Accounts become "inactive" even though player is active

TBI1001

Why do accounts become "inactive" and cannot be logged on even though the player account is active?

gamerdruid

Accounts themselves shouldn't be becoming inactive, there presence on a world becomes inactive after not logging into that world after a time, between 2yr and 3yr is the best information I have.

If the account is inactive and can't be logged into at all then it is EA.com help you will need to contact

TBI1001

This is the second time this has happened in the same world. I have just logged into the account a few hours ago, and now I get an error message trying to log in.

Are you saying EA.com help will actually resolve the issue?

gamerdruid

ah - this seems like the authentication issue that's covered in a different thread.

In which case, EA.com more than likely will not be of much help.

Switching accounts seems to trigger the issue. I've experienced it. Staying logged in with one account helps.

I had 2 days when I couldn't log into any account and then it cleared itself. As I only play on the PTE it wasn't important, but I can see that if you're active on a world then it an be crucial to be able to log on. Envision are monitoring this but have no control over the systems in use for logging in.

TBI1001

Is this bug due to the last patch? I would say EA ought to freeze the worlds if we cannot log in because of their patch

gamerdruid

This bug is not related to game patches. I am unaware of patch timings for EA.com as they don't share that information with even the developers most of the time!

It only seems to be affecting those that log in with multiple accounts. There isn't a long list of players here who are screaming about it so it's not a general problem. As stated in the other thread, EA support blame the game and suggest the usual actions of session, cookie cleaning etc and even changing the password. None of that helps.

TBI1001

If that is the case, then why is it that all these problems happen only after the latest patch?

gamerdruid

Because the patch schedules coincide?

I do know that this problem is not Envision patch as that is independent of the frontpage login system used by EA. Prove that yourself and try to log into Origin. I expect that the problem will persist (it did for me). Waiting a day an reading e-mails from EA produced a solution. They provided a link to change the password and then I could log in.

EE_Elephterion

We are trying to contact our contacts at EA via backchannel. Hope we can resolve this soon.
For now, can you try private browsing for using multiple accounts and report back to us if that avoids the reset mechanic from kicking in?

gamerdruid

https://forums.ea.com/en/commandandconquer/discussion/274714/safety-checks-on-accounts-with-unusual-activity#latest

At last an answer. Players may not like it but alt accounts are a big problem and this will reduce their viability even if it isn't the direct intention to do so.

ditchedme

gamerdruid wrote: »

https://forums.ea.com/en/commandandconquer/discussion/274714/safety-checks-on-accounts-with-unusual-activity#latest

At last an answer. Players may not like it but alt accounts are a big problem and this will reduce their viability even if it isn't the direct intention to do so.

i wonder if this only works if you access alts on the same browser i bet if you install a few browsers you can use them all effectively at the same time.

gamerdruid

Try it and see! I'm not in a position to know when/how it works.

TBI1001

That is a terrible answer. The password reset destroys accounts whose previous owners have deleted their email accounts. EA just destroyed players in the older worlds, where many players quit and give their accounts to the remaining players.

The worst thing is not that the password is reset. The worst thing is that the account is stated as "inactive" and cannot even be logged in via substitution. Thus, the accounts are totally lost since said player has even deleted their emails.

"Irregularities" nonsense. There were no irregularities for the last 10 years, but now there is?

TBI1001

gamerdruid wrote: »

https://forums.ea.com/en/commandandconquer/discussion/274714/safety-checks-on-accounts-with-unusual-activity#latest

At last an answer. Players may not like it but alt accounts are a big problem and this will reduce their viability even if it isn't the direct intention to do so.

That does not solve alt accounts, just inconvenience them. But it will destroy team play in older worlds.

gamerdruid

The changes aren't aimed at this game in particular but all EA games. I agree, if you're unlucky enough to trigger the safety check then it will kill off the minimum level of team play left on older worlds. I agree also that it will inconvenience them which is what I was meaning when I said it would reduce their viability.

It's not a perfect world and EA obviously decided the imperfections needed to be addressed on their platform. They're not going to change it back so we're going to have live with it by not triggering the safety check or leaving.

nefrontheone

Wait a minute, please wait a minute, I think I've gotten lost.

When you say inactive accounts do you mean players who have not played in a world for a long time or the "lock" of EA accounts?

A ) It was long ago decided that players who did not log in to a game world for a specified time would be marked as inactive but this does not affect their EA account, only worlds where they have no activity.

B ) Since EA has implemented its new policy to combat digital fraud, what it does to players is to change their password so that they have to verify that they really are "We have reset your password to protect your account."

These points A and B are not mutually exclusive and each one addresses a different action of the use of EA games.

Note: If you have your updated information in your EA profile (because it is our obligation to have this information updated) reviving those accounts is something simple, although it requires spending extra time that we should not waste like that (in my honest opinion).

Note2: If we do not have this information updated, it is necessary to contact EA support to update it. It has happened to me and it is something that requires extra time but finally EA solved the problem. In my case, an email account was closed and I was not allowed to change my profile to another email account by myself.

Note3: If your player has just been marked in a world as "inactive" you just have to enter that world again and regenerate your bases to regain the state you were in. In other words, you don't lose the world you were playing.

TBI1001

No, they are "inactive" even though the last login was hours ago. EA "reset" the passwords for no good reason because of their stupid algorithm, then the account is not even available as a substitution.

If they want to combat cybercrime, why do they disable the account substitution feature of these accounts as well?

nefrontheone

Understood, I use "blocked" and you use "inactive".

The game use "inactive" for accounts with more than six month with out login in a world.

Thank you.

TBI1001

When you click on the substitution login, you get the message "This account is inactive." That message is of course false.

nefrontheone

My intention is to separate on the one hand what is the part of the game (managed by developers) and on the other hand what is the user authentication part that is managed directly by EA.

When EA blocks a user, they cannot enter any world, or send substitutions to other colleagues because can't logIn..

I have not checked if a player blocked by EA in user management is also marked as inactive in all worlds he plays in the game.

There I am afraid I cannot help.