Is playing EQ tracable through an IT Department?

[StealthAF]

Okay, so I'm one of those guys that tries to sneak it in at work every now and then. I was in middle of the game in windowed mode when apparently an IT guy "remoted" in for a few seconds, lol.

The screen just immediately went black and EQ stopped responding (telling me that he apparently didn't see what I was seeing). He just ended the program via Ctrl-Alt-Del and looked at my "Lan Settings" under Internet explorer, then disconnected. Very strange.

So, is EQ tracable through the ports, etc. or was it just dumb luck that he remoted in when he did? :p

[Haul]

Can't believe that jerk would do that. That is a hate crime.

[Engraverwilliam]

I think it was dumb luck...
were you playing during work ours? or were you playing at break or after hours?

Also can you relaunch the game or have they blocked you?

[Rogean]

A lot of the remote control software that companies use don't have the capability to play a direct x application back through the remote interface (Such as EQ), so it would either be black on his end, or screw it up on both ends.

[StealthAF]

Nice, works for me then. Black screens are better than "what looks like a game." Chances are they've never even heard of EverQuest anyway. Lol, and no they didn't appear to block the ports either ;)

[Extunarian]

That's pretty weird. I can think of some better ways to catch someone playing a game at work than trying to remote into it.

I also find it odd that he just remoted into your machine like that. I've worked for 2 companies large enough to have an IT staff that would make use of remote assistance, and both of them had a policy that IT staff had to call and get your permission before dialing in.

[Rogean]

Same for me when I worked for Hospitals, although we did it anyways.. Those policies were more due to HIPAA compliance and the sorts.

[Extunarian]

Same for me when I worked for Hospitals, although we did it anyways.. Those policies were more due to HIPAA compliance and the sorts.

Hmmm. Time to make a fake memo about IT staff downsizing, label it confidential, and leave it up on my desktop 24x7.

[Rogean]

Hmmm. Time to make a fake memo about IT staff downsizing, label it confidential, and leave it up on my desktop 24x7.

Hahaha

[casdegere]

I use LOGMEIN.com to connect. My IT dept has most everything locked down but not this site that still works. Its laggy and slow but it works to some degree for say selling in EC etc.

[toddfx]

Was the entire monitor black or only within the windowed EQ? Most remote desktop apps i've used have a "Black monitor on connect" feature which blacks out your entire monitor, but still allows the person on the other end to see everything perfectly. If your entire screen went black, the IT guy probably could still see what was up on your desktop.

At the same time though, I too have had DirectX display issues with windowed EQ going black while trying to use certain remote desktop apps. So who knows.

[Fryhole]

If you guys have a webfilter or firewall, then your network traffic is being logged. Looked at constantly? I highly doubt it.

From what I understand of your post, whoever remoted into your computer closed the game out. That means they saw the title of the window, which by default is 'EverQuest' - unless you're using a 3rd party mod. If the IT person didn't know what that was, google probably explained it to them quickly enough.

Answering your original question - yes, yes it is.

[StealthAF]

Was the entire monitor black or only within the windowed EQ? Most remote desktop apps i've used have a "Black monitor on connect" feature which blacks out your entire monitor, but still allows the person on the other end to see everything perfectly. If your entire screen went black, the IT guy probably could still see what was up on your desktop.

At the same time though, I too have had DirectX display issues with windowed EQ going black while trying to use certain remote desktop apps. So who knows.

Just the windowed EQ went black. I've been there before when they've remoted in and usually I can still see everything perfectly.

I also find it odd that he just remoted into your machine like that. I've worked for 2 companies large enough to have an IT staff that would make use of remote assistance, and both of them had a policy that IT staff had to call and get your permission before dialing in.

This is a good point. I also found that strange as we too have that policy, because reason being, it IS a hospital as Rogean explained...lol. So technically, whoever it was didn't follow policy and just jumped right in without calling me first. Needless to say, they didn't stay long when they realized I was fighting for the cursor, rofl!

From what I understand of your post, whoever remoted into your computer closed the game out. That means they saw the title of the window, which by default is 'EverQuest' - unless you're using a 3rd party mod. If the IT person didn't know what that was, google probably explained it to them quickly enough.

