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Lost Ark made a major decision a few days back that will impact many players off its western version. Starting April 30, using a VPN or software like Exitlag will result in an error. This error prevents players from logging in to the game, which means that VPN has been disabled.
This was also confirmed by community manager Roxx in a previous post, and it triggered a range of community feelings regarding the change.
The major reason players use VPN is that the game is not available anywhere. Barring Japan and South Korea, Lost Ark isn't available in many parts of Asia. It's also unavailable in all of Africa. Hence, players from these regions use VPNs to access the title.
It seemed to be a useful solution until yesterday when the use of an external service was forbidden altogether. This has made some players quite unhappy, especially those who have lost all their accounts.
Lost Ark community reacts to Amazon Games banning the use of VPN
The news first came up when people trying to use VPN noticed an error code. It was then followed by an official confirmation which cited that this was being done since the use of VPN breaks the terms and services of Amazon Games.
While the reason might be justified, it hasn't gone down too well within the community. Many players, who aren't in the unrestricted regions, have lost all their game progression. This seems to be because of Amazon Games' fight against bots. One player stated that bots caused problems for legitimate players once again.
Some players are sympathetic to those impacted by the ban on VPN services. One player explained that the entire process is problematic since the problem of bots won't be reduced by banning VPNs.
For some, the problem with bots seems to be a staple of all titles of Amazon Games like New World.
For some, banning VPNs makes even less sense since Lost Ark is legally available in many regions and bots can be operated from those regions. Thus, prohibiting VPNs will ultimately matter very little. It will only end up alienating the base.
Unfortunately, players have reported seeing the same error despite not using VPN or exitlag.
While some have justified the ban, the problem seems to be the continued existence of the bots. This has led to players asking why Amazon Games hasn't banned the bots instead.
VPN and Exitlag are also out of the picture for those using it to reduce lag and establish smoother connections. With the recent changes, these modifications will no longer be possible in Lost Ark.
There could be two reasons for banning VPNs - to discourage breaking terms and conditions or to ban bots. The latter continues to be an issue, so only time will tell if Amazon Games' controversial move helped stem the problem.
