Available to dual: Risks of Dualling and how to Stay Safe

Welcome to the Dual Request section; we hope you find this a helpful forum for all your account sharing needs. However we feel it's only our duty to inform you of some of the risks you might encounter whilst searching and accepting duals from across the domain.


Whilst finding a dual can be a very rewarding experience, for some players it can be an unlucky and devastating ordeal. Not only are you trusting a (usually) anonymous stranger with your password and account details, you are also allowing them to spend gold and silver which cost you real life money. The same goes for players who are offering themselves as duals to other peoples' accounts; you are taking a great leap of faith to invest time and money into an account you have no legal control over without the registration e-mail.

Please bear in mind when reading the following that although these warnings can make dualling sound like a scary process, there are many positive outcomes from sharing the responsibility of an account and the UK is home to hundreds of duals with brilliant working relationships and strong friendships that have formed from their dualling experience. I'm afraid there will always be a select few who try to ruin it for others and this thread is here to try and combat that group and make you aware of their existence.

So we ask that when you use this section, please exercise caution and be sensible about choosing duals and if you have any of the following issues, the UK travian team will always help as much as they can. Better still, try to prevent any of these situations from happening in the first place if you can!



Choosing a Dual
When accepting somebody as dual, please be careful how you choose that person and how much you know about their history and background. Remember that as the account holder (defined as the person who's e-mail was used to register the account) you are responsible for the entire account and all actions occurring on the account. This rule still applies even if the actions are done by a rogue sitter or dual. So be aware of these rules and risks when giving access to anybody - even friends!


Password Sharing
Before sharing the password to your account, you MUST make sure this password is not one that you also use for other services such as your Skype, MSN, forum account, e-mail address and so on. If you are somebody who uses one password for everything, you are at a huge risk of that password being exploited and we strongly advise you to change it immediately.

Please also bear in mind the Travian politics which occurs both in-game and on the forum. Don't use similar passwords for travian accounts on other game worlds or they might also be at risk if someone is out to get revenge for a personal disagreement.


Multiple Accounts
When accepting a dual or joining an account it is important you are aware of the person's server background. If they already have an account on the same server, or have been dualling on another account recently on that server, you need to follow the correct procedure to avoid multi-accounting and getting banned.

To avoid this happening you must set your current account to delete and only use the sitter function to dual on the new account. Once the old account is gone and disappeared from the server, you may now use password access. If you have been dualling on another account on the same server but can't delete it and want to move to a different account, you must ask the other remaining owner or duals to change the password of that account and wait 48 hours at least before logging into the new account.

Please contact the Multihunter on your server if you are unsure about changing accounts or the correct procedure to follow and they can advise you. Alerting them to this change can be very helpful if there are any complications during the transition.


Gold Theft
When joining an existing account or taking on a new dual, the gold and silver bought on this account can now be spent by anyone with access to the password. This can be anything from 2 to 20 duals - the point is your gold is widely shared and vulnerable.

It is therefore your responsibility when buying the gold to ensure you can trust all duals who have access to it. In the past we have heard of cases where a dual has bought gold and then been locked out of the account when the password was changed. Or account owners who have invited duals onto their account, only to find that hundreds of their gold has been used up in a matter of hours without their knowledge or consent.

Another form of gold theft is where gold is stolen due to the deletion of the account or the server ending and the automatic gold transfer link being abused.

If this happens to you, you must contact plus@travian.co.uk and provide them with as much information as possible, including proof of purchase. There's no guarantee the gold can be refunded but if there is any chance at all then this method is the one you need to follow.


Troop Suicide
As well as theft, it has sometimes been reported by players that their duals or sitters have killed their troops by sending them on suicide missions to enemy villages or allied players. If you are a victim of troop suicide, there is often not a lot you can do apart from explain the situation to the players who have incoming from your account and hope they will understand and dodge the attack to save your troops.

What we advise is removing all sitters and changing your password to protect the account until you are able to find out who caused the damage and was responsible.


Abusive Messages
Another potential issue you may face is players on your account sending messages to friends, enemies, or travian staff containing abuse in order to get your account banned or punished.

If this happens to you and you realize it soon enough, please contact the recipients on your server immediately and explain the situation or you will risk having your account banned if the messages are reported. Remember you are responsible for anyone with access to your account. Again we advise you to remove sitters and duals and change the password to the account until you find out who was responsible.