So you said this is a game of entertainment. What entertainment is there to be had in AFK mercenaries doing all the work for you, or in running a bot that will do everything for you? I was in a guild group around low 70s that somehow turned into a powerlevel group when the 85 ranger officer dude joined. The 3 people that started the group proceeded to afk while the ranger was killing minotaurs in DSH. I was sitting at my computer the whole time, unable to help the ranger since he was doing his headshot thing or whatever. I didn't feel like that was the proper way to play the game and found that I was not entertained at that point. I quit shortly thereafter and went to another server. As far as DBG goes, I saw two Holly tweets about disciplinary actions being taken during the beginnings of the TLP servers. That was a few months ago, and I did not see any further broadcasting so maybe it was a success.
If you believe a bot will do everything for you then I am sorry but you are mistaken. Also, there are in game mechanics that allow you to afk kill without the use of any programs. Sometimes people afk to save time since they don't have and endless supply of time for the endless amounts of time sinks that are coded into the game. Someone doing their slayer tasks shouldn't have any affects on you. And I say again and again, if the person playing is harassing or grieving you (IE monopolizing an area for unreasonable amounts of time) then you have a legitimate claim to be upset and I would escalate the issue to customer service. I'm sorry you felt that way. It seems to me that you came to an impasse where people didn't find the leveling process to be as enjoyable as you did. Maybe they like many others only level as a requirement to get to raiding standard. Raiding takes a lot of time and leveling is just in the way. Unfortunately for you the group altered it exping style to one which didn't suit you. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel....join a different group. Going out to find more like minded playing styles is a great choice and I commend you on that. At the end of the day this is a game, and not everyone will be entertained the same way. The great thing about Everquest is the abundance of avenues for entertainment.
I suppose you feel reading doesn't expand your intellect? http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0144929X.2013.843721 Good day to you, "Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." - Albert Einstein
Really the only time it bothers me is when people are either AFK camping or worse running a third party program (bot) to camp an area I need for a quest or a named. This was where I thought we should be able to edit Corwyhn Lionheart's list to include training . But if they are in a wide open area with lots of mobs I don't really mind.
I always feel that we should give anyone an opportunity to be decent. If someone needs a camp or spawn then they should just send a tell or ask in whatever form. if the other party is unreasonable then I def understand escalating to customer support for grieving (monopoly of an area) and/or more direct approaches (you know what I mean). My limit on someone as a camp is prob like a day. If I check back the next day and they are still there even after I sent then messages the day before, then that's when I contact DBG and or other means.
tongue and cheek. Learn to understand the context when reading. Also, enjoy your anti-cheaters crusade. There are plenty of lunatics and bigots like you to go around. You'll have plenty of friends to share your opinions with. You won't however change my mind on tolerance and understanding.
I read the abstract. It falls very short of the situation in Everquest. If there was more beyond that then im not interested. It seems like a topic that doesn't take case by case variables into account. You have no point. This game is about entertainment for the masses. You should stop trying to police peoples play and just enjoy it how you want. If someone is directly impairing your ability to enjoy the game, then you should contact customer support about the issue. If you're problem is, "I don't like how they play," then I'm sorry you just need to grow up.
I have much thicker skin than you may believe. I will help you in showing where the document that should be read fully before commenting on it is located.
My point, is that it is a problem and people are becoming accepting of it. That's about it until people stop doing it.
So I read it, and OK I give it to you. It was better than I thought. Well thought out and written. However, The sampling can have massive variability when dealing with world wide gaming in the MMO's like Everquest and WoW. They only used age 18 or lower and all from Singapore. They did a great job with what they worked with though. I agree that people accept cheating as a norm in some cases, but honesty it's the degree that makes the difference. "In this study, game cheating is defined as strategies that a player uses to gain an unfair advantage over his her peer players or to achieve a target which is not supposed to be achieved according to the game rules or at the discretion of the game operator." With this as the definition of "cheating" then I would speculate that the overwhelming majority of EQ players cheat as that definition of cheating is extremely broad. "Game cheating, despite being anti-normative, is already embedded in the normative culture of play in video games. Many gaming magazines, websites and forums tell players the exact ways of how to cheat in video games, for example, offering cheat codes or telling their audiences how to exploit certain features." This fails to mention how resource sites that give all gaming strategies and information about the most detailed advantages of the games from quests, items, damage outputs, skill uses, etc etc affect the game and should fall under the "cheating" label. The study also does not analyze the use of macros to be a time saving process and its effects. Other things not brought up are things like the marketplace where you can pay for advantages or the idea that a game is a business and we should strike a balance between right/wrong with entertainment and tolerance. In the end of the day certain things that don't directly cause you harm shouldn't be cause for complaints. How does this affect the Everquest game and business in the long term while factoring in other outside variables like an aging game, new games in the market, lose or retention of player base.... I don't know. But I am sure that DBG and previously SOE paid some analysts very well to make sure they stayed on top of their business to go after or ignore any cheaters. PS: I want to add that I did not nor will not discuss the entire thesis here as its just too long and this isn't the forum for that. If you ever want to have a one on one discussion about things, you're welcome to join a voice chat with me sometime.
