Cheater, Exploiter, or Opportunist?

elblobbob14_ESO

As I was sitting at my computer this morning, watching the French Open on TV (it's a Tennis tournament) and I was reading the angry thread on the calls for an anomaly nerf and I started to ponder a very deep question.

But before i present you with my question, I have a confession to make. I am an anomaliholic. I've Zerged them in the past, I'll probably Zerg a bit this afternoon. Getting those little purple/blue items is like crack. I want to quit. I know I should quit, but I can't. Not just yet. I just want one, more, little purple hat.

So the question is, in addition to being an anomaliholic, am I a cheater, an exploiter or an opportunist?

Now, being the ignorant person I am, I first googled each of the three words to make sure I understood what I was talking about. All three have varying definitions, but I chose the 3 that seemed to have the most relevance to the current circumstances with anomalies.

Cheater - To violate rules deliberately, as in a game.
Opportunist - a person who adapts his actions, responses, etc, to take advantage of opportunities, circumstances, etc
Exploiter - to utilize, especially for profit; to use selfishly for one's own ends.


Now, personally I don't think I am a cheater. The people who used a third party program to simulate 1000 button pushes/second in the infamous guild-bank-gold-dupe are cheaters. Bots-of-supposed-asian-origin-with-questionable-names who use client side hacks to teleport between harvest nodes and hide under ground are cheaters. I use nothing but a couple add-ons. I play the game with a standard keyboard and mouse, and use the 5-slot skill bar just like everyone else. I have read through Zenimax's TOS and I see nowhere, either there on on their website, that states I can't run around with a group of folks in circles killing monsters that spawn at anomalies. I am most definitely not a cheater.

Am I taking advantage of an opportunity/circumstance to further my character's bank account by Zerging anomalies? Absolutely. By the definition I chose, I am most definitely an opportunist.

But wait....Am I selfishly utilizing the current circumstances for profit and my own ends? Guilty as charged. In addition, I ran burials to level VR9+ to VR12. Hmmm, by the definition I chose, looks like I'm an exploiter.

Now the haters can hate on me all they want and call me an exploiter. The not-so-much-haters can call me an opportunist. I don't think anyone can all me a cheater.

I'll tell you what i really am. What I really am is a die-hard MMO fan, an even die-harder (not a word, I know), Elder Scrolls fan, who is only playing the game that Zenimax designed and provided (of which I compensated/compensate them for nicely).

I've done my best to play the game the way I think Zenimax intended. I ran my character through all the other quests in the other 2 factions, even though I didn't agree with the lore behind it.

I would like to do something in Craglorn other than watch the Zergs go by, but good luck getting a quest group together.

I could do The Trials, but The Trials seem to be for elites only, and only if you are the proper class, with the right skills trained. I am far from an elite player.

I thought about going back and starting a DK, but to be honest, I currently have no desire to do all the quests I just did, all over, again.

I could level a couple alts to be crafters but I already have a Templer and a NB who are my crafters and they are busy researching away. It turns out they are both very gifted researchers and crafters.

I could go work on achievements but half the ones I swore I had are missing, so until the fix is in for that, I won't waste my time chasing an achievement I might already have.

I could go do Cyrodiil, but I GW2 kinda burned me out on that (at least for now).

Instead I'm just sitting here, watching Djokovic puke on live Tv, thinking about little purple hats and pondering ......



****addendum... A lot of folks seem to be certain that everyone currently zerging anomalies is exploiting/cheating the game, but as of this posting, the only response that I have found from Zenimax is "Thanks for your feedback on this, everyone. We are making some adjustments to this that you'll see in our next patch on Monday."... heck, for all we know, they actualy intended for the XP gains to be greater, and they really intended to drop legendary loot, not that crappy purple/blue junk.

SirAndy

Let me put this into one short paragraph:

You're playing the game as it was intended to be played.
Respawn and repeatability are part of the underlying game design.


You can go back to watching TV now ...
;-)

waylander48

im just jealous that by the time I get there they will probably have nerfed it to the ground and no purplies for me.

kaosodin

Huge post, missed the point..... was that a confession or something.

Pele

You, sir, are awesome. Great post. May it rain purple hats during your next Craglorn run.

AlexDougherty

elblobbob14_ESO wrote: »

As I was sitting at my computer this morning, watching the French Open on TV (it's a Tennis tournament)

We know, everybody knows, it's a very famous sporting event.

