[UPDATE] Players Banned for Breakdancing in Star Wars: The Old Republic

Mike Kayatta

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Aug 2, 2011
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[UPDATE] Players Banned for Breakdancing in Star Wars: The Old Republic


An unfortunate, but funny glitch in Bioware's new MMO is allowing players to avoid damage by dancing.

Like some sort of bizarre version of Footloose set in outer space, dancing in Star Wars: The Old Republic can now get you in a whole mess o' trouble. Bioware's ire, however, is somewhat more logical than Reverend Shaw Moore's; a player choosing to "get down" during combat currently prevents enemies (and even bosses) from targeting properly.

Knowledge of the exploit has already spread rapidly across the various SW:TOR star systems, leading to massive exploitation that the developer has yet to patch out of the game code. Don't think that gives your Sith Inquisitor a license to boogie though, as multiple accounts are already being walloped by the almighty ban hammer.

For players who can't stop (can't stop!) can't stop the beat, Bioware has started issuing account bans, claiming that the offenders "participated in abusing game mechanics to prevent enemy NPCs from targeting the user," and that "dancing is currently not permitted outside of special Dance Zones." The developer hasn't specified what exactly these "zones" are, but I think it's safe to assume it means "during combat." So, hey, you can dance if you want to, but no grinding while grinding.

I'll bet none of you ever thought you'd be banned from a Star Wars game for dancing in a non-dance zone, but then again, I never thought I'd see Obi-Wan's krayt dragon call get further attention. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0EUjobdavw] Go figure.

Update: Bioware has apparently written Joystiq, informing them that the email containing "[player] participated in abusing game mechanics to prevent enemy NPCs from targeting the user," and "dancing is currently not permitted outside of special Dance Zones," was faked by someone unaffiliated with the company.

Source: Joystiq [http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/01/04/breakdancing-breaks-swtor-enemies-spirits/]


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Voltano

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Dec 11, 2008
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Fappy said:
Are these perma-bans? o_O
I'm curious about that as well. Sure its annoying to PVP players if one person exploits this, but punishing people for exploiting a bug *in your game* seems like the wrong move. Why not just disable the dancing action globally until the bug is fixed?
 

Dastardly

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Apr 19, 2010
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Mike Kayatta said:
Players Banned for Breakdancing in Star Wars: The Old Republic
Help me, Kevin Bacon -- you're my only hope!

(Thus allowing "Footloose to Star Wars" to become an acceptable bridge in the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game)
 

Dogstile

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Jan 17, 2009
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Perma bans? Damn, can't you guys just, I dunno, disable the dance function until its fixed or something?
 

Jesus Phish

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Jan 28, 2010
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This seems a bit of a harsh punishment. I'm sure it's only temporary but even still, warnings first then bans? How do you know how much people have done it? And special dance zones?

I wonder also, do these bans result in people being banned from their forum accounts and other Origin games?
 

Jandau

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Dec 19, 2008
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I'm joining the "Are these perma-bans?" chorus, because if this is grounds for a ban, TOR doesn't have a very bright future ahead of it. Ok, I MIGHT be able to understand if they only banned people who were abusing it to the extreme (to, say, 2-man endgame content or something), but if they dropped the banhammer on people who just heard about a funny bug and wanted to try it out, then that's batshit retarded...
 

Mike Kayatta

Minister of Secrets
Aug 2, 2011
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stupid stupid stupid thing to ban people for. I hate it. Release a game that isn't broken if you don't like people playing that way.
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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Fappy said:
Are these perma-bans? o_O
Million dollar question right there. It's easy to get riled up over a ban-hammer use if it's inappropriate, but far harder to do so if the ban only lasts...say, 24 hours.

Still, this was a pretty clear exploit of game mechanics to avoid damage. The idiots knew they were breaking the rules.
 

Fappy

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Jan 4, 2010
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Nasrin said:
Fappy said:
Are these perma-bans? o_O
I think they're "suspensions".
That's good to know. Hopefully Bioware doesn't need to deal with another Martin's Shirt fiasco like WoW had during Wrath. That was total bullshit.
 

TJ Johnston

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Apr 1, 2010
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The bug is there. It's going to get exploited. I'm fairly certain there was a better solution to this than handing out bans. Show the customer a little bit of respect.
 

Caliostro

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Jan 23, 2008
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Nasrin said:
stupid stupid stupid thing to ban people for. I hate it. Release a game that isn't broken if you don't like people playing that way.
Indeed.

Release broken game > People play the game > Get banned because the game is broken.

SMRET LAWJIK!

Bioware - Proving that just because you can write a good story, it does not mean you're not, in fact, an idiot (See also: Frank Miller).
 

Soviet Heavy

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Jan 22, 2010
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TJ Johnston said:
The bug is there. It's going to get exploited. I'm fairly certain there was a better solution to this than handing out bans. Show the customer a little bit of respect.
EA Bioware? Respect? These are the same people who yelled at fans for offering constructive criticism, and then blamed everything else on 4Chan raiders.

Fucks sakes Bioware, get your heads out of your ass.
 

Atary77

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Feb 27, 2008
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Way to go Bioware, punish the gamers who paid you money and continue to pay you money for a subscription all because they found a mistake in your code.
 

Kevlar Eater

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Shows how pathetic Bioware has become, when they can't even get their shit together without banning people. And no, the EULA doesn't give them an all-access pass to their customers' asses.