CREATORS SPAMMING MAPS TO APPEAR IN DISCOVERY

[Shawk]

The only solution is to stop allowing creators to have multiple accounts.

Enforcement is meaningless while the ability to create multiple accounts exists.

With one account or at least CONNECTED accounts, the three strike rule should create enough fear that it enforces creators to abide by rules.

Otherwise, the meta will continue to be, get strike, switch account, swap map to new account.

There is literally nothing to fear atm.

Limiting the amount of maps you can make a week or month isn’t the solution. That is a pointless bandaid that will only stop good creators for being good. There is nothing wrong with having many maps on a single account, especially when the rule for 3 strikes exists to stop any bad actors.

The only solution to this is to stop allowing creators to have multiple accounts - or at the very least connect all account so the 3 strikes apply to the creator themselves. All FNCreate has done the last year is hurt individual creators who are on a single account, we should not be compared to these account spammers, they are taking advantage of the ability to have multiple accounts, having 50+ maps on a single account is almost a liability at this point. You are only hurting legitimate creators with this talk of limiting maps per account.

THIS IS A MULTI-ACCOUNT CREATOR ISSUE.

You have all the evidence you need but here is some more from this morning. Look at the names. This is the same person with 4 accounts.

[iFlone]

That is a pointless bandaid that will only stop good creators for being good.

How would this stop good creators from being good?
It would mainly prevent bad actors from posting 30 maps in a single day just to try to get a spot in Discovery (and spam the database of Epic Games). Good creators wouldn’t be affected by this, because honestly — what good creator makes high-quality maps in less than a week? Tell me sincerely. I do, however, completely agree that duplicate accounts should be banned. But to achieve that, personal information should be limited to a single use — and the ID card, banking details, phone number, IP & HWID, as well as the Fortnite account of those who are no longer in the Creator Program, should be banned.

In an ideal world, the map publication limit would be a great complement to the “one-use-only” rule for personal data per account (phone, ID card, etc.).

[AtAshTag]

I agree with the map publish limit and this could also be on a age rating too as for creators like myself who has had the same account from the beginning there is no reason why such a limit need be applied. New accounts/ones below 1yr in age should 100% have some limit. This would obviously exclude updates to existing maps.

I feel they need to do something like your suggesting with the actual personal info not just the account itself as again you could create another epic account.

Is it possible to create multiple accounts with the same tax info ? i would have thought this would have been disallowed by default tbh.

If you have like 1 tax info per account then the bad actors would start using friends details i can see it already.

What epic need to do is ip ban them instantly and put something in place so the person cannot create again or they are liable to legal action. I dnt understand why its difficult to fix the issue. Epic will see it as its peoples livelihood’s ect and lets be real anyone abusing the system to make financial gain is doing it deliberately and without any thought on the wider ecosystem.

Clean the system Epic #Insta Ban #Ban Hammer

[iFlone]

Using VPN is easier than using a brand new phone number + identity card + credit card info thus why those would be more efficient than simply banning IP. They should also ban their PC hardware ID like they do with cheaters, basically once they create a new account or install UEFN, it would detect the id of the pc and prevent them from even publishing and accessing the editor.

[AtAshTag]

Yep this i like why cant they do this ? no 3 strike rule for this type of behavior just ban them.

Post all the bans on social too and people will get the message.

Depending on the amount of money the bad actors got they should also seek legal action.

[Shawk]

I shouldn’t have said pointless.

More so I mean if multi-account spam is dealt with, the individual account spam issue won’t be as much of an issue. I just think that individual account spam is not the big issue.

The biggest account is probably Drink as far as individual account spam, but the thing is that account is being restricted because of that spam.

They have the ability to restrict individual accounts so the individual account spam is manageable while multi-account spam is just completely out of control insane and id wager is a majority of the issue. It is also like I said a matter of integrity, if individual account has your name and it is your brand, you aren’t going to want to edge the rules but with multiple accounts it doesn’t matter you can side hustle a alt account doing shady stuff while seemingly being a legit creator on another account. This is what I believe most “successful” creators are doing.

