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CCP Games on the extent and impact of EVE's starbase exploit
Massively has been watching the issue of a significant starbase exploit in EVE Online, through which some players reaped vast financial rewards, as it went from rumor to confirmation from the developers themselves. Unlike your average run-of-the-mill exploit in most massively multiplayer online games, the exploit in question has had a significant impact on EVE's virtual economy -- the backbone of the game itself. All players in EVE interact in one vast galaxy, and their actions in the sandbox can create ripples felt by their fellow players, which has certainly been the case in this past week.EVE Online's developer CCP Games has opted to hold off on responding to most press inquiries for comment on the issue, having issued a statement on the matter and then focusing on the investigation and a weekend meeting with EVE's player-elected community representatives, the Council of Stellar Management (CSM). The minutes from that meeting are now available, and several of EVE's developers took part in the discussion: namely CCP's Lead Economist Dr. EyjoG (Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson) and CCP Arkanon -- who heads up the company's Internal Affairs division, which investigates the CCP Games staff themselves, hopefully ensuring that no CCP employee can abuse their influence over the game. Read on for Massively's highlights of the state of affairs in EVE Online, in the wake of the starbase exploit.
An update on the EVE Online starbase exploit
In the wake of last week's revelation of a market disrupting exploit in EVE Online, a growing number of players have been calling for increased transparency on the situation. EVE's developer CCP Games has stated they've discovered seven player-run corporations taking advantage of the player owned station (POS) exploit, which yielded a vast amount of materials used in the EVE Online's manufacturing (crafting) system. Three of those corporations were in two alliances, and over 70 accounts have been banned thus far in connection with the exploit. The starbases used in the exploit have been destroyed by CCP, and they've stated that the corporations in question are now effectively inactive following the bans. CCP Games has not released the names of characters, corporations, or alliances linked to the exploit, but a player named "moppinator" of the AMT. corporation (part of Ev0ke alliance) stepped forward and issued the following statement on the extent of his alliance's involvement:
Blizzard bans Battle.net accounts before WotLK launch
Blizzard recently announced that they'd be switching over to a new centralized account system, tying together the company's online games through Battle.net. Existing World of Warcraft accounts are essentially replaced by Battle.net accounts, and will allow for the tracking of achievements across the Blizzard titles. But some players, roughly 350,000 of them, found another unexpected feature arrived with the Battle.net account integration: bans. Gamesindustry.biz reports: "Blizzard has revealed that is has closed over 350,000 StarCraft and Diablo II accounts which were found to be using third-party hacks. The company further revealed that the Diablo II CD keys associated with the closed accounts are now barred from playing on Battle.net for 30 days and warned that repeat offenders face a permanent ban." Check out the full report over at Gamesindustry.biz, along with a statement from Blizzard about the bans.
Recent Xbox Live bans done to retain 'health of the video game business'
After hearing modding forums across the interwebs explode in anger when finding out about Microsoft's recent use of the Xbox Live banhammer, Microsoft's Major Nelson decided to make an official comment. "In our our continued effort to keep gameplay safe and secure for our community of more than 14 million members, Microsoft has taken action against a small percentage of Xbox 360 consoles that have been illegally modified in order to play pirated games. The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive, both from manufacturers and the local companies that support them."So, there you have it. The health of the video game business depends on slapping modders and haxorz on the wrist and taking their Xbox Live privileges away. So, kids, don't do it. Don't mod. Or just don't go on Xbox Live with your mod. (End X3F public service announcement.)[Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]
Gears of War 2 not releasing in Germany, Japan
Microsoft has confirmed that Gears of War 2 will be "banned" in Germany and won't release in Japan. Per standard operating procedures in these situations, the title was refused a rating in Germany, which means it cannot be sold in the country. The news isn't exactly shocking considering the original Gears of War was also verboten in Deutchland.The Germany ban was expected, but lack of Japanese release is a little surprising. It could have been the violence was just too over-the-top for the ratings board there -- even with the game's optional gore and language filter.Update: We're not exactly clear on the Japan situation. We've contacted Microsoft to find out if the game was refused classification or wasn't even submitted for a rating. Microsoft responded to our request stating: "We have no announcements to make about Gears of War 2 releasing in Japan at this time."[Via X3F]
