The other day Blizzard decided to do a massive banwave on various players. While the specifics of what the offense entailed remain tight lipped, the most probable cause was the demand for an end to botting. There was one known offender who even got shut out during his stream. That said, I wanted to delve into the subject and discuss what I see.
First off let me say that I neither condone nor endorse botting. I simply don’t care enough to really find the subject matter as something that triggers me compared to other players. From a programming point of view, I think botting is interesting in that people can even get programs to the level of automating game play. To me that’s a pretty fantastic feat, especially as a developer.
Most people who take the game (way too) seriously hate the idea of botting/cheating. I feel that the ones who care are in reality a very small minority who want to participate at some level at the leaderboards because they want the game to demonstrate some form of competition. I can see from their point of view how botting/cheating in a game like Diablo 3 severely unbalances things like leaderboards. A person who lets their program gain ridiculous levels for hours on end while they take breaks obviously will have a huge advantage over anyone seeking to make a name for themselves on the leaderboards. The fact that a lot of players end up quitting maybe 2-3 weeks after a season ends due to the skewed favoritism of botters create a very unhealthy environment to the game.
On the other hand, I feel that people who take this game as something worthy of an esport position at this point in time are pushing the boundaries of what they seek in the game. Let’s be honest and say that this game really isn’t esports material. No offense to the developers but we don’t see huge prizes and players from around the world competing around the globe. Yes, there are people who enjoy pushing their names up and you’ll see a few names arise when they hit a top rank. But the game in the form it’s in just doesn’t deserve that form of recognition and a lot of people should calm down regarding the witch hunts (I’m going to address more of this in a bit).
No matter what at this stage the game still is unbalanced and isn’t really in that state where you can say people at a certain skill level will have an equal chance against another person of similar skill. The parameters for being the top of the leaderboards do not require skill, mostly time and a willingness to dig in. And that’s fine since the game rewards the time and effort you put in as opposed to raw skill. It’s the type of game where you can be the 1% through setting lofty goals and just putting in the time.
For myself, this is perfectly fine because I can still have fun in various ways without being crazily devoted. It’s a casual friendly game and there’s nothing wrong with that (which is why I think Diablo 3 has gotten better over time). Compare that to when Diablo 3 was first released and catered to those who had deep pockets or a willingness to grind for gear. Not just a few hours but for weeks, months even. It wasn’t even fun and there wasn’t a lot of viability nor variety. The game has matured and managed to secure it’s own sense of identity and everyone who has come back discovered that the game is definitely better than when it first started.
So why is botting/cheating an issue? The real problem is really not because of the game, but because of Twitch.tv. Twitch has created both a haven and a land of toxicity where people believe that the golden egg is partnership because then they can just reap money through subscriptions and potentially donations. This is where the gaming community has absolutely been fucked up the ass.
I am very happy for the gaming community in that people are able to earn money for their passion and share what they love with others. That is a great thing. What is wrong is when people confuse this motive with the notion of staying at home, doing nothing, playing games all day rather than being semi-useful to society with a job or furthering their education. That’s where the gaming community becomes severely twisted in nature because no longer are people serving the community but are manipulating the community to serve them.
In the case of Diablo 3, I can see why people had their pitch forks because the person who was most notorious for botting was a terrible representative for the community. First, his streams were horrible. Just boring as hell, no communication with the viewers. Second, this person managed to climb the leaderboards through these means and was supported by the community for god knows what reasons. Essentially, the message this streamer was sending to the community at large was, “Yes, it’s okay to cheat/bot so that you can imitate me, hopefully get your top slot on the leaderboards and then you can sit at home all day long, play games and get money from stupid viewers.” That’s the blunt message which was just wrong, wrong, wrong.
If this person presented some form of education to improve their play, had great videos on what one could do to better themselves or was at the very least entertaining in personality, I’m certain that there would have been some leeway. However, this person and others in his clan would use exploits to further their rankings, which for many people could never be obtained. It’s nice to think that one can simply stay at home, play all day, bot all night while sleeping, get viewer money and push up the ranks. But that’s not what Blizzard is about and I (along with many others) applaud the decision to remove such a person from the pool because it invalidates the true abilities of those who put in the real effort to push forward (I’m not saying he didn’t put any effort into the game but it was obviously very shady what he did and that’s where everyone takes issue).
One problem that I do see is that unfortunately removing this player also meant that their last bastion of someone propping up Diablo 3 on the game channel ranking is gone. Right now, there are no major streamers that can hold Diablo 3 up in terms of page views at the moment. It’s kinda like how Reckful got dinged a while back for utilizing another person’s account.
However, the game is pretty much at the end of the season and once the next season starts (which is about a month away), it will become popular again. Better yet the leaderboards will be cleared and hopefully Blizzard’s banwave will send a definitive message to this person and other members of his clan to avoid those gray areas. I mean, it’s pretty silly if you think about it. The guy was the only person left to really play Diablo 3 at the moment when most people have moved on. His dedication to the game is like no other so why bother botting if in the end the vast majority of techniques he used would’ve placed him high enough?
But this whole episode shows the absurdity of the situation. Again, my interpretation of the person in question was that he probably felt insecure about his position and needed to rank on top just to maintain his viewer count, subscriptions and donations. There’s no other reason to risk all that “effort”. I mean, it’s not like the guy played other games, was entertaining to watch nor had something to demonstrate. But he must have known that about himself which is why this situation ended up being poorly managed at the end.
I think Diablo 3 can be competitive but there needs to be some level of delineation where prestige can be rewarded. For instance, perhaps the first level 70s, the first to hit certain conquests, the first to hit a minimum greater rift during the season. Things like that might be far more worthy compared to looking at a season where the 3+ month period end up burning people out, leaving only those who had a ridiculous amount of free time/dedication and potentially botting to be at the top.
At the same time, I feel that enforcing a competitive aspect to a game also generates some toxicity. There’s a general love as humans to compete against one another. But the way some people have treated the situation with their language and behavior towards Blizzard and maybe some individuals is pretty heinous. Once you remove that competitive aspect and just look at a game like Diablo 3, it’s pretty fun for the first couple of weeks and that to me is far more important than an artificial ranking that falsely imprints in my brain the notion of being famous. That part is just wrong, shallow and a poor direction for people to move towards and it’s something that I hope Blizzard discourages in making their decisions.
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