[D3d (DrEstudio3D)]

Lately I see the maps that theoretically monopolize the section in which I do this scenario theme, which I had a really bad time for me to appear, I can’t complain that it is not invisible, since I have been lucky enough to have at times for one or two months per map (a total of three maps) placed in the sections, and from time to time one of them rears its head. The problem is, for example, so that you understand me, this week they have released (whoever), 4 or 5 similar maps or with the same theme, they are placed for months or at peak times by chance, and the one I made with the same theme (days before), appears and soon disappears. And the rest appear out of nowhere and stay for months… Even if no one enters them… The question is how do they do it so that they suddenly appear, without minutes played, without retention, in 20 categories?.. And me in one and a little while?.. Things that are not understood… and more things that I will not comment on…

Yo veo ultimamente los mapas que teóricamente acaparan la sección en la que yo hago ese tema de escenarios, que para que yo aparezca lo paso realmente mal, no puedo quejarme de que no sea invisible, pues he tenido la suerte de tener alguna vez durante uno o dos meses por mapa (un total de tres mapas) puestos en las secciones, y de vez en cuando alguna vez asoma la cabeza alguno. El problema es por ejemplo para que me entendáis, esta semana han sacado (quien sea), 4 o 5 mapas similares o de la misma temática, estan colocados durante meses o en horas punta de casualidad, y el que yo hice de la misma temática (dias antes), aparece y al poco desaparece. Y el resto ahí aparecen de la nada y se quedan meses… Aunque no les entre nadie… La pregunta es como lo hacen para que aparezcan derrepente, sin minutos jugados, sin retención, en 20 categorias?.. Y yo en una y un ratito?.. Cosas que no se entienden… y más cosas que no comentaré…

[ZeroShotBob]

IP banning is difficult, large buildings with wifi for example. Everyone shares the same IP, plus if you have DHCP turned on, with some ISPs turning off your router might get you a new IP address.

I like the hardware ban idea. But I am sure there is a way around that too.

I really would love to know why Epic is so reluctant to ban creators and put an end to all this BS. Permanent bans would solve a lot of issues. There is no penalty for anything.

Map publishing limits is the way to go to stop spamming.

[ZeroShotBob]

Yeah I like that idea, account age dictates publishing ability. And if you stop publishing (as some naturally do) the clock resets on the account so people don’t “turn over” their accounts to spammers cause they are done with it.

It is way too easy to setup a new creator account. Really easy.

[ISLEOFSTAR]

I build on UEFN for fun now. I don’t update my published maps or build/publish new maps anymore. Should my account and published maps be punished because I don’t use it as much now?

I don’t publish anymore due to poor discovery time or poor discovery position.

[FragileNucleusGames (FragileNucleusG)]

I like the hardware ban idea.

MAC Address (hardware) banning is not perfect. For example, multiple people may use the same device. Buying a new device can also be a workaround. It can be costly, but if the exploit is lucrative enough, it can be done. I wonder how one would feel if they bought a used device only to find out that it was banned.

If we’re going down this path, the best option is banning the person through something like TIN (Tax Identification Number) as iFlone suggested. I don’t think getting a new TIN is even an option. You can still participate in other teams which is fine.

I really would love to know why Epic is so reluctant to ban creators and put an end to all this BS.

I think it’s an identification issue. How would you know that an island is a duplicate? The same thumbnail is not a perfect indicator. For example, a company may decide to use the same thumbnail for brand identity.
If the method is too detailed (by looking at the island content, for example), simple changes can evade sanctions. If the method is too broad, false positives will be an issue. Then, an appeal system (manual work) will be needed.

If we’re going to pick a manual approach, I think reports may be the easiest option. Let creators report possible exploits (which is already possible), but take them more seriously. Ideally, before doing that, the Island Creator Rules are updated to clearly state that shallow duplication is not allowed. Then, taking radical actions like taking down an island or banning the creator can be done. At the very least, other creators can report spam islands with more confidence.

Map publishing limits is the way to go to stop spamming.

I think we all agree that publishing limits is a good start.

That said, it seems that the whatever Epic did is working. Duplication still exists, but it doesn’t seem to have a major benefit.

To be honest, I prefer if duplication is checked before the island goes live. For example, the review process includes a quick check for similar islands (published or in-review) from the same creator. This will miss duplicates from multiple accounts, but it is a good start.

[Shawk]

New Experiences and New and Updated as of 10.15.25
Still flooded.

It is particularly insane how many spam accounts are in New Experiences given their maps are not new experiences at all, most are red vs blue. Of the 36 slots, 18 are taken by spam accounts.

And I am being very generous here as id say 80% of the accounts in these tabs are all just copy-paste maps, just not multiple copy-paste maps on a single account, they have them on multiple accounts.

[IamSushi]

Hello again, I am exposing next names of spammers (including YouTubers & well-known creators that were featured by Epic plenty of times).