Banned for no reason at all
GuamPDN.com ("Guam's complete source!") has an article up by Duane George, who tells his story of woe: he got banned from the game for suspected Arena win trading, and had to deal with 72 hours without the game. Blizzard, obviously, doesn't provide any information on how many players get banned from the game, and it would be even harder to determine the number of false positives out there like Duane: people who didn't do anything wrong but end up getting banned anyway. We've heard stories here of course, but this is a tough area to investigate by its very nature.For Duane's part, he does say that he plans to stay out of Arenas and stick to battlegrounds, so you'd think that if there were a ton of false positives like him who were turned off from the Arena experience because it wrongly got them in trouble, Arenas wouldn't be nearly as popular as they are. But of course we don't know -- there's no oversight on Blizzard's part (and you could argue that there shouldn't be anyway, since it's their game), not to mention that they've got the right, according to the Terms of Use, to ban anyone at any time for any reason without notice anyway. If they were really going overboard, you'd expect them to be losing customers, and that's not the case yet.Fortunately, this wasn't a permanent ban, and while he did apparently lose some Arena rating and the gear that came with it, his character wasn't too much the worse for wear. A 72-hour ban isn't too big a deal, so Blizzard probably hands those out with much less consideration than a permanent ban anyway. But we're sure Duane isn't the only case out there -- as small as the number may be, there's almost definitely other players like him, banned for doing nothing wrong at all.
Rumor: Dead Space banned in Japan
At this point, we really don't know what the truth is behind the alleged banning of EA's sci-fi horror title, Dead Space, in Germany, Japan and China. The prohibitions were originally reported on last week, after which GamePolitics called shenanigans. The latest crumb to the tale comes from Ars Technica and what is believed to be the developer's Twitter, which currently states the game is banned in Japan.EA still hasn't made an official statement on the matter, though Ars reports we "should expect" an official announcement soon.
Thailand bans some games in wake of cabbie murder
The Thai government continues its campaign against violent games in the wake of a cabbie's murder, allegedly inspired by Grand Theft Auto. CNet's Thai blog reports that five games have been banned in the country (GTA IV was already pulled by the distributor): Hitman 300 Killer Seven Hitman: Blood Money 50 Cent: Bulletproof The five games are, as Game Politics pointed out early last month, taken directly from an outdated list by Detroit prosecutor Kym Worthy. CNet reports that a conference consisting of government and police officials was recently held to deal with the problem of "dangerous games." Making fun of Thailand's overreaction to the situation would be so much simpler if "Hot Coffee" wasn't still so fresh in our minds.[Via GamePolitics]
Sri Lanka to ban phone sharing in order to thwart terrorist activities
We've seen countries institute some pretty weird regulations when it comes to wireless handsets, but this one is apt to seem patently absurd to anyone outside of (and possibly within) Sri Lanka. Government officials are reportedly gearing up to implement legislation that would require handset owners to "to carry a certificate of ownership at all times when carrying their phone around." The new law will hopefully cut down on some terrorist activities that have apparently been going on, but it will also inconvenience quite a few innocent citizens as well. Ah well, at least locals can legitimately ask their mooching friends to get their own without sounding all snobbish.[Via textually]
Mass bannings strike Glider users
We've gotten more tips on this than any other topic in recent memory: apparently many users of the popular WoW botting program Glider have been hit with the ban hammer, including some of our very own readers. You may recall Glider as the company with whom Blizzard is currently embroiled in a lawsuit (does the word "embroil" have any use other than lawsuits?). The Glider forums are abuzz with comments and complaints, to which I can only reply "QQ." Botting is clearly against the EULA, the spirit of the game, and the best interests of the other players. Yes, I would be sad if I got banned, but honestly, anyone who was botting had it coming. There are various objections to be made to this stance. Most of the people who wrote in claim to have been botting in order to bypass the tedious leveling process. I agree that it can be boring to level 1–70 multiple times, even with the new, faster 20–60 process. However, that doesn't make it OK to cheat. Others claim that with fewer bots in the system, the supply of primals will be reduced and therefore the price will go up; I'm not much of a WoW economist, so I'll leave that to others. But to this blogger, banning botters can only be interpreted as a good thing: some cheaters got what they deserved. Whether you agree or disagree, please feel free to sound off in the comments. And if you are a botter yourself, and haven't gotten banned yet, I'd advise you to stop -- they're clearly getting serious about this.
