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Originally posted by kmilner
And I remember when this game came out they said they weren't going to be ban-happy. They would talk to people before bans went out. They were a different kind of game company that would listen to its player base. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" as the Who would say.

What I think is funny is how they go around banning people right and left without even talking to them, yet do nothing about the level 44 orc warrior who has been in Thousand Needles for three weeks continuously.
When I was there, 15 levels ago, he was stealing kills and even trying to skin my kills before I could skin them. He ignored constant requests to stop, so I reported him.
"We'll look into this player's activity and investigate further."
well, three weeks later, I can still do a /who on him anytime, day or night, and there he is, farming his little heart out. Same level, same location.
Yeah, they can't ban him because he MIGHT not be a farmer, but they ban others left and right for what ever capricious reason they feel is adequate.
Ban the cheaters and gold sellers, but do it evenly. And give them redress of grievences.Thats all I say.

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Yeah, I remember when they made their little shiny promises.

The game WAS good but then it became a massive thing with 582859829 users, this ruined it.

Obviously Blizzard was ALWAYS slow to deal with EVERYTHING, they have an retarded inter-company structure and need days to respond to anything that gets reported.

Ive always loved their games and enjoyed WoW for a brief time, but I just wish it goes out of business, really. The service is looking like crap.

If the game expands that much they need to try and deal with it, hire more people or make more transparent systems to deal with problems. Obviously they cant do it.

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Originally posted by Cymdai

I found this article pretty interesting Dan, and it definitely evoked some emotions from the readers. Well done!

 

The only point I'd like to discuss is in regards to what several posters mentioned earlier. I do believe you should be able to participate in PvP freely and openly in whichever manner you choose. However, I don't believe that just because you can that you neccesarily should.

You can hack whichever MMORPG you are playing at the time, but that doesn't mean you should. You  can run a botting application while you're afk from the game to make money, but it doesn't mean that you should. You can buy in-game currency from websites like IGE, effectively taking the easy way out of earning your own in-game money, but that doesn't mean that you should. Lastly, you can PK and corpseguard that player 30 levels lower than you, but it doesn't mean that you should

What I'm trying to say is that developers only have so much foresight when they release their products. It is my personal opinion that their biggest flaw in today's market is that they believe their consumers and players may have even the most fundamental core of morals and decency built into their persona, and that it's their HOPE that people won't use exploits, won't purposely grief, and won't look for ways to ruin other people's gaming experiences. This is a mistake; players today seem to have little to no regard for the feelings or well-being of their fellow players. Let's be honest here; compare the number of griefers in today's world with the number of griefers in the games say...5 years ago. I would certainly say there's a significant increase in the number, in my personal experience. I just don't think the devs have paid any attention to that rise in aggressive and malicious play-styles of their consumers.

Finally, I also must agree with what was mentioned at one point earlier in the thread. That is definitely the mindset of hackers, cheaters, and botters in-game, and rapists, killers, and thieves in real life. I don't believe it's wise to abuse privileges, because I know I will personally lament the day when game developers are merciless, and rule their games and T.O.S.' with an iron fist.

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Wow, exactly my thoughts. I think its sad how many people fail to see the point he tried to make and even the point he didnt make and wanted us to think a BIT about it.

BUT, its a subject that is built on some fundamental feelings, feelings that people are quick to respond to and then lose their reasoning (no wonder so many replies are just stupid, no offence).

Its like when you play and RPG and design one of those uber plots of doom(tm) and then you keep thinking "WTF ITS SO OBVIOUS, why cant the players figure it out !!!" or "Its not that obvious, but I gave you the tools to figure it out !"

Good article

Make "casual" servers and "hardcore" servers.

Hardcore people can compete against hardcore ppl and casual can vs. casual.

There we go, no huge item imbalances. :) Then you could even change the way you get the uber items on casual servers so mostly everyone can get those, or maybe just remove them altogether (but that would mean removing one part of the game..so..).

But then again, the problem with MMO's is the mentality. Everyone says WORK WORK WORK while its supposed to be fun.

People spend hours mindlessy grinding to be rewarded, SKILL was forgotten..and I doubt it will even be remembered again. If you take a minute to analyze any RL society you can see that it all is mirrored. :(