Players are still complaining about the reporting system in New World. The issue with the system has persisted since the launch of the game.
New World has been riddled with issues for the past few months, and players are still finding more reasons to simply quit the game. Amazon Gaming Studio’s popular MMORPG started out as a success, with thousands of players joining in its first few weeks. Fans’ perspective of the game started to sour as soon as the hype died down and myriad issues inherent in the game design became apparent, not to mention the game breaking bugs. Though the gaming studio has made sincere attempts to re-establish player satisfaction, an issue with the game’s mass report feature might hinder their progress of reconciling with their community as players report accounts being banned out of nowhere hindering their grind for New World gold.
Rampant Abuse of the Mass Reporting System
Game moderation has been a difficult issue for many games. As thousands of reports against other players are filed, gaming studious take time to review these reports to avoid any mistakes and unwarranted sanctions. However, it has been reported that Amazon Gaming Studios chose to rely on automated moderation for their hit MMORPG. When players discovered this, hundreds started to exploit the feature to get opposing players’ New World accounts banned.
Enemy players would start mass reporting other players to get them banned out of spite even if said gamers have not done anything wrong. Some have even taken to reporting gamers involved in invasions in order to lessen the competition. In a game where faction wars are important in gaining territories, some groups have used the feature to remove opposing faction leaders or strong players. It seems that players only need to be mass reported by 15 other players before automated mods act. This means it is extremely easy for companies to have someone banned from the game.
Though hundreds of players have already complained about the feature, Amazon Gaming Studios has previously denied that their moderation reviews are automated. The gaming studio has stated that each report is being reviewed by a human in order to provide the appropriate actions or sanctions. However, players’ experience with the banning system has not changed which makes gamers think otherwise.
A Reddit user posted his story of how a Twitch streamer told his chat to report the enemy company’s leader so that they can win the faction war. The streamer was clearly aware that banning system was exploitable and decided to use it to their advantage. Unfortunately for them, their company still lost the war despite the mass reporting that they did.
Another player told his story on how his friend got permanently banned from the game after removing a green company from an invasion. The player used the game’s official forum and posted a screenshot of the accused company admitting to mass reporting his friend. The gamer’s friend removed the company due to them being known griefers during invasions who stand in front of siege engines and prevent other players from using them. The mass report was done out of spite, yet the user’s friend still got permabanned. For example, a company can mass report a player for buying New World items, even when they’re innocent.
A Game Riddled with Controversy
This issue is not the first problem that players have had to deal with in the game. The first issue that arose in New World was the gold duplication exploit where players abused a glitch that allowed them to produce thousands of golds. This issue was followed by unpopular changes or updates that made the end game content much harder. Some of these updates were not communicated to the player base even after they were rolled in. Amazon Gaming Studios’ slow response to these issues and lack of transparency has irked players.
These problems have deeply affected the New World community as the game’s player base continues to dwindle. From almost a million players during its launch, the game’s current population is now only a fraction of what it once was. The game’s review on the Steam Store has dropped from mostly positive to mixed in a span of weeks. This shows how disappointed players are with the game.
Amazon has learned a lot through these past few months. Developers have stated they are taking it slow to make sure their updates and patches are almost perfect and optimized before they are rolled out. The gaming studio is hopeful that with these changes they can make any updates regarding how to play the game and how to earn New World gold will become smooth and enjoyable.
They have also taken steps to connect with the community by consistently posting updates and accepting challenges issued by the community. Though New World devs have taken steps to make up for their errors and foresight, unresolved issues like the mass report system will continue to hinder the game’s progress. Amazon Gaming Studios will have to address the mass report issue as soon as possible.
