something i haven’t seen talked about yet about the recent 3ds bans because of sun/moon pirates –
be VERY careful purchasing a used 3ds right now. there are two things going on:
one, the bans that went out are both NNID and console-based. the banned users have lost access to online functionality on their NNID entirely, but the consoles they were using when they were banned are potentially incapable of being used online ever again. if someone trades in or sells their banned 3ds and you purchase it, you will be in a position of not being able to go online and nintendo will not help you. that’s almost a complete certainty.
two, and this is EXTREMELY TROUBLING–the methods that people are using to unban themselves more or less depend on transplanting a console unique ID from an unbanned system to a banned one. doing so will allow the banned system to bypass the console ban. HOWEVER, the donor system and the recipient system now have the same identifier, and it’s very possible (and likely) that nintendo will notice two consoles with the same ID connecting at the same time. it’s unknown what nintendo will do here, but it’s definitely possible that BOTH systems will be banned on principle. if nothing else, if either console receives a ban at this point, both will be hit by it.
the issue here is that there are a nonzero amount of terrible people who are admitting to buying systems, ripping that console’s unique ID to unban themselves, and returning it. this means that a seemingly unbanned 3ds might suddenly end up banned weeks or months down the line. at this point, any console could be a risky purchase.
as far as what you can do: avoid used 3ds purchases right now if possible. if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. if you MUST buy a used system, do two things: verify that online functionality works (you can do this by attempting to link or create an NNID). if it does, try to find out its history. if you’re at a store, try to find out if they can tell you if the system was purchased and shortly returned. i’m not sure i would trust craigslist sales right now at all, honestly. if you can, buy new, unopened systems.
i recognize that it’s approaching christmas, so please be careful buying gifts for your friends and loved ones. it’d be awful if you ended up with a system you can’t actually use to play together.
it is unknown at the moment if the bans are 15 day bans or permanent ones, but it is always best to err on the side of caution here. be vigilant.
anyway, the bans have been confirmed to be permanent, so here’s a reminder to make safe purchases this holiday season
PSA regarding used 3DS systems
Published
PiraticOctopus 