5/3/2015 - Issues with Generated Money

[Alex]

EDIT: I'm happy to announce that this issue has been addressed.

 

First, the bugged money has been all but entirely removed from the game. I looked at all instances where it was generated, through trades, and followed it through expenditures, trades, and bank activity. I've removed cities that were purchased with exploit money, and removed the money sitting around in alliance banks and nation inventories. Things are close enough to normal that any extra market stimulation from inflated resource prices is pretty negligible.

 

Second, I've reset one offender and banned another. One player received an obscenely large amount of bugged money, though he did not generate it himself. For failing to report it, and attempting to use it, his nation was reset. The other player, the one who found the bug, and instead of reporting it abused it, has been banned and removed from the game.

 

Third, the bug has been found and fixed. I take full responsibility, as the game's programmer, for this vulnerability in the code. I will continue to revise and enhance the code behind the game to make sure that something like this does not happen again in the future.

 

Thank you for your patience and understanding as I got this matter resolved. The market is now back online, and things can go back to (more or less) normal.

 

---

There's a bug in the game that a few folks are abusing for their own benefit. I am investigating the issue and will be fixing it ASAP. Should anyone know anything about how the exploit/bug works, please contact me directly via PM. It's important that we get this issue solved quickly so that we can get the game running back to normal.

 

Until then, the market has been disabled. We may possibly have to restore the game to an old backup from a few days ago, previous to the bug being exploited. I apologize for these inconveniences, but it's important that we get things back to normal and working in an orderly fashion.

 

I thank you for your patience as we resolve this matter.

 

[Isolatar]

But my WC...

 

I need more steel! 500 isnt enough!

Edited May 3, 2015 by Isolatar

[Avruch]

Pleeeease don't roll back the game. Just punish the people most responsible for the abusing the exploits and move on. The rest of us shouldn't be punished too. 

[Malice]

Good luck and make the bad people suffer.

[Aenir]

Ah well, alpha is alpha, whatcha gonna do?

[Atzuya]

I have suspicion that the bug only works on the existing global market trade offers, and maybe Pol Pot found a way to make so that accepting selling trades give him money instead of taking it?

 

If you're going for a rollback, don't pick the one spot too far in the past please :c

[Fox Fire]

A game rollback is only fair. However, this bug has apparently been around a lot longer than a few days.

[kalev60]

I'm suffering already without uranium (making - 175000 a turn soon i have no money to buy even if market opens) and no way to get some, so roll it back to last year for all i care

Edited May 3, 2015 by kalev60

[Guest]

A game rollback is only fair. However, this bug has apparently been around a lot longer than a few days.

 

This. And i too am about to go without uranium.

[Avruch]

A game rollback is in no way fair. It punishes people who had nothing to do with cheating. 

[Phiney]

How does a rollback punish anyone, it's just a couple of days.

[Adama]

A game rollback is in no way fair. It punishes people who had nothing to do with cheating. 

 

It may also not be possible to fix the game without a roll back to a point where the bug was not used. The money has already been dispersed in the game, in ways we probably don't even realize, if we just reset some of the people we know about that doesn't solve the problem of there being generated money existing in the game and giving some alliances or players an unfair advantage if they possess it.

 

And Phiney's right, a few days isn't going to kill you.

[Fox Fire]

A game rollback is in no way fair. It punishes people who had nothing to do with cheating. 

Unless you can identify and confirm every individual who has abused the exploit, it's only fair. Some people have been hit by the exploit and not abused it. Others have. And there are countless ways of exploiting it. People have been sending it to AA banks and other players. There is now a !@#$ ton of money floating all over the game that shouldn't exist. It doesn't really punish people if it's across the board. The only concern I have would be for donations.

[Avruch]

Because people did stuff in that time - wars, trades, buildings, buying and spending credits, etc. - that they shouldn't have to do over again. Some if it won't be possible to do over again. 

[Eviljak]

What bout the credits ive sold? Will i get them back if u roll the game back?

[Placentica]

Yes, please roll the game back.  The game has been broken for days.  Sucks to roll-back but it's the only fair way to do it.

 

Moral of the story is if you know you are benefiting from an obvious exploit, report it.  For those of you who don't want a roll-back.....look at this: https://politicsandwar.com/nation/id=15744&display=trade. and if there is no rollback, brb, joining VE or UPN.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Placentica

[Moreau]

Daamm. And i only have 200 food. I was about to buy 2 k food..... help!!!!!!!!!

[Sweeeeet Ronny D]

I reported it last night, when Ford became our new overlord and master, because a game with Ford as the largest nation, is not a game I want to play.

[Guest]

I have suspicion that the bug only works on the existing global market trade offers, and maybe Pol Pot found a way to make so that accepting selling trades give him money instead of taking it?

 

If you're going for a rollback, don't pick the one spot too far in the past please :c

Sounds like you know quite a bit Edited May 3, 2015 by Rampage

[Erzsebet XII]

My alliance has only been around a few days, as have all of the members. It would be an awful idea to do this. The simple fact is that a couple of days does not massively affect anyone in terms of the game, but this will cause great frustration among people who have just started when they have to go back to the beginning. On behalf of the Charming Friends alliance, we object.

[Guest]

My alliance has only been around a few days, as have all of the members. It would be an awful idea to do this. The simple fact is that a couple of days does not massively affect anyone in terms of the game, but this will cause great frustration among people who have just started when they have to go back to the beginning. On behalf of the Charming Friends alliance, we object.

 

You're wrong.. There are billions of dollars floating around that aren't supposed to be there.

[Moreau]

I can cleary see that ford is a cheater. At 4 days he became #1

[Erzsebet XII]

That was not even the issue I was addressing. I was stating that losing a factory or an infrastructure upgrade that one made over the last couple of days (like the majority of the player base) is not the end of the world, but this will cause significant frustration for newer players who might just give up entirely.

 

Will their accounts still exist if they didn't at the date of the roll back? Will you delete all the new players?

[Pfeiffer]

That was not even the issue I was addressing. I was stating that losing a factory or an infrastructure upgrade that one made over the last couple of days (like the majority of the player base) is not the end of the world, but this will cause significant frustration for newer players who might just give up entirely.

 

Will their accounts still exist if they didn't at the date of the roll back? Will you delete all the new players?

 

You shouldn't mind if he does, considering the cheating you did when you opened this account, Kid A.

[Atzuya]

I got a little curious since some have mentioned about ford here and wow what a huge find. Must feel really good holding all that money! I see that he tried dumping 65 mil into VE's bank, but it has been returned

 

 

Sounds like you know quite a bit

I happened to know that Pol Pot dumped around 200 mil into an alliance's bank which he had just made, that he then disbanded few hours before he got raided by a Mensa member. That counts as quite a bit, right?