Found this on the e4 thread, found it very provoking.

Was going to reply, but it would just add to my streak of going off topic, and so I'm here...
Ugly truth? Yeah, sure.
No...well, maybe. Let's see. The cheating of one player definitely goes beyond his own game. It impacts people other than himself hugely. This would definitely harm the non-cheaters, and if cheaters are not dealt with harshly, it would be advantageous to cheat. I know that if supporter cheaters were allowed to get off leniently without bans (i assume this is what pisses them off), I would quit this game, no questions asked. You hurt the business of BD even more, which is what I assume your whole point is.

Discuss.

Ah okay, I just found this here.

What I mean by this is, there are people in this game that spend 2000 dollars a round. There are also people in this game that dont spend a dime, but are good players nevertheless. Now lets take 2 cases:

A supporter farms: Now this person who has spent 2000 dollars gets his friends to build a few outposts for him to take. It is farming according to definition. Lets just say, this is not his first time. As an admin what do you do? Lets say you issue a ban for 48 hours. In the 48 hours if he loses his army, today, he does not get compensated with resources.

A Non supporter farms: Similar to the previous one.

Now, the non supporter will simply get back to the game and rebuild. He does not have anything to lose. A Supporter on the other hand has just lost 2000 dollars. So its understandable that he gets pissed and leaves the game. Tell me in both cases, who has lost the most? Battledawn has.

See it might seem very partial and wrong, to support someone, just because they pay money. But that is how a business is run. ALWAYS. You always have your preferred customers and you treat them better. To keep them coming back. Repeat business is the only way to sustain a business. Creating more customers is much more difficult. This is the hard truth.

Now if you are not a supporter and you simply leave this game. It just means you have given nothing to BD and BD has given nothing to you in return. So its fair, BD doesnt lose a lot by you leaving. Simple. If a supporter leaves, it means that he has done something for BD by paying real money, but the customer was offended. Therefore BD loses revenue and a customer that they could have retained by being a little more realistic in the way they handled things. Lemme tell you this, its the supporters that keep the game running.

Its not a question of what is right and what is wrong. Its a question of what is smart and what isnt. That is what matters today. If you want, then make it lenient for non supporters as well. I am okay with equal treatment, as long as people who spend money are treated with respect and valued for their presence. BD is lucky to have people that spend that much of money. They should capitalize on it, not ruin it for themselves. An admins actions can have great implications and it isnt something I feel, the admins today here on BD understand well.

hmm this is a very interesting discussion
i totally agree with mfreak when he says that supporters and non supporters should get equal treatment.... like make a rule for both... 2 offenses u get warnings on the third u are banned for 48hrs and on the 4th u are perma-banned that way its somewht fair....

the leniency is an issue though i know i would be pissed if i put 2k dollars into something and got back nothing.... well in reality u never get back anything frm BD apart frm blue tokens which make u wanna play BD all the more.... its part of a cycle by now... but i would like to see more replies to this topic... just to see various views

Yeah you do get nothing. But there is a difference between banning a supporter and banning a non supporter. In reality, not all supporters cheat. When you spend a lot, you end up caring about your squads very much. Since you paid money for them.

If you are a non supporter, you dont lose anything even if you lose units. Thats the thing. Sometimes, because you spent a lot of money, you end up cheating. But in those cases, a rock paper scissors approach to banning someone, will only result in a loss for BD is my point.

What about potential support?

You cant consider things that dont exist. You can only work with what you have at hand. But that said, a more lenient approach to banning, for both supporters and non supporters, compensation handed out for any units lost ingame during the ban times, or change in game mechanics such that you cant attack a banned persons outposts, or squads can probably take care of potential supporters as well.

Infact I would wish bans to be handed out in extreme circumstances - like if someone hacks BD, if someone farms 100 multies, or hacks another players accounts etc. Today its so rampant its ridiculous. I mean you call a guy names ingame, you get banned for 24 hours. Thats just bull.

if we went by that logic, we would be making quick money off BD and quitting while we're winning. We need to consider the future and the effect that making cheap, short term money now has on BD's future as a game. Long term planning my friend.

Sorry about the brevity of my comments, doing some major work atm.

You cant consider things that dont exist. You can only work with what you have at hand. But that said, a more lenient approach to banning, for both supporters and non supporters, compensation handed out for any units lost ingame during the ban times, or change in game mechanics such that you cant attack a banned persons outposts, or squads can probably take care of potential supporters as well.

Infact I would wish bans to be handed out in extreme circumstances - like if someone hacks BD, if someone farms 100 multies, or hacks another players accounts etc. Today its so rampant its ridiculous. I mean you call a guy names ingame, you get banned for 24 hours. Thats just bull.

the potential exists, doesn't it?

How would you know?

You are saying ignore people that actually support, and depend on something that PROBABLY will happen?


What long term planning? You offend someone that spends a lot. He leaves. Clearly that shows that you dont have foresight. The foresight should be to retain that customer. And get a good review. Long term customers, give good reviews about the game. It will build a community that can serve future needs. You cant really depend on today's non supporters to be tomorrow's supporters. That will happen, once you treat the current supporters well.

BTW I am not sure why my post got posted twice