An investigation into Frontier's actions on Combat Logging

Regardless of whether they like it or not, it increasingly seems to be the new meta as far as getting things done is concerned.

For what it's worth I actually agree with OP's stance on the issue. In a game that provides two play modes where a player will never even have to face the possibility of getting killed by another player, to combat log after deciding to play in the one that doesn't offer that protection is the lamest of the lame.

Even if you don't share that opinion, the fact is that the behaviour is officially deemed to be an exploit as has been confirmed beyond any doubt by Sandro and as such, it should attract a punishment.

Even so, allowing a group to blackmail you is setting a bad precedent. Two wrongs don't make a right.
 
Why does everyone consider the choice to use a P2P network architecture for this game a bad game design decision? Its advantages are what make Elite's combat model possible. It's the reason they you determine if you hit your target and not the RNG not he server. If you want all of the advantages of a client/server based network model you would have to give up Elite's combat model for one which works more like EVE.
 
No - I referenced the chat evidence briefly. The chat evidence is more incriminating if it's actually shown in the video, but my point really is that they are probably not going to do anything based on a single report on a single account, even if the person admitted it, other than log the ticket. They might have a report or separate list where they are tracking number of reports per player by offence committed?

"No measure whatsoever to this day" - Not sure what you mean but if you mean that nobody was ever punished for combat logging, you can't know that. All you can really know is that in these particular cases it wasn't done, plus other anecdotal evidence.

Now you could be right that FD isn't actually doing anything about combat logging, but I'm not sure if this proves it conclusively. Even if it's true, I suspect it is more due to resource constraints and priorities than a deliberate bias.

As I recall FD have stated many times that it's very difficult to police combat logging - they have admitted it several times already. I also don't recall them ever stating that video evidence would be a proof of combat logging.

You may also have missed my edit where I said
"Edit: Personally, I don't like Combat Logging and I personally wouldn't have an issue with a system where if you combat log when you are in combat, you lose your ship. You would then be allowed a number of "get out of jail" cards per year where you can get your ship reinstated - this should cover you for when the disconnect was truly not your fault. Personally I would be ok with that, but then I have a good connection. If you have a really dodgy connection, probably you won't like that solution."

Then they shouldn't lie, saying we are investigating, plz give us videos of proof, you give it to them and they don't even bother looking... that's really unprofessional at the very least.. If I lie in my job a lot, you know what happens? I lose my job. Same happens here... when you lie to your customers all over the place, I can give you numerous examples, you push your customers away... as it is happening.... I remember and I was very very amused by some FD lovers the other time, some months back, when someone was pointing out that the increasing number of bugs are affecting the steam user base (it was dropping like hell), and you know what a well known "independent" FD lover said? Steam is just a sample of the customer base, you can't say that the players stop playing ED or reduce their time in game just from steam stats.. REALLY? WEll the majority of ppl I know have moved from base launcher to steam for their own convenience... You don't go the other way around... ...FD needs to start being 100% sincere ... and cut the lies (in order not to use other wording).

If they banned people for combat logging their customer base would be reduced to 10% of what it is today.

Sorry but when there is flaw of "cheating", you close the gap, you don't let it be because maybe you lose some clients... But unfortunately they lose customers all over the place, imo combat logging is just 1 little tip of the iceberg... P2P networking structure, unlimited bugs affecting the everyday gameplay (especially when it has to do with more than a solo commander, etc) and much more... all together these make makes their customer base drop.

Funny nobody talking about how awesome the peer to peer networking is... LOL. Bad game design is bad game design and Elite Dangerous is full of it from Mode Switching to Combat logging to client side data hacks. Hell it's been how many years we still don't have a working interdiction mechanic that doesn't horribly glitch out yet every NPC just pulls you over and opens fire now no matter what lol. This game really has taken a dive since Coasters showed up. I still love Elite because of the scale and what not but the gameplay and mechanics that govern this game are sorely need complete rewrites in almost every area. Not to mention frontier couldn't balance a 2x4 if they tried and there have been so many exploits and nerfed items removed. Not to mention they leave all the old OP items in the game. This is not an MMO and it most certainly is not treated like one. Fdev needs to go play WoW for a few months to understand what an MMO really is and how to actually draw players in and make a game fun without sacrificing their game design or mechanics.

