Guild Wars 2

Do any other servers have ‘spies’ who report on troop movement and placement of siege etc and inform the opposition for a set price? IOJ server has a few and I for one would like ANET to remove or ban these players accounts.

Has any one been able to report these types of players?

A character on IOJ server does this week in and week out and I think they are worse than bot gold farmers.

ANET needs to remove this type of service via allowing another drop down box on the report screen and from there an investigation into who they are in a party with and what information they are sending should be assessed.

If you think it won’t happen to you and your server you are in for a shock.

This spy action is ruining WvW.

(yes I am aware that you can avoid giving information away via /whisper or join a party or use mumble, team speak, vent /squad join etc but that is not the issue. I want the ability to report spies and remove them from WvW.)

WvW is meant to be a type of war between servers. In war there are spies and as such it would make sense for there to be spies in WvW. In fact I think it adds a lot to the game.

It is the responsibility of the commanders and troops of the army to flush out spies in their TS/Vent/Mumble and adapt to things such as visible commander tags.

That is why competitive guilds use methods such as running tagless, password protected channels and of course whispers/diverse party channels or even something like a specific guild for commanders to share and chat on.

I was unaware that people are actually requesting money for the option to spy at some particular point but find it fascinating. In in the end it just makes it all the more real and complex.

Now the idea of reporting spies is something I find interesting as well but I would not do it to Anet. Some form of ‘report to commander’ system would be far more interesting that way it could remain in the players hands and a part of WvW.

Remember, knowledge is power

I just wish spying in WvW actually took skill like in real life. In real life you don’t have the luxury of respawning after getting too close to an enemy army. Unfortunately I don’t see a way to fix this.

TYPING IN ALL CAPS FOR A THREAD TITLE IS USUALLY NOT A GOOD IDEA AS PEOPLE ASSUME YOU DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING PERTINENT TO SAY.

You can report a spy by creating an actual support ticket under “violations” with documented evidence: details, photos, chat logs, etc. Depending on what the guy is doing, they can or can’t do anything against him. For example, if he’s being verbally abusive, that’s against the ToS, and is bannable, just submit screen captures of his abuse in chat. If he’s just standing there relaying info to his teammates, that’s harder to prove. You just have to hope the guy is dumb enough to admit it to you via whispers or in map chat. If he does that, screen cap the chat log and submit that. It does work, Anet does look into it. But you have to file the actual ticket.

Spying in an MMO is a sign that people need to go outside and get some fresh air and stop treating the game like a second job, though. To even have to do any of what the above poster wrote to counter ‘spying’ seems just silly in the first place.

And that said, a spy is generally more useful than people realize. Particularly if they don’t know you have figured them out. They can be incredibly useful tools.

Jayne.9251:

You can report a spy by creating an actual support ticket under “violations” with documented evidence: details, photos, chat logs, etc. Depending on what the guy is doing, they can or can’t do anything against him. For example, if he’s being verbally abusive, that’s against the ToS, and is bannable, just submit screen captures of his abuse in chat. If he’s just standing there relaying info to his teammates, that’s harder to prove. You just have to hope the guy is dumb enough to admit it to you via whispers or in map chat. If he does that, screen cap the chat log and submit that. It does work, Anet does look into it. But you have to file the actual ticket.

Spying in an MMO is a sign that people need to go outside and get some fresh air and stop treating the game like a second job, though. To even have to do any of what the above poster wrote to counter ‘spying’ seems just silly in the first place.

And that said, a spy is generally more useful than people realize. Particularly if they don’t know you have figured them out. They can be incredibly useful tools.

All of the methods above are pretty easy to implement.

Spying on the other hand is dedicated but if coordinated between the server can also be easy to implement. You just have to pool money to buy another account.

On the other hand, if people are offering themselves to be spies for money then that doesn’t take time at all. Likely, someone who wants some cash just messages you and you accept the transaction. Just be careful of those fake spies, they just want your gold

ooohhh counter-spies, the plot thickens

Nothing against spying in the EULA/ToS. It’s their 60 bucks so they can do anything they want with it.

