Unjustifiable Abuse of Power

[Ardeth]

Unjustifiable Abuse of Power

This is an follow-up and update to the post I made earlier entitled "My Story." 

To summarize from earlier I have utterly and completely stopped playing ARK due to recent action taken (by the ARK GM's) against my tribe and I for unknown reasons, in which they completely wiped out a massive amount of structure (namely around 30-50 behemoth gates and about 200 pillars to claim land) which we worked hard to obtain over a period of about 2 years.

I further reached out to them inquiring the nature of the violation only to immediately have my "ticket" closed back out with the statement that they have NOT heard further from us and as such the ticket would be closed out and they hope our issue was resolved.

 A final attempt to get them to explain and justify this action taken was made only to receive the same response again and once again close out the ticket.

How can players learn where they violated a rule and make steps to correct a problem if they cannot be made aware of what violation had occurred to begin with??? 

This has me concerned that the real reason they did what they did was because of the pillaring I had done (no less than any other large tribe on any other PvE server does and no more than usual either) and they only responded because someone took the time to fill out a report. Again it was probably my nasty neighbors who then went and pillared every square inch of what they could after the wipe themselves.

If this is the case then the action was done unjustly as pillaring isn't anything new or any new problem. I hope they realize that they have lost 2 dedicated players for good and potentially further ones as I will be moving to dissuade anyone I ever meet (in-person or inactively through the reviews I make) from buying or getting involved with a company that unjustly does these kinds of things to its players. 

As it is I realize the vast majority of the people who will read this post, if any at all, are the already dedicated players who have spent many countless hours on this game as I did; in which case I forewarn you to be aware of the potentially unfair and unjust treatment this company imposes on it's existing player base and recommend you get out now.

[MostSpy]

52 minutes ago, Ardeth said:

about 200 pillars to claim land) which we worked hard to obtain over a period of about 2 years.

This is NOT monopoly the board game. Good bye and please don't come back.
Servers would be a lot better off without pillar spamming / land claiming players like you. Its just a shame they didn't permanently ban you too.

[reddotjellytot]

1 hour ago, Ardeth said:

(namely around 30-50 behemoth gates and about 200 pillars to claim land)

If u took the time to read the COC u would have already known

> Structure Spamming - placing structures down such as pipes or wires for the purpose of disrupting others gameplay is against our code of conduct. << Yes this includes pillar spamming.

 

GM intervention may be necessary if your structure or creature is negatively impacting a server (ie. you block off a large portion of the map so that other members of that server cannot access it). << 200 pillars im sure that's blocking off a huge area, that is impacting the server.

 

Goodbye and good luck

[Ardeth]

10 hours ago, reddotjellytot said:

If u took the time to read the COC u would have already known

> Structure Spamming - placing structures down such as pipes or wires for the purpose of disrupting others gameplay is against our code of conduct. << Yes this includes pillar spamming.

 

GM intervention may be necessary if your structure or creature is negatively impacting a server (ie. you block off a large portion of the map so that other members of that server cannot access it). << 200 pillars im sure that's blocking off a huge area, that is impacting the server.

 

Goodbye and good luck

 

11 hours ago, MostSpy said:

This is NOT monopoly the board game. Good bye and please don't come back.
Servers would be a lot better off without pillar spamming / land claiming players like you. Its just a shame they didn't permanently ban you too.

Yeah I did go over the CoC before this, and while you obvious new players be whining, this is how the game works and had been working since day 1 on PvE. Tribes do it EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME. I owned my land for 2 years before they even bothered to notice because someone must’ve put in a report. It’s NOT justifiable that only a few tribes be punished for their design flaw here and there. Rules apply to EVERYONE, not just a select few... and if you would have noticed, I was referring to WHY they did what they did. It’s still unknown. That’s like a judge passing down sentencing without a person knowing what they did wrong. I only guessed as to the cause. To know what went wrong and potentially learn from it is important to know for future gameplay and to avoid repeat incidents (if fair and justifiable). As I said rules apply to everyone. Meanwhile you two keep whining, because guess what: As soon as my land I had claimed was wiped clean, my massive base and obnoxious neighbors went in and pillared everything anyway. Problem wasn’t fixed by punishing 1 tribe. Now only they own the land and only they can build there.

