Game developer banning customers for discovering bugs

[m0rl0ck]

So i was game shopping, looking at Outer Worlds (looks like fun, doesnt it?) and that led to this article:

https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-76-...ealed-vault-63-begs-bethesda-not-to-ban-them/

It appears that the developers are banning people for discovering and exploiting a bug that lets them see unreleased content.

Call me old fashioned, but if a bug is exploitable, its not the players fault and if the bug has been reported the community and players have done their job and certainly shouldnt be banned for it.

I hope those banned are getting refunds.

 

[AJW]

So someone "accidentally accessed" content that the developers didn't want revealed, and then accidentally took multiple screenshots and posted them on Reddit? Nobody is going to get banned for reporting bugs to developers (at least, not unless the developers are utterly nuts), but I can see why Bethesda might not be happy about the Reddit thread. Not saying they should ban anyone, but a little common sense all round might be called for.

 

[Captain Willard]

Accidentally took screenshots and posted them. That's funny. Banning him sounds about right. No problem here.
People who post exploits get banned all the time in many games.
Him crying like a little girl is even funnier.

 

[m0rl0ck]

Seems to me that what the game developers did was sold users a defective product and then denied them use of the product when they found the defect. This could only happen in the gaming industry.
Can you imagine buying a car, finding a defect and then being denied use of the vehicle by the seller?

 

[Captain Willard]

I disagree. Peeps hoarding nuke codes in 76 then crashing their servers. Then getting on the net to say. "we were testing it for you".
Kinda like the bozos that were crashing mmo's with ddos attacks over and over are now in federal lock up. Poor babies.

 

[Snarfbuckle]

I'm pretty sure they tend to accept some kind of NDA when testing so posting stuff about the game, even released stuff would be breaking that NDA and as such banning would be perfectly acceptable.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Uh… yeah, so people have been banned from a subreddit after trying to trade items from an exploit-access-only area of the game.

Bethesda is clearly evil.

 

[starman]

Meanwhile In Elite verse. The first cmdr to discover something immediately tells every one else with screen shots. Thus denying other cmdrs the feeling of there own first time discovery.

[video=youtube;4uU8td457KQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uU8td457KQ[/video]

 

[starman]

Seems to me that what the game developers did was sold users a defective product and then denied them use of the product when they found the defect. This could only happen in the gaming industry.
Can you imagine buying a car, finding a defect and then being denied use of the vehicle by the seller?

Why is every software product compared to the car industry? Software can be sold under licence such as Elite D. They could deny you access , for example breaking the Eula.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Seems to me that what the game developers did was sold users a defective product and then denied them use of the product when they found the defect. This could only happen in the gaming industry.
Can you imagine buying a car, finding a defect and then being denied use of the vehicle by the seller?

If you find the brakes are defective and report it, that is fine. If you instead take advantage of it by running over your neighbour, claiming it aint your fault the brakes were defective is a problem though.

Just because you can do something dont mean you should, and you are responsible for the choices you make.

 

[Ian Skippy]

So i was game shopping, looking at Outer Worlds (looks like fun, doesnt it?) and that led to this article:

https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-76-...ealed-vault-63-begs-bethesda-not-to-ban-them/

It appears that the developers are banning people for discovering and exploiting a bug that lets them see unreleased content.

Call me old fashioned, but if a bug is exploitable, its not the players fault and if the bug has been reported the community and players have done their job and certainly shouldnt be banned for it.

I hope those banned are getting refunds.

The article says players fear they may be banned, not that they were banned.

 

[Roybe]

So i was game shopping, looking at Outer Worlds (looks like fun, doesnt it?) and that led to this article:

https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-76-...ealed-vault-63-begs-bethesda-not-to-ban-them/

It appears that the developers are banning people for discovering and exploiting a bug that lets them see unreleased content.

Call me old fashioned, but if a bug is exploitable, its not the players fault and if the bug has been reported the community and players have done their job and certainly shouldnt be banned for it.

I hope those banned are getting refunds.

