In the MMORPG ArcheAge, after the publisher change, there was an exploit involving underwear in the game. Those who exploited it were permanently banned. However, Kakao Games has now decided to reverse these permanent bans after a few months. It is speculated that this is related to the low player numbers.
What was this exploit? With the exploit that Kakao Games referred to as “Panty Gate”, it was possible to quickly level up the character’s underwear to the maximum level using a code for bonus gifts.
Some players created additional accounts to redeem the code as well. This led to an economic crash.
Kakao Games – the company that took over the publishing of ArcheAge at the end of 2021 – responded with a permanent ban on player accounts and their newly created accounts. However, this ban is now being lifted.
It was a clear exploit, but it’s not viewed as strictly anymore
What does Kakao Games say exactly? In a statement, they announced that they find the permanent bans too harsh, especially when considering the long history of ArcheAge. Since all the gold and underwear generated has been removed from the game, they decided to lift the bans.
One of the first exploits during the relaunch, known as “Panty Gate”, led to the permanent banning of many accounts. While we were aware that this was an exploitation of mechanics and the steps involved were obviously exploits, we have reviewed the stance we took during this incident to determine whether our actions were correct and in the best interest of the ArcheAge community.
via ArcheAge
Clearly, the actions were not in the interest of the community. What exactly this means is not explained. However, some players have a suspicion.
There will be no compensation for the banned players. Also, the additional accounts created to exploit the game will remain banned.
Are the low player numbers a reason for the lifting of bans?
What is the community’s interest? For an MMORPG to be enjoyable, it needs good players first and foremost. However, these are hard to find in ArcheAge. Much indicates that the MMORPG is slowly dying:
- On Steam, there were a peak of 101 players playing ArcheAge simultaneously in the last 24 hours. The record is 6,509 players in 2014 (via SteamDB).
- ArcheAge Unchained even had only 79 players at peak simultaneously. The highest number here is 7,242 players in 2019 – the release year of the spin-off.
- Moreover, there is practically no exchange about the MMORPGs. The reddit of ArcheAge had only 3 new threads in the last 7 days. On the homepage, there are several posts asking which servers still have players or whether ArcheAge 2022 is completely dead.
- There has also been no forum since the switch to Kakao Games, but there is a Discord server. At least there is some communication with the CMs of Kakao Games.
The mood is poor: Recently, Kakao Games and developer XL Games have repeatedly turned players against themselves due to bugs and exploits that remained for weeks or months, unjustified bans, or the prolonged server mergers.
Also, the announcement of ArcheWorld, the NFT game related to ArcheAge, was not well received. Many wish for Trion Games or even Gamigo to return as publishers.
Therefore, some suspect that Kakao Games is lifting the bans to win back a few hardcore players and thus strengthen the community. However, the future looks difficult for ArcheAge.
Many hope that eventually classic servers will come that return the game to its release state. However, there are currently no signs of this.
Another hope is ArcheAge 2, although there has been no update on that for quite some time:
New MMORPG ArcheAge 2 focuses on Unreal Engine 5 and new races
There will be no compensation for the banned players. Also, the additional accounts created to exploit the game will remain banned.
Are the low player numbers a reason for the lifting of bans?
What is the community’s interest? For an MMORPG to be enjoyable, it needs good players first and foremost. However, these are hard to find in ArcheAge. Much indicates that the MMORPG is slowly dying:
- On Steam, there were a peak of 101 players playing ArcheAge simultaneously in the last 24 hours. The record is 6,509 players in 2014 (via SteamDB).
- ArcheAge Unchained even had only 79 players at peak simultaneously. The highest number here is 7,242 players in 2019 – the release year of the spin-off.
- Moreover, there is practically no exchange about the MMORPGs. The reddit of ArcheAge had only 3 new threads in the last 7 days. On the homepage, there are several posts asking which servers still have players or whether ArcheAge 2022 is completely dead.
- There has also been no forum since the switch to Kakao Games, but there is a Discord server. At least there is some communication with the CMs of Kakao Games.
The mood is poor: Recently, Kakao Games and developer XL Games have repeatedly turned players against themselves due to bugs and exploits that remained for weeks or months, unjustified bans, or the prolonged server mergers.
Also, the announcement of ArcheWorld, the NFT game related to ArcheAge, was not well received. Many wish for Trion Games or even Gamigo to return as publishers.
Therefore, some suspect that Kakao Games is lifting the bans to win back a few hardcore players and thus strengthen the community. However, the future looks difficult for ArcheAge.
Many hope that eventually classic servers will come that return the game to its release state. However, there are currently no signs of this.
Another hope is ArcheAge 2, although there has been no update on that for quite some time:
New MMORPG ArcheAge 2 focuses on Unreal Engine 5 and new races