KhajitFurTrader

I'd call it "emergent gameplay" or "emergent behavior", and thus, it may be viewed as taking an opportunity, regardless whether it was indented by developers to be taken as such or not. As always, players are quick to find the way of least resistance for maximum gain. This is normal behavior in human beings. Knowing this should be bread and butter to designers.

"Getting the maximum amount of milk with the minimum amount of moo," as Ankh-Morpork's Patrician would put it, and he knows human nature all too well.

elblobbob14_ESO wrote: »

But before i present you with my question, I have a confession to make. I am an anomaliholic. I've Zerged them in the past, I'll probably Zerg a bit this afternoon. Getting those little purple/blue items is like crack. I want to quit. I know I should quit, but I can't. Not just yet. I just want one, more, little purple hat.

So in hindsight, they should've called it CRACKlorn, eh? :P

JungleBoot

I am not the greatest of gamers. If I was, I'd be sure to find a way to enrich my life with real world wealth in some way. The whole "wall of text" above is known as rationalizing. You are rationalizing your behavior. It happens to all of us in real life -- routinely I might add.

But you are a consumer of the game and using it as it was presented to you. You have no way of knowing the original intent. That isn't for me, nor you, to presume. Therefore, you are merely playing the game as designed. If something is happening unintended, it's up to the developer to fix it.

sajackson

It isn't cheating. It's just taking advantage of a poorly implemented game mechanic.

However the anomolies will get changed because the way they are being farmed by large groups of low VR level players isn't how ZOS intends them to work.

dragnier

If there any design flaw, failing, poor implementation in a game; people will find it and attempt to use it to their advantage.

By the same rule of thumb, people will always take the easy way out as a majority.

If questing = x amount of xp per hour and anomoly farming = y amount of xp per hour where y > x, then grinding anomolies is easier and will attract more players. Just like in real life. If you are told to wash dishes and have to choice to wash by hand or use a dishwasher, which is most likely to be your choice?

captain_awesome

It is cheating.

They (Zos) made the anomalies, but its clear they did not intend for you to level up solely running backwards and forwards like a crack addict from V10 to V12.

Zos made the mistake of implementing this weak game system, but it's clearly an unintended error and not intended that you should be able to level up at an artificial speed.

You should have the integrity not to abuse it. You should have the integrity to report it and continue with the game.

However it seems you do not have the integrity and "choose" to exploit it and abuse it. Same as people that abused Darkshade Caverns, the Cyrodil leveling exploit, the Emperor farming exploit, the Staff instance farming exploit and all the other non-intended crap in game.

So "cheater" is an appropriate tag for you.

Dayv

It's just grinding and that's a part of MMOs. Do you feel like you're cheating yourself?

Swordguy

cheating involves an outside variable, not contained or presented within the game itself.

Generally, an Exploit is a cheat that utilizes an anomalous internal mechanic in a way that was never intended by a designer.

As far as i can tell, Anomaly farming is an open and clear design mechanic that was intended. only a team full of devs who have never touched an mmo before would overlook such an opportunistic flaw, if it were indeed a flaw or mistake.

Alurria

Purple rain purple rain.....great post. Play the game you are not a cheater, exploiter, but opportunist yep..nothing wrong with that. Just keep singing that Prince song. At least until Monday.

cjmarsh725b14_ESO

AlexDougherty wrote: »

elblobbob14_ESO wrote: »

As I was sitting at my computer this morning, watching the French Open on TV (it's a Tennis tournament)

We know, everybody knows, it's a very famous sporting event.

Never underestimate the ignorance of us Americans. Some of us probably think it's golf related.

TheGrandAlliance

WTF ARE WE TALKING ABOUT????

Dagus

who watches tennis?

elblobbob14_ESO

TheGrandAlliance wrote: »

WTF ARE WE TALKING ABOUT????

Tennis. It's a sport with a couple racquets, a ball, and a net. Beyond that I'm clueless.

elblobbob14_ESO

Dayv wrote: »

Do you feel like you're cheating yourself?

I play the game for fun and a diversion and I make sure and remember, it is just a game. If I ever wake up and get angry because my toon is underpowered, or I get mad cause a player has more virtual stuff then I do, or I feel even the remotest bit of guilt because I managed to get a few more purple hats then someone else, that's when I will be cheating myself, and that's when I'll go find another diversion.

elblobbob14_ESO

kaosodin wrote: »

Huge post, missed the point..... was that a confession or something.