Blizzard cracks down on arena win trading
We already know that Blizzard is tweaking arena rules to make it much tougher to artificially inflate your rating by win trading or buying high ranked teams in Season 4, but it looks like they're starting to take it one step further, by cracking down on people who indulge in it. Reports are coming in from the official forums and from other spots around the web of people getting bans or suspensions (generally 72 hours in length) and having their Season 3 arena gear stripped. The bans are even permanent in some cases, such as that of Sinther of Stormscale, whose account was permanently banned when his friend used it to do some win-trading, with the win trading given as the specific reason for his banning. You can read many of these stories and reports in this forum thread.
Australia may receive R-rating for games, fewer bans
The Sunburnt Country has never been a very friendly place for video games with adult content. With a maximum game rating of MA15+, games which are deemed unsuitable for the pubescent, corruptible senses of a 15-year-old are often refused classification, and therefore banned. Several North American best-sellers have fallen victim to Australian banning, or been forced to release censored versions for the land down under, such as GTA III, Postal, Manhunt, and (preemptive attack!) Dark Sector.Luckily for gaming Aussies (50 percent of which are over the age of 18), government officials are considering the addition of an R18+ rating, allowing the sale of more mature titles. This proposition will be discussed at the next Standing Committee of Attorneys-General on March 28. Should the system undergo the change, for the first time in Australian video games, there will be blood, nudity, and strong language. You know, the good stuff.
No classification for Dark Sector in Australia
We've been kind of milquetoast on Dark Sector, the first "next gen" game ever announced, for reasons ranging from its completely uninspiring title to ... well, it's basically the title. But now that the game has been denied a rating by Australian classification board the OFLC, we're totally in to it.How could they not see how their plan would backfire? Check this line from their report: "When Hayden cuts off his opponent's limb with the glaive, large amounts of blood spray forth from the stump and the injured person screams in agony which increases the impact." Umm, we'd like to write something about how awesome that sounds, but we're a little busy pre-ordering eight copies. IGN guesses the game will be softened and resubmitted, but unless they're going to insist that the stumps are actually spraying strawberry preserves, it sounds like they have a lot of work ahead of them.
Flying Lab banning for RMT already
In an almost "news of the weird" situation, word came out yesterday evening that the fine folks at Flying Lab are already seeing grey-market gold selling in their still-in-pre-launch game Pirates of the Burning Sea. While any MMO veteran knows just how pervasive gold selling is in any game, this is perhaps the first time we've heard of them opening up shop quite so openly before a game is even officially launched. As Aether states, "we will [be] following up with the appropriate disciplinary actions, which could include confiscation of the resources in question, and ultimately banning accounts that sell or buy these illicit resources." We certainly wish Flying Lab the absolute best of luck with stamping it out -- and hopefully keeping chat channels clear of the spam that seems to be everywhere these days. But you have to admit, the fact that the gold-selling companies are getting this brazen before official launch isn't exactly a good sign.
