I Don't Think WG Takes Clan Battles Violations Seriously Enough.

[Supertester_Opinion]

Preface: I believe in NOT being prejudiced against certain groups when it comes to rule enforcement. To me, justice should be served solely based on the circumstances and be blind to everything else. Just in case people want to accuse me of being “racist”. You know who you are.

I’ll say it right here: I don’t think WG is taking clan battles violations seriously enough. Why? Read below.

Recently, WG have posted threads detailing actions they took against clans that violated EULA in clan battles, like on ASIA, EU, and NA. Now, obviously, I am happy that they’re actually doing something considering the under-the-table manner of these dealings, but at the same time, I am also unhappy that they weren’t hit harder considering they were basically RMTing (these kinds of services are NOT free). These people just moved on to their subclans or made new clans, and kept playing as usual. Nothing changed.

Now, to be absolutely fair, this is not the first time WG have acted on this sort of thing; In seasons 1 and 2, the exact same thing happened on RU as you can see here and here. Heck, UMR-R got the same treatment last season. So, by that logic, you would think that the same violations have been dealt with the same punishments. Indeed, they have. At least they are consistent, but too lenient in my opinion.

However, 2 of the clans in question (PWP on NA and VOR on EU) decided to take it 1 step further; VOR EU changed their clantag to [_TWA_] ([TWA] is a top EU clan) before it got disbanded, and PWP made an entirely new clan after disbandment… with the tag [WGCNM] and the name "WG Never Mind the Slander and Liber" . Before anyone asks,  its to do with intimate relations with one’s mother…. and her death. Clearly, both of these clans are upset that they got caught breaking EULA…

While the _TWA_ rename was in bad taste, they didn’t break any rules (that I am aware of), so of course nothing else happened to them. However, the PWP members that founded the [WGCNM] clan only had to contend with the clan being disbanded, with no further sanctions on their accounts. Again, consistent with previous clan names that violated rules, but too lenient in this circumstance since they expressed discontent at being caught breaking EULA… *by breaking EULA*. Imagine if you trashtalked a mod that just issued you a gameban. That’s what they have done…. And by the looks of it, they have gotten away with it without any significant consequences (2500 doubloons is nothing to these people)

So, we now have a situation where repeated, large scale clan battles violations have occurred, and with no apparent escalation in enforcement. Even worse, some who were caught decided to violate EULA by trashtaking WG using their new clantag/name and they also didn’t get any escalated account sanctions.

This, to me, is inconsistent with literally every other rule violation in this game. Let me give some examples:

• You trashtalk in chat, you get chatbanned (restricted from chat)
• You rig/grief others mechanically, you get gamebanned (restricted from games, may apply to entire account or just randoms/ranked if you TK/AFK)
• You break forum rules, you get forum restrictions.

And now, when you break clan battle rules…. You don’t even get banned from clan battles or joining clans. They only got their steel refunded. No account bans, nothing else.

And as of a few days ago, WG announced the mercenaries system which allows clanless/different-clanned people to play in clan battles for another clan. This is, from a player perspective, the perfect breeding ground for RMT services and exactly the kinds of violations that these clans were caught for in the past.

So, what is WG going to do when this sort of thing happens again? Just disband their clan and take away their steel, letting these kinds of players just play clan battles like nothing happened? I sure hope not and that WG will at least ban them from at least 1 future season of clan battles if they're caught doing this sort of shenanigans. 

In closing, I am disappointed with how WG has handled the clan battles violations (especially with the PWP -> WGCNM rename) as it shows that they are unwilling to escalate sanctions related to repeated clan (battle) violations. I know you are capable of doing more WG, you said it yourselves in the very posts! Show us you mean business when it comes to these players. Otherwise, the enforcement doesn’t seem very convincing at all and is merely a slap on the wrist.

 

[Adorable_Yukari]

It's funny how WG seem to react violently and instatnly to any clan names that are insults/slangs in English but is completely oblivious to all other languages such that we have names such as [WGCNM] or [NMSL] [CVCNM] floating around everywhere on all servers (before anyone ask, all these names are Chinese slangs relating to one's mother. How peculiar that most of these cheeky names are in Chinese.)

[Adorable_KeQing]

This by no means is an attempt to derail this thread, I have made a thread about the "Mercenary" and quite a few points on it,

WG should honestly up their game rather than giving this EULA violaters a pad on the shoulder like they have did pointed out by "Stratmania" above.

Also, I would like to add on to this matter, when it comes to in-game chat suspension,
When a player does say the F Word and by no means is directed to anyone for example, F I accidentally popped my radar, or anything along those lines with no intentions to being hostile to anyone, you get clapped with a chat suspension,
But when a player, Chinese in this case (The majority and before anyone calls me out for discriminating/racist, I am a Chinese myself), says CNM, NMSL which directly involves ones mother, they do not get punished for it. SB too, which has been quite common. But what does WG do in this case? Hmmmm, from the looks of it, NOTHING. Where is the consistency? A player can swear all the want in "∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎" and they are let off.

