There’s been a recent brouhaha (and I don’t care how you spell it, that’s my spelling) in World of Warcraft which is endlessly fascinating and endlessly terrifying. It turns out that someone at Blizzard, or maybe not, mailed a player a GM item that would one-shot anything within a specific radius, and that ended up in the hand of a guy named Karatechop.
That’s right. They got mailed a literal “I Win” button. World of Warcraft God Mode. What would you do?
Apparently, temptation was too strong for this guy, who threw caution to the wind and started ripping the game a new one by blitzing through achievements and dungeons and world bosses like nobody’s business.
So Blizzard caught on, chortled a little at their embarrasing faux pas, and gave the player a slap on the wrist while straightening it all out. Oh. Wait. This is Blizzard — they perma-banned the guy, locked down his guild, and basically treated the situation with the diplomatic ease of a bull in heat. In the e-mail serving the ban, they said that Blizzard could and would ban anyone who does — and I quote — “Anything that Blizzard considers contrary to the ‘essence’ of the Game.”
“Essence”? Is this game a candle?
It’s interesting not just to see what the player did with the item, but the response of everyone surrounding the event. People generally are landing on one of two sides:
PEOPLE FOR THE DEFENSE OF KARATECHOP:
- It was Blizzard’s mistake that resulted in the item getting sent out in the first place
- It was a once in a lifetime chance to experience the game in God Mode, and he did what most of us would’ve done
- Blizzard left the item in the game — it wasn’t created by Karatechop or hacked into the game (at least by him)
- It wasn’t what Blizzard wanted, but it wasn’t illegal either
- It’s just a flippin’ game — who cares?
- Blizzard went far overboard with the perma-ban — they should’ve just rolled back the achievements and given him a suspension
- This wasn’t even an exploit, not really, just an item that should’ve never gotten into a player’s hands
- Blizzard never attempted to talk to him before the ban
- If it came from Blizzard, he didn’t break the EULA
PEOPLE FOR THE PROSECUTION OF KARATECHOP:
- It was cheating, plain and simple, and lessened the game for everyone else
- Common sense should’ve told him not to use it and put in a ticket over it
- The item calls you a “cheater” in its description
- It was, at least, unethical to use it in a competitive game with other live players
- It’s Blizzard’s game, Blizzard’s call, and Blizzard’s account. They don’t have to explain themselves.
- Shut up, he broke the EULA
I have to be completely honest here — when it comes to game exploits in MMOs, I’m torn. I don’t ever use them — let’s just set the record straight there — nor support them, but there’s a part of me that wants to fight for the little guy in these situations. The exploit isn’t the fault of the player, it’s the fault of the game’s dev team. Now, using the exploit is the player’s call, but sometimes that happens accidentally and they get burned anyone for “finding” it (such as wandering to a part of the map the devs don’t want you to be in). It really gets my goat how MMO companies freely levy harsh punishment at exploiters that sometime gets truly innocent players in the crossfire, and how they’re never held accountable in return for fixing the exploit instead of punishing players.
In the case of Karatechop, after reading his interview I have to side with him here. He didn’t treat it maliciously, just with good humor (y’know, the thing Blizzard has in their game) and not for any great personal gain other than a few achievements. He didn’t use it in PvP (can you imagine how the crowd would go ballistic THEN?) either. Perhaps you disagree, and I wouldn’t fault you for that. I just feel like this is a situation where people should see a game as a game, a weird situation as kinda funny, and let it slide. If nothing else, this guy is going down in WoW history as a legend on par with Leeroy Jenkins, and that’s not a half bad trade for your account.
I bet it was the most fun he ever had in the game. I think I would of done the same thing if I received it in the mail. Just seeing everyones reactions would of been a Mastercard priceless moment.
I’d look to banning the GM for emailing the item rather than the player for using it!
This does just go to show the risk of MMo’s though. If your banned your screwed. You can argue all you want but your going to be executed by the inquisition (virtually).
Exploiting line of sight or jumping past encounters is one thing. I’m against that for myself and the groups I’m in. I don’t much case if others do it, because that’s up to them. I won’t.
In this case, the item came in the mail to him. I’d have done exactly what he did and Blizzard be damned. It’s not just a mistake from the team, it’s a colossal cock-up and he had some fun with it. I’d totally do that and take the unfair banning! A few days as a scolding, perhaps.. but perma-bans? Nah…
After reading what information is available, I’d have to side with Karatechop for sure. What he did was worthy of a slap on the wrist and nothing more. What Blizzard decided on was more like an airstrike.
I really miss the pre-WoW days when Blizzard was actually a decent company.
I would have used that to see every bit of content I missed out on and never saw, and I would have taken my best friends with me.
Hoo-rah for good times in a -video game-.
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I’m in the category of people who would have used the item. Yeah, I know – bad dwarf, no biscuit! However, in a game which is really all about killing bad guys and taking their stuff, this just streamlines the process. No need to get a raid together. All of the dragons that I could find would be toast within a day. Just point me towards danger, Azim, I am ready!
And, of course, Blizzard would be withing their rights to ban me. If you read all of the legalese in the EULA and policies, I’d bet they have the right to ban you if they don’t like your face. I do think that locking the whole guild down is going overboard, though. Some of the people in the guild may not have ever chatted with the guy (not uncommon in medium to large guilds).
I think Blizzard’s response was appropriate. He knowingly cheated in a grand manner. No ones fault but his own.
Eh, I see both sides. The guildie that actually received it in the mail SHOULD have reported it instead of passing it to his guildmaster (Karatechop). Once Karatechop started using it, he didn’t just use it to help his guild clear content that they were currently having trouble on… no, they went clearing through Ulduar, and I think possibly getting some world firsts. That’s a bit much… no, actually that’s a LOT much and I really can’t believe that they didn’t know they’d get caught.