A Brazilian court bans EverQuest
In a classic moment of governmental insanity, word has gone out that a court in the Brazilian state of Goias has put a ban out on Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest. The consumer protection agency for the country has apparently picked up on the ban, and is noting it on its official website.Kotaku readers have been writing in to that site, expanding on this decision and a similar one that has been handed down on the tactical shooter Counter-Strike. This ban technically applies to the whole country, as decisions made in one court system are technically the law of the land throughout Brazil. A reader noted that at the moment only the state of Goias is applying the ban, as other court leaders seem to think the decision may be flawed.Fascinatingly, EverQuest isn't even commercially released in the country of Brazil. Even more interesting, reader comments seem to indicate this is a forced ban: copies of the game reported being 'taken' by the police. The ban (on EQ, anyway) seems to stem from the moral ambiguity of many of the quests:As for EverQuest, Procon states that it "takes the gamer to complete moral conflict and 'heavy' psychological conflicts; for the tasks that are given to them could be bad or good. (...) Violent videogames that use violence are capable of forming agressive individuals, making it evident that is strong its influence on psyquism, reinforcing aggressive attitude against certain individuals and social groups".Further commentary is available at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
Microsoft begins new round of Xbox Live bans
Heads up, Xbox 360 tinkerers -- it appears that Microsoft is bringing out the ban hammer once again. According to a thread on an Xbox-Scene forum, users are having their Live wrists slapped left, right, and center due to "bad discs" (i.e., non 1:1 copies of games). Initially, the problem seemed to be modified DVD firmware, but it now appears the cause is due to game data that isn't properly copied, or has been "touched" in some manner. Keep in mind, these are console bans, as opposed to Live account bans, which is a minor amount of good news. The forums are abuzz with profane indictments of Microsoft and calls for heads on platters (okay, it's not that bad) -- but mostly everyone is just waiting to see where the next hit will come from. You've been warned, folks.
Target rids its shelves of Manhunt 2
Rumors have been circulating for a while that Target, prompted by the discovery of Manhunt 2's hidden dirty, dirty filthy content on the PSP version of the game, had pulled the title from its shelves. Now, GameSpot has received the official word that, indeed, those hunting (get it?) for a hyper-violent, hyper-mediocre action-stealth game will have to look for a store without red ring decor.Is this maybe, just maybe, more a move to avoid a media firestorm than an actual concern about keeping young'ns from buying objectionable material at Target? ... We have no idea why you'd think that.
Manhunt 2 controversy may boost sales
The AP reports that the decision to suspend the distribution of Manhunt 2 may actually help sales by boosting curiosity of gamers who will want to see what all the drama was about. Well, duh! Speaking with analysts, the AP says that the controversy will benefit the game in the long run. Of course, they couldn't get anyone from Take-Two or Rockstar to go on the record about that -- welcome to the club AP."It's free publicity," says Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets. Rick Munarriz, a senior analyst from The Motley Fool said, "If anything, with this suspension there's going to be a demand for it because of the controversy." Also, Take-Two's stock went up Friday by 21 cents. With no announcement of cancellation, especially with Take-Two's CEO calling it a work of art, looks like Manhunt 2 will come back out of the gate with an M rating and a heck of a lot more free publicity in a few months. Meanwhile, Take-Two and Rockstar are poised to do a one-two punch with GTA IV, which is still on track for its October release.
Postal designer speaks out on Manhunt 2 bans
After recent ratings and banning fiascoes surrounding Manhunt 2, GameSpot sat down with Vince Desi, CEO of Running with Scissors, developer of another controversial series, Postal. Desi speaks out about the ESRB and its power over the gaming industry as well as his (lack of) jealousy that Rockstar "managed to land an AO rating" before Running with Scissors did.Desi doesn't think the Manhunt ratings increase will accomplish much more than appease politicians and hurt Rockstar, kids will still get their hands on the game. "The video game industry is too easy for [politicians] to complain about, and with a presidential election next year ... it could be the only issue the Democrats and Republicans agree upon.". In other words, it's a game of politics and business, not concern for anyone's well-being.
Are gold sellers the key to WoW's continued success?
On Monday, Blizzard banned several thousand accounts found using third party programs to fully automate killing and looting, aka botting. These programs are largely used by gold selling companies employing farmers to speed up the rate at which they can supply gold to the many buyers out there. But a columnist at the Lightspeed Ventures site has a different take: he proposes that gold sellers are actually the independent application developers that are integral to the success of any online venture.No matter where you fall on the gold farmer debate ("they ruin the game" vs "they fill a need the developers refuse to acknowledge"), you have to stop and think about this particular premise. Lightspeed, a venture capital company that funds technology companies, asserts that any platform needs three critical elements to succeed.