[Erinn]

Whats the point of "owning" a huge portion of land for 2 years? 2 years during which the land is practically unused and so damn ugly looking with those nasty 200 pillars? And dont try to tell me "resource protecting" or "I need a 300m clear perimeter in front of my base". What, are you afraid the vikings will come running from the woods to steal your women and you need to see them coming?

Or are you afraid of tiny beach bob thatch cube? He will be gone in 2 weeks, let him enjoy the constant dying cyclus from raptors. Or because it will be ugly looking next to your fabulous metal/tek castle? Well, the sea of pillars is way more uglier than that.

Since you said you read the CoC, you clearly know which part you violated and yet you ask why it was deleted? Stop the hate flow and think for a while.

Im not trying to say your neighbours are innocent. Both of you deserve to get punished and have all structures that are not being attached to your main cube deleted. You are the plague that is making this "pillaring" a "basic and necessary part of game" since day one.

PS: dont try the "crying newbie" stuff on me. Im wasting my life for this madness for 5 years.

[Axirpy]

I'm part of the people who would report you immediatly for putting useless structures everywhere on the map. I really hate that, and Ark really don't need tribes that spams pillars.

 

The game **was** working like that before, but rules has changed, and it's good that they have changed.

[SlipperySquid]

Cryo pod everything minimal environmental foot print is the new meta get with the time's PvErs...

[d1nk]

5 hours ago, Ardeth said:

 

Yeah I did go over the CoC before this, and while you obvious new players be whining, this is how the game works and had been working since day 1 on PvE. Tribes do it EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME. I owned my land for 2 years before they even bothered to notice because someone must’ve put in a report. It’s NOT justifiable that only a few tribes be punished for their design flaw here and there. Rules apply to EVERYONE, not just a select few... and if you would have noticed, I was referring to WHY they did what they did. It’s still unknown. That’s like a judge passing down sentencing without a person knowing what they did wrong. I only guessed as to the cause. To know what went wrong and potentially learn from it is important to know for future gameplay and to avoid repeat incidents (if fair and justifiable). As I said rules apply to everyone. Meanwhile you two keep whining, because guess what: As soon as my land I had claimed was wiped clean, my massive base and obnoxious neighbors went in and pillared everything anyway. Problem wasn’t fixed by punishing 1 tribe. Now only they own the land and only they can build there.

No it isnt how it has worked since day one. I've been playing since day one and it never was like that. Over zealous land takeovers has always been against CoC. They even patched to try and fix it (ladder pillars) and yet you continued to do it.

 

So if you truly played since day one you would know it is, in fact, not within rules. 

[Ardeth]

On 7/30/2020 at 12:53 PM, d1nk said:

No it isnt how it has worked since day one. I've been playing since day one and it never was like that. Over zealous land takeovers has always been against CoC. They even patched to try and fix it (ladder pillars) and yet you continued to do it.

 

So if you truly played since day one you would know it is, in fact, not within rules. 

Pillaring methods may have changed a bit over time, but that and claiming land via structure placement on PvE has always been as it is. Obviously you weren’t really there like I was... and structure spamming is defined as deliberately blocking off access to resource rich areas, blocking off entire areas of the map (mine was still accessible) or dropping random structures inside someone’s base. I never did any of those. Even if in some crappy way they justified my pillars to be in this category, it is an injustice that only tribes that receive a report against them get punished as EVERYONE does it. Obviously you’re just complaining because it’s a game flaw and have never owned any land yourself. Were the tables turned, you’d see it from this side, not just the whiny “I can’t find land to build on side.” I’ve been on both sides. Yeah it sucks but it’s how the game works. They shouldn’t punish players for playing a game within the the parameters of when it’s how they designed it. Change it maybe... but not remove years of hard work from someone for their screw ups.

 

[Ardeth]

I searched and searched server after server to find a spot to build on and waited patiently to obtain the land I had, so believe me I know the struggle.

[Ardeth]

On 7/30/2020 at 8:01 AM, Erinn said:

1. Whats the point of "owning" a huge portion of land for 2 years? 

2. Since you said you read the CoC, you clearly know which part you violated and yet you ask why it was deleted? Stop the hate flow and think for a while.

