Feedback:User/Guild Wars 3 perhaps/How to Stop the 'Bots and Leechers Once and For All

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Go here to see a list of my other GW2 suggestions and discussion contributions.


First we have to start by asking ourselves why are there 'bots and leechers in the first place. The answer is to gain some in-game currency (whether that be gold, karma, faction, experience, etc.) for free / with no effort. I don't include in this discussion those players who are leeching just to be a pain in the a$$. There's not much that can be done about leechers of that type short of a vote-kick system; which has it's own pitfalls.


This then begs the question is 'botting and leeching the cause of the problem or a symptom?


I would argue it is a symptom. The real problem is a game mechanic that rewards players even in the absence of making any effort. Eliminate the cause and you eliminate the symptom.


What this means in concrete terms is no longer rewarding a team of players on the losing side of a PvP match. Now before anyone starts to complain that my suggestion isn't fair, keep in mind I didn't say eliminate rewarding players altogether. I said eliminate rewarding a team.


In other words, if you're playing in a PvP match and you participate by capturing a control point or killing an enemy, you personally will be rewarded experience, karma, faction, etc. for your effort. If your team as a whole wins the round, all of the members of that team will be rewarded additonal experience, faction, karma, etc. for being the victors. The losing team - on the other hand - gets nada, zip, zilch, zero. They get to keep whatever personal experience, faction, karma, etc. they earned in the round, but there will be no team reward for the losing side.


With no reward given to the losing side, this will greatly decrease or even eliminate 'botting and leechers. The reason is simple. Put yourself in the shoes of a 'botter or leecher for a moment. What is their motivation? To get something for free. And in a system set up to reward even the losers, the 'botter and leecher always win; they get team experience, faction, karma, etc. regardless of whether their team wins or loses and with no effort on their part. So under this system it's always a win-win situation for the 'botter and leecher.


Under my proposed system, only the winning side gets team experience, faction, karma, etc. If 'botting and leeching puts your team at a disadvantage such that the odds are very high that they will lose, then there will be no reward. Change the paradigm from WIN-win to WIN-lose and you short-circuit the 'botters and leechers motivation.


I know that a variation of the system I'm proposing is being implemented in the Dynamic Events whereby a player is rewarded only if they participate and only if their participation meets a minimum threshold. I just hope that the same consideration is being given to the PvP aspects of the game. I would even argue that the minimum threshold approach is too lenient with regards to PvP. Then a 'bot or leecher can contribute just minimally to their team's efforts and then sit out the remainder of the round to still get some relatively free experience, faction, karma, etc. (even if the team loses). I'd rather see an all-or-nothing approach in PvP; a winning team earns an additional reward, the losing team gets nothing. Otherwise we'll be plagued with 'bots and leechers in GW2 just like we were in GW1.


I realize this proposal flys in the face of the last 30 years of the touchy-feely, I'm-ok-you're-ok, there-are-no-losers-everybody-is-a-winner human potential movement left over from the '60s and '70s. Tough! The alternative of rewarding everyone - even those taking advantage of the flaws in such an approach to game design - leads to frustration and penalization of players who are serious about playing the game while rewarding those who haven't earned it. Maybe it's time for a change.


Thanks for reading.

Guild Wars 3 perhaps 00:44, 13 September 2011 (UTC)