Martin Fury: What would you have done?
So the question is: what would you have done? Lots of players say they wouldn't have touched it, and that it was clearly an item they shouldn't have had. Others say that Karatechop and his guild did what anyone would have done -- it was Blizzard's mistake and they were just taking advantage of it. We'd like to know, so here's a poll: what would you have done if Martin Fury showed up in your mailbox?
| Not touched it at all, it's not my item | |
|---|---|
| Played around with it a bit, maybe killing mobs a few times in the overworld | |
| Saved it for future use, in Icecrown or elsewhere | |
| Headed straight for PvP and rocked Wintergrasp | |
| What Karatechop did: rolled through progression content |
Of course, Karatechop eventually got banned for what he did, but answer that question under the premise that he didn't necessarily know that at the time. And there's another question here: lots of players say that they are surprised Karatechop and his guild didn't open a GM ticket right away -- clearly Blizzard didn't mean to send him the item, and he should have contacted them to get it back. But others aren't so sure. The second question is: no matter what you did with the item, would you have told the GMs about it?
| Yes | |
|---|---|
| No |
Filed under: Items, Polls, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 16)
Graham May 1st 2009 7:45PM
@pyrostriker,
No, it shouldn't be as big of a deal as it is. Blizz should not have banned him. It was a simple mistake on the part of their GM, and they decided to ban this player instead of doing something constructive. Blizzard is what made it a big deal.
Iroquois May 1st 2009 8:24PM
Yeah a full ban was way to harsh. I can understand if they gave him a slap on the wrist (a temporary account lock) and tell him, "You should have looked into it more and told us about this." I think that would be reasonable. No he didn't necessarily do the right thing. It's just human nature. But Blizzard sure as heck didn't respond in the right way. Not to say that getting an unreasonable life sentence for robbing a local bank absolves you from robbing the bank. Some minor punishment is still fair.
Sl0th May 1st 2009 8:29PM
@ Manatank
Yes. Yes I am asserting that, in my opinion, exploiting in an MMO is wrong. Does that really put me in the minority here?
The measure of something's ethicality is not the harm that it does. It is whether it was right or wrong. You can try and justify it by saying, "Who was hurt?" But that strikes me as a hollow rationalization. It was still, to me, very obviously the wrong thing to do and Karatechop and those who knowingly went along with him received just punishment for their actions.
As to the arguement that it wasn't cheating because it was not a competition... that's just silly. WoW is built on competition. Most of it is incredibly silly bickering about who slew which virtual dragon before who and who's armor makes them hurt things more efficiently, but the competition is there. Putting that aside, its still cheating by most definitions of the word. He was given an unfair advantage over the rest of the players in the game and used it. As such, it is by definition cheating. Whether cheating is morally wrong is up to the reader to decide, I suppose.
Maybe I'm wrong. But ethics are a funny thing like that. Everyone has their own code, and one person's wrong isn't another person's wrong. And that's part of why I really enjoy this kind of discussion.
syberghost May 4th 2009 11:06AM
The fact some of you think this "shouldn't have been a big deal" is why Blizzard swung the banhammer so hard.
When you start thinking it's a big deal, it will no longer be necessary to make examples of you.
Tolsimir May 1st 2009 2:06PM
Anyone that says they wouldn't have touched it at all are among the first people to be lying.
Raaj May 1st 2009 2:09PM
Indeed. I like to tell myself that I would have at least opened a ticket, but I find it much more likely that I'd be sitting here with a banned account.
rawr May 1st 2009 2:13PM
No, anyone saying that they would use it is either too stupid to see the obvious outcome of it or just dont want to keep thier accounts anymore.
Keeping my account i have put years into is more important to me than cheating my way through content for one weekend.
Thebum May 1st 2009 2:13PM
I would have instantly opened a ticket, and then I would get a few of my guildies outside IF to test it out in some duels. Nothing more really, I know it would get me banned if I used it for more than that.
Marc Sadowski May 1st 2009 2:14PM
I would have opened a GM ticket, but let my low-level alt ROCK Deadmines.
