On the matter of stealing, killing, and griefing people in PVE via exploits and game mechanics.

[agreeksailor]

Please note, I have the game in my library but I don't play it. I do watch others play though.

The thing I have noticed is that they are able to play on PVE servers and are pretty good at stealing from anybody they want. Drowning people who were tucked into their houses where they think they are safe seems to be a favorite. Even when that person takes precautions not to clip through the floor and walls, they find a way in. They steal dino eggs, raid anything they can find a way into, and generally just treat the other players as free labor to be built off of.

I don't judge these actions though my understanding of PVE is that this shouldn't occur. On the other hand I have seen discussions of these very tactics on youtube videos and forum post. So out of curiosity, what is the position of the player base on the matter currently? About a year ago I see people rather ardently deffending the practices justifying it as PVE once the player has logged out. Do the players still just consider these exploits as part of the game that should remain? Has the problem gotten to the point where the playerbase is much less tollerant of it now?

Beyond this is the other forms of PVE griefing. Such as the pillaring all around where people are building. Or the kiting of the largest threats being made possible by dragons. Saw somebody threaten to use a dragon kite to wipe out anothers base because they built a bridge to "carno island". Is it called that? The people ended up transfering from the server. The player had been using that method to control the server.

Heck, in 2016 the devs even changed the banning guidelines:

How it used to read:

PvE Server (Blocking players from getting out of their bases, obstructing pathways/waterways, dragging wild dinos into bases, etc.)

How it reads now:

PvE Server (Blocking players from getting out of their bases, obstructing pathways/waterways, etc.)

Another quote on the matter from another player:

it is not against as I was told by an admin. we had a peaceful server until this tribe of 3 started kiting just yesterday and there is nothing we can do but to retaliate and I already has an open claim about something else so when I brought this up with the admin he said it is no longer against the rules in pve

https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/banning-guidlines/

A few choice quotes reflecting attitudes to the problem and the frequency:

1) It adds spice to PvE ¬¬ if you don't like it, that's your problem. Not trying to be mean and all :)

2) PvE is bs anyway, everybody wants to screw everyone else over but they can't so they put pillars everywhere and drag people who logged out. To me, PvE is Cold War style PvP.

3) Dragging people around is fun, it might not be classic pve but its new pve.

4) You're a player until you no longer play as your character. Your character is a part of the environment, and YOU are the player. Your character is not the player.
Because you log off and your character is now a part of the environment, it's fair game.

5) In reply to the above quote: Yup. Boom! Solved! +1

6) I call it funny! Long live the drag!

7) I would prefer buildings to be destroyed in pve out of personal opinion, players, tamed pets and maybe chests should be the only things indestructible.

8) Soooo you fell asleep with the door open?

And quotes on the other side of things:

9) This is precisely why I left a PvE server... To many people griefing while my tribe tame Dino's. All because he felt our camp was "to close"...

10) This is the exact reason I refuse to play on servers. People are sadly, not usually nice when it comes to games like these. They find it "funny" to go around ruining other people's experience with the game. So until I either make my own private server, or find a server where things are heavily enforced and taken care of, I'll be happy with my single player. :3

11) somebody killed anothers trike while they were taming it and their reason was 'I was hungry'

12) I never left a server so quickly. PVE servers are worse than the regular ones. Every time I got a dino down for taming some ♥♥♥♥nut ran by out of nowhere to kill it.

13) Pick your poison, you either play on pvp servers and get raided everytime you log out or you play pve and actually progress in the game until the end cuz cave blocking. Not sure which Id like better, both servers are kind of annoying.

14) Im starting to think that we live in a world full of sociopath, what the big deal wanting to destroy everything ? :p
Denying building at cave solve the problem without impacting on the PVE purpose.
Building take awefull lot of ressources, and players go to PVE for this reason, to be able to go to sleep and found their home like it was the day before.
But on PVP server caves should be free for all, after all you can raid and destroy the blocking gate.

15) Hey guys. We have a problem on our PVE server. We built a base and shortly afterward a tribe came and built pillars all around our base. We can not expand in any direction. We have tried to contact them they just ignore us. Is there any way to get rid of these pillars?


So if you got through all of that, what is the current oppinion? Is any form of PVP acceptable in PVE? Are people at fault for not defending themselves better from other players on PVE servers? Should a player on a PVE server have a reasonable expectation of safety from other players whether logged on or off or does anything go once logged off? Interested to see what others have to say with the game as it is currently.

A note, like I said above, I don't play the game so some or even all of these items may have been fixed in some way. I don't think that is the case though as I just saw somebody get drowned on a PVE server so I don't think it has been changed significantly yet.

[ntengineer]

You bring up a ton of stuff here and a lot of references to other people posts who are not at all official rule makers.

Here is my take on it.

Wildcard has stated that pillar building, blocking drops, etc are not suppose to be done on PvE, but it happens anyway. Why? Because WC has a ton of servers out there and no active admins on any of them.

