Dear AGS devs and community.
I hope I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that I want new world to be a thriving successful mmorpg. In order to achieve this, we need to talk about Bans !!!
Over the past year we have seen players:
-duplicate gold,
-duplicate items,
-craft forced 600gs gear,
-advertise and sell the game currency for real world currency,
-run bot scripts
-run cheating software to automatically hit headshots with 200% success
-behave incredibly toxically
-and much , much more
These issues all undermine the health of the game , and AGS have had to deal with them all in a variety of different ways. In the past, ags was too lenient. This is a problem because it sends a message that exploiting is a worthwhile activity. In light of this leniency , ags chose to step up their response, permanently banning players for utilising a crafting exploit that ensured 600gs gear.
Ags have sent their message loud and clear. They will not tolerate deliberate exploitations that give players an unfair advantage, well done ags.
My concern is that ags are not providing a pathway for players to return to the game. Some people are genuinely bad people who want to ruin the game for everyone (I’m looking at you toxic global chat bully’s) while others just get caught up In the wrong crowd , or genuinely regret their actions. First time offenders are being treated the same as repeat offenders, and someone who bought out an entire market is being treated the same as someone who used their own resources. We want good , remorseful players to come back to the community so that they can contribute positively to the game once again.
The solution:
Consider scaling their banning system. Banning players for 3 months is a sufficiently harsh punishment. Any players who offend again after that are clearly not learning their lesson and deserve a permanent ban. But the current system of permanently banning everyone regardless of context or severity is preventing many remorseful veteran players players from coming back and playing with their friends.
The appeal system
This system is awful ! People aren’t told why they are banned. They are locked out of forum chats: they get automatically rejected without any human consideration at all and sometimes the responses don’t even make sense ! When I appealed my ban , I was told that I am not banned !!! What am I supposed to do now !
The solution:
Clearly communicate the consequences of an action and tell players why they are banned:
E.g.
duping gold = 12 month ban
Repeat offence = permanent ban
Forcing crafts = 3 month ban
Selling forced crafts = 6 month ban
Repeat offence = perminsnt ban
This will help layers decide not to engage in exploits or cheats because the consequences are clear , and it will help communicate to players why they are banned and streamline the appeal system:
Please let me know your thoughts,
A permanently Banned veteran player of 3200+ hours who regretfully tried to craft himself some gear using the 600gs exploit 