The problem I see due to FDev's lack of response is that they are directly allowing their community to become highly polarised. I have witnessed players in Open accusing other players of hacking without any proof, and I truly believe in most cases there that this is pretentiousness: "You beat me, so you must be hacking!" – I hate to think how many butthurt/snowflake reports have been sent to FDev this week that reek of a witch hunt mentality... "Ban X player, he beat me in PvP!! He must be cheating!! I want my mommy!!" There is little to no chance of FDev dealing with a high rise in reports, which means the genuine ones will be passed over along with ones being spammed by immature players looking to protect their own inflated egos and sense of self-righteousness.
I personally don't think we owe SDC anything for being the catalyst that triggered this social division – they have a long history of exploiting things to their own benefit and only reporting it when it suits them, i.e. when it becomes known to others. This is all smoke and mirrors on their behalf, to protect themselves from the fact they have taken advantage of many exploits, even it was only for a short period. It works like this: a man finds a gun, he shoots someone, he turns the gun into the authorities only stating "I found a gun". Their lack of tact in this matter, crowbarring their pretentious ideals into the community via Reddit, of all places, is not really diplomatic or praise-worthy. Their superiority complex is disturbing, we all paid for this game, we all put in the hours, but they still act like they are the "ruling class" when it comes to opinionating on anything and everything the game offers, they don't respect others, they don't have the view that we all start this game equally with the same steep learning curve and grind, they sabotage people's efforts and celebrate thier "ganks", whilst I expect the larger community thinks of them more like a tumour – an ugly, invasive, predatory player group that mobilises its experience to harass and inconvenience fresh fish. They are a selfish group of players who endeavour to put their enjoyment of the game above everyone else by molesting other players and manipulating the developers into celebrating their play style with veiled threats and bullish tactics. You could have done a lot more with regards to dealing with FDev instead of resorting to tactics that result in a mob mentality and a breakdown of community spirit and consensual game play. Hacking and exploiting is a problem in most games, but going to war with developers is not the solution... in doing so, you have jeopardised the fragile balance that kept ED going for these past 4 years and have made Open play even less pleasant an experience by encouraging paranoia, friction and finger-pointing. Your pretence at being "holier than thou" SJWs is unconvincing and warrants condemnation. There are many routes you could have taken but you appear to have taken up a battering ram and charged FDev's door. It's little wonder they're caught like a deer in headlights. Uncivil. brute force behaviour warrants no response. For the educated: reread Ryan's OP/Reddit post, look at the precise way it was written – hyperbolically phrased, opinionated, designed to trigger, conclusions drawn on your behalf, demands made rather than solutions offered. Ryan is a master of deception and I personally don't thank him for his heavy-handed approach nearly as much as he thinks we all should, not that raising awareness of this matter is bad in itself, but because creating open hostility towards FDev is counter-productive. There are toxic elements to all social media platforms, Reddit being no exception, and he's relying on that to push his agenda. SDC's decision to expose hacking is loaded with ulterior motives and since they can't be trusted to play fairly themselves they can't be thanked with sincerity.
Yes, we all know there is a serious issue with hacking here, and yes, the FDevs are fully aware of it. The ball is in their court now... let them deal with it, that's their job, it will take time. Posting a daily "level of dissatisfaction" post and arguing with other players on this forum doesn't make FDevs look any worse or SDC any better, repeating the phase "canned response" to provoke another response is growing old fast. It's just beating a dead horse with a stick. This matter isn't about SDC and doesn't revolve around them... they're just a dozen small-minded semi-skilled players, a tiny fraction of the whole player base, an insignificant blade of grass in a lawn, a voice in a crowd. Game development isn't a democracy, it's capitalism, they don't have to respond in a set manner and SDC laying down terms is not going to make them more inclined to do so. If SDC had more sense they could have sought legal advice and considered a class action law suit (though I doubt their chances), or simply arranged a face-to-face meeting with FDevs, brought evidence, recordings, etc. and painted a picture for FDevs. But as it turns out, they slapped a post on Reddit and left it to mob mentality to blindly believe their every word and become enraged. Sound like the mentality of a certain POTUS and his Tweets? Except the difference here is that no-one has elected SDC to speak on our behalf, and I imagine few would...
TLDR; SDC is making this matter more about them and their "heroic" exposure of something which happens in all games, instead of simply posting evidence of hacking in a dignified manner and letting FDevs address the situation without pressure, threats or systematic abuse from the community. SDC are fanning the flames and making matters worse.
