7 replies to this topic

[Rathnor1]

I live in the oceanic region and am one of the many players in Aus that get horrible pings to the Singapore based server. This is due to ISPs routing us through Sydney -> Country x ---> Singapore instead of the Sea-Me-We 3 cable directly from Western Australia to Singapore. My ping during my last night's MRBC game was pushing 380 at times. Other players use a VPN to force a routing through the Sea-Me-We 3 cable and achieve ~100 pings.

The tournament rules state that:

"Players are prohibited from misrepresenting their Region of residence through the use of a VPN or routing service. Doing so will lead to disqualification."

My question is will players be allowed to use a VPN to get a decent ping? I have no intention of using a VPN to misrepresent my region, but I do want to be able to have a chance in the PGI tournament by using a VPN to fix my ping. I am more than happy to verify my location through other means that PGI deems necessary.

The aus routing issue has been acknowledged by PGI in the past, so I'd really like a response confirming we can use a VPN to fix our pings. I've raised multiple tickets with my ISP to try and fix the issue from my end up haven't had any luck so far.

http://mwomercs.com/...ion-discussion/
https://www.reddit.c...oceanic_alex_g/

[Rushin Roulette]

Well, seeing as the rules specifically state that you are not permitted to use a VPN to misrepresent your region you are not permitted to use it so that your team of 6 Europeans and 6 Australian players can be registered as a European team.
The rules do not say anything about a VPN being used to improve your ping while still representing the correct region. Please also note the wording of "region" instead of country. This means that you can even use a VPN to make it look like you live in Israel (for some reason this country has been bundled in with Australasia instead of Europe which would be closer ) and it wouldnt matter.

[Rathnor1]

I realise the words say you can't use a VPN to hide your region, that's why I quoted them. But if figuring out who is using a VPN for a better ping vs hiding your region is too difficult then the easy solution is a blanket ban.

Also Aussie players hiding their region to play in the euro region is unlikely, most would assume it would be the other way around.

[Monkey Lover]

"If the Team on which a disqualified Player was registered still meets the minimum requirement for Regional Classification, along with any other requirements that may apply, that Team is still eligible for participation"

Doesn't this basically say as long as your team has 51%+ players in your region it should be fine...

[Kageru Ikazuchi]

I would also prefer a statement from PGI that using a VPN to improve network connection ping and stability is acceptable.

I do not use a VPN (Yay, Japanese internets), but many of my team mates do (Telstra blows chunks).

[Rushin Roulette]

Rathnor1, on 14 April 2016 - 01:00 PM, said:

I realise the words say you can't use a VPN to hide your region, that's why I quoted them. But if figuring out who is using a VPN for a better ping vs hiding your region is too difficult then the easy solution is a blanket ban.

Also Aussie players hiding their region to play in the euro region is unlikely, most would assume it would be the other way around.

Rushin Roulette, on 14 April 2016 - 01:20 AM, said:

This means that you can even use a VPN to make it look like you live in Israel (for some reason this country has been bundled in with Australasia instead of Europe which would be closer ) and it wouldnt matter.

In other words... yes you are permitted to use a VPN to improve your ping if you stay within the same region set by PGI.

If you are in Australia, you can use a VPN to make it look like you live in China, Israel, Japan and so on. This has nothing to do with if it would actually make sense or not. As a different IP in Australia is still the same region as Australia where you are registered it is permitted. Hence why I even gave the silly example of you being permitted even if you used a VPN to make it look like you were in another country.
The only restriction for the use of a VPN in the rules is that you are expressly not permitted to do is us it to make your Australian IP look like it is from one of the European or one of the American countries.

[Rathnor1]

Rushin Roulette, on 15 April 2016 - 01:07 AM, said:

The only restriction for the use of a VPN in the rules is that you are expressly not permitted to do is us it to make your Australian IP look like it is from one of the European or one of the American countries.

I'll try and phrase this another way.

There is a comp game happening. PGI uses tools that detect if a player is using a VPN and finds multiple players on one team that are using VPNs. They are playing in the Oceanic region and their VPN makes them appear in Australia. The team also has 3 players (of 8) who don't use VPNs and are located outside the oceanic region. How does PGI know whether those players using VPNs and appear to be in Australia are actually in Australia and not from outside the region and misrepresenting their region? Will they:

A) - Allow the players the benefit of the doubt (and make the rule essentially meaningless)
- Request players provide proof of location post match?
C) - Decide the players have been caught using a VPN outside their region and ban them?
D) - Something else?

Maybe your mind is made up about there not being an issue, but others don't share your confidence.

[Rushin Roulette]

Well, that is pretty simple. The players will have to have been using that VPN for a while on the live servers to make it appear that they were from the Oceanic sector. Even before the tournament was announced. If the werent then PGI has logs of connection where the main account is based in. They may even have payment logs showing which country they are based in.

If for example I registered as a player in New Zealand, it would be pretty easy for PGI to flag my account as being in the wrong region, because they have connection logs showing that I have been paying using a German IP and the payments they received from me had an IBAN number beginning with "DE". It would be really unusual if I were to move from Germany to NZ just in time for this tournament. It can happen and they may ask for proof of residency if my account suddenly registers in a different sector of the world as usual.
Another way to flag accounts for using an illegal VPN would be to see the ping ranges during the game. If I were to register in the Oceanic region, my Pings to the OC server should be between 5 and 200. With a VPN from Europe we are talking about a ping of around 600+. That would really, really be obvious to everyone.
At the very latest, if I were registered in OC and happen to reach the world finals it would come out that I were using a fake IP when I give them the information to book a ticket from Germany to Canada.

On top of that, you mentioned before that you were asking if a VPN would be permitted to improve your ping in a way that your game IP would still be within the region you are registered in but the routing would be streamlined to the server. Using a VPN to mis-represent your region is just the opposite. You would have a massively worse ping ontop of mis-representing your IP address..

Edited by Rushin Roulette, 15 April 2016 - 03:13 AM.