 

 

[S0und_Theif]

Not sure if everyone is aware but WG an update and WG has not disbanded the UMR_R clan.

They only punished the violators but left the clan untouched.

 

Link:

 

[Adorable_KeQing]

3 minutes ago, S0und_Theif said:

Not sure if everyone is aware but WG an update and WG has not disbanded the UMR_R clan.

They only punished the violators but left the clan untouched.

 

Link:

 

This is because the person that was found violating said EULA was not from UMR_R aka RMT_R, UMR is believed to have bought a low ranking clan out for a head start in CB in the season they got nuked for.
After some investigation, it turns out RMT_R did not violate anything, just an ex-member from the clan they bought for a head start.

[S0und_Theif]

3 hours ago, HoChunHao said:

This is because the person that was found violating said EULA was not from UMR_R aka RMT_R, UMR is believed to have bought a low ranking clan out for a head start in CB in the season they got nuked for.
After some investigation, it turns out RMT_R did not violate anything, just an ex-member from the clan they bought for a head start.

Thanks for the update and info.

I don't know where you guys / gals get your sources, but its additional / missing info like this makes a huge difference. I didn't know that part of the news.

 

I was going to react negatively towards WG on why they revert their decision, but I decided to say "forget it".

And looks like not reacting actually paid off.

But it doesn't mean that WG is off the hook.

[S4pp3R]

I honestly don't understand the reluctance to terminate accounts...

If you show you are willing and able to do so and swiftly, it acts as a big deterrence to engaging in such activities.

I mean sure, dodgy stuff will always happen but reducing the number of people doing it due to the risks involved is a good thing.

Not to mention if they want to keep playing they need to create a new account and spend more money, it's a win-win.

[Moggytwo]

It's an interesting topic.  I'm all for appropriate penalties in response to violations, and the OP is basically arguing that the penalties are inappropriate.

What have the affected clans done here exactly though?  They have played other people's accounts to give those players a reward for which they should not be entitled, and they have done so to earn real money.  That is a clear EULA violation, and deserves punishment.  Disbandment of their clan and loss of steel from the season is probably a bit light, but it does seem at least in the range of commensurate penalties.  They have also said that penalties would be harsher in the future if the same players are caught doing this again, so it really serves as much as a warning as a penalty.  The very public outing of these clans is also unusual (penalties for game violations are almost never promulgated), and as such this in itself serves as a penalty as well.

What these violations don't seem to be though, is cheating at clan battles.  No clan is being artificially increased in performance, the players involved are still playing for their own clan.  If players were playing other people's accounts who weren't in their clan, and thus increasing that clan's rating well above what they could otherwise achieve, that would be quite a different thing, and deserve a significantly higher punishment.

Overall, I personally think this is an adequate response by WG, so long as if players are caught doing the same thing again, they get an appropriately more severe punishment.

[Ibara_Muan_PrPr]

That clan's name tho, WGCNM 

Spoiler

It literally means Wargaming Cao Ni Ma 

[Ibara_Muan_PrPr]

10 hours ago, S0und_Theif said:

Not sure if everyone is aware but WG an update and WG has not disbanded the UMR_R clan.

UMR-R was the disbanded clan and UMR_R is the new clan with the same members afaik

[Tagnbag]

5 hours ago, Moggytwo said:

What these violations don't seem to be though, is cheating at clan battles.  No clan is being artificially increased in performance, the players involved are still playing for their own clan.  If players were playing other people's accounts who weren't in their clan, and thus increasing that clan's rating well above what they could otherwise achieve, that would be quite a different thing, and deserve a significantly higher punishment.

This is exactly what the "mercenaries" thing is going to do in regards to playing for another clan. Buy a super-unicum team to up your clan status. Get paid real money if you are the super-unicum.   The reason of "testing a player" is rubbish, it's easy to test them in a training room or random battle div.

5 hours ago, Moggytwo said:

They have also said that penalties would be harsher in the future if the same players are caught doing this again, so it really serves as much as a warning as a penalty. 

This IS the second time with no harsher penalty ... 

And like OP pointed out there is also a level of retaliation at WG for being caught.   You really can't enforce something and then make it a game mechanic, and you sure can't be toothless in some enforcement and like a nuke on others.

 

 

 

[Moggytwo]

2 hours ago, Tagnbag said:

This IS the second time with no harsher penalty ... 

It's my understanding that no individual has been caught doing this a second time, so that doesn't actually apply.

[Tagnbag]

3 hours ago, Moggytwo said:

It's my understanding that no individual has been caught doing this a second time, so that doesn't actually apply.

So UMR-R was not caught twice?  This is why by not naming CONVICTED offenders we have communication issues.  Need confirmation .. anyone?

[EULA_violator]

3 minutes ago, Tagnbag said:

So UMR-R was not caught twice?  This is why by not naming CONVICTED offenders we have communication issues.  Need confirmation .. anyone?

UMR bought out DETON, members of DETON went on to RMT, and then UMR claimed that because the DETON players were not afiliated with them that they shouldnt be punished

[THAI_THIEF]

Some kind of .....corruption