Pre-Emptive Strike on Exploiters...

[Thrin]

Just get rid of them, ban them all. I have been playing MMORPGs since UO and nothing has made these types of games suck more, for me (and other players who play by the rules), than exploiters.

I have avoided PvP in most MMORPGs simply because of them (AO included), unless I know the people I am pvp'ing with. Exploiters completely destroy the continuity of the game.

My vote is to be as harsh on exploiters as possible. I remember when UO (OSI) completely banned whole guilds. I was happy to see them go.

I hope that you folks at Funcom can find the courage to nuke these people and groups. My guess is, is if you take the hard-line with them they will move on to the next game they can exploit and then, good riddance!

Of course not after Trolling and etc and etc.. immature peeps...

Thrin

[____________Founding]

What I'm really interested is in which guild have the 60% of banned accounts been from, I know there is two candidates, one omni, one clan, I think the Clan one is ahead of the Omni one. Either of those two guilds want to fess up?

[Ashuras]

NO NO NO....

We should NOT band such guilds. They serve a very important purpose in such games.

Err... as for wat purpose... I would only tell that to Funcom staff. I'm speaking from experience of running online games.

[RandaZ]

The players have a right to play the game as they see fit. No one is arguing that point. However, that right extends only so far as it does not violate the playability of the game for other players. Much like real world rights such as freedom of speech, they only apply as long as they do not infringe upon other’s rights. We can call this “responsible rights.”

This system of “responsible rights” is a compromise, between total freedom (true anarchy) and societal stability. Exploiting within the world of Anarchy Online, while deemed one way to play the game, should not be tolerated by the governing body as a valid method as it severely affects the game world for the rest of the players. This effect shows itself most prominently in PvP, but it also appears in solo play through the increase in mission difficulty; whose increase has be attributed to the minority, but extremely vocal set of “uber-equipped” players.

While we as players pay a monthly fee for Funcom to entertain us, they are the governing body (or administrators) of this world. We are not. Not only is it in Funcom's self-interest to maintain the viability and integrity of this world, it is their responsibility to uphold these rights and to enforce their responsible use by all denizens of Anarchy Online. Funcom must not take a stand-by attitude towards this. They must take a stand now. But what to do is the question.

Concerning the case of the suspected exploiting guild, I purpose three options, along with their advantages and disadvantages:

1) Ban All Members of the Exploiting Guild.
This is the first reaction that many would hold. It sends a strong message to exploiters that such things will no longer be tolerated and severe action will be taken when they are caught. Good message indeed, and one that would most likely deter the casual exploiter. It will also increase the public image of Anarchy Online in that its administrators are taking an extremely pro-active stance on issues that have rendered other similar games inept.

However, this action of banning users based solely on their membership is extremely arbitrary, and while the intent may be good, it is in danger of being critiqued as “guilty by association.” The question is whether Funcom is willing to take the route of martial law, or would prefer a more open judicial system where users are presumed “innocent until proven guilty.” Since Anarchy Online is not a real-world system and is in-fact a game and business model, moral issues that would otherwise be tied to death or incarceration should not be hold too dearly to this issue.

Another disadvantage is apparent from this option. While the removal of a percentage of the current crop of exploiters will be accomplished, this action will impose difficulties on any future enforcement of the rules. Any future exploiters, when they join the game will notice the precedence of this action and form out-of-game communities to share information regarding the exploits. When this happens, you lose one of the most valuable resources in the fight for exploits... a centralized user base dedicated to finding them (for self-gain) and shedding light on their existence (albeit unintentionally).

An additional factor to take into account is the psychological make up of the members who participate in wholesale exploitation. It is a sad truth that psychopaths (those without a moral conscience) will always form a small percentage of our population. Both in real life and in games. These people are not always murders or even malicious, but they are able to one degree or another, justify their behavior in-spite of whatever negative moral implications it may have. Their primary goal is self-gain regardless of the cost to their immediate others, and society as a whole. They are not socialpaths, who are anti-social. Psychopaths can and will sometimes band together to achieve like-minded goals. But they will also stab each other in the back if it serves their personal purposes. With that said, we move to the second option.


2) Provide a Positive-Reinforcement Reward System
In the past, reports of exploits and bugs have been solely at the discretion of those who are willing to help Funcom uncover bugs out of their own sense of duty. But why not utilize the basic psychopathological tendencies of exploiters toward this goal? Give them personal rewards for turning in exploits / bugs. Use their own motivation of self-gain to destabilize and remove the long-term effects of game exploits. As a suggestion, these rewards need not be a one-to-one award... but may rather be given as points which, when garnered enough of, can be exchanged for say an extra month’s membership.

This option does require however, that a tracking system of who reports what bugs be implemented, as well as awarding all submissions (even same bugs from multiple people to entice future reports). It will also require relatively quick turn-around on plugging the loopholes in the game mechanics or program bugs that these exploits use because they will also attempt to tell their guild in order to get a ‘double win’. The question of whether there are sufficient resources to devote a programmer / designer to tackle these exploit reports is an issue best left up to Funcom and the Anarchy Online management team. Another key issue is the balancing of the reward system such that it is an attractive alternative than keeping the exploit private and using it for personal gain. This may be combined with a more hard-line stance on exploits.


3) Leave and Monitor the Exploiting Guilds
I mentioned earlier that exploiters are psychopaths, not socialpaths. When it suits them, they will band together to share exploits between each other, such as with the guild in question. It is this key feature of their personality that could aid in helping find and closing the exploits. Their numbers are large, much larger than the Funcom live team. Use them as the information source for these exploits. With care, you can create characters that can infiltrate these guilds. You can more easily keep track of which players are the worst exploits (their names will circulate throughout the guild a lot more).

The only drawback of this option is that you will again need to devote a person or more to the specific task of infiltrating this loosely formed community. A programmer / design will also be needed on call to quickly close any loopholes / bugs that are being used.

Another disadvantage is that since no overt action is taken on the offending guild, more casual exploiters will take this as a sign of lax enforcement, thereby removing the cause and consequence chain of events from using exploits. Normal ‘law-abiding’ citizens of Anarchy Online may also view this as a disregard for system stability, causing them to leave in disgust.




Which of these options is right? Funcom needs to judge its requirements and available resources for the forthcoming 4 years. Do you have the people and resources to spare to implement a bug-tracking system along with the business fortitude to offer rewards to those that report enough exploits and bugs? If so, then perhaps a combination of option 2 and 3 can be made.

If no such resources are available, you at least can take some form of active engagement and implement option 1, the banning of said guild. This will at least lend some form of comfort to the overwhelming majority of players who view exploiting as a destabilizing influence on the world of Anarchy Online. These are the players you should be more interested in keeping as they will be the ones that would stick through the four year period (in addition to recommending Anarchy Online to friends and family). The problematic scattering of exploiters into the ‘underground’ will make the future task of finding them harder, but again, their capability will be somewhat muted by their lack of an active guild.

In the end, your task as administrator of this game world is clear. You must preserve the integrity of the game rules (EUL), the game system (code), and its users rights (play rights). The balancing of these sometimes conflicting goals will be difficult, but something must be done. Please think about it in some detail. Thank you for taking the time to read this.


Tappert Solminski
Concerned Citizen of Rubi-Ka

[Dhurdahl]

Im also for the hard line...

Banning a char should ban all acounts connected to that credit card plus it should block all futher business with it.

Ban whole guilds? no, thats wrong....

[Thrin]

I like your approach... But I still like option number one. Get rid of all exploiters, immediately, no questions asked.

Thrin