Two Spammers: 20+ Accounts, 600+ Spam Maps

Using data that I’ve calculated & SHARED with Epic Games 9 days ago I discovered some more data about spammers.

Note: I am sharing the names of the spammers as Epic Games does not react to any reports that’ve been made via their support system from my side & many other community members. There was NO action taken to remove bad actors since I release the previous batch.

The Spammers - Apfel, Smalczyk

Apfel (Germany), Smalczyk (Poland) both were YouTubers with total sub count around 70k. They are known in the community for using tricky practics. They have been active in the UEFN community building maps ( Summer vs Winter , 600M+ played).

I am sharing my discoveries about 20 ACCOUNTS & 600+ MAPS assosiated with their names. I have confirmed that they used to work on those maps (or shared the way to abuse the system with more friends) - but at last, they were the “bad actors” here.

Their accounts are (code, minutes played, maps):

• kjwgames (25M, 54 maps)
• mataboss (24M, 28 maps)
• maciastek (22M, 50 maps)
• parkourgames (20M, 14 maps)
• smalczyk (17M, 59 maps)
• tonystudios (11M, 65 maps)
• apfel (10M, 50 maps)
• guessthelogo (4M, 59 maps)
• thepixelworlds (4M, 57 maps)
• combatgames (3M, 20 maps)
• justmapping (2M, 63 maps)
• penguin_jumping, penguin_sliding, penguin_dancing, guessthelogo, cobra_hissing, cobra_mapping, penguin_mapping (0-2M, 150+ maps)

This are the accounts that were flagged in my data analysis. I want to add that some maps were probably created in a good faith (mostly on the “apfel” account) - but 90% of the maps on those accounts are SPAM MAPS.

Live in Discovery

I am attaching a screenshot how people stopped playing “Fall Guys” maps & how Fall Guys got destroyed by those spammers. This is a LIVE SCREENSHOT:
(People got annoyed by this and stopped checking the “Fall Guys” section). Those copied maps by those two creators dominate the category for a few months.

(6 of the 10 “Trending” maps in Fall Guys are spam maps by the same creator)

Almost 2 work weeks passed since this topic has been (again) brought up.
Epic did not take any steps to remove the bad actors as a “quick fix”.
We only got “we are working on something” message from one Epic Games Employee.

Thank you & have an EPIC day!

[I-Apfel-I (Apfel)]

Hey Brother! Good work but thats completly wrong. Check please my Account also the disabled ones. Its not me. I m not active currently (Broke my arm since 4 weeks) So yeah. Do better research next time

Also i dont spam maps. Mostly i recreated the maps. Its easy to recreate a rvb map or easy maps….

Funny

“They have been active in the UEFN community building maps ( Summer vs Winter , 600M+ played).”
Thats comepletly wrong. Summer vs Winter was made before UEFN. And its crazy to say “They Made Summer vs Winter” xDD I made it alone and trying to improve it ALONE! there is no team no “friend”
And that map exist much longer than you think my brother. So its first wrong point…

*“I am sharing my discoveries about 20 ACCOUNTS & 600+ MAPS assosiated with their names. I have confirmed that they used to work on those maps (or shared the way to abuse the system with more friends) - but at last, they were the “bad actors” here.”

XDDD If i know how to abuse the system i wouldnt Share.. Also wouldnt not share for money*…. xD Why if i know how to abuse, i would just print money and wouldnt share infos LMAO

Also:
I told my Epic Dev-Rel all accounts i got. Its just 4 (1 Apfel and 3 Team Accounts) with 3 different Persons) And guess what: Smalzyck is not one of them.

[iFlone]

@IamSushi

Apfel

Nice job! Can’t wait for all of them to get banned/sued!! <3

[Shawk]

Add this Account to the list:
1v1-1v2
Growing rapidly and is nearly 100 maps,

96 maps atm.
this account is also taking advantage of the fact - is still used in place of a space, so if they search 1v1, or 1v2, they will get results for both of these. these people exploit every inch of everything. they think cheating is mandatory.

also, I am noting that larger creators are also doing the same very transparently now.

[CrxmsonAlt]

Just wanted to leave this here found another spammer 60 maps posted complete slop no thumbnails for them really ruining the ecosystem for other creators when there’s this guy spamming 60 sloppy maps thank you

[Shawk]

I am not breaking any rules or even edging any. You have how many accounts banned now? 20? I only need 1, so do you.* removing my input in this off topic convo

[CrxmsonAlt]

Just a Question What rules are the spammers breaking its the complete same thing you do?

[Shawk]

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