you must be joking, got wiped to 1000 credits

[Richard Voorhees]

The people who were gifted 5 billion would have been exempt from the normal risk/reward tradeoff in the game - noone who legitimately grinded for say an anaconda could afford to PK and/or rack up bounties with impunity. They were essentially in a position that it is all but impossible to get to via normal play in any reasonable amount of time. I personally find that totally unacceptable and would have ceased playing the game had it been allowed to continue.

I genuinely don't get this mind-set. What does it matter what the other guy is doing?

 

[FX2K]

I genuinely don't get this mind-set. What does it matter what the other guy is doing?

You may not, but I get it. With the original decision being made, it was setting up ED for similar poor decisions in the future, decisions which will overall ruin the games integrity, IMO of course. I personally would not have felt like investing any more time in the game. Thankfully, they reconsidered and my faith was restored.

 

[bitstorm]

If you use a legal loophole, i.e. for tax purposes, then the law may change to reflect those loopholes closing them or making them more difficult to use in the future. People who used the loopholes are not retroactively punished, but they then have to abide by the new rules and regulations. FD put the loopholes in the game themselves, they then punish people for using those loopholes in whatever way they saw fit. You can't apply one rule to one group who used a certain loophole and another rule to some other group.

The issue with the Founders loophole was that it is easily tracked by looking at the transaction logs, this isn't possible by looking at the income from mining for example. So one group is getting punished because it's easier to do so, not because the loophole itself is any worse than the other ones.

It's an interesting analogy but I wouldn't say using an exploit is analogous to a tax loophole.

Isn't using an exploit more like committing a crime? For example robbing a bank, you're essentially stepping outside the "rules of the game" there to gain an advantage that other people who "play fairly" don't have.

I see a loophole as more like a bad design choice, for example allowing multiple shield generators. i.e not strictly against the rules but some might take a dim view of it.

 

[Richard Voorhees]

You may not, but I get it. With the original decision being made, it was setting up ED for similar poor decisions in the future, decisions which will overall ruin the games integrity, IMO of course. I personally would not have felt like investing any more time in the game. Thankfully, they reconsidered and my faith was restored.

I obviously don't give games such serious consideration as some of you guys. For me it's pure escapism. So long as I'm enjoying it, I don't really care about abstracts such as the game's integrity and the risk/reward trade-off. But, having said that, to each their own.

 

[TheEponymousBob]

We have been asked a few times: “I used an exploit, should I continue to play until I’ve had my credits and assets removed?”. The answer is yes, we are only removing the “extra” credits and assets from the exploits; not credits which have been gained legitimately (we can see the difference). Your time since using the exploits (or being affected by becoming a billionaire) will not have been wasted.


So everyone that is jumping up and down with joy can you please read Andrew's post, I've quoted the important part. FD has failed to do what they said and wiped players, not reset, but wipe.

Actually, while I hate to admit it, he's got a point...

 

[terminatahx]

Sorry to hear you got rolled back. It's a total waste of time, with no positive impact to the state of the game. It's really a shame that FD doesn't apply the same vigor and determination in fixing the major bugs in the game.

Enough of the PR stunt, can we get some real fixes please?

 

[bassman]

TBH I'm pleased FD held their hands up when they realised they'd been way too lenient on the billionaires; as far as the founders world bug exploiters go they deserve everything they get removed from their balance / ship quota etc though personally I'd have banned their accounts ensuring that they would have had to re invest in a non kick starter copy of the game if they wanted to play but without the backers bonuses and having to devise a new Commander name too.

Financially backing the development of FD doesn't mean you or I are entitled to cheat.

The thing about the founders world equipment bug is that its not at all obvious that you are profiting from it - you buy an upgrade for 50k and then upgrade somewhere else a few days later and get 55k (or whatever) tradein. Once youve bought anything the only way not to "exploit" it is to never sell or upgrade that component.

 

[Endziel]

Enough of the PR stunt, can we get some real fixes please?

I agree. I don't even remember anymore how long the friend comms have been broken.

 

[Rubbernuke]

There used to be a storyline in the Eagle (I know... showing how old I am) about a kid who got sucked in to actual games to play them out. He had to win at each of them or he would lose his life. Now... imagine getting actually sucked into Elite Dangerous... after having exploited... Fear at every corner!!!

Computer Warrior

 

[FX2K]

Before doing the buy low, sell hi at founders I had a fully kitted cobra and a well upgrade type 7, plus 70 million total assets

What about the promise to let people keep what they had before?

Seriously fd?

This is too harsh

Actually, while I hate to admit it, he's got a poimt...

