The REAL solution:
Bungie, why not simply fix the matter of idling instead of punishing untold number of gamers for doing it? Many other games have auto-boot for inactivity, why can't you? Many other games have no friendly fire (or even better - backfire!), why can't you? Many other games have drop-in, drop-out for active match sessions, why can't you? These are just some suggestions to fix these issues of quitting, idling, betraying, etc...
You can't techincally "stop" gamers from this behavior. Punishing them doesn't "stop" them from doing it. Why not keep everyone happy, and just fix these problems by implementing some of the suggested protocols?
Define "fix" as: to account for an issue, thereby rendering it a non-issue
Note 1: These protocols won't "stop" quitting from happening, for example, but it would "account" for it, by allowing the matches to remain balanced.
Note 2: Hacking, modding, network manipulation, lag switching, should be punished - but ONLY if you can't think of any protocols to actually "stop" it or "account" for it 1st.
FAQ time!
Q: "From now on we won't be seeing anymore idlers cuz they sure as hell learned their lesson, haha! So doesn't that mean bungie "fixed" the issue?"
A: Well, sorry to say, but we are in fact still seeing people idle in FF (firefight). Since there are still no protocols in place, it CAN still happen again - and it is. The banhammer didn't catch everbody,and some people are still doing it. So surely there must be a "right" way to do it without getting caught. That just proves how unfair it is, when some people got away with it, and some are STILL getting away with it.
Q: "But what if there are no protocols good enough to notice the most sly methods of boosting?"
A: Well then, props to them, they probably beat the banhammer too. However good at catching/punishing people the banhammer is, is how good they could make their preventative protocols. Ultimately the banhammer does more damage than good, so get rid of it, and just make a proper game that doesn't "need" it!
Q: "Why is AFK-ing in FF so prominent? I mean there's at least one AFK-er in every FF match!"
A: Firstly, because bungie screwed up the credit rewarding system. Whether you actively play hard all the way through, or sit in the corner and do jack-squat, you get the same total credits (on average - any differences are sufficiently small to be negligible)! What you do during the match is utterly irrelavent!!! It's all about the game completion bonus. Secondly, because AFK-ing in FF does not affect the other gamers or the outcome of the match, whereas AFK-ing in MM (multiplayer matchmaking) does. The theory is, that if you AFK in MM you are a disrespectful prick who ruins the game for the rest of his team, but if you AFK in FF, nobody gets hurt.
Rant:
Basically, idling should be rendered fruitless. Do you think we would see that many idlers if you didn't get such a big game completion bonus??! Howbout rewarding players for their actual in-game activities - like getting kills? Howbout 100Cr instead of 5Cr??? EVEN THAT can be considered preventative protocol!!! And if your excuse is that you suck at getting kills, then a) shouldn't be ranking up anyways! and b) you should get rewarded for literally EVERYTHING ELSE you could possibly be doing - like getting an assist, or driving someone in a vehicle, or picking up the flag. And If the game completion bonus is so big in order to deter quitting, why not just make every quit a minus 1000Cr penalty???
Bungie - stop putting all your efforts into punishing gamers who take advantage of the fact that you have no protocols in place to "stop" them, and start putting effort into actually implementing these protocols.
This game was set up to fail, and now we're being punished for taking advantage of it. Obviously we are not gonna play it anymore...
I mean just think about this scenario:
-You get 200Cr game completion bonus for a firefight arcade match.
-You can earn an average of 2000Cr for a FULL-LENGTH match of actually doing stuff (kills, assits, etc.).
-You can earn an average of 1000Cr for only being "active" half the time.
-You get penalized -1000Cr if you quit at ANY time. (If you quit at the beginning, ur a moron. If you quit halfway through, you may have earned 1000Cr but then you lost them all again - plus you don't get the jackpot or the 200Cr game completion bonus. And if you quit right before the end, you may earn at least 1000Cr - but ur an even bigger idiot, cuz u could have stayed in for 5 more seconds and earned about 2500Cr)
-You can earn an average of 400Cr (jackpot on top of game completion) if you idle the whole way through. (OR YOU COULD JUST GET AUTO-BOOTED FOR INACTIVITY!!!)
Do you think we gonna need a banhammer to punish idlers?
Will there even BE any idlers??!
Any idlers still around with that kind of system are either:
a) idiots
b) actully answering the phone and taking a dump! - they're not just lying and making excuses!
There you go, problem solved. Now we just need 343 to patch bungie's huge mess. Can't wait till 343 takes control. Bungie should burn for this big mistake known as: "Reach".