I need to point out one massive fallacy with that argument. One that every cheater overlooks. Absence of a specific rule does not exempt one from repercussions in the event that it is an obvious exploit that breaks the established norms of the game. In every game that is actively moderated, abusing exploits are every bit as bannable as actively hacking, because you're still playing outside the rules of the game to gain an unfair advantage over the legitimate players.
In fact, here is Origin's Terms of Service. If you peruse Section 11, "Rules of Conduct," you can find...
You may violate the Terms of Service if, as determined by EA in its sole discretion, you:
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- Promote, encourage or take part in any activity involving hacking, cracking, phishing, taking advantage of exploits or cheats and/or distribution of counterfeit software and/or virtual currency/items.
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- Use and communicate exploits and/or cheats.
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- Abuse or exploit bugs, undocumented features, design errors or problems in the game.
So yes. Three seperate mentions of exploits being bannable offenses. And since you need to agree to Origin's TOS to play, you cannot claim ignorance, and no tears will be shed over your denial. Exploit abuse is cheating. When will the internet grow the hell up and learn?
Don't get me wrong. Sometimes, I get that you could realize mid match, "wow, this team isn't working, I'll be back in a minute, I'll bring another class instead." There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and if you happened to get extra experience, oh well, it's not like you were deliberately exploiting it. But people who regularly did it were indeed shamelessly exploiting a loophole in the system, and that is why Bioware has not stated that you can't change characters, but instead removed the exploit. Because it was indeed an exploit, and one that was being abused maliciously.
I thought the ToS might come up sooner or later. You've made excellent points and I thank you. Exploits are indeed bannable offenses. Let's sit down for a minute and discuss these points in detail. Correct me if I am wrong but from what I've gathered so far from your statement is that every exploit, no matter how small or how it is used is inexcusable and bannable. Let me give you my thoughts on why specific rules/laws are needed before any form of punishment is given.
- Abuse or exploit bugs, undocumented features, design errors or problems in the game.
These are some things that everyone, in one way or another, is guilty of. I have specifically highlighted design errors.
1. Font room camping exploit - Every player prior to the fix, especially those who topped the leader boards very early on and are probably still there today, are guilty of this. I wouldn't believe anyone for one second if they claimed that they had never exploited this design flaw. This was the norm when I first started playing DAMP. Every lobby I joined on every difficulty was doing this. For those who don't know what this was, the door in the font room leading into zone five used to remain open after planting the flag. This led players to use the corridor/door as a choke point, funneling enemies by the dozens with very little danger of getting flanked. Some would even save the font for critical moments to replenish their HP. This led to easy, successful extractions resulting in countless promotions. For those who could pull it off on perilous, it was a huge advantage. The players who arrived after the fix will never get this advantage while all the people who gained much from it remain on the leader boards. Bioware, several months later, introduced a fix stating, and I'm paraphrasing from memory: it was clearly a design flaw and that they never intended the font room to be used in such a manner. In other words, it was an exploit.
Bioware fixed it instead of punishing the people who exploited this bad design. To most people, myself included, this was a strategic use of the map. I don't recall anybody ever crying for people on the leader boards to be banned for using this exploit. (Or maybe there were, I'm not sure).
I bring this up because this thread about the "switching exploit" to gain promotions. The main people complaining obviously have some sort of stake in the leader boards, and claim to be saints that have never used any exploits of any form to their advantage. Frankly, that is BS. At the same time they also cry for bans/permanent stat dropping, as if they have never knowingly or otherwise, used any form of exploit. I say knowingly or otherwise because you mentioned "you cannot claim ignorance, and no tears will be shed over your denial". Now, if we were to enforce the "every exploit is a bannable offense" rule from the ToS, DAMP servers would be pretty empty. Like the font room exploit, this has been fixed without anyone getting banned. To the people who used this, it was a strategic use of their time and effort. And yet here we are on this thread crying about something that has already been fixed.
2. AFK players - This, in my opinion, is one of the worst exploits in the game. If a player with or without his party's consent decides to AFK resulting in free XP gain, free gold, free items from treasure rooms, free agent completion, he/she is exploiting yet another design flaw. We were never intended to gain anything for free regardless whether the party members agree to the person's AFK'ing or not. Bioware has taken several steps to remedy this problem, but until now remains not entirely fixed. Kicking is the first option, but communication is sorely needed and not everyone has a mic or is using voice chat. The "Everyone at the flag" fix only requires the person to walk towards the flag and continue to AFK after the flag has been planted.
3. HoK bug exploits - Most of the players guilty of this can trigger this exploit at will, and believe me I've seen many and yet none get banned for it. Necromancer's Spirit Mark - I have seen players use this exploit to great effect, bypassing the downed state mechanic, bringing them back life even after exceeding the maximum number of times a player can be downed. You don't even need to revive them. They will even come back from the fade with it on their own. It's kind of hilarious actually watching Necromancers charge in, die and come back to life, over and over. I don't know if anything has been done to fix this yet.
Other classes that can use the HoK exploits a little less effectively include the Elementalist through fire DoTs, the Alchemist and Hunter through mines and poison cloud. The archer can do it too but it is so random that it cannot be considered an exploit. I'm not going to go into detail on how these exploits are triggered. A smart player can set up the right conditions for that to happen. I've read threads in the past with people offering advice on how to bypass the downed state mechanic using HoK items. That brings us to this point - Use and communicate exploits and/or cheats. Anyone who communicated this and all those who have used it is guilty of exploiting the game and can be banned at any given time should Bioware wish it. But they haven't. I'm sure they'll fix it instead, someday.
There are countless other bug/exploits that need fixing. Some of them have already been patched/tweaked.
- Promote, encourage or take part in any activity involving hacking, cracking, phishing, taking advantage of exploits or cheats and/or distribution of counterfeit software and/or virtual currency/items.
For this I've only seen a few accusations thrown here and there, nothing substantial.
My point is this: everyone in this game at some point has broken several, if not all rules, willingly or unwillingly, consciously or otherwise. While some players may recognize an exploit, some players will see it as a feature working as intended. This is why there is a need for specific rules/laws because the ToS is vague at best. We cannot choose which exploit is acceptable and which isn't if we were to follow your suggestion.
That said, my brain is shutting down due to lack of sleep. I realized after proof reading this that I used the word "fix" so many times, and I can't think of any synonyms at the moment. English is not my first language so I apologize for anything anyone may find offensive.
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