So if you have a problem, you have to open a ticket. Sometime later, like 7-10 days, an admin will get on and help you maybe. By that time you have grown frustrated with the issue or have had all your stuff destroyed already and are pissed off and maybe not even playing any more.

This will never change. WC will not hire enough admins to police the number of servers they have out there. They would have to hire an army of admins and they just won't do that.

So let me introduce you to a wonderful thing about ARK: Unofficial Servers

Not all are good. Some admins are pains. Some cheat. Some cause grief. But if you find a good server with active admins that don't tolerate griefing, you find a nice place to play. Does it mean nothing will happen? No, the Internet is full of toxic players that will break rules. However, it does mean when the Admins find out the hammer will fall and the toxic players will be booted.

The server I run I keep as a friendly community. Once in a while some boneheads will join up and start griefing players. I give them 1 warning, then the hammer falls and they are banned from the server. So I've built up a nice and friendly community of active players who like playing with me. :)

[Some Cunnie]

Official servers are garbage no matter which way you slice it. This is why. The internet holds next to no accountability, and it brings out the worst in people.

If you want to play ARK, either make your own server or play with people you trust, because it only takes one ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ child to ruin your experience.

[agreeksailor]

Originally posted by Moogleton, ESQ:

Official servers are garbage no matter which way you slice it. This is why. The internet holds next to no accountability, and it brings out the worst in people.

If you want to play ARK, either make your own server or play with people you trust, because it only takes one ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ child to ruin your experience.

Yeah, I was thinking along those lines.

[agreeksailor]

Originally posted by ntengineer:

You bring up a ton of stuff here and a lot of references to other people posts who are not at all official rule makers.

Here is my take on it.

Wildcard has stated that pillar building, blocking drops, etc are not suppose to be done on PvE, but it happens anyway. Why? Because WC has a ton of servers out there and no active admins on any of them.

So if you have a problem, you have to open a ticket. Sometime later, like 7-10 days, an admin will get on and help you maybe. By that time you have grown frustrated with the issue or have had all your stuff destroyed already and are pissed off and maybe not even playing any more.

This will never change. WC will not hire enough admins to police the number of servers they have out there. They would have to hire an army of admins and they just won't do that.

So let me introduce you to a wonderful thing about ARK: Unofficial Servers

Not all are good. Some admins are pains. Some cheat. Some cause grief. But if you find a good server with active admins that don't tolerate griefing, you find a nice place to play. Does it mean nothing will happen? No, the Internet is full of toxic players that will break rules. However, it does mean when the Admins find out the hammer will fall and the toxic players will be booted.

The server I run I keep as a friendly community. Once in a while some boneheads will join up and start griefing players. I give them 1 warning, then the hammer falls and they are banned from the server. So I've built up a nice and friendly community of active players who like playing with me. :)

That is a good point. Is the player base shifting that direction in general? It seems an acceptable solution lacking a direct one. Is there anything notable lost by being on unofficial servers? I have seen this suggestion before but I don't know anything about the lost benefits, if any.

[saddist1337]

reponses to issues on un official servers is usually alot faster.

[Dolomite83]

Griefing in pve is totally right if the target has [][][][] im it's name

[Maji]

Find yourself an Unofficial server where they have active admins. Those police better than Official servers and its more nicer and calmer community.

[retsam1]

Thanks for your armchair assessment there; but bless your heart, you wrote all that concerning official servers when most have realized there is no prestige in banging your head against a wall with said servers. You've listed a myriad of reasons as to why there are over 18,000+ unofficial servers to the hundreds of official ones.

[Almerel]

TL;DR (at work)

However, if you want a long term server that limits griefing check out http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=837153447

They use the Offline Raiding Mod

[Cobretti]

I have whatever hours I have in this game all on official servers playing PvP and PvE and never once been griefed on PvE servers though my neighbours have. Just don't build like a noob, it's that simple.

Great example is how people were (still are?) being wiped by kited rock golems when all these nubs had to do was drop metal dino gates on the outside of their perimeter fence. But no, their best idea was to post on here crying about this activity.

In life you will encounter many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and there is more than one on every PvE server, if you can't handle the challenge and want someone else to take responsibility for your stupidity, play unofficial and get protection from admins which I always recommend new players start on anyways.

[CAST AWAY]

Originally posted by Almerel:

TL;DR (at work)

However, if you want a long term server that limits griefing check out http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=837153447

They use the Offline Raiding Mod

lmfao if you can get past the 60 sec warning server restarts that cause you to lose stuff or the d/c's that happened all the time that cause you to lose more stuff or the fact my char was deleted out of no where on this server haha yep good times ..... pvp is pointless on this server cause if the admins feel bad they will just give you back what you lost or give you max wild lvl tames instead and haha i know this from exp ... also i left the server cause i had enough and you know what the admins did they banned everyone in my tribe from the server cause i left ... how messed up is that ? they did nothing wrong it was me that had the problem with the server not them i left and not them so why ban them all ??????

