Cloud Imperium Games, the developer behind Star Citizen, a space-themed trading and combat simulation game, has banned more than 600 accounts over the use of a currency exploit.
The studio also released a brief but firm statement talking about the issues, where senior director of player relations Will "Soulcrusher" Leverett had something to say.
He noted that the team had already completed an investigation regarding the matter that resulted in the bans and the removal of the "illicitly gained aUEC from the Star Citizen ecosystem."
Star Citizen Bans Hundreds of Players
(Photo : Cloud Imperium Games / Screenshot taken from official website)
He said that they completed the investigation that focused on multiple exploits within the game that allegedly compromised stability. Leverett also noted that the issue had negatively impacted the in-game economy.
The senior director of players said that they resolved multiple aUEC exploits found in the game's version 3.23.1a. He said that cheating and exploiting both undermine the integrity of their game as well as the efforts of their dedicated backers who help them build Star Citizen, according to Eurogamer.
Leverett said that they take the actions very seriously and reassured players that they are continuously developing more measures to fight against cheating and exploitation. He added that the team will prioritize triaging exploits with the highest urgency to isolate and address issues whenever they surface.
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He noted that whilst the exploits and issues are inevitable at "this stage of development," it was continuing to work closely with the community in order to identify, test, and report them. He also concluded that they gained valuable insights through players' issue council reports.
Despite this, he said that once an exploit is identified and confirmed, continued abuse of it for players' personal gain will not be tolerated and will result in action on their part.
This comes as In March, Cloud Imperium Games CEO Chris Roberts said that Star Citizen was pushing towards the "finish line" of a version 1.0 release.
Exploit for Illegally-Obtained In-Game Currency
The exploit that the banned players used seems to have enabled them to duplicate items and gain more of their in-game currency. Furthermore, it was revealed that the 600 suspensions were tied to accounts that sold unauthorized credits for real-world money, said IGN.
The studio said that users specifically called out those who have taken to third-party bidding websites such as eBay. In this particular platform, millions of aUEC from Star Citizen were sold anywhere from $1 to hundreds of dollars.
One user on Reddit said that they noticed a peculiar amount of posts that both defended and supported the use of third-party aUEC sales. They said that this struck them as odd because gold buying/selling is an almost universally reviled practice in most MMOs.
Cloud Imperium Games' post about the bans and the exploits did not provide any details on the sheer amount of in-game currency that was illegally obtained.
However, the studio did mention that finding a bug and reporting it immediately is not the same as finding a bug and using it for personal gain, according to MMORPG.
This differentiation is crucial for the players who accidentally stumbled upon a bug and did not benefit from it in any way but instead contacted the developers to inform them about the issue.
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