Back in February, Amazon raised all the eyebrows when it clawed back a range of drops from innocent Lost Ark players. According to the announcement, the devs accidentally set specific content to drop more often than it should’ve, and instead of saying whoopsie and just balancing around it, the team yoinked the extras from the players, who’d done nothing wrong. And for players who’d already made use of the drops, Amazon said it would be taking something of equivalent value from their account instead. The reason, said the team, was that it was best for the economy.
“We initially considered letting this slide, but that wouldn’t be fair to the players who have been running the content manually. We know this kind of correction isn’t fun for anyone, but maintaining game economy balance is crucial for Lost Ark’s long-term health.”
Honestly, this kind of studio action genuinely astonished me. I cannot fathom thinking this is a good idea. Punish cheaters, sure, but punish players for your own drop error? Asking players to sacrifice for the good of the economy? How can players ever trust a studio that would rather pillage player stashes than just find some other way, like rebalancing the actual drop or creating a sink of some sort?
What would you say is the best way to handle MMO economy errors? Is Amazon’s tactic the cleanest way, even if it’s painful to the affected players?
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!