I would hate to see people banned for shutting down an application though. However if the modes were properly designed in the first place you could remove offending characters. However the ship has sailed already and I'm tired of making suggestions only to see this game continue to get worse and worse design wise and technically. Hell I'm surprised it even runs on the 275.95 Nvidia drivers to be honest. So much stuttering and jitter on my potato these days. Hell even the sound engine is bugging out in 2.2 after numerous reports in beta to fix it.

But hey we have Coasters WOOO! In all honesty even relogging to load a different res instance is lame. Relogging and mode switch AND combat logging should NEVER happen or ever NEED to happen in this game. Like I said bad design is just bad design period.

Nah I talk (as well as other commanders about the P2P Networking joke here.. have a look and comment too :)
 

Javert

Volunteer Moderator
One other thing.

If you want to accuse FD of being "Liars", do you actually have the evidence to back it up?

Do you have links to posts or documents from FD, or emails from support or suchlike, that clearly say:

1) "We review all videos submitted with all reports and tickets / We always watch every video submitted in any ticket."

2) "We have reviewed this video."

3) "We conduct a fully detailed review of every single combat logging report and write a detailed 30 page report about it (slightly sarcastic but you get my point)."

Before you accuse them of being liars, you should present the evidence of the actual lie that they made.

Without that, it seems to me that the accusation is based on your assumption of what you think FD should be doing, rather than actual proof of a lie. As has been pointed out by me and several others, I suspect they don't pay any attention to a single report of combat logging by any particular player, regardless of the level of proof provided.

You would be better off by presenting real world evidence, supported by videos, of the same player combat logging many many times over a sustained period of time, combined with all the reports and ticket numbers that you submitted. Obviously you would have to do that on another location since that would be naming and shaming here on these forums. This would demonstrate that they are not linking the reports against the same player together in any way.

Once again, I am against combat logging and I think it's totally stupid - I mean if you are going to combat log, why play in open in the first place? But, it's very difficult to prove in a P2P game architecture.

I would also like to hazard that if you ban a combat logging player, they are probably just going to stop playing, or play in a private group or solo from then on, so either way, you probably won't get to attack them again.
 
Nice investigation. Just keep at it. Cancer won't be cured in a day, it takes many different groups, lots of research and experimentation, and plenty of peer review.
You can't expect results overnight from such a small sample size. Establish some foundations, build on patterns of behaviour and cross reference everything.

Just because someone admits something it's not compelling evidence.

Build you case.

Keep up the good work.
 
I have a couple of questions on this:

1) Firstly, can they be absolutely 100% sure that FD didn't view the video? Do all views get logged even if the viewer was using some kind of anonymity techniques?

YouTube records the view, whether you're anonymous or not.
 
I would also like to hazard that if you ban a combat logging player, they are probably just going to stop playing, or play in a private group or solo from then on, so either way, you probably won't get to attack them again.

You have it exactly.

This company was built to sell games and make a profit, not swoon over ideological purists.

Ignore combat logging and sell more games. Simple as that.
 
guys guys....theres a place out there on the webs where one can obtain super invincible powers and have jump ranges of a thargoid and your worried about combat logging....
exploits?......sadly CL is nothing compared to whats available if one looks about.

been going for a long time....and still does it seems....sadly

for me though solo mode do what you like.
 
Yeah, of course somebody would go to all that trouble, creating video's, raising support tickets, formatting a huge post like that just to promote an already very well known exploit that is documented in several hundred other threads in this forum. Yep, makes perfect sense when you think about it after inserting a food processor into your ear and running it on full speed for ten minutes.

Sigh.
You'd be surprised what some humans would do for the attention.
 
