Just some thoughts over the posts I've read here regarding EA's ToS policies and their enforcement.
First, I have not been banned, and am not quitting so, NO, you can't have my stuff.
Second, I completely support the removal of dupes and dupers, cheaters, hackers. We just need to take a second and think thoroughly about the conflicted messages we as players receive when playing a multiplayer game.
I have played since late 99 and been what could loosely be described as a powergamer off and on for most of that time. As a result I have been exposed to individuals in several different guilds that were guilty of cheating in ways both large and small. I guess it is my uncompromising attitude towards any of those activities that has kept me in the dark in most of the methods they had used to compromise the game. I was only approached for assistance in all that time by one person, and in a very small way I will describe in detail later.
I've never been one to make use of complicated scripting programs, I simply lack the patience to make myself knowledgeable about the system. I'd much rather be playing, and play is supposed to be fun.
Throughout my play history I have seen players and associations of players aggravated to the point of quitting by their misplaced trust in their fellow players. It could be a bad seed in a guild. It could be a new acquaintance sending a file of some sort over icq. It could be a sham guild leader killing and looting new recruits.
Usually it takes me a good deal of time to warm up to a group enough that I will place myself in trust with them and join up, and when, inevitably I find the one or two members that make use of non approved programs to assist them in getting things done I find it impossible to blow the whistle. I take no reward for my silence, but the prospect of starting over again to repeat the same situation(which has happened multiple times) does not motivate me to do so. Further, I have no desire to get branded the snitch and find myself without any companions in game whatsoever.
A couple of years ago a leader for a guild I was in asked me to do a very odd thing. They told me they needed me to hold something for them for just a second so they could make a transfer to another character. they held multiple houses on the same shard so this request was perplexing to me, but I agreed. back in the day having someone to hold a small set of items and gold for a new character was quite common, but today the need simply doesn't exist for veteran players. Not long after that incident I was talking about making preparations for a transfer of some items across shards to bolster my activities. This same person asked where they were coming from and revealed that they had once played on the shard I was to be bringing things from and asked if they could piggyback one small item with my transfer. I was intrigued and met them to accept the item, granted them access to my house, and received a book that was written by a close friend they had lost.
Now that being the case it seemed to me a very easy task to name a char on our shard after the Author and copy the text verbatim so as to preserve the memory. Too late to make a long story short, I will say that that transfer of good did not happen until the guild had fallen by the wayside, and the book did not accompany my other items. but I still wonder what the repercussions of transferring that item might have been.
Every time I log into vent I wonder if my port is being snatched in a way that makes me vulnerable and whether or not someone will choose to exploit that vulnerability.
I like crafting and roleplaying a crafter, but little is my hope of roleplaying an accomplished maker of anything nowadays. Resource gathering has become a serious business only reserved for computers and the most ardent of temperament to the exclusion of enjoying playtime with your mates. High end crafting tools seem to be the exclusive domain of those who use unapproved programs or exploit the mechanics of the game itself, leaving myself and others under-equipped or, in at the least, complicity with them by purchasing the resources while working like dogs to acquire the gold, which by the way either now takes longer or is less rewarding in game loot. But at least in this scenario I get to do what is "fun" for me in game and I build a stock of other items to show for my efforts. The above also applies to a myriad of community collection rewards.
How do we know whom to trust? For joining with others and sharing adventures or as a reliable source for the needs we cannot seem to fill ourselves. Its a multiplayer game, if I'm forced to rely solely on my own efforts then what is the point?
I had occasion to watch a youtube video from a Warhammer dev a couple of months ago highlighting their player tome for in game accomplishments. It seems to me if this or something like it were applied at the player and guild levels it could be a very good thing for the game as a whole. Being able to see and name your accomplishments would be gratifying to players, and the ability to have a track for the back of the house might keep honest people honest.
If we applied that to the guild level the guild pages could serve a useful purpose of allowing discriminating players the ability to "see" which guilds were doing what they wanted to be doing and educate them as to which guilds they might need to be leery of.
The fact is I don't have answers, I have ten years worth of questions. But it seems to me the effort to certify or approve vendors and to make other similar information about characters and groups of characters and their activities would greatly ease the minds of our populous both current and, dare I say it, future growth.
We seem to enjoy a strong anticentralist mentality that would make all of these tasks daunting to say the least.
If you have actually taken time to read all this I will beg your pardon for my effusiveness before bidding you safe travels and happy hunting.
