The 93-Player Ban That Exposed a Game's Darkest Secret

In Ark: Survival Evolved, a tribe called the Island Boys spent 13 days building a massive base, gathering resources, and preparing for a legitimate raid against a rival tribe known as T. They transferred their structures, dinosaurs, and explosives to the enemy server, inched closer foundation by foundation, and began overwhelming T on all fronts. Then, just as victory was within reach, Snail Games—the publisher of Ark—banned all 93 Island Boys players from their servers. The only person not banned? The guy who took the screenshot of the ban notice.

The Two-Tier Ban System

The story hinges on a peculiar detail about Ark's server infrastructure. The game's official servers are split into two groups: the majority are hosted by Wildcard, the developer, while a smaller set are hosted by Snail Games, the publisher. When Snail Games issues a ban, it only applies to their own servers—players can still access Wildcard's servers. A ban from Wildcard, by contrast, blocks access to the entire official network.