WoW News: AFKers Will be Banned
I’m sure many a players saw this coming, but Blizzard has implemented a new policy for dealing with AFK players in the Battlegrounds. If you’re not familiar with the issue, many players would simply log into a battleground such as alterac valley, park their character at the starting area, and not move for the rest of the battle. Over time, these “afkers” would continue to gather honor from the players who were actually in the game fighting, and eventually would earn player vs player gear as a result.
If the forums were any indication, this problem began to spread, and recently hit a boiling point and player after player vented their frustrations over losing because of players who weren’t actually there playing, just hitting the space bar or using botting programs to avoid being flagged afk.
Here is Blizzard’s official response:
“In our continued efforts to support fair gameplay in World of Warcraft and to provide a positive experience for players, we are currently taking steps to ensure fair and enjoyable competition in the Battlegrounds. Starting immediately, we will be issuing warnings and penalties, including suspensions and the removal of Honor points and recently acquired Honor rewards, for non-participation in Battleground games.”
This is a much harder line than many players were expecting, but in my own personal opinion, implementing serious consequences to afking was the only viable way to address the issue. Originally, players could flag a player afk, giving them a debuff that would prevent them from gaining honor or a mark for the duration of the battle. The problem here of course is that it didn’t deter afkers, as most didn’t get reported and if they did, they still got at least a little honor out of the deal.
While I’m sure the problem will continue, tough actions like this from Blizzard will certainly make widespread afking a thing of the past for most players.
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