- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Posted by: timowns
Posted by: eleVader
Don't reset the stats, keep the cheaters up high as their punishment, let them get pummelled over and over until they smarten up and level down to where they belong.
The cheaters won't keep playing just to get pummelled. Most will either stop playing, get a new account, or play in a playlist they didn't cheat in. Your theory doesn't work.
But you've just described why that WOULD work.
"Stop playing" is certainly a good outcome for our cheaters. If they don't plan on playing right, better that they stop screwing the rest of us over and not play at all. I fail to see how having a cheater quit on us is going to affect us in a negative fashion.
"Get a new account" means that they'll either have to go through the work of getting a 2-months free card (Or move to Australia.....), or pay more money for another account. How many do you see going through that trouble? Especially if they're CHEATERS? They aren't going to work hard for very long at re-acclaiming their levels. They didn't do it the FIRST time. Who cares?
"Play in a playlist they didn't cheat in" as in, playing in a playlist that they are appropriately matched in? God, we don't want THAT!!! And so what if they have a high overall level? Let's see them use it for bragging rights, and have some guys talk him into playing some games in their highest playlist. They won't last long that way. I've played against some obviously reformed cheaters recently, as their overall levels were each 10 over my own, yet they absolutely sucked at playing. They got frustrated, and had to cheat to beat my team and I. With the autoupdate, they would have gotten frustrated and QUIT. This scenario does something that resetting stats won't: it frustrates CHEATERS and rewards legit players.
All in all, resetting the stats are going to frustrate more legit players than Bungie thinks. Do those levels mean anything? Bungie says they don't. I say they do. I don't get rewarded for my levels in Diablo II either, but I still get bragging rights, and that's what levels are doing for people right now. If I'm the highest level in a clan, and I'm being ranked as a peon, people know that there's something wrong with that situation. Those levels are important to people because of those bragging rights, and they are the goal in the sky. Players celebrate when they get a new level, and usually have a heightened need to play. I know a few fair weather gamers that will play for the next 8 hours whenever they start going up levels. It's a thrill and a joy for players, not some inconsequential tool for playing against better people. Do players know that's what it is for? Sure they do, but that isn't how they hold it in regard. If Bungie does this, they're going to piss off a LOT of people who will want their money back from the last few months of monthly subscription to Xbox Live, since all their hard work went to nothing. And they'll quit when they discover there is no way to get it back. And before you say "Who cares if they quit", try to keep in mind who they're doing this for to begin with. It isn't for the cheaters, it's for the legit players who are trying to have a good time. If we didn't care about the legit players' experience, we wouldn't even be talking about an autoupdate.