If the above is the case, then yes I agree he has a point too, but I don't believe everything I read on the internet either.

The thing about the founders world equipment bug is that its not at all obvious that you are profiting from it - you buy an upgrade for 50k and then upgrade somewhere else a few days later and get 55k (or whatever) tradein. Once youve bought anything the only way not to "exploit" it is to never sell or upgrade that component.

That's the difference between stumbling upon a bug and not abusing it or even realising versus abusing it to the value of many many millions over and over again.
FD can surely see the difference in their transaction logs.

 

[bitstorm]

Love the reference !

+1



The community threw a hissy fit, there is no other way to put it. Loads of posts went up in various threads from those upset over it and about a dozen people took the other view of - so what, it's a sandbox game.
The hissy fit people out numbered the ones who didn't care and won.

Don't get me wrong, I abhor cheats in any game - but in a game where you do not have to play with them - I don't see the real problem.
Cheaters are excluded from the race to Elite, the commodities market is so huge and varied someone with a billion credits still is not going to make much a of dent outside of a couple of systems and that gets corrected by the counter trading done behind the scenes.

I agree that cheats should have lost their stuff in the first place, but FD made a decision, I accepted and moved on - after all, I do no have to play with these people (hint - neither do you) so I can carry on regardless.
Flip flopping about on a decision because you're bullied in to by the community however - well, that is just as bad in my book. I am very disappointed in FD for not sticking up for themselves and letting mob mentality win.

Well Frontier clearly made the correct decision as their share price rose by 14% as a result.

/discussion

 

[Skip Intro]

Is that Dave Gibbons artwork on the Computer Warrior strip?

 

[Shear]

No ships and 1000 credits, hello poverty

 

[DaveB]

Hey, FD... I want a ship skin for the whaaaaaaahmbulance

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

We have been asked a few times: “I used an exploit, should I continue to play until I’ve had my credits and assets removed?”. The answer is yes, we are only removing the “extra” credits and assets from the exploits; not credits which have been gained legitimately (we can see the difference). Your time since using the exploits (or being affected by becoming a billionaire) will not have been wasted.


So everyone that is jumping up and down with joy can you please read Andrew's post, I've quoted the important part. FD has failed to do what they said and wiped players, not reset, but wipe.

the whole issue is a stinker tho. How can you only remove the "exploited" credits.

this is a 2 pronged thing. The ones I feel sorry for - the ones who never asked for the extra credit

and the ones I do not - the people who went out of their way to cheat the game.

but either way, if I get a few million credits and then I play for a couple of weeks, even if you then take the few million credits off me, that still means I had a huge advantage (like in the real world money makes money)

 

[FX2K]

Hey, FD... I want a ship skin for the whaaaaaaahmbulance

Closest I can find... https://store.elitedangerous.com/game-extras/viper-flag-switzerland.html

 

[Yanaran]

Yes - we'll make sure that we email players who have their accounts adjusted due to punitive actions like this.

Michael

I think you might need to take a closer look at your "repossession" process, I discovered the Founders Worlds bug on the 1st and immediately wrote a ticket (TICKET #00000018270) where I outlined it and performed a test where I sold and re-bought the same gear once and gained about 2 million credits. I never figured out how to repeat it (as I also noted in the ticket) and haven't had it happen to me again. Today I logged in with -20 million cr on my account, and I have not been contacted in any way (either by e-mail or via my ticket).

Meanwhile other bugs where I've lost massive amounts of money see no form of compensation (i.e. TICKET #00000022073 that cost me 7.5 million).

I can understand the need to streamline the process if a lot of accounts have too much credits, but this seems like punishment for trying to help rid the game of bugs and exploits. You can see my ticket history that I've helped many times with quite serious issues in the past (I was the one who discovered the "point defense disconnects you after 5s" and the "headtracking prevents you from logging in" bugs back in beta). While 20m is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things it feels like a punch in the gut instead of a "thank you".

 

[bitstorm]

Your time since using the exploits (or being affected by becoming a billionaire) will not have been wasted. Per Andrew


If FD will not do what they say than why play?

Yeah you've taken that out of context to mislead people, well done.

 

[Memnoch]

I Applaud FDev's - OP has redacted his post and gone to sulk in the corner. lol

Although I don't agree with the glee and finger pointing I do agree with the decision that FD have taken. It was the only fair thing to do considering what happened was not supposed to have happened in the first place. I consider it similar to someone finding a bag of money. Taking and keeping it is illegal. Handing it in to the Police and if it goes unclaimed after a period of time and getting to keep it is not of course.

 

[Cidcaldensfey]

Redacted

You sound upset and/or surprised. Strange how things work out, huh?