Would any of your friends/relatives have or can guess your station name and
password? Do you have a spouse that is really upset with you spending too
much time on EQ? Maybe he/she guessed your password and gave all your stuff
away. Did you ever visit some everquest websites which you need to create
an account with user name and password? Are either the user name or the
password same as your EQ login ones? Have you ever sign any EQ class
petition with your station name? Is your password easy to guess? Did you
make the password the same as the surname of your character? That is the
first thing a hacker would guess.
It seems like there can be only one reason. Somehow, someone got hold of
your station name and password. It is either thru you or thru Verant. :(
>
>A copy of a post I have just made to Usenet for information (and a few
>notes of sympathy and support for a poor bard losing all her stuff
>would be appreciated ;-)
>
>The story begins ....
>
>Sunday night, after a reasonably successful day my wizard returns to
>Freeport, does her bits and pieces in the city and then returns to the
>West gate to camp for the night. Roughly 8pm my time.
>
>Sometime earlier, my bard has already had a look out, and has camped
>at about the same spot in West Freeport.
>
>Monday night .... after a day at work, I return home to log in and
>take out my frustrations on the orcs, goblins and other meanies of
>Norrath. I get to the character screen and decide to take the bard
>out for a run.
>
>Strange. The character model is naked except for the lute. Oh well,
>maybe it got corrupted somehow, so I select enter world.
>
>Strange. I'm standing at the counter in the Freeport bank. I didn't
>park here the last time. Press inventory.
>
>Even stranger. Where have all my armour and weapons gone? <insert
>growing concern> Check the bank manager.
>
>Oh dear. <insert sinking feeling> Where has all my money gone?
>
>Immediately camp. Check my other characters on the screen. Wizard is
>also naked. Other 2 throwaway characters seem to be untouched. So I
>enter the world as my wizard.
>
>Same routine ... I don't remember camping at the same counter in the
>Freeport bank. Oh look, armour and equipment seems to have
>disappeared. And yes, so has all my money in the bank.
>
><insert a thump as I can't sink any lower>
>
>And then I get to thinking. Well, no one else has physical access to
>my computer, let alone knowledge of my station ID or password. My CD
>is safely locked away, the account key long since forgotten or known
>outside of this room.
>
>I certainly did not give away the equipment and money. And especially
>not on both my main characters.
>
>I think for a while and can't come up with any other reasonable
>explanation ....my account has been accessed without my knowledge or
>consent, and all my bits and pieces have been "donated" away to
>persons unknown.
>
>At this stage, I phone Verant (or whoever). Spend a good half hour in
>a queue on the customer support only to be told I should have phoned
>tech support. <sigh - at least it's the same the world over> Phone
>tech support .... I should petition and speak to the GM on the server.
>Yes I already did the petition thing, no one was on. So I was
>provided with the Mith Marr administrator's email address, and
>promptly sent an email off to him/her. I also logged in, went round
>killing the lowest of the low beasts in an attempt to recover some
>money, and then eventually sat in W Freeport and waited. But it is
>time for me to log, and I shall have to seek a solution via email.
>
>This is simply an information sharing posting, to warn people that it
>is possible for such things to happen. As far as I'm concerned, my
>account was compromised, I can see no other explanation for it. My
>only hope is that the logs retained by the administrators will
>demonstrate the time my account was accessed, the IP address used, and
>hopefully the EQ account key used. This will at least provide a trace
>to the person responsible and <fingers crossed> remove them from the
>game. If I have lost my money and equipment, so be it, my life still
>continues, perhaps somewhat disappointed, and certainly demotivated
>for tonight at least.
>
>I would welcome any other reasonable suggestions that could explain
>what has happened. People lose equpiment and money to bugs quite a
>bit, however having both characters standing at the counter in the
>Freeport bank cannot be explained by a bug. I am simply at a loss to
>explain it in any other way than an unauthorised account use.
>
>Anyway, throwing it open to the rather more well-informed crowd ......
>
>
>--
>
>Saldara
>High Elf Wizard (21), Mith Marr server
>
>Melaniel
>Wood Elf Bard (11), Mith Marr server