Fimbri May 1st 2009 2:20PM
Bit arrogant of you to say. I know I'd have my blood pressure go up and imagine all the Ulduar bosses at my feet (or w/e), but then I'd realize the use of it would result in an account ban. I like my characters too much to throw them away just to have 20 mins of fun and gain the status of an internet celebrity (and no, I don't mean those "purple pixels" they wear).
Dunwich May 1st 2009 2:39PM
Please do not project your morals upon myself or others.
Pexxle -=SilverHand (RP)=- May 1st 2009 2:27PM
You know whats really stupid about ALL of this...??
If there were NO SUCH THING AS WORLD FIRSTS he would be still playing, and whatever items he and whoever was with him would have their loot gained from using this removed.
World Firsts..the stupidest things since saying "first" on a blog...
Karilyn May 1st 2009 2:29PM
"No, anyone saying that they would use it is either too stupid to see the obvious outcome of it or just dont want to keep thier accounts anymore."
Quoted for Mother ****ing Truth.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Eruntalon May 1st 2009 2:33PM
I totally agree, most people, myself included, would have used it.
I mean c'mon, something that kills *anything* and says "Cheater." in a seemingly joking way, of course I'd test it out.
*However*
Once I tested it and it *worked* I'd be doing some heavy research. As soon as I find out that it doesn't exist in any databases, a ticket would be opened.
I don't own my account, Blizzard does, and I wouldn't be willing to mess with something I shouldn't have, even if it was their accident.
Thebum May 1st 2009 2:40PM
Saying that people who say that they wouldn't use it are lying is the same as saying that people who say that they don't cheat in single player games are lying. I don't cheat in single player games, I wont cheat in multiplayer games either.
Balius May 1st 2009 2:41PM
It was sent to him from a guildy after the guildy had a lowbie account restored. I wouldn't have touched the item, in Karatechop's shoes, and wouldn't have even been tempted to...since the item wasn't in MY possession.
Had it been sent to me from the GMs, I'd have probably tried it out on some enemy around whatever town I was in...then when I saw that it ACTUALLY did what it advertised and wasn't a joke item, would have taken it off and sent a ticket to a GM about it, probably with an apology for using it to kill a level 4 boar. "Holy shit, I didn't realize that the shirt I was sent was a real item! I assumed it was a joke and killed all the boars around me when I tested it out! You obviously sent this to me by mistake."
And, even if I was given written permission to use the item from a GM, I still wouldn't have used it for guild progression. I'd have thrown that bad boy into the bank. Where's the fun in playing if everything's that easy?
darren May 1st 2009 2:45PM
@Thebum
Exactly. I gain the most amount of enjoyment in this game playing with friends and beating bosses that have been giving us trouble. When content gets on farm, it starts to get boring. I cannot imagine anything more boring than pressing a button and winning.
Same reason I don't cheat in single player games, I enjoy the challenge and don't want the easy way out.
Definitely would have contacted a GM immediately. It would have been linked to the guild as a WTF moment, but definitely not used and definitely returned.
Arktic May 1st 2009 2:47PM
I agree, If I had received the item, I would have seen the color of it, and looked it up on wowhead. It's not listed on wowhead, but searching for it brings up Martin's Thunder, which does the same thing. Comments on that thing say "Developer Item" and looking at the colors I'd put it together. I'd put in a ticket for it right away... maybe link to it in chat or something.
Either way, I'm glad it wasn't me.
I was thinking though, if you started a new account, and passed it to a character on that, then let the subscription run out on it. Shelf it for a year or so, and then come back to it. I wonder what the time frame on logs are that would make it very difficult to trace it back to your main account.
DeathPaladin May 1st 2009 2:57PM
I can honestly say that I would not use it. I don't care about cheat codes in single-player games, but cheat items and codes in multiplayer violate my sense of fair play.
I wouldn't have necessarily opened a ticket, though, unless the game would not allow me to destroy it.
Branwyn May 1st 2009 3:57PM
I wouldn't have touched it, and I'm not lying. *shrug* If I clear content, I'd like it to be on my own merits and the merits of those I'm running with. I mean hell, if I wanted godmode, I'd be playing on some hack up private server where you get to 80 with one kill and get dev gear for nothing.
Seriously, what fun could that possibly be?