We realise that the events on the Rimor Dimension over the weekend that resulted in the suspension of several players have of course raised some questions that the we felt were worth clarifying.
Firstly, I would like to clarify that our Game Masters only ever suspend players when their actions leave us with no choice. It's never a good situation when we have to take such action against players. It’s not something that we do lightly, but we also have a responsibility to take action when people are trying to cheat the system to gain an edge. We won't apologise for that.
We do not suspend accounts on hearsay or rumour, but only when our staff witness and can verify that exploiting was taking place.
Secondly however we are not unaware that this is probably far from the first time this exploit has been used. That is why the players involved were suspended rather then banned from the game. They were the ones caught using it and we took the appropriate action. This was not an accidental encounter with a bug or design flaw, but a pre-meditated and very deliberate plan to abuse the game mechanics. Regardless of the fact others have done it before and got away with it does not make it acceptable.
Yes, it is unfortunate that we cant catch everyone who uses an exploit, and our GMs and support staff work as hard as possible to keep the game as clean from cheaters as they can. Its just a practical side effect of a virtual of world with thousands of players online at a time that we can't watch everyone all of the time. That in no way means we wont take action when we do witness these kinds of actions.
It also highlights the importance of player responsibility with such situations. When you discover a bug or loophole in any system, you have a choice. You can report it and choose not to take further advantage of it. If however you choose to use it to your advantage you have to be aware that you might get caught and face consequences. We fully understand it is a human trait to take the chance, especially if you see others 'getting away with it', that is why the actions taken weren't even harsher.
We play the game, we understand why players sometimes try to 'bend' the rules for the competitive edge, but likewise we won't tolerate people cheating the system to spoil the game experience of others. Sometimes these actions are required to re-enforce the standards that we expect from our community. We know that the vast majority of players play within the rules, and want to protect that.