Unfinished areas and zones

#0 - Dec. 3, 2006, 8:07 p.m.

I was thinking about this the other night, and still can't come up with a solid explanation. But maybe you guys can!

Why do players receive GM warnings for going in undeveloped zones such as Hyjal, the Caverns of Time, Old Ironforge, the IF airport, etc.? (Yeah I know it's in the ToS; why is it in the ToS?)

The only possible reasons I could think of were kinda vague, and some assumed other stuff:

The devs at Blizzard want undeveloped content to seem new and mysterious for when it is finished and released. (One really good way to ensure that is by blanking out the entire area. Also, it's almost impossible to stop people from taking screenshots, video, etc., and many people have already done so. Keeping a ban restriction on unfinished content does slightly help to prevent it from becoming mainstream knowledge.)
The world servers have extra load when players stray from the more common areas. (I don't know anything about Blizzard's server setup so I don't know if this is true.)
Players that explore unreleased content have the potential to find undiscovered flaws that can be exploited for an unfair advantage. (Doubtful.)
Players that explore unreleased content are more likely to search for glitches elsewhere in the game that can be exploited for an unfair advantage, and should be banned.
The GMs at Blizzard want to preserve the game's environment, and undeveloped content (complete with flaws) reminds players that WoW is just a game.(Maybe on furry servers this might have some weight, but ... it just doesn't seem like a practical restriction for any other type.)

Honestly I can't think of any other reasons for this. People get bored of the content after a while. They look for new things to explore, new stuff to do, even if it wasn't intended for public access or planned at all by Blizzard.

Last night I was summoned to Hyjal by a few random guys and MC'd off of a huge cliff. Why is that a bannable offense? I don't understand. It was a joke. I fell for it. It was funny. I realize that no one is likely to be banned as a result of this type of stuff, but ... why bother at all? It doesn't seem important enough to justify paying people to enforce this, from my end anyway.

Drysc

#7 - Dec. 3, 2006, 8:40 p.m.

First and foremost the content isn't finished and isn't meant to be seen. We put a lot of time and thought in to producing a fully explorable landscape that is immersive and fun, and not only are those areas something we don't want to be a part of any one's gaming experience, they're glimpses in to unfinished pieces or artwork. For any artist it's unnerving and disappointing when someone sees your piece before it's finished, and as a company we're dedicated to providing a high quality gaming experience.

The areas can also factor in to a general 'exploitative behavior' category in which a player can use techniques or tools not designed to be used in the game to gain an advantage over others. This generally doesn't adhere to exploring unreleased content, but they're extremely close parallels.

Exploiting terrain or mechanics to visit unreleased content or exploit the game world to exist anywhere outside of the intended game landscape/plane and game zone goes against the general spirit of the game. We want players to be in the game and having fun with the content that is accessible. We ask players that they don't break the intended boundaries of the game, and unfortunately in some cases it's necessary that we reinforce that request.

Drysc

#10 - Dec. 3, 2006, 8:46 p.m.

Q u o t e:

So this is, in fact, bannable? I keep hearing different things. Obviously using teleport hacks and stuff like that would be bannable but what about simply moutain walking/jumping to them? Would you get banned for that?

I'm assuming yes but just want to make sure.

I believe that it would be handled on a case by case basis. The possibility of being suspended from the game for exploring unreleased content or exploiting terrain is definitely there though.