Anything that manipulates the system by giving the other team an otherwise unfair advantage is against the ToS. Having one account up and playing another and relaying that information to the “home team” would construe an unfair advantage, in that the information being relayed isn’t readily available for all players to make it an even playing field. It’s gaming the system. The game wasn’t meant to be played that way. And honestly? It just indicates, to me, a lack of skill or even a fear of fighting the enemy.

While participating in Plaver-vs-Player (PvP) gameplay, you will not participate in any form of match manipulation. Match manipulation is defined as any action taken to fix or manipulate the outcome of a match or alter or manipulate the rankings or ratings of the ladder. This also includes disrupting other people’s game experience by not actively participating in matches in good faith, a.k.a leeching.

What are you going to do to prevent it? Strike them deaf, dumb and blind?

There is nothing that can stop a player on one server from talking to someone on another. How are you even going to prove anything if they are neither grouped or use chat? Could easily be voice com only.

You will have to accuse everyone on the map. Its really easier to accuse none and stop thinking about what’s impossible to fix, just play.

Jayne.9251:

Anything that manipulates the system by giving the other team an otherwise unfair advantage is against the ToS. Having one account up and playing another and relaying that information to the “home team” would construe an unfair advantage, in that the information being relayed isn’t readily available for all players to make it an even playing field. It’s gaming the system. The game wasn’t meant to be played that way. And honestly? It just indicates, to me, a lack of skill or even a fear of fighting the enemy.

While participating in Plaver-vs-Player (PvP) gameplay, you will not participate in any form of match manipulation. Match manipulation is defined as any action taken to fix or manipulate the outcome of a match or alter or manipulate the rankings or ratings of the ladder. This also includes disrupting other people’s game experience by not actively participating in matches in good faith, a.k.a leeching.

Thanks for posting that bit of the ToS, I haven’t seen that part. That last sentence makes me very curious as to what Anet’s official position on this would be then.

Anet doesn’t have a say when others find their way into another teams TS/Vent/RC/Mumble to listen in however actively being on the opposing server’s map would seem to violate the ToS as you would be taking up a slot that someone else could be using to further their servers cause.

Dawdler.8521:

What are you going to do to prevent it? Strike them deaf, dumb and blind?

There is nothing that can stop a player on one server from talking to someone on another. How are you even going to prove anything if they are neither grouped or use chat? Could easily be voice com only.

You will have to accuse everyone on the map. Its really easier to accuse none and stop thinking about what’s impossible to fix, just play.

I have to agree here. The actual implementation of something that couldn’t be abused would be very difficult and certainly wouldn’t come close to the top of a priority list. Best to just accept it and learn to play around/counter it.

I’ll run the zerg off a cliff if you stroke my hair and call me pretty.

I dare say some people might get fun out of it, but buying a second account just to troll it (or maybe both?) sounds a bit pointless.

Then again, some people are weird.

Jayne.9251:

Anything that manipulates the system by giving the other team an otherwise unfair advantage is against the ToS. Having one account up and playing another and relaying that information to the “home team” would construe an unfair advantage, in that the information being relayed isn’t readily available for all players to make it an even playing field. It’s gaming the system. The game wasn’t meant to be played that way. And honestly? It just indicates, to me, a lack of skill or even a fear of fighting the enemy.

While participating in Plaver-vs-Player (PvP) gameplay, you will not participate in any form of match manipulation. Match manipulation is defined as any action taken to fix or manipulate the outcome of a match or alter or manipulate the rankings or ratings of the ladder. This also includes disrupting other people’s game experience by not actively participating in matches in good faith, a.k.a leeching.

I have bolded the part you should re-read. A failed golem rush due to a spy is hardly going to affect the outcome of the one week match. Additionally, how is Anet going to know whether a golem rush failed due to a spy or due to the golems being scouted early?

Not to mention that I have talked to Anet about this sorta thing in the past and they outright told me that “it is not a violation to assist your enemies like any other spy in the heat of battle”. That’s a quote from GM Lemoncobra, an Anet employee.

If Anet were to follow this statement literally, then fairweathers not turning up to WvW when they otherwise would are also match manipulating, as it would affect the score.

And no where does Anet tell us how WvW should be played, so you’re not in a position to say what can and can’t be done. It is a war between three worlds. Espionage is part of war.

One of CDs best commander runs tagless with no map chat.