🕵️Game Ban Detection
As of 27/12/2023, ~96,543 users will be affected by an update to our player logins data. This update fixes issues with duplicated logout_times. Thus fixing people's playtime being very high. You can check the complete list of affected IDs here. If you think your playtime is still wrong after this change, report it here.
We have a system that tracks in-game bans. Our system monitors players joining and leaving servers, and tracks whether or not they get banned. We monitor using the TruckersMP map, and can see all players most of the time.
Service Limitations
Inability to display & know who issued a ban.
Inability to track web bans.
We're unable to alert users when they get banned.
Unable to see why someone was banned, unless their history is public.
Inaccurate ban origin. Whether the ban was issued in-game or via web.
Inability to know about bans issued before Mon Oct 02 2023 17:56.
Service Capabilities
See game bans in near real-time.
Track across all servers and both games.
[VTC] See your drivers' in-game ban history.
Data Collected
In order to operate, we collect numerous pieces of data. If we see you get banned, we'll collect:
Your username;
Your id;
Your SteamId;
When your account was created;
How many active bans you have;
Your ban history, if public;
The time our system detected your ban;
The reason for your ban, if knowable;
The server you were banned on;
Where you were last seen;
Whether your ban is likely to increase due to history;
Whether your ban is a web ban;
Whether your ban is a game ban;
Some bans recorded before 08/10/2023 may contain: ban length & issued time. Bans after this date, will not - see here for why. We have never recorded who issued a ban.
As the data we collect is paramount to our operation, it shan't be deleted. You may request us to anonymise data stored about you should you delete your TruckersMP account. We will only anonymise id and names, nothing else. We also store 'ban logs' which are internal daily logs from our system. These include things like your name, id & if you get banned or not. Logs are deleted once they reach 30 days old.
Who Can See My Bans?
If you're in a VTC, they may request access to see their members' detected bans. This is done via our API, and they're issued an auth token that allows them to see the bans. Only people with this token can see these bans. Although, this isn't yet possible.
Us. We can see every ban we detect. We may review bans for stats purposes, and if we believe there may have been a mishap. Only one person has DB access (Bean aka agnes_brown).
Who Can't See My Bans?
You. You're unable to see your own bans, as you have the ability to do so on the TruckersMP website. We do not offer data dumps for bans.
The public. The public will never see any information about your ban. They may see your ban included in a statistic, but this will never reveal your identity.
Discord Embeds
In certain servers, we send an embed to a webhook when we see someone has been banned. Here's what information makes up an embed.
By certain servers, we mean servers owned & managed by us. The embeds referred to here exist for logging purposes, and their contents never leaves the servers they sent in.
Embeds are made up of this key information:
Player Name
The name of the player who has been banned.
Player Id
The id of the player who has been banned.
Link To Player Profile
A link to the banned player's TruckersMP profile.
Active Bans
The number of active bans the banned player has.
History
Is the ban length likely to increase due to history. 1 month // 3 months.
Reason
The reason for the ban.
Server
The server the player was last banned on.
Last Seen
Where the player was last seen before they were banned.
VTC Name
The name of the banned player's VTC, if they're in one.
VTC Id
The id of the banned player's VTC, if they're in one.
Link to VTC
A link to the banned player's VTC, if they're in one.
Possibly Banned By
Admin(s) that could've banned a player.
Detected as a web ban
Our system has concluded that the ban is a web ban & not a game ban.
Explaining Things
The idea around this was to give the community an insight into actually how many bans are issued in-game. There is a lot of stigma around game reports and admins not doing their job, so I created this to see if the claims are true. Having monitored things for three months, I can safely say that admins work pretty damn hard. Take a look at these two graphs.
You can clearly see that numerous bans are issued in-game daily, especially when you consider that there are some bans that we miss as well. Throughout our history of tracking bans, the highest number of bans in one day was 588. In total, we have tracked around 22,289 bans. Therefore, 588 bans in one day are equivalent to 2.64% of all bans ever tracked. In the last seven days, we've tracked approximately 1,732 bans, with 179 of them occurring on Christmas Day. Additionally, since 2nd October 2023, when we started tracking the server someone was banned on, around 20,352 bans have been tracked on Simulation 1 and around 740 on ProMods. Also, since 18th December 21:15, around 420 bans have been on Calais - Duisburg road. Here's a graph showing how many bans there have been per server:
If that's hard to see, here's a rundown:
Sim1 - 20,359
Sim2 - 836
ProMods - 740
Real Ops V15 - 67
[US] Simulation (ATS) - 65
Arcade - 22
[US] Simulation (ETS2) - 4
[SGP] Simulation - 2
ProMods Arcade - 1
[US] Arcade (ATS) - 1
I've only included some servers there, and missed out most event servers. However, I have included the Real Ops server.
Game Vs Web Bans
To distinguish between a ban issued in-game and a ban issued via the website, we employ a few simple checks.
1) We check to see if there're any admins in/on/at the same place the player was banned. If there was, we assume the ban was issued in-game.
2) We check to see if there're any admins sitting idle i.e. not moving. If there are, we will class the ban as issued in-game.
If not of the above applies, we will assume the ban is a web ban. We can only see bans issued to a person while said person is playing on a server. Because of this, we're unable to definitively state whether a ban has been issued in-game or via the website. All classifications are assumptions based on the presented facts. Game bans are most common via our service, so typically, game ban recognition is spot-on.
Have You Recorded My Ban?
Maybe. If you're a tech-whiz, you can check by using our API. If you're not that technically minded, you can reach out to us via feedback, and we'll let you know if we have a record of your ban. Before reaching out or using our API, ensure that you check for a ban issued in-game anytime after 02/10/2023, and not in the future. You may also check for bans issued via the website if you were playing around the time of their issuance. There are no repercussions for checking bans before the aforementioned date or for bans that were issued via the website without your in-game presence. However, an error will be returned in either case. Currently, we cannot accept any attempts to upload a ban or requests to record a ban. However, in the very near future, we will allow you to upload your ban history. Any bans issued during our tracking period that are not currently stored in our database will then be added to our databases.
You've Recorded My Ban, But Some Information Is Incorrect
If we've recorded a ban, and the information about said ban is incorrect, upload your ban history. Once you allow us to see your ban history, we will correct any mistakes. If your ban has been classified as a game ban when its a web ban and vice versa, when you upload your ban history, our system will look at the issue time of the ban, compared to our detection time and alter classifications where required.
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