I wanted to draw attention to how a different game out there recently handled an exploit that essentially granted free resources, as a case study of what can be done:
http://myeve.eve-online.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=626
Things about this that catch my eye:
- the exploit is explained publicly (everything else that follows may or may not already happen internally with EAMythic - we just don't know)
- identifies the details of what system broke ( which by the way, is a cool system of building infrastructure to upgrade raw materials into better tiers of materials, which should probably be ripped off
)
- confirmed the fix to the community
- breaks down the impact of the exploit to the game's economy: it's great to be able to dig into data on how resources are gathered, sold and consumed. Obviously, this is not as easy in UO because of all the different ways goods can be exchanged, but it's very cool to have some basic market data available publicly.
- some nice ingame explosions when the exploiters were caught (burning houses in Luna are one of my favorite landmarks by the way - I wouldn't mind if they stayed permanently)
-gradients of ingame fines and warnings for those who profited from the exploit but may or may not have been aware (wrap a little fiction around the cleanup and set expectations that there will be some small or large repercussions of contact with exploiters and I think players would go along with minor penalties as one of the risks of play).
- a nice breakdown of when the exploit was first reported and what went wrong in not spotting it sooner.
Now I realize from past publish notes, that there are far too many exploits being hunted down and closed to do this sort of report for each one. Nor am I particularly unhappy with how things are done now ... well other than insatiable curiosity and a desire to see a faster turnaround time next time a we have a major exploit - the quick pounce on the accidental daily rares was a nice sign (by the way, is the warning on the patch screen still relevant?). However, I just wanted to draw some attention to this alternative way of handling the recovery from an exploit.
Anyway, food for thought for U.Hall to chew on.
http://myeve.eve-online.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=626
Things about this that catch my eye:
- the exploit is explained publicly (everything else that follows may or may not already happen internally with EAMythic - we just don't know)
- identifies the details of what system broke ( which by the way, is a cool system of building infrastructure to upgrade raw materials into better tiers of materials, which should probably be ripped off
)- confirmed the fix to the community
- breaks down the impact of the exploit to the game's economy: it's great to be able to dig into data on how resources are gathered, sold and consumed. Obviously, this is not as easy in UO because of all the different ways goods can be exchanged, but it's very cool to have some basic market data available publicly.
- some nice ingame explosions when the exploiters were caught (burning houses in Luna are one of my favorite landmarks by the way - I wouldn't mind if they stayed permanently)
-gradients of ingame fines and warnings for those who profited from the exploit but may or may not have been aware (wrap a little fiction around the cleanup and set expectations that there will be some small or large repercussions of contact with exploiters and I think players would go along with minor penalties as one of the risks of play).
- a nice breakdown of when the exploit was first reported and what went wrong in not spotting it sooner.
Now I realize from past publish notes, that there are far too many exploits being hunted down and closed to do this sort of report for each one. Nor am I particularly unhappy with how things are done now ... well other than insatiable curiosity and a desire to see a faster turnaround time next time a we have a major exploit - the quick pounce on the accidental daily rares was a nice sign (by the way, is the warning on the patch screen still relevant?). However, I just wanted to draw some attention to this alternative way of handling the recovery from an exploit.
Anyway, food for thought for U.Hall to chew on.
