Integrity sensored? Conspiracy?

[Jerbob]

Thanks for the endorsement, Tullemore - I'm glad that you found my post interesting. While I'd like to submit it again, I feel it would be unwise for me to repost my feelings verbatim; that may have triggered the deletion of the thread, and I value my ability to post on these forums as well as other people's ability to discuss matters without their thoughts disappearing. Nevertheless, I absolutely stand by my previous post. As a community, we need to actively reject cheating, refuse to support it, and challenge those who may cheat in our parties. Turning a blind eye to what some people would call "the little things" would allow them to gradually get away with things that aren't so little, such as the contents of the deleted post. And, despite claims that might be made by some, that would make the game worse for the rest of us, either by changing the statistics that SE has available or by directly messing up the economy, availability of pickup groups, availability of camps in zones, the availability of items, etc etc etc.

I'm not sure we necessarily agree on the best solution to this problem, Tullemore, but I think we agree on the cause, and I appreciate that. I agree that transferable currency potentially enables cheaters to do very well for themselves, but I think that the benefits of having a game economy that is in part run by player demand are significant - and it's more fun. I feel it's better to address a potential abuse of a fun system rather than to remove the system; while that would work, we lose something in the process, and I think that would be a shame. We shouldn't have to sacrifice our own enjoyment of the game to combat an aspect of the community that can't play by the rules. Perhaps I am just being too idealistic, though.

I know that Runescape did something similar with transferable currency some time ago and that the measures were universally hated and extremely unpopular, to the extent that it was reverted. I wasn't there at the time, nor am I a big Runescape player, but the records are certainly out there and might prove interesting reference material for such a proposal.

Regarding feeling like we are "owed something", I would argue that we are absolutely entitled to expect a game that isn't overrun by cheaters - that's explicitly laid out in the terms of service. Note that this statement very precisely does not give my opinion on whether this expectation is being met - it is an abstract observation.

I also agree with Alhanelem that we're not entitled to demand a very specific solution to a perceived solution. Our expectation should simply be that a solution is provided - and, again, I offer no opinion regarding whether this is happening or not. But providing suggestions for solutions to problems should absolutely be fair game on these forums, and I support the fact that Tullemore is obviously working hard on his suggestions, even if we may not necessarily agree on the best course of action.

At any rate, I feel like continued and frank discussion (to the extent permitted) of this topic is valuable. It draws attention to any individuals that may exist who believe themselves to be exempt from both the rules of the game and general standards of decency re: not messing up the game for everyone else around them. And because this discussion is both valuable and touches on problematic concepts, we need to be extra careful not to break the rules of this forum - while, of course, simultaneously being as constructive and critical of events as possible.

I agree with Alhanelem that there is no deliberate conspiracy here, just violations of the forum rules regarding direct criticism of SE and the posting of exploits. I do also, however, agree with Tullemore that sometimes the dots are there to be connected and might lead to some interesting conclusions that are supported by observed reality and therefore deserve further thought. We just need to be careful how we express things here, in particular.