This is true, because I wasn't using anything to camouflage it, just windowed so I can minimize in a hurry ;). I honestly don't think they would've taken the time for googling EQ though, but who knows. Guess it just depends on how bored they really were.

[Engraverwilliam]

are there any "gamers" in IT that you can befriend from scowling to amiable? I hear that IT folks like donuts Xena tapes and Hot-Pockets.
http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsQ/51468-26206.gif

[Fuzzi]

It's Xena, good try though.

[Engraverwilliam]

It's Xena, good try though.
Didn't think that look right. Fixed thank you.

[Bohab]

yeah sometimes being the sys admin + having your own office pays off when it comes to gaming at work haha

I'm pretty lenient to my users. As long as you're not hogging bandwidth or constantly getting viruses, I leave you alone. Them playing games at work isn't my problem, their managers can deal with that. If the manager asks me to investigate them, sure... otherwise I don't proactively spy on users as their day to day performance isn't my problem.

[nbirdy]

It is absolutely traceable - whether it's running, for how long, how often, etc. I can think of two management packages which will do that, that I've used when directed to by Legal.

As someone said though - IT general does not, and should not, be in the middle of disciplinary items like that and also, at least in my case, I do not have time to pro-actively track down violations of the acceptable use policy. If it comes to my attention, I'd have to take action - but other than that, there are a million other things to do, trust me.

Like chasing malware. :)

[Desert]

are there any "gamers" in IT that you can befriend from scowling to amiable? I hear that IT folks like donuts Xena tapes and Hot-Pockets.
http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsQ/51468-26206.gif

yes^

I used to play at work bypassing the corporate proxy/firewall using a hacked Linksys NSLU2 at my house running a proxy. most halfass intelligent IT departments will block ssh ports, so connect through port 442 (https). my problems with the IT department blocking my ports seemed to end there, because they couldn't block https i don't think.

get the fattest upload you can for your proxy bot at home.

pesky admin passwords getting you down? search the net for Back Track windows password cracking tutorials ;)

[Kender]

if they experience network slowdowns they may look for the cause, which would point to you pretty quick if you're using a reasonable amount of bandwidth

[Desert]

if they're experiencing network slowdowns there are probably multiple people running p2p or streaming shit, both are generally against company policies also.

one person running everquest will not hurt a network that isn't already fucked to begin with, this game ran on 56k remember? :)

here's another option, OP. do you have an android phone? is tethering an option for you? they can't trace that :P they might be angry they can't remote because you're not connected to their network though

[baalzy]

Chances are really good he didn't see the game, as Rogean said, it wouldn't likely support direct x. However, an IT person not knowing what Everquest.exe is? Yeah.......................... they know what you did. Most likely it was just the person randomly logging in because he wanted to check on some setting.

It's a pretty good bet that they don't care.

[Chrushev]

Im an IT engineer at a video game company. I RDP (remote desktop protocol) into users computers almost on daily basis, Pc they are using is companys and almost any company out there (all the ones ive worked for and heard of) have as part of the hiring paperwork a page about anything and everything you do on companies pcs is company's property, you have no privacy. I don't have to do that to see what they do. My firewall shows me every connection they have open, if I find an ip that has a ton of hits I can research it, and a quick google of p99's ip will point to this page, at that point I look in logs to see what times the ip was hit over the last month/year whatever, if it's during business hours and not at lunch I either create a file about it and use later if requested or if the person is a douche I just forward the info to their lead.

Aside from firewall I have programs that will do a remote domain controller client scan and tell me every piece of software that is installed on anyones machine, good for catching p2p software or pirated software, since it shows me the keys used.

Basically as an IT engineer I have a ton of tools to see what/how and when you use your computer. If I really need to I can capture screenshots of your desktop, or logs of evything you type on the pc, msn/aim logs etc.. As I said, company's pc. Zero privacy, even in the basement in a cube by yourself. Befriend your IT guy, if you are on his network he owns you.

As others said, most of the time you get away with it because the IT guy doesn't care as long as you do your job. We have plenty of guys thaw screw off, but when they work they are total rockstars, I don't care if they screw off.

On another note, yes the screen will go black if you RDP into a directs app, but the process is still there eqgame.exe and window title, super easy to google.

P.s. - buy our game comes out may31 pc/360/ps3 named Hunted:demons forge from Bethesda :)