In the MMO shooter Destiny, hundreds of cheaters have now been lightly dealt with by the banhammer. Many banned players are reporting that they swear they never did anything wrong.
The 7 Phases of the Cheater Cycle
It is a typical phenomenon in MMOs of all types: A phenomenon that appears in several phases:
- Everyone complains about cheaters and that there are far too many of them. The developers must do something right away.
- There are guides circulating on how to cheat, some people openly admit to using such tactics. Some other players mock them, with the motto “The honest one is the fool.”
- The developer announces bans.
- Cheaters get nervous. It was all just for fun, they never meant it that way.
- The developer really bans people.
- In the forums, numerous players complain that they were banned completely unjustly, claiming they never did anything wrong, that there must be a misunderstanding, a glaring injustice, and they demand immediate satisfaction.
- The “wrongfully banned” encounter something for which only we Germans have a word, it is called “Schadenfreude.”
This phenomenon is currently taking place in Destiny – and we are in the delightful phase between 6 and 7.
Currently in Destiny, one is in phase 6.5
Since Bungie banned players accused of manipulating the network connection, reports from horrified innocents are increasing, who claim they never did anything wrong and are now desperate that Bungie’s arbitrariness has caught them. They mainly populate the official Destiny forum, but they have also discovered the subreddit DestinyTheGame for their concerns: They want to be unbanned, thinking that public pressure will help.
A Crucible ban in Destiny means that certain weapons can no longer be used and also – at least for a time – one is excluded from the modes in which they did something wrong. In this case, it should mainly be the Trials of Osiris.
Whom can you trust? Who should you trust?
This is a tricky situation. As an outsider, you have no way to verify who is right, but must rely on the developers’ results or not. The player reports can, even if passionately expressed, ultimately be complete nonsense.
For other games, even form letters for “caught cheaters” are circulating, which they can post to appear particularly innocent. Some even charge money for the service of unlocking the accounts of banned players with tall tales.
Bungie has already commented on the accusations, stating they only act on reports where losing players accuse better players out of frustration. It is said: If we only acted on reports, we would have banned thousands and thousands, including some of our employees. That is not the case. They have other ways to verify this accurately.
Experience shows: Developers are usually, but not always right
Experience shows that it is a well-known phenomenon that also guilty players passionately proclaim their innocence, as in the end they can only gain something, but lose nothing. In the past, software companies sometimes presented the exact logs or evidence of what the “cheater” did, who so passionately washes their hands of guilt. But there have also been cases where the companies’ “detection tools” were indeed too sensitive and innocents were banned.
What do you think? Do you trust Bungie to catch the right ones and enjoy the spectacle? Or do you think that this ban wave has caught innocents? Perhaps we can only reliably say that starting tonight, when the next Trials of Osiris begins. Then we will see if the cheater situation has eased a bit.
