New World Players Are Reportedly Mass Reporting Others to Get them Autobanned [Update]

[Update: 13 October 2:15 PM PDT] Amazon Games has responded to our request for comment and clarification on reports that players were being auto-banned in New World, specifically when based on player reports. 

"We do not auto-ban based on player reports. All player reports are reviewed by hand by our teams before any action is taken against a player. We know there’s been some confusion about this, and that it’s been made worse by players getting some inconsistent or unclear responses from our teams. It’s important that we earn our players’ trust, and we’ll aim to do a better job of communicating more clearly going forward."

[Original Story Below]

With New World, Amazon has a successful game on its hands, but with any launch, the community will manage to find issues that could use a little attention. There are allegations from the community that if you mass report someone in the game, bots can, and will, sometimes auto-ban that player. With mass bans happening, sometimes wars are won, in an abuse of the system. Amazon has claimed that they do not use bots, 

If you find yourself on the receiving end of an ambiguous ban, you can file an appeal. A community member compiled a collection of posts and supporting claims form those who claim to have been affected by these auto bans. If some are indeed using the system to mass ban players they don't like or are just being abusive towards, then something should be done. There hasn't been a whole lot of movement from Amazon, and some who have filed ban appeals report delays or no quick resolution. Others claim that they've received copies of the terms of service and nothing lifting the ban. 

Community Manager NW_Mugsy, in a post on the forum, indicated that there was confusion and that they do not use bots to moderate after a reporesentative gave conflicting, since removed, information. 

"We are using EAC for folks detected to be cheating, maybe they were confused on the differences between that and how in-game Code of Conduct reports are processed. I will work with them and their team to make sure they aren’t providing conflicting information in the future," read the update.

Of course, all games have their potential issues with moderation and the growing pains of launch can have an impact across the whole team, but the element of abuse alleged here makes this an important issue to address if confirmed. New World launched big, and there is heavy competition all around, so if people are exploiting a badly constructed reporting system to get their rivals out of the game for 24 hour auto bans or more, this needs to be addressed.

As one player put it,  "Pick a Player. Post in guild chat or in Global, To ban this person. All parties report them, the game AutoBans for whatever the reason listed by the group. Guilds are using it as a weapon against rivals on a regular basis. Its a running joke… If you are a crafter advertising your wares… a Guild can get you banned to eliminate the competition".

We've reached out for comment and clarification from Amazon on this matter. Once we have that, we will update this article.