Hah, you thought this one was going to be about Daybreak. But it’s not. No, today’s Daily Grind was actually inspired by something Guild Wars 2 icon @that_shaman posted earlier this month. For curiosity’s sake, he linked to a rather old leak (not of his making, to be clear) from Guild Wars 2 supposedly of a very early version of the Sandswept Isles map. Only there was one problem: It turned out to be, as he put it, “a well timed and convincing fake,” as confirmed by ArenaNet.
“When that image came out, we panicked for a split second before taking a closer look,” ANet’s Linsey Murdock explained. “Sandswept Isles never looked like that during development. It was a good educated guess since the PoF map showed the cube (which did move during development) and a nicely done photoshop. Sorry to break it to you but that ‘leak’ was faked.”
Maybe it’s because my job demands we be laser-focused on the truth all the time, but stuff like this fascinates me. Why would anybody go to so very much trouble to anonymously craft and post a fake? What do they get out of it exactly? Who puts that much work into a troll that will eventually be outed? I dunno the answers. But I can sure see why the community (and even @that_shaman) fell for this one because I likely would’ve too.
What would you say is the greatest hoax or fake leak in all of MMORPG history?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
