Mystic Messenger's most loyal players are getting banned in droves for seemingly playing the game too much

Mystic Messenger, arguably one of the best dating sims around, has been dormant for about seven years. Despite not receiving new content or any meaningful updates in all that time, the game remains popular with its core fans, many of whom just woke up to some shocking news about their accounts.

The free-to-play mobile dating sim has started banning players with seemingly too many Hourglasses - the game’s virtual currency - saved up in their accounts. So far, it looks like players with 1,000 or more have been targeted, but others with far fewer hoards have reported getting the axe, too.

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The news exploded on the Mystic Messenger subreddit overnight, with over a dozen reports from players logging in to play normally, only to receive an in-game notice that their accounts had been banned.

The message players received is identical, and doesn’t mention the specific reason for the ban. “Your account has been banned because abusive behavior has been detected from your account,” it reads, ending with a support email address the affected user can contact if they believe they’d banned in error.

It didn’t take a while for players to realise that most, if not all of the bans are for players with thousands of Hourglasses in their accounts. The virtual currency can both be acquired in-game just by playing, as well as through direct real-money purchases.

For a nearly ten-year-old game that stopped receiving content three years into its life, it’s easy to see how a dedicated group of players would be able to acquire so many Hourglasses by simply playing regularly for so long.

When contacted by the affected players, Cheritz, the developer and publisher of the game, has instructed them to send receipts of how they acquired Hourglasses (assuming they were purchased) to verify whether or not they’d been fraudulently obtained.

Considering that Mystic Messenger has practically been abandoned by its developer, certain exploits have emerged over the years that allowed players to farm Hourglasses faster than intended, but those instances have always been dealt with then and there.

The blanket and sudden nature of this ban is what’s spooked players, especially those who’ve been logging in for years and never thought accruing in-game currency from playing the game too much would make them the target of a ban.

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The running theory is that most of the bans are unintentional, and may be the result of a new automated security system that’s been implemented. It’s entirely possible, especially if its’s AI-based, that the new system simply couldn’t distinguish between those who have earned (or bought) their Hourglasses fairly, and those who used exploits.

The timing of the ban wave is also suspect. With the game’s 10th anniversary coming up in July, it could be that Cheriz is preparing to release a large update for Mystic Messenger, which may include new content. If most of the playerbase is already sitting on massive amounts of in-game currency, they may simply use that to fast-track their way to unlocking the new content, which would greatly affect the developer’s bottom line.

This is a problem that other live service games have run into in the past. Just recently, extraction shooter Arc Raiders added a cap to the amount of Cred players can hold in their accounts very quickly after its launch. That currency is used to buy cosmetic sets in the store, so the logic is easy to follow.

Image credit: Cheritz

All of that has certainly put a damper on the enthusiasm of the game’s most active players, many of whom were excited to get together in person for the coming 10th anniversary, participate in community nights and so on to celebrate.

It’s also disheartening to see a fanbase so loyal; playing a game as regularly for so long without new content, to be treated so poorly. Even without knowing what the game is, it’s impressive that so many people have kept the flag of their favourite game flying for so long.

To find out how this dating system works, here’s a Mystic Messenger primer that explains it all. Once you’ve wrapped your head around it, you’ll no doubt want to pick the correct answers for every guest, and this guide will help you nail every one.