On the other hand, Blizz banning his account outright just because he used something that they sent him is a kneejerk response and an overreaction. If I were Blizz, I’d give a 10 or 30 day ban to both Karatechop and the guildie that gave him the shirt, not a perma-ban. I would certainly hope that the employee that sent him that also got reprimanded.
I guess if I had been in Karatechop’s position, with a guild that had just finished clearing Naxx a couple of weeks earlier… I would have done maybe a open-world boss (like Kel’Thuzad in the Borean Tundra) or the first boss in Ulduar with it for kicks and giggles, then reported it and turned it in. I wouldn’t have started claiming acheivements with it, I think that was where they crossed the line.
What the hell is wrong with people these days? Guess what everyone it doesnt matter if a GM sent him the item (WHICH WAS AN ACCIDENT), he still used it. He was even warned by some guildies that it wasnt a good idea to use it, but instead switched his raid to hardcore mode for better loot.
And sorry killing the bosses in the hardest raid in the game for loot isnt exactly doing it for “good humor”. He isnt going down as a leeroy jenkins, hes going down in WoW history as the dumbass that was banned for cheating.
I amazed by some of these reactions. My background:
1. I have been out of WoW since WaR launched.
2. I have never used cheats and/or exploits in any MMO.
However, that being said. If I’m being honest with myself – I am relatively sure I would have given it a try. I know a lot of you say he should have reported it. And excuse my skepticism, but I have a hard time believing any player would have immediately reported it.
While farming end game content is too much and deserves punishment. I do not agree with a perma-ban. That is simply going to far. Many players have invested hundreds of dollars and many years to their character. Blizzard sending an item to a player is too great a temptation for most players whether its due to curiosity or what have you.
My 2 cents.
this is just silly…
blizzard create a game that hooks people into the persuit of bigger better shinier things.
most people i knew in WoW didn’t play the game for it’s design, story or solid competitive PvP: they played it to get said bigger better shinier things.
so this guy has been running their treadmill for however long. he followed the path they designed to maximise the players desire to advance…then they mail him this whimsical magical shirt that will get him everything they want him to want to have.
THEY MAIL HIM THE SHIRT.
let me say that again.
THEY MAIL HIM THE SHIRT.
now, i give some sadistic psycho a knife: do i expect him to ,say: “gee there , mr. tarisai. i sure would like to go on a sadistic psycho rampage but it’s just not right as i didn’t buy this knife. here, take it back.”
yes, an exaggerated slippery slope argument there, but you get the point.
let’s not forget he did not cheat or hack or OMGHAX0RSPLOTX to get the item. he was given it.
lets also not forget it is just a game, blizzard need to get a grip, roll back the achievments and loot and apologise to the concerned gamers and the community for THEIR mistake.
the action to ban karatechop is just to save face in a “heads must roll” corporate dialemma…
This is an expression of a deeper problem I could probably rant days and days on. Game developers and publishers are trying to retain more and more control over the license that we, the customers purchase and we’re just letting them.
It started with MMOs – they’re a service, right, so when you stop paying your access to the service is cut off, right? If you do anything that the devs and the publishers don’t like then it’s their game anyway so they can ban you right? But what about the man-years of play-time you’ve ‘invested’ in the game… In your characters? What if you’re innocent? It’s their game… They get to ban you if they like and good luck to you in trying to convince them otherwise.
The crux is that these models don’t take into account the time (and hence, money) investment players make in a game. It works well under the assumption that you lose nothing when your access to the game is terminated but since long-term players have much to lose is it fair that these licenses grant developers the inalienable right to ban accounts at a whim? The only thing keeping things fair, for the most part, is good will from the players and good service from the developers/publishers. Maybe that’s enough but it makes me nervous.
Steam and the online activation required by the new flavours of SecuROM represent this trend finding its way into non-MMO games. The online activation isn’t that bad yet but if Valve decides your account doesn’t deserve access to the games you’ve purchased one day then “poof!” As fast as a DBA can type DELETE n00buser FROM steam_users;
Not that I actually enjoy the idea of more rules/laws, but I also don’t enjoy virtually untouchable corporations having such power and leaving the consumer with none. Enough slip ups and undeserved bannings then what… MMO unions?
“its just a game”
People need to stop with this excuse, you know what? All games have rules, and what happens when you break the rules? You are punished. And if its “just a game” then blizzard banning him isnt a big deal, get over it since its just a game right?
while i do believe “it’s just a game” is a term over used these days, it is rarely viewed as a simple honest and humble opinion.
banning him is a big deal as his avenue for having fun, and enjoying himself has been taken away from him because of someone elses mistake.
using an item given to him in error for personal gain within the game should carry the “punishment” of the item being taken back, and all achievements striken.
i mean, that’s fair.
“sorry karatechop, we sent you god mode by mistake. we’ll have to erase everything you did with the item.
sorry for the inconvenience caused, and thank you for your cooperation” – is what should have happened.
“karatechop. you have violated the EULA by using an item not intended for general use. you had a great time by illicit means, and therefor, we have to take any possibility of having a great time away from you.” is basically what actually happened.
just seems unreasonable because it is, “just a game”.
as the extremist said, devs are taking a heavy handed approach to their licenses. they are serious, they mean business and they are all out old testiment.
all i can say is this is a product of the growing “witch hunt” attitude displayed by impatient and inconsiderate players in MMOs/any competitive game these days. the “i can’t have it so nobody can have it” attitude is eating the life from most games being developed these days, and in many more ways than i care to go into…
TC, this is not aimed at you at all. opinions are opinions and i am in no way definitive. this is more a generalised look into why i think blizzard made a bad call.