NCSoft has banned people from GW2 for utilizing known and unknown bugs/exploits. Basically, if the devs have set up the TOS properly, there is no real legal recourse for the customer.

 

[Morbad]

Call me old fashioned, but if a bug is exploitable, its not the players fault and if the bug has been reported the community and players have done their job and certainly shouldnt be banned for it.

This sentiment isn't old fashioned, it's just weird.

You can't cheat via exploit without exploitable bugs. Such actions are still cheats and cheating being possible doesn't remotely absolve cheaters.

If someone accidentally encountered a bug, took no advantage from it, and reported it, that's one thing. However, utilizing it for their own benefit is a blatant cheat and should be punished in any multiplayer game.

Seems to me that what the game developers did was sold users a defective product and then denied them use of the product when they found the defect. This could only happen in the gaming industry.
Can you imagine buying a car, finding a defect and then being denied use of the vehicle by the seller?

A poor analogy.

If you own the car, it's yours and you can do what you like with it.

Players do not own the MMOs they play and have to abide by a licence agreement and terms of service to retain access. Most MMOs (including games such as Fallout 76 and Elite: Dangerous) have provisions that prohibit exploiting bugs.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Players do not own the MMOs they play and have to abide by a licence agreement and terms of service to retain access. Most MMOs (including games such as Fallout 76 and Elite: Dangerous) have provisions that prohibit exploiting bugs.

The amount of people who don't understand that they don't own the games they play is depressing.

I've known this since I was like, eleven.

 

[Kayweg]

Nobody was banned, nobody was even threatened to be banned.
Did you read the article you linked, OP ?
This is how fake stories start.
Fact is that Bethesda even thanked the player in question for bringing this to their attention:

https://massivelyop.com/2019/02/11/...me-copies-are-demoted-to-gifts-with-purchase/

Other than that there is a very easy procedure to be safe.
If you discover an exploit/exploitable bug report it to support, don't make it public and don't exploit it yourself.

 

[starman]

This could make you very rich

Microsoft strongly believes close partnerships with researchers make customers more secure. Security researchers play an integral role in the ecosystem by discovering vulnerabilities missed in the software development process. Each year we partner together to better protect billions of customers worldwide.

The Microsoft Bug Bounty Program is designed to supplement and encourage research in certain technologies to better protect our customers and the broader ecosystem. Through targeted and ongoing bounty programs, we reward researchers for submitting their findings to one of our eligible bounty programs and for partnering with us through Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure. If you are a security researcher that has found a vulnerability in a Microsoft product, service, or device we want to hear from you. If it is within scope of a bounty program you can receive bounty award according to the program descriptions. Even if it is not covered under an existing bounty program, we will publicly acknowledge your contributions when we fix the vulnerability. Both categories of submission are counted in our annual Top 100 Researcher leaderboard.


https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/msrc/bounty

 

[Mole HD]

I'm simply stunned that they found a bug/exploit in a Bethesda game... [rolleyes]

 

[Morbad]

I'm simply stunned that they found a bug/exploit in a Bethesda game... [rolleyes]

Yeah, Bethesda has been pioneering new levels of bugginess for decades.

Back in 1996 I remember having to make two saves before taking my character up or down a flight of stairs in Daggerfall. One save was because there was a chance I'd fall through the stairs and die in an endless black void, or that the stairs would disappear, covered up by the floor, and I wouldn't be able to go back. The second save was in case the first save itself became bugged or the game crashed during the save.

 

[Mole HD]

Yeah, Bethesda has been pioneering new levels of bugginess for decades.

Back in 1996 I remember having to make two saves before taking my character up or down a flight of stairs in Daggerfall. One save was because there was a chance I'd fall through the stairs and die in an endless black void, or that the stairs would disappear, covered up by the floor, and I wouldn't be able to go back. The second save was in case the first save itself became bugged or the game crashed during the save.

[haha] Aye...memories

 

[Chevy66]

Daggerfall was a great game though, It was good enough that I'd put up with all sorts of Jankiness

Terminator: Future shock was another ace Bethesda game that did it's best to put you off by throwing bugs at you