Genuine question to Steven about controlling players

Tragnar

@StevenSharif

I really love the designs of the features in this game and that makes me eagerly wait for any alpha content that will create more thorough picture of what the game is going to be.

So I want to ask you, if players find a way to use any system in the game in a way that is different than the intended use. Will you let the players use the said system in an unintended way or are you going to change or even remove the system entirely?

I understand that it really depends on the system, but what will you do if it is not an easy fast fix. I am of course hoping for these things to not happen, because they generally create shortcuts, but I need to ask what will be your approach if they happen?

Atama

I can’t speak for Steven but typically there is a blurry line between innovation and exploitation. In an MMO if you find a “trick” that lets you do something that may not have been intended, some people will call it clever while others call it cheating.

In my experience what matters is how it impacts the game. If you figure out that standing on a particular rock in a boss encounter means his AoE attack can’t hit you, that probably won’t hurt the game much and it just potentially lowers the challenge on one fight so most likely the powers-that-be will let it slide, and that trick will show up in videos and other guides on how to do that fight.

Then you figure out that you can break down an item into crafting materials and close the window in the middle of the deconstruction animation while jumping, if you open the window again you have the materials and you still have the item, you have discovered a duplication bug. That’s the sort of thing with the potential to wreck the economy, so usually that will be labeled an exploit and stopped cold, even going so far as to ban people who take advantage of it.

So again, I’m guessing it will depend on how the game is affected.