A heated discussion recently erupted around the spoiler culture in Destiny 2 due to a leaked emblem. Bungie expressed anger towards data miners and their “leaks,” but they countered and held the studio accountable.
Data mining, or “digging” for information from game data or via the API, has always been a controversial topic in Destiny.
- Some are grateful that they receive exciting info early, such as on upcoming new exotics or when certain seasonal cosmetics can be purchased in Eververse with in-game currency. Others simply enjoy finding exact stats and possible rolls of all weapons in the game through databases like light.gg.
- Other players demonize it, as it reveals new content too early, spoils upcoming story snippets, or generally ruins a surprise or two.
Recently, the topic of data mining gained attention again in connection with the Season 14.
Bungie is upset about data miners
What is the discussion about? Last weekend, community manager Dylan “dmg04” Gaffner suddenly spoke out and warned players on Twitter against purchasing a specific emblem. Codes for this emblem had already been sold, but it is not yet in the game and is supposed to be available for free later—hence the warning.
After Bungie inquired with players who already possessed the emblem about its source, they quickly blamed data miners for the situation. The tweet stated, among other things: “Data miners—please stop spoiling content, be it story or emblem codes…”
This sparked a debate about whether data mining is a curse or a blessing for Destiny, with many sharing dmg04’s perspective.
The problem is: according to investigations by Kotaku, the codes for the emblem did not come from data miners but from a Bungie insider. This was confirmed by the seller of the codes when asked by Kotaku.
However, another tweet from Bungie employee Drew Tucker from the Player Support Team followed, explaining how poorly Bungie feels about leaks and spoilers.
While this message also received much support, some prominent data miners expressed their frustration over Bungie’s tweets.
How data miners respond
Among them is Josh Hunt, the mind behind Destiny tools like Destiny Sets and Ghost Overlay, who voiced his discontent about the matter.
He asks: “If it was supposed to be a secret that you didn’t want spoiled, why was it not labeled as such?” This whole matter was made publicly available by Bungie through the API, which is the essence of an API—that third parties can use and process this information.
Hunt continued: “You [Bungie] create a publicly accessible API that third parties are supposed to use to create apps and even promote it on your website and in the game. Then you turn around and throw them [the third parties] under the bus and say they spoil content?”
In conclusion, Hunt states: “This is entirely on you, Bungie. Go back and label spoilers and other secret content. Don’t leave it for those building popular community sites to guess what you want to keep secret, only to end up being reprimanded by Bungie employees for spoiling it.”
Also, JpDeathBlade, a well-known data miner who runs the site TodayInDestiny, joined the discussion and emphasized that Bungie can easily mark things as “secret” in the API if they wish, so data miners can clearly see that it’s a secret and that this data is generally harder to access. The said “A Classy Order” emblem, for example, was completely unencrypted. “It’s hard to dig up something that’s completely publicly accessible,” the miner said.
Bungie is therefore capable of classifying database entries. In such cases, the exact information about exotics, triumphs, and other items cannot simply be publicly read.
JpDeathBlade also defended data miners who weren’t even responsible for the codes for the emblem circulating. As another example of Bungie’s “openness,” he provided the (at that time still) upcoming lore from Destiny 2, which is 100% freely accessible through the API—one wouldn’t even need to mine it, according to JpDeathBlade.
“If it helps someone, it’s okay…”
In a conversation with Polygon, JpDeathBlade aired his frustrations further.
“Most people are mentally divided about data mining—if it helps them, that’s fine.” A good example is his own website. TodayInDestiny shows interested players when certain weapon skins or other cosmetics rotate for sale in the in-game shop, allowing players to plan ahead for when to buy what. “Because it saves people silver [real money currency], they see it as a good thing. Usually, people just thank me or talk about which ornament they want to buy next.”
He ends by criticizing dmg04’s tweet again: “People then think all data miners are selling codes and not just one.” For this, he himself faced harsh attacks and even threats from others.
What do the players think? Discussions reveal that it remains a very controversial topic. It seems that the majority of players want surprises to remain surprises. At the same time, many understand that with an open API, designed specifically for fans to develop their own tools, it could continue to be problematic unless Bungie makes changes on their end. Because ultimately, they remain in control of this system.
But what do you say? What are your thoughts on the whole matter? Is data mining both a curse and a blessing? Should Bungie make changes? Or are data miners really to blame for everything? Let us know in the comments, as well as other readers from MeinMMO.
