Hello. This is the Gravity Co., Ltd. Ragnarok Online: Zero Operations Team.
First, we sincerely apologize for the delay in providing information regarding these issues.
We would like to inform you that Gravity has already conducted an investigation through an internal audit regarding the issues that have been spreading through the community.
However, since the investigation confirmed that these allegations were not true, we initially chose not to provide a separate announcement. Unfortunately, due to recent community posts causing increased misunderstanding, and as this has caused inconvenience to our valued Ragnarok Online: Zero customers, we would like to provide the following information for your reference.
1. Regarding Allegations of Zeny Sales by GMs Characters such as ㄲㅏ☞☞ and 펑여우™, which have been suspected of being Zeny sellers or accounts linked to GMs, have been confirmed to not be GM accounts, and to have no connection whatsoever with internal accounts.
Furthermore, we conducted investigations into some of the characters mentioned in relation to this issue, as well as into staff accounts, and would like to inform you that no irregularities were found in any of them.
Currently, accounts used for testing purposes at Gravity are provided separately to staff by the company for work purposes, and are thoroughly managed through auditing.
Additionally, cash trading is prohibited under Ragnarok's operational policy, and when evidence is secured regarding characters involved in cash trading, action is taken in accordance with our operational policy.
If you suspect cash trading is taking place, we encourage you to report it along with supporting evidence.
2. Regarding the GM Account Issue Recently Raised on the Ragnarok Inven: Zero Board The first thing we would like to address regarding this matter is the issue of item creation privileges for GMs.
In-game item creation privileges are granted only to a limited number of specific characters, and audits are conducted monthly/quarterly in accordance with internal security guidelines.
Due to this particular allegation, we conducted an additional audit of item creation, and no irregularities were found.
Additionally, while some of the characters that were the subject of allegations were confirmed to be personal accounts of company staff, please note that no special privileges are granted to characters (personal accounts) that staff members personally play and develop.
However, within the company, there is no character deletion waiting period applied in order to facilitate smooth testing, and it was confirmed that the misunderstanding arose when the individual who was personally playing the game deleted their own character after the allegations were raised.
We apologize for the misunderstanding that arose from this matter.
3. Regarding the Use of Illegal Programs (Commonly Known as "Bot Farms") That Started This Issue In the case of illegal program usage, various patterns are being rapidly updated, and since accurate evidence must be secured accordingly, it takes some time before action can be taken.
However, action continues to be taken through continuous system updates and GM enforcement. In fact, this past November, a total of 439 accounts were permanently banned for using illegal programs.
However, due to the spread of numerous rumors resulting from this issue, we have lost the trust of many customers who love Ragnarok Online.
Regarding this, please note that the company is considering legal action against users of bot farms and illegal programs. We ask that you keep this in mind so that you do not experience any inconvenience in the future due to using illegal programs out of curiosity.
Additionally, regarding the recent hotkey-related issue concerning a specific character raised through the Inven community board, we would like to inform you that this occurred during the course of our investigation.
Characters such as "펑여우™" were confirmed to be accounts linked to account theft, and during the investigation, actions were taken to recover and verify related items. In this process, it was confirmed that some commands used internally by the company had been saved as hotkeys.
This matter was handled in accordance with standard operating procedures, and please note that the "펑여우™" character and related characters have no connection to internal accounts.
Gravity thoroughly manages and handles issues related to super accounts or privileges through both internal and external audits in order to prevent such problems.
We will continue to ensure that these matters are handled transparently through ongoing audits, and if you come across any character that seems suspicious while playing the game, please report it through our 1:1 inquiry service, and we will carefully verify it in accordance with our principles of fair management.
As the person in charge of Ragnarok Online: Zero, I feel deeply regretful that the various allegations raised recently have caused a loss of trust among our customers.
We sincerely apologize for not having carefully attended to the concerns our customers have raised, and we will strive even harder to provide maximum satisfaction to everyone.
Thank You.
Gravity Co., Ltd. Ragnarok Online: Zero Operations Team