[Almerel]

Originally posted by CAST AWAY:

Originally posted by Almerel:

TL;DR (at work)

However, if you want a long term server that limits griefing check out http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=837153447

They use the Offline Raiding Mod

lmfao if you can get past the 60 sec warning server restarts that cause you to lose stuff or the d/c's that happened all the time that cause you to lose more stuff or the fact my char was deleted out of no where on this server haha yep good times ..... pvp is pointless on this server cause if the admins feel bad they will just give you back what you lost or give you max wild lvl tames instead and haha i know this from exp ... also i left the server cause i had enough and you know what the admins did they banned everyone in my tribe from the server cause i left ... how messed up is that ? they did nothing wrong it was me that had the problem with the server not them i left and not them so why ban them all ??????

Five minute restart now and all I had to do was ask for that. You sound like type person that wouldn't be welcomed there anyways lol

[BombsOnyaMoms]

Originally posted by CAST AWAY:

Originally posted by Almerel:

TL;DR (at work)

However, if you want a long term server that limits griefing check out http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=837153447

They use the Offline Raiding Mod

lmfao if you can get past the 60 sec warning server restarts that cause you to lose stuff or the d/c's that happened all the time that cause you to lose more stuff or the fact my char was deleted out of no where on this server haha yep good times ..... pvp is pointless on this server cause if the admins feel bad they will just give you back what you lost or give you max wild lvl tames instead and haha i know this from exp ... also i left the server cause i had enough and you know what the admins did they banned everyone in my tribe from the server cause i left ... how messed up is that ? they did nothing wrong it was me that had the problem with the server not them i left and not them so why ban them all ??????

This is why a game left to only private servers will fail. Maybe ok for pve but a small percentage of admins can actually handle a pvp server w/o abusing. Most just do as they please and feel justified because they pay for the server. Which is ok as long as they are honest about their intentions with the playerbase. More commonly, admins try to cover up those things though, because it will hurt their player count.

[hawklaser]

Originally posted by Cobretti:

I have whatever hours I have in this game all on official servers playing PvP and PvE and never once been griefed on PvE servers though my neighbours have. Just don't build like a noob, it's that simple.

Great example is how people were (still are?) being wiped by kited rock golems when all these nubs had to do was drop metal dino gates on the outside of their perimeter fence. But no, their best idea was to post on here crying about this activity.

I totally agree about the part of running into jerks everywhere in life and need to learn to deal with them.

I do have issues with the whole don't build like a noob statement. For one simple fact of unless you are already established or on a freshly wiped server there is no gaurenteed way of being able to get to certain needed resources. Simply because people who want control of a server will build in such a way to prevent people from getting a foothold. Either by gating off lone path to get to it, or building close enough to stop respawns.

Assuming every player has access to the large amounts of metal and other resources to instantly have a grief proof base is absurd. You can't even assume they have a flyer that is capable of making long distance resource trips. It takes a decent amount of time to build up to those points.

Sadly the more I look at the mindset and time needed to get going, the more I can see it not doing well when it leaves EA. Unless you are doing a decent unofficial server, you pretty much have to devote a full weekend to doing nothing but trying to establish a small metal base to have a reasonable chance of not being back at square one when log off. And thats not even accounting for people pillaring near your location. All thanks to being consistently being wiped on pvp or grief kited on pve. Unless of course you join an already established tribe. Either way, those two options should not be the only options for a newbie on an official server.

I really hope the devs take a step back and re-examine the new player experience, as well as the fresh character experience before the full release.

[BombsOnyaMoms]

Originally posted by hawklaser:

Originally posted by Cobretti:

I have whatever hours I have in this game all on official servers playing PvP and PvE and never once been griefed on PvE servers though my neighbours have. Just don't build like a noob, it's that simple.

Great example is how people were (still are?) being wiped by kited rock golems when all these nubs had to do was drop metal dino gates on the outside of their perimeter fence. But no, their best idea was to post on here crying about this activity.

I totally agree about the part of running into jerks everywhere in life and need to learn to deal with them.

I do have issues with the whole don't build like a noob statement. For one simple fact of unless you are already established or on a freshly wiped server there is no gaurenteed way of being able to get to certain needed resources. Simply because people who want control of a server will build in such a way to prevent people from getting a foothold. Either by gating off lone path to get to it, or building close enough to stop respawns.

Assuming every player has access to the large amounts of metal and other resources to instantly have a grief proof base is absurd. You can't even assume they have a flyer that is capable of making long distance resource trips. It takes a decent amount of time to build up to those points.

Sadly the more I look at the mindset and time needed to get going, the more I can see it not doing well when it leaves EA. Unless you are doing a decent unofficial server, you pretty much have to devote a full weekend to doing nothing but trying to establish a small metal base to have a reasonable chance of not being back at square one when log off. And thats not even accounting for people pillaring near your location. All thanks to being consistently being wiped on pvp or grief kited on pve. Unless of course you join an already established tribe. Either way, those two options should not be the only options for a newbie on an official server.

I really hope the devs take a step back and re-examine the new player experience, as well as the fresh character experience before the full release.

+1