First, I have not been banned, and am not quitting so, NO, you can't have my stuff.
Second, I completely support the removal of dupes and dupers, cheaters, hackers. We just need to take a second and think thoroughly about the conflicted messages we as players receive when playing a multiplayer game.
I have played since late 99 and been what could loosely be described as a powergamer off and on for most of that time. As a result I have been exposed to individuals in several different guilds that were guilty of cheating in ways both large and small. I guess it is my uncompromising attitude towards any of those activities that has kept me in the dark in most of the methods they had used to compromise the game. I was only approached for assistance in all that time by one person, and in a very small way I will describe in detail later.
I've never been one to make use of complicated scripting programs, I simply lack the patience to make myself knowledgeable about the system. I'd much rather be playing, and play is supposed to be fun.
Throughout my play history I have seen players and associations of players aggravated to the point of quitting by their misplaced trust in their fellow players. It could be a bad seed in a guild. It could be a new acquaintance sending a file of some sort over icq. It could be a sham guild leader killing and looting new recruits.
Usually it takes me a good deal of time to warm up to a group enough that I will place myself in trust with them and join up, and when, inevitably I find the one or two members that make use of non approved programs to assist them in getting things done I find it impossible to blow the whistle. I take no reward for my silence, but the prospect of starting over again to repeat the same situation(which has happened multiple times) does not motivate me to do so. Further, I have no desire to get branded the snitch and find myself without any companions in game whatsoever.
A couple of years ago a leader for a guild I was in asked me to do a very odd thing. They told me they needed me to hold something for them for just a second so they could make a transfer to another character. they held multiple houses on the same shard so this request was perplexing to me, but I agreed. back in the day having someone to hold a small set of items and gold for a new character was quite common, but today the need simply doesn't exist for veteran players. Not long after that incident I was talking about making preparations for a transfer of some items across shards to bolster my activities. This same person asked where they were coming from and revealed that they had once played on the shard I was to be bringing things from and asked if they could piggyback one small item with my transfer. I was intrigued and met them to accept the item, granted them access to my house, and received a book that was written by a close friend they had lost.
Now that being the case it seemed to me a very easy task to name a char on our shard after the Author and copy the text verbatim so as to preserve the memory. Too late to make a long story short, I will say that that transfer of good did not happen until the guild had fallen by the wayside, and the book did not accompany my other items. but I still wonder what the repercussions of transferring that item might have been.
Every time I log into vent I wonder if my port is being snatched in a way that makes me vulnerable and whether or not someone will choose to exploit that vulnerability.
I like crafting and roleplaying a crafter, but little is my hope of roleplaying an accomplished maker of anything nowadays. Resource gathering has become a serious business only reserved for computers and the most ardent of temperament to the exclusion of enjoying playtime with your mates. High end crafting tools seem to be the exclusive domain of those who use unapproved programs or exploit the mechanics of the game itself, leaving myself and others under-equipped or, in at the least, complicity with them by purchasing the resources while working like dogs to acquire the gold, which by the way either now takes longer or is less rewarding in game loot. But at least in this scenario I get to do what is "fun" for me in game and I build a stock of other items to show for my efforts. The above also applies to a myriad of community collection rewards.
How do we know whom to trust? For joining with others and sharing adventures or as a reliable source for the needs we cannot seem to fill ourselves. Its a multiplayer game, if I'm forced to rely solely on my own efforts then what is the point?
I had occasion to watch a youtube video from a Warhammer dev a couple of months ago highlighting their player tome for in game accomplishments. It seems to me if this or something like it were applied at the player and guild levels it could be a very good thing for the game as a whole. Being able to see and name your accomplishments would be gratifying to players, and the ability to have a track for the back of the house might keep honest people honest.
If we applied that to the guild level the guild pages could serve a useful purpose of allowing discriminating players the ability to "see" which guilds were doing what they wanted to be doing and educate them as to which guilds they might need to be leery of.
The fact is I don't have answers, I have ten years worth of questions. But it seems to me the effort to certify or approve vendors and to make other similar information about characters and groups of characters and their activities would greatly ease the minds of our populous both current and, dare I say it, future growth.
We seem to enjoy a strong anticentralist mentality that would make all of these tasks daunting to say the least.
If you have actually taken time to read all this I will beg your pardon for my effusiveness before bidding you safe travels and happy hunting.