Why does everyone consider the choice to use a P2P network architecture for this game a bad game design decision? Its advantages are what make Elite's combat model possible. It's the reason they you determine if you hit your target and not the RNG not he server. If you want all of the advantages of a client/server based network model you would have to give up Elite's combat model for one which works more like EVE.

could you be more specific? the only thing that p2p arch makes possible in this context is frontier not having to maintain a big server to track the state, since the clients do most of the job. this has nothing to do with any combat model, hitting targets or not, or pseudo random numbers.
 
You have it exactly.

This company was built to sell games and make a profit, not swoon over ideological purists.

Ignore combat logging and sell more games. Simple as that.

It's not that simple. If more players quit the game because they got angry about combat logging, then FD would sell more games (game add-ons, skins…) if they did something against combat logging.

I guess they have to find the balance between punishing combat-loggers and appeasing anti-combat-loggers.
 
I don't combat log as I don't play in open and so I dont meet the wonderful commanders that inspire its use. I also agree it's and exploit but this line...

Aside from being classed as exploiting by Frontier themselves, combat logging is bad for the game (and gameplay experience) of both the exploiter and the victim. Not only does logging deprive both players of meaningful interaction in game that is vastly empty and void of a human element, but it stifles the rare emergent experiences that make the game more than a sterile grind.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. <Deep breath>, Ganking Richards that are only trying to enhance other players experiences are now the Victims!?! Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. No.
 
Last edited:
How many percent of the playerbase actually cares about this? Maybe 5?
Why arent you talking about crime and punishment?

I dont want to take anything away from your 'investigation'
but..who cares!?
I dont.
 
If they banned people for combat logging their customer base would be reduced to 10% of what it is today.

If they banned people for griefing, by how much would their customer base be reduced? 0.1%?
If there was no griefing or a good way to avoid griefers, there would be much less combat logging. If getting destroyed was less devastating, there'd also be less CLing. The OP is complaining about symptoms, not the illness - if you want to call it that. IMHO FD are doing just the right thing - ignoring CL, at least until they find a real cure.
 
The OP is well written and investigated, so kudos for that. While I have never combat logged myself, I truthfully can’t get very upset over this issue, because the game as is now is horribly unbalanced in favor of the griefers as opposed to the victims from a risk vs reward standpoint.

As long as griefers bear no risk of punishment, why should combat loggers? I enjoy meeting other players in game, so I like to play open. But I don't enjoy being attacked by griefers, therefore I have no choice but to log out when attacked by one. If an attacker demands that other players sacrifice themselves for the attacker's pleasure (see SDC), may he go find players who find pleasure in sacrificing themselves. But don't blame FD for not supporting griefing enough.

Yep, exactly how I feel.

I’ve been the victim of griefers in the past, it’s why I left open and stick to private groups now. That’s the defense I chose over CL’ing. Honestly, from my victim point of view, the part that stood out for me the most out of the entire OP was this:

.. combat logging is bad for the game (and gameplay experience) of both the exploiter and the victim. Not only does logging deprive both players of meaningful interaction in game that is vastly empty and void of a human element, but it stifles the rare emergent experiences that make the game more than a sterile grind

And this is the crux of the disagreement between the griefers and the victims: what is “meaningful interaction” for the griefers is NOT likewise for the majority of the victims. The bully has fun while the bullied dies and loses credits and more. And while yes there are some peaceful players who are okay with being ganked and attacked in open they are the minority, not the majority.

“Human element” does NOT need to equal “kill every player”. I’ve had tons of meaningful interactions in Elite solely as a peaceful explorer and it’s been great fun. Not once did I contemplate killing any of them, nor feeling the need to in order to “have fun”.

Until a working crime and punishment mechanic gets implemented into the game to even the playing field, I just sadly can’t be bothered to care about this issue. And I have a hunch that if crime and punishment were implemented that a lot of the griefers would be crying foul over how unfair it is. Balance has a tendency to do that though.

NOW, with regards to how logging affects straight up PvP in the likes of combat zones or Power Play, then yeah I agree it’s a cheap and cowardly way out and it should be addressed.

And as for the PvE players who CL against NPC’s, eh, who really cares about that? Let them, it isn’t hurting anyone, lol.
 
Back
Top Bottom