NOTICE: Regarding Pennsylvania Zoner Pilots Exploit

[EisenSeele]

We'll be keeping this thread open until the week window ends - but to answer some common questions I've gotten so far:

When it comes removal of assets like POBs, large shared pobs like Long Island (just to name a well-established POB that aren't just owned by one person, and not one that is under investigation) will of course be considered with due care to respect damage to uninvolved people. All deletion of assets will be the product of investigation and the due process that we use for all of our sanctions - errors that happen can be addressed and reversed as needed.

With regards to concerns about under-reporting, we're not 'out to get you' as I hope that this grace period proves. We'll use our judgement in deciding what looks like an understandable error in good faith, and what looks like a deliberate attempt to decieve, and act accordingly.

We will not be offering an 'incentive' to self-report (IE: letting people keep a percentage of their exploited credits). An insane amount of credits were created out of nothing with this exploit, and we do not want to incentivize people to exploit future bugs in the hopes of getting to keep a portion even when caught.

In the very unlikely but possible case that someone was around to exploit the bug but not in a position to see our various notifications on discord announcements, or on the forums, we'll take this on a case-by-case basis. If you are reading this bit, you have already been duely notified of the exploit and the grace period.

While it was thought that it didn't need to be said before, but consider this whole exercise to be notice that bug exploits are not acceptable. All players should report a suspected bug of this nature when one comes to their notice, and are obligated to refrain from exploiting bugs - future cases of this nature will not be handled with the leniency that we have shown for this one.
I'll try to answer any more new relevant questions or concerns going forward.

Some are treating this exploit like a victimless 'bank error in your favor' type situation - but a ridiculous amount of money was created out of nowhere, and it devalues the money and time of everyone that earned their assets through honest play.

On a personal note, I am very disheartened by the kind of rationalization going on here to justify profiting from exploits, and the entitlement people are showing at a development staff that work on this game for free on their spare time. Discovery Freelancer is a game I love playing because it's a community driven game played by people who are passionate about roleplay - it's a game where all assets are essentially a sandbox where players can interact and have fun by collaborating with their characters. Sure, people do accuse and get accused of toxicity over unsporting conduct - but there's always a sense of defensiveness or shame associated with that - the sort of brazen and shameless talk I'm seeing here and elsewhere is completely new to me and I don't think it has any right to belong here.

I'm hoping that, at least, while I'm spending my time trying to do my part in keeping the wheels turning, we'll slowly start moving back to having a community of players that want to play the game and have fun with (and not at the expense) of other players.

Remember, the most priceless commodity in this game is reputation and trust - it's easy to lose and very difficult to get back.

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