3. I'm not trying to say your neighbours are innocent. Both of you deserve to get punished and have all structures that are not being attached to your main cube deleted. You are the plague that is making this "pillaring" a "basic and necessary part of game" since day one.

1. What's the point of owning a sizeable portion of land in ARK? Freedom. Pride. Reduction in server lag. The reasons are numerous. Have you ever wanted to build somewhere beside your base and expand only to realize it's not available because some jerk, who isn't all that friendly (almost always as people are rude and nasty) blocked you in?

FYI I had structures placed about the land and was planning on further expanding in the days/years ahead. Some of those structures were there to help new players have a place to start (by living in and having free access to smithy's, refined forges, mortar and pestle, etc.) as well, and a good bunch of those pillars I mentioned were there to protect a beaver spawn area so everyone could benefit by having beavers to tame and access to the dams, giving them nice, free resources. My nasty, neighboring tribe also took advantage of this in their earlier days (for free wood and CP) despite the incessant harassment they constantly gave us.

Next, try going through sever after server after server over and over again to find an open spot in a place you want. Then spend years outwaiting/outlasting and negotiating with the other tribes that own parts you would like to have, and finally obtain it, only to then suddenly have it taken away from you.

How about trying to log on only to discover that your oh-so-close neighbor has built a giant cluster-f*** base and it lags you out every single time? If given the choice and seen from my angle, you would most likely feel the same. As I said, I DO acknowledge that this is an issue, but it's a part of the game, like it or not and everyone does it everywhere. Punishing one tribe/player here and there is hardly justifiable then.

2. I never said I knew what violation had occurred. I did state I DIDN'T KNOW WHY this had happened. The mention of the pillars was my only guess as we were left without a clue as to why the violation occurred or where.

3. Although I greatly hated and despised my neighbors (and believe me, they really deserved my hate as I rarely hate anyone, especially for that long a period of time) and would like to have seen them punished surely as they did with us, the developers would again only be wasting time on an unjust means of attempt to clean up their obvious flaw in design, as everyone does pillar on PvE eventually. I've seen countless tribes do it on every single server. You and everyone else are barking up the wrong "tree."

[Ardeth]

On 7/30/2020 at 11:26 AM, SlipperySquid said:

Cryo pod everything minimal environmental foot print is the new meta get with the time's PvErs...

That's great if it works for you! Just remember not everyone likes the exact same thing, and thank god or this world would be dreadfully boring. Owning land has been a factor of the game since day on (on PvE) and as such I had always wanted to own my own nice piece of land like everyone else did. Don't design a game with flaws like this and then punish your dedicated players for doing what everyone else does all the time everywhere. Ok, so the this future couldn't have been predicted, but they sure don't mind taking everyone's money for a broken game and not bothering to fix it, now do they? Greedy, selfish companies like this are ruining the world and life for everyone else in it.

[Ardeth]

On 7/30/2020 at 8:43 AM, Axirpy said:

I'm part of the people who would report you immediatly for putting useless structures everywhere on the map. I really hate that, and Ark really don't need tribes that spams pillars.

 

The game **was** working like that before, but rules has changed, and it's good that they have changed.

It hasn't changed to the level it needs to, though, as this is everywhere. Just wait... Just wait until you build a base of your own and would like to have spots nearby to build on only to find out it isn't possible because someone has already taken it. The solution? Claim it first or as soon as available. Then you'll see it from this angle. Don't plan on building a base? You're missing out on one of the best parts of this game then.

[Penguin73]

The game has a design for people who want to expand their land, and build multiple bases, and have freedom to explore. It is called solo.  The whole world is YOUR backyard. Go have fun.  And you will never have to pillar anything unless you want to build on top of it.  Think of all the time and resources you can use for other things besides pillars.

And the defense of "everyone does it" does not work with me either.  Almost everyone speeds in their car too. But we still have to pay the ticket when the red lights flash behind us.  I hope they catch and stop all the other pillar people too.  I hope this thread actually does some good.  Maybe it will encourage others to complain about it.  So thanks.

[SlipperySquid]

6 hours ago, Ardeth said:

That's great if it works for you! Just remember not everyone likes the exact same thing, and thank god or this world would be dreadfully boring. Owning land has been a factor of the game since day on (on PvE) and as such I had always wanted to own my own nice piece of land like everyone else did. Don't design a game with flaws like this and then punish your dedicated players for doing what everyone else does all the time everywhere. Ok, so the this future couldn't have been predicted, but they sure don't mind taking everyone's money for a broken game and not bothering to fix it, now do they? Greedy, selfish companies like this are ruining the world and life for everyone else in it.

