Feedback:User/Guild Wars 3 perhaps/A Plea to ANet re: 'Bots & Leechers
A Plea to ANet re: 'Bots & Leechers
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| User | Guild Wars 3 perhaps |
| Categories | Player vs. Player |
Go here to see a list of my other GW2 suggestions and discussion contributions.
I give. ArenaNet, you win; I'm now reduced to begging.
Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaase do something about the 'bots and leechers in Jade Quarry!
I've made a suggestion for GW2 on how to eliminate the 'bots and leechers. My reason for posting here in the GW1 feedback forum is because Jade Quarry could be used as a sandbox for testing anti-leech/anti-bot suggestions before the launch of GW2.
I'm not going to beat around the bush this time with my usual calm and reasoned demeanor. Jade Quarry is BROKEN ! Period. It's not open to argument, debate, or interpretation. It's broken; end of story. It is so overrun with 'bots and leechers now the fun is completely gone. What's more is it's being exploited as a means of real money trading (indirectly through faction farming which is then traded for z-keys which are then traded for gold which is then sold for real money). Both of these negative consequences are a direct result of creating a game mechanic in which 'bots and leechers are rewarded for doing nothing.
Fortunately, all is not lost. Jade Quarry could be used as the test bed for putting my GW2 suggestion into place. Namely, through the use of the Flux mechanic, ArenaNet could temporarily eliminate faction rewards for the losing side in a Jade Quarry match. Once the 'bots and leechers are no longer gaining as much free faction as they once were (or, ideally, none at all as a result of their team consistently losing the matches), they'll just go away on their own.
Now, I realize that's a little too optimistic. Since the 'bots and leechers have been doing this for so long, they're likely on auto-pilot now. Consequently, they won't be eliminated 100% at this late stage in the game. Furthermore, it will take a little while before the players behind the 'bots and leechers begin to realize they aren't earning nearly the same amount of free faction they once were. This may mean having to keep this particular Flux effect in place for longer than the typical 1 month period before we begin to see a positive effect.
However, if my theory is correct, the 'bots and leechers will begin to dwindle in number as their free faction starts to dry up. What better place to test this out than where the plague is most prevalent; Jade Quarry. What's more, this will permit ArenaNet to test this suggestion out in GW1 prior to the launch of GW2. In so doing, ArenaNet will have some idea of whether or not this suggestion will work in the new game before it goes live.
In counter to anyone who claims it isn't fair to eliminate the faction reward for the losing side, my response is:
- a) Tough! Life isn't fair and those who lose shouldn't be rewarded anyway. See my original suggestion for a discussion of the ills that befall a system which rewards the losers; or, easier yet, just look at Jade Quarry. What we're seeing played out in JQ is exactly what happens in any system that rewards people win OR lose! You want to see that repeated in GW2, as well?
- b) Jade Quarry is already broken, what with being overrun by 'bots and leechers. It's no skin off anyone's nose to use it as a test bed for ways to improve the next game so we aren't plagued by 'bots and leechers all over again.
- c) You'd rather deal with 'bots and leechers on your team and be more-or-less guaranteed a loss (if your side has more of them than the other side) than be given at least a fighting chance with real players on your team? I'll take the most inexperienced real player who hasn't a clue what they're doing over a 'bot or leecher any day. The real player can learn, can improve, can eventually win; the 'bots and leechers can not.
- d) If you read my original suggestion, you'll see that I'm not suggesting eliminating all rewards for someone who's on the losing side. I'm only suggesting eliminating a team reward. In this way, real players who participate in the game the way it was intended are still rewarded; even if their team loses. Leechers, on the other hand, will get nothing. 'Bots may still get some lesser amount of faction due to their "participation", but they will be denied the much larger team reward for which they were programmed in the first place. My theory being that 'bot teams (or the team with the greater number of 'bots) consistently lose more often than they win; but they still get rewarded under the current system. That's why they're there in the first place; free faction win-or-lose (which then translates into real money for their programmers).
- e) To anyone who suggests that the real solution is to unlink the in-game reward from any method by which it could be turned into real money (regardless of how indirect a route it takes to get there), that won't work, either. It will certainly eliminate the 'bots and leechers who's ultimate goal is to earn real money through faction farming. Even if you eliminate that portion of the 'bot and leecher crowd, though, we'd still be plagued by those who will 'bot and leech just for the sake of gaining free in-game rewards (Karma, Influence, etc.). No, the solution is to eliminate the free-rewards-win-OR-lose system altogether.
ArenaNet wants to make GW2 truly ground-breaking. That should extend to all parts of the game, including it's safeguards against 'botting, cheating, exploitation, and leeching. It won't be long before GW2 launches; now is the ideal time to test out my suggestion using GW1 as the guinea pig. What have you got to lose, ArenaNet? Jade Quarry is already broken; it's not like it could get any worse. If my suggestion fails to get the desired result, then you can all flame me on the discussion tab, yell "I told ya so!", and set Jade Quarry back to the way it was; no loss. Who knows, though; it might get better. But you'll never know if you don't try.
Thank you for reading.
Guild Wars 3 perhaps 01:31, 5 June 2012 (UTC)
