As some of you may know, a month or so back I changed my in game name and appearance to match Heather and randomly attacked my rivals list. I was irritated by what I viewed as her lack of integrity when TAW used a hacker to get first place, and I will admit I just felt like being a troll and wanted to stir things up a bit. I knew it would annoy her, but I was surprised by how much it got to her. She called it a crime of identity theft and won't ever speak to me again as a result. I was more surprised by Gree's response: They changed my name to Alex, made it so I could not change my name, and permanently removed Heather from my game. I can't see her on my RL. I can't rob her, attack her, and I assume she can't (or won't) do either to me.
I opened a ticket with Gree and they gave me the right to change my name again. I was pretty amazed that a common name like Heather was now reserved for a single player, but I didn't really care beyond that. I was more impressed that she had the pull to make it so I could never rob her or attack her again, in a game predicated on robbing and attacking people.
What I don't understand, and others are getting suspicious of, is that it isn't just me. I asked all of SAS if she is in their rivals list, and only found people who could see her 4-6 weeks ago but haven't been able to see her since. It isn't a stats thing as I see tam and any other high level TAW player. I see her in battles against TAW. I see her comments on other people's walls, including ones from this week.
TL; DR: Did Heather pay Gree to have herself removed from all of the rivals lists within SAS? Is this a software bug, perhaps tied to the way in which they hid her from me? Is there anyone who can still rob/attack Heather, or is she the first crime city player who never has to fear being robbed or attacked again? Can SC players see her? Anyone?
And finally, how much do I have to pay to have someone removed from my game?