It most certainly was a confession, or... something. If i figure it out I"ll let you know.

CoUsT

elblobbob14_ESO wrote: »

I could go work on achievements but half the ones I swore I had are missing, so until the fix is in for that, I won't waste my time chasing an achievement I might already have.

Don't worry about achievements. Almost all are fine. They messed only quest achievements.

Source: did almost all achievements myself.


Basically all achievements that I need to do is: fishing tab and alliance war tab (which will take probably moths because finshing is mega bugged and alliance war is too much time consuming).

So... go and do achievements. It's really something that keep you in game if you already "finished MMORPG game" :P

Leesha

You are being resourceful. You are taking full advantage of the content available to you along with the hundreds of others doing the same thing.

Asawasa

i'd say opportunist like i was. i went from v6 to v12 on anomalies and burial grinds and gots lots of loot. now i can coast thru the 50++ content without the hassle of leveling. nothing wrong with what we have done other people are just jealous imo until they do it and realize what they have been missing out on.

Cogo

@elblobbob14_

Outstanding post! Not only did you give a view on your game play. You opened a subject about different types of players. Interesting!

I could add another among your 3, I would explain myself as a Harcore player who wants to try everything! But I simply refuse to use anything in any game that is flawed and give me more "power" then I should have. I have NO problem using skills that are needed to be fixed. I just adapt until they are.

Call it pride, but I want to do well because of ME, not because of addons/class/skill, etc.

I guess I am an opportunist, but a medium one. Sometimes I rather look behind a tree/rocks, then rush to an anchor that just spawned, which I havnt done yet.

If I could give you 100 awesome for this post, I would.

Paladin_echo1

Don't feel bad. One its a game mechanic. Two, Exploiting is a game feature. Look for instance after you successfully block an enemy power move. It says Exploit. So the game must want you to exploit more things as intended.

nerevarine1138

Paladin_echo1 wrote: »

Don't feel bad. One its a game mechanic. Two, Exploiting is a game feature. Look for instance after you successfully block an enemy power move. It says Exploit. So the game must want you to exploit more things as intended.

Exploiting isn't a game feature; it's a nice word for cheating.

This is the same excuse used by people who were camping a clearly broken boss spawn in VR1 Stonefalls. It's only valid if you truly believe the developers intended players to level by standing in one spot and spamming AoE attacks all day.

Alphashado

Pretty cut and dry the way I see it. If this were a cheat or an exploit, the ban hammer would be swinging. It is a design flaw just like the hireling bags. Morality is a different subject and is purely singular to each person. If you see a $20 on the sidewalk do you pick it up and call it your lucky day? Or do leave there in case the poor *** that dropped it comes looking?

Same thing here.

Zorrashi

So you grind anomalies for purple hats that are just waiting to be looted and you feel ashamed? Pfft! Like many of us aren't already doing it! And for those of us who aren't, we probably would if given the opportunity.

I'm an opportunist. That guy over there is an opportunist. We're all opportunists!

Requiemslove

There is a 4th kind of MMO gamer, actually. And that is called the completionist. That's how I would see myself. I don't think the OP is doing anything inherently wrong as the OP does not, as example, implement bot programs to do a specific task. I do think it sad, farming the same kind of enemy again and again and again for just [I would guess] the farming mats. Truth is though, if the devs allow it to happen, its going to happen. If they don't, they need to change things so that anomaly farming is no longer something that is worthwhile.

captain_awesome

Nyswar wrote: »

Paladin_echo1 wrote: »

Don't feel bad. One its a game mechanic. Two, Exploiting is a game feature. Look for instance after you successfully block an enemy power move. It says Exploit. So the game must want you to exploit more things as intended.

Exploiting isn't a game feature; it's a nice word for cheating.

This is the same excuse used by people who were camping a clearly broken boss spawn in VR1 Stonefalls. It's only valid if you truly believe the developers intended players to level by standing in one spot and spamming AoE attacks all day.

You're right.

And the OP clearly thinks it's not valid otherwise he wouldn't have made that epic "am i guilty?" post.

Yes princess - you are cheating - you are guilty. Now go and self flagellate!

sajackson

In the end it doesn't really matter if people think its cheating or not. It's getting fixed, the anomaly spammers just need to deal with it.