booster x times") by activating several boosters
 * Claimed the Coins for the completed quests
 * Reached tier 18 which rewarded 5 Kit Cards
 * Upgraded the Volkswagen I.D. R with the received Kit Cards
 * Did one single race with the upgraded car and achieved a better time than before

This should have put me back in the top 1 %. However, immediately after the race, I was only in the top 10 % instead. This is not logic. As already mentioned, please send me a compensation of the 42 Festial Coin Packs I lost due to this error.

Best regards

Guy Bukzi Montag