BioWare Whipping Out The Ban Hammer?

After catching up on Pixel Kaffe’s latest post regarding the treatment of those who exploited the Ravager’s bug, I thought I should write something small up myself. After all, this was a huge exploit that was in game for quite some time. It seemed for a second it wouldn’t be addressed at all. Then BioWare posted on the Community Forums that they will be analyzing data to figure out how to appropriately punish those who used the exploit for their own gain.

Fast-forward to today, BioWare announced they’ve figured out a punishment for those who used the exploit. For less-offensive users, they’ve received 1-7 day in-game & forum bands. For those who heavily abused it, they received a suspension up to a permanent ban.

Now some community members feel the punishment is too light, but in my opinion, as BioWare didn’t acknowledge the exploit or an intended fix for quite some time, I feel the punishment is just right. Leaving an exploit in the game for so long, and not acknowledging the community regarding using the exploit immediately falls on BioWare’s plate. It is respectful of BioWare to accept the responsibility for allowing the exploit to occur for so long. But, we should all know the TOS, cheating will not be condoned.

I feel that the mixture of both the punishments laid out and the acknowledgement of BioWare’s fault goes hand in hand. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be bans, bans are required for cheaters, especially those who used it frequently for their own personal gain. The bans are great because I don’t want to play with others who don’t play the game for fun, but play to cheat. Who wants to play with cheaters? Since childhood board games, playing with cheaters is no fun and very irritating. I hope BioWare and those who abused the exploit have learned a lesson recently regarding this issue. Now those who can, let’s get back in-game and have some SWTOR fun.