I read about something that happened in the WvWvW match between Yak's Bend and Sanctum of Rall (and some other server that apparently wasn't involved). Slurms shared the story on The Tyria Chronicles, it was originally posted on Reddit by Groundstop:
This is the kind of pro-social behavior I am seeing across the game, even if it was initiated by an anti-social cheater.I believe I can speak for a large number of people from Sanctum of Rall when I say that tonight something happened that I never would have expected.While playing WvWvW tonight against Yak's Bend and Northern Shiverpeaks, we were greatly upset to discover that someone had hacked their way into our Garrison on the Sanctum of Rall Borderlands and stole our orb. We then watched as the orb flew around the map before finally stopping in Yak's Bend's Ascension Bay to be placed upon their altar.So far, this story is similar to a lot of the stories that have been popping up as of late, tales of hacking and cheating to get the advantage. This next part is where it gets really interesting though. We were nearly instantly contacted by the leader from FOO, one of the major guilds on Yak's Bend. Turns out that they were as bothered by the cheating as we were, and they wanted to make amends in the best way that they could.Yak's Bend, under the leadership of FOO, collaborated with the leaders of EPIC from Sanctum of Rall in order to organize the trading of Ascension Bay. We were allowed to seize Ascension Bay entirely unopposed such that we may take back the orb that rightfully belonged to us. In exchange for this kindness, we in turn left Ascension Bay immediately after capturing the point so that the zerg from Yak's Bend could take the keep back. Aside from a few pugs, not a single attack took place from either server while this exchange took place. It was quite possibly one of the most impressive things I've seen since this game came out.I would like to thank Yak's Bend for suggesting this exchange, and for ensuring that the deeds of the many overcame the negative actions of the few, and taking a risk in letting us seize a stronghold for the purpose of rectifying a mistake.TL;DR Someone from Yak's Bend hacked the SoR orb from our Garrison, Yak's Bend let us take their keep, seize the orb, and leave without killing a single SoR player in order to make up for the hacker.
I've heard of a similar incident happening in World of Tanks once on a smaller scale. A player was teamkilling, and using the global chat, the other 29 players called a truce and worked together to destroy the TK'er. With that done, the two sides returned to their starting areas and began the match anew. Now, that was only 30 players total, and it was pretty amazing to hear tell of by players who were there. But this - that's what, several hundred players?
ReplyDeleteY'know, I'm not sure; at least a hundred per side, probably more. Cool to hear about the incident in WoT.
DeleteThis behavior is laudable. What isn't is the fact that it was necessary at all.
ReplyDeleteYears. YEARS this game was hyped practically nonstop. It got to the point where you couldn't read any given MMO-related blog without being choked with hype. ArenaNet sold presales practically nonstop. Even today you can't read anything gaming-related without being inundated with ads for GW2. If the game weren't decent it'd be nauseating - as it is, it just turns me a bit green.
Point is, there's absolutely no lack of time or resources available to stop exploits like this from happening. It's absolutely ludicrous and serves to ensure that I will never, ever pay real money for gems...assuming the broken economy stopped facilitating that in the first place, I mean. They had more than long enough to take care of issues like this. Instead, we've got hackers, lockboxes, an auction house that was practically unusable for weeks after release and essentially no endgame content.
It's a decent game, but boy I'm glad I don't have to pay a sub for it.
I find myself a little more forgiving of the developers not finding bugs and exploits ahead of time. After all they number in the hundreds at most, whereas the players number in the millions. The game itself has billions of moving parts (the code) and no amount of money is going to find all the glitches ahead of time.
DeleteAlso, as demonstrated by the hack/exploit that initiated the giant WvWvW hugfest, the player population certainly has people willing to break the social constructs of fair play to gain advantage over their opponents. Blaming the police or the legislature for the behavior of a criminal makes no sense.
The behavior of the cheater or perhaps at least the attitude) is all too common and pervasive across many games. It's what leads to the twinks ROFLstomping the battlegrounds of WoW; and worse, griefing, botting, and gold farming in many games. The behavior of the other players in this incident, helping each other to guarantee the restoration of fair play, is not just noteworthy, but worthy of celebration.