How to get around a ban in second life

Step one: Setting up a new account

Your gonna have to face it, your old accounts gone and its not coming back. Unless you backed them up somehow all your items, scripts and other crap have gone to the great server in the sky. Best to cut your losses and move on. This might not be so easy, mainly because Linden labs will probably have banned you from making a another account.

The only way to sign up a new accounts is through the second life website. Chances are they will have blocked your IP address BUT rather than tell you that Linden labs will give you this message if you try to sign up a new account:

The following must be corrected before continuing:
We are unable to process your request at this time.
Crafty aint it? Of course there are a million ways round it, simplest of which is to use a public computer, or one at the office, a friends or even an Internet cafe.

If your too lazy to seek one of those out the simple use of a proxy will solve all your problems, make sure to use an anonymous one. Just google proxy and look though till you find one with a good conection. Cant find a good one? Try Vidalia, it's not only anonymous it's also free and made specifically for people who value their privacy. One word of warning, Linden labs have started blocking the TOR nodes that Vidalia uses, just click new identity till it works.

http://vidalia-project.net/

Also make sure to use a new e-mail address as they may have blacklisted your old one. Can't be arsed to set up a new one? Try this free email forwarder:

http://trashmail.net/

Go through the motions of filling in your personal information, or just hammer the keyboard for a bit. Make sure to keep the proxy running until you have validated the account by clicking on the link they send you.

If all goes well you should have a new account!


Step Two: Circumventing The IP Ban

With any luck that should be it, load up second life punching a new details and agree to the completely meaningless and illogical terms of service.

Chances are, however, that Linden labs will have blocked you from the game altogether and not just the website. There are two types of bans That could have been implemented (or perhaps both if they really don't want you coming back) they are IP bans and Hardware bans. IP bans can be a pain if you have a static IP adress (one that doesnt change) which is most common with broadband, if you're on dial-up this is probably the only time you can gloat so enjoy it.

You CAN ring up your ISP and asked them for a new IP address but chances are they won't give you one, plus it's not recommended as it can make them think you're up to something. If you have wifi capabilities you may be able to 'borrow' your neighbours Internet connection. Failing this load up Vidalia again, this won't work straight away as the second life program bypasses local proxies but it can be forced to work through a proxy with programs such as Pirvoxy and proxifier.

http://www.proxifier.com/

Download one, run them with Vidalia and then try and log in. Its a bit of a complex set up but remember as soon as your logged in you no longer need them to run second life. So the order is:

Load Vidalia
Load Proxy program
Load second life
Log in
Wait till your in world
Close Other programs


Step Three: Circumventing The Hardware Ban

Still not letting you in? Looks like you've been Hardware banned. This usually happens when Linden Labs are either desperate to get rid of you or you turned up in the wrong place at the wrong time when a Linden performed a mass banning.

Typically a hardware ban will either involve taking a hash of your hard drive, your hard drive serial number, your MAC address or possibly all of the above and blacklisting it.

Your MAC address relates to your LAN card, if you have a spare or perhaps even a second slot on your motherboard try them out. Or you can get your hands on a MAC spoofer :

http://www.topshareware.com/MAC-Spoofer-2006-download-42281.htm

Your Hard drive however is going to be much harder to fake. Buying a new hard drive and reinstalling Windows just so you can play second life again is a bit extreme. I have had several ideas for getting around this problem and still keeping your original hard drive (new partition, Virtual machine etc) but to be honest what you need at this point is a hacked version of second life. The hack 'Shooped life' is probably your best bet, however it is created and maintained by a group that probably doesn't want me linking to it so if you want it your gonna have to seek it out yourself.

If your a dab hand at programming have a go at lib second life, sl's open source variant. With limited programming know-how it is possible to disable the hard drive, version and MAC checks. You will, however, still need Vidalia if you have been IP banned. Keep in mind that you will need to update your version of second life in line with the main client as the Lindens have a habit of banning accounts that use all but the official version of the game.

http://www.libsecondlife.org/wiki/Main_Page

I should warn you that everything on this page is against the TOS, so try out your own risk. Of course since you've already been banned so you properly don't have a lot to loose by trying it.

Well there you go, that should be all you need to know about getting around a ban. Any comments, suggestions, problems?