In Star Citizen there is a curious new tactic on the test server. A new item allows players to heal others. However, those who receive too much healing will faint. This works even in areas where no PvP is allowed.
This is the situation in Star Citizen:
- The SF MMORPG Star Citizen is the “largest indie MMO” in the world. The game has now raised $394 million in funding, initially through crowdfunding, later mainly through the sale of digital ships.
- A release is not in sight, but the game is regularly expanded. Currently, patch 3.15 is being tested on the public test server (PTU).
- Patch 3.15 introduces the new “healing system” to the game. A “healing gun” creates strange effects.
Weapon heals through drugs, can make players faint from overdose
This is the curious item: With 3.15, a new “healing gun” comes to Star Citizen. With the weapon, you can give other players a healing drug. But if you overdo it and give a player an overdose of healing, they will faint.
These are the effects: A player demonstrates on the test server how people intentionally “overheal” others and thus make them faint. In the state of unconsciousness, players are defenseless (via youtube). As the site Kotaku writes, they can be dragged around and even stripped of their inventories: The players end up in their underwear.
A player on reddit says: “A small group” of players does this and trolls people with the tool. The first time it happened to him, it was quite funny. Because at least they left his stuff alone. But when the patch goes live, this could become a problem.
In the Star Citizen forum, forum user Kinesis is outraged about the problem: This should have been seen coming. If someone wanted to design a stun gun, they should do so – but not as a healing cannon. The use of such a weapon must be illegal in peaceful areas.
This is what it’s all about: This is a bizarre problem that only occurs on the test server and likely won’t be going live. Players are already demanding that you can only heal people in the party or that you must give consent to be healed by others.
The exciting thing is that it shows how seriously Star Citizen takes its systems and how convoluted the systems can quickly become: If a gun can heal, it does so through a drug. When a drug is administered, an overdose can occur as well.
In ‘normal’ games, this would not have been considered and would be a problem that doesn’t arise.
Star Citizen has now raised nearly $400 million from ship sales and donations, yet there are many conflicts surrounding the game:
Why new MMOs via crowdfunding like Star Citizen frustrate us