The flaw is the players not the game in this case. sheer selfishness is the flaw. If the world was the same it would be boring right? Well you are all doing the same thing spamming pillars claiming land and so on. You are selfish you are the same as everyone else and you got punished for being greedy and claiming to much land. Own your mistake. Better yet play single player because then you can have all the land you want and it does not matter if you selfish or not.

[GrumpyBear]

A quick area analysis could be done by the GMs to see the area of influence one tribe has.  If, for whatever reason, they feel it's oversized and they remove structures - the least they could do is show up a week or 2 later to make sure they didn't just enable a land grab to a 3rd party with even more land influence than what was initially deemed too much.

[Erinn]

8 hours ago, Ardeth said:

 

Im playing on an official pve legacy server. I expanded to center, ragnarok, exti, aberration, valguero and crystal isles and I never had a problem finding nice free spot with access to water and basic resources. And my bases end up being big.

I have been on that island since beta and I also had this "beach bob helping boxes". Guess what? They dont want them. They want to fight their way up to the metal tier not get everything the second they spawn in. (Lets ignore those, who join in and scream for free stuff, I dont consider them as stable players and they will be gone as soon as you say NO to them).

And "my" island doesnt have pillars. Maybe 2-3 small spots on the whole map but they dont bother anyone because its max 8-10 pillars. The beaches are clear. You know why? Because when someone new joins and asks if there are any "unofficial rules here" I ask them not to pillar. In exchange they get guidance and we answer their questions about bosses and progress, and thats more valueable for them than free access to smithy thats blocking spawn area. They want to play the game their way. Also if they loose a dino because of bug (not because of their stupidity) I give them a new one since Im a breeder and have a lot of kibble tamed dinos in cryos, or bred ones if they lost one like that. You could say legacies are less populated but we usually have 20-30 people online during the week and the server isnt that laggy - no random downtime or crashes caused by lags.

I dont want to sound offensive, but I want you to see that pillars arecompletely unnecessary. If the first thing they see after spawning are pillars, you can bet they will pillar too. Because "thats what everyone here is doing". If they dont see pillars, they dont feel the need to protect themselves. Yes, they cling to bigger bases because they feel more safe, but once they learn the way around they find a nice spot more inland and start enjoying the full content. Right now I have two giant bases near mine, but they are both out of render distance, since I explained to them how the game works and how it would affect me and them in the future.

But it has been like this since the early stage and unfortunately cant be implemented in other official servers. Cant imagine anyone just abandoning their "proudly taken land" and destroying all pillars. Just thought this might be interesting for players to read and wanted to relieve my frustration from pillaring. Sorry for the wall of text.

[nameless]

justified or not, i wonder why the enforcers wiped so many pillars, instead of putting their attention on more serious issues like cheating and real money trading

[d1nk]

19 hours ago, Ardeth said:

Pillaring methods may have changed a bit over time, but that and claiming land via structure placement on PvE has always been as it is. Obviously you weren’t really there like I was... and structure spamming is defined as deliberately blocking off access to resource rich areas, blocking off entire areas of the map (mine was still accessible) or dropping random structures inside someone’s base. I never did any of those. Even if in some crappy way they justified my pillars to be in this category, it is an injustice that only tribes that receive a report against them get punished as EVERYONE does it. Obviously you’re just complaining because it’s a game flaw and have never owned any land yourself. Were the tables turned, you’d see it from this side, not just the whiny “I can’t find land to build on side.” I’ve been on both sides. Yeah it sucks but it’s how the game works. They shouldn’t punish players for playing a game within the the parameters of when it’s how they designed it. Change it maybe... but not remove years of hard work from someone for their screw ups.

 

What? Where did I say I was complaining about land? You are a drop in the bucket comparison to my old holdings. 

 

You over pillared. Your stuff got deleted. It's how its been like I said, since the start. GMs came to my server within the first few months of playing because someone built too many structures, same as they came to another server for the same reason 4 years later. Its always been around just in varying stages of need based on community outcry.