I'm not associated with any of these people. I'm just a reporter on the front lines.
This was the culmination of a rather interesting evening. Around 9:30 PM CST on 03/29/14, a user named Sziadan managed to PM everyone on the entire ship, with the text "78". Later, an alt named Lobby Bot PMed the entire ship with "<3n10 78". Once word got out that he was sitting around on Block 20, everyone wanted to see him.
This is the only time in two years of playing this game that I've seen Block 20's premium space full to cap.
Lobby Bot sat around for a while, chatting idly with the block. He claimed to be behind the visiphone being down, and then started glowing different colors. Then, he logged out. A little while later, this happened.
Sega had this to say:
プレイ中の皆様にお知らせいたします。 3/30 12時頃より不正ユーザーの行為により、Ship02のビジフォンなど一部機能に一時的にアクセスしづらい 状況になっておりました。 該当ユーザーに対しては、アカウント停止措置を行い、現在は正常に稼働してお ります。またこの問題によりお客様のPCやプレイデータに影響はございませんので、ご安心ください。 皆 様にはご不安とご迷惑をおかけし大変申し訳ございませんでした
Translated by PSO-World's TaigaUC:
An announcement to everyone currently playing. At around 12pm 3/30, it became difficult to access some features such as Ship02's Visiphone due to a user engaging in misconduct. That user's account has been banned, and everything is currently running as normal. Furthermore, the problem does not impact players' PCs or user data, so please do not be alarmed. Our apologies for the inconvenience and anxiety caused.
Maninbluejumpsuit on PSO-World added:
Sound and particle effects seemed like continuous self-buffing with random drink/photon tree.