Game Mechanics Exploits!

[Puertorro 371]

I am a new player that just bought a deed in the independence server. I am currently trying to expand my deed and pay RL money to do so. However, i noticed that a player named Darwin which own the Freedom Harbor deed has blocked off an area way past his deed and perimeter and built random 1 tile buildings to keep other players from expandiing their land. If the game was designed to be like this, then that is a big flaw for players that are willing to pay real money as Free players have the ability to take over land by just building random 1 tile buildings. Please let me know if this is meant to be like this or if my way of thinking is correct.

[Maiya 490]

seems like it is ment to be so yes

http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/69521-new-deed-placement-perimiter-rule-good-or-bad/

[Redd 4,281]

If this was on a pvp server you could sort this out yourself

But yah, he was there first, I'm afraid you will just have to deal with it or kindly ask Darwin of he can remove said buildings.

[Martynas5 435]

Well he's just claiming land, maybe for future expansion -.-'.

[GravityDog 41]

build some 1 tile buildings close to his deed then negotiate to a boarder half way between.

Unless you are on epic.

[Puertorro 371]

Thank you for your reply guys. I do want also a GM to express their opinion because this is clearly an exploit to game mechanics. I know it helps out new unpaid players but it is monopolizing old ones into taking everything without paying. If that is the case then eventually I can disband my deed and still keep all the land by blocking of other ppl like this player is currently doing.

[Keldun 335]

this is the official statement to the situation:
/>http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/69495-perimeters-and-you/

[hoof2000 278]

you could expand your perimeter over his houses so he can't repair them and they will eventually decay... just play his game..

[yarnevk 257]

NOT an exploit since 'Fence it to Keep it' is the new policy that now trumps 'Deed it or Lose it', as of the recent mechanic change that disallows perimeter expansion over such structures for forced decay, which was deemed to be the bug exploit. A fence enclosure is that looped to or surrounding a shack, if no fence then only the shack tile is controlled though that is all that is needed to block perimeter/deed expansion.

This essentially enables control of land using fenced enclosure rather than deeds. There is no way to distinguish between a noob shack just looking for a place to survive and a land baron not willing to part with silver for deed expansion but still wanting to control an area, other than talking to people and working things out to destroy shacks or handover writs, but a GM has to say this is not an exploit and not against the rules. Maybe the neighbor is the good guy and providing keys to shackville to new players in return for work on his deed.

The good thing is you are free to do this yourself as it is entirely legal nobody can take them down but you might have to move if a neighbor has expansion possibilities shacked up. Only reason to buy deed expansion is for the management features, you do not need one for land control anymore. And when you buy a deed you are supposed to claim perimeter for future deed expansion that you might want to do in years to come. Yes this means you pay for the land before you can afford and are allowed to use it, so you can see why a land baron might instead choose to use shacks, especially if it comes with a low cost workforce.

Edited November 14, 2012 by yarnevk

[yarnevk 257]

you could expand your perimeter over his houses so he can't repair them and they will eventually decay... just play his game..

Nope, not as of the recent change. Enki posted on this very topic with the new rule that this is explicitly disallowed and ability to do this with perimeter will be (or has been) code updated.

Edited November 14, 2012 by yarnevk

[Kegan 3,926]

And so it begins..expect more things like this far more then what the perimeter was causing i am guessing.

[yarnevk 257]

And so it begins...

I believe KOSH said the same thing in Babylon 5 at one point.....

[ReaverKane 363]

And so it begins..expect more things like this far more then what the perimeter was causing i am guessing.

Its not like this is new or anything... Well placed houses already blocked deed placement before the fix on perimeter rules.

What is necessary now is for a way to prevent said houses from existing for too long.

[Alyeska 2,621]

Took this long before the griefing started? Surprising. I expected about 2, maybe 3 hours at most.

[Ayes 3,715]

I am a new player that just bought a deed in the independence server. I am currently trying to expand my deed and pay RL money to do so. However, i noticed that a player named Darwin which own the Freedom Harbor deed has blocked off an area way past his deed and perimeter and built random 1 tile buildings to keep other players from expandiing their land. If the game was designed to be like this, then that is a big flaw for players that are willing to pay real money as Free players have the ability to take over land by just building random 1 tile buildings. Please let me know if this is meant to be like this or if my way of thinking is correct.

Here you have it, a new player already questioning this perimiter deed blocking change effecting them in a negative manner as outlined in the post (and others) that Maiya linked. If this is really a *new* player making this post or just someone cleverly bringing the problem to the fore. My paranioa maybe? *shrugs*

=Ayes=

[yarnevk 257]

Its not like this is new or anything... Well placed houses already blocked deed placement before the fix on perimeter rules.

What is necessary now is for a way to prevent said houses from existing for too long.

You mean by imposing decay as a result of a change taken to protect shacks from enforced decay?

[MrGARY 12,421]

This guy wants to expand his deed, in case people struggle to read that fact. Not being able to expand perimeter over someone elses houses (that's not griefing though if you can??), would have the same effect as not being able to expand the deed over them... Not being able to expand your perimeter over other peoples houses isn't the issue, the issue is people claiming areas by slapping down 1x1 shacks off deed and not being able to do anything about it.

[Jarosz 189]

Wurm is not a pre-existing neighborhood, It is the wilderness and is open to first come first serve basis. If you want to claim as much land as you want, you can, as long as you can maintain the mechanisms to which you claim that land.

Deed purchase and Upkeep says: I want 0 decay on this plot of land to make sure that no one other than who I want in this area can effect it.

Fence/House placement says: I lay claim to this land, and will maintain it with my own time instead of deed/perimeter until I see fit that I no longer want the land.

If I am a new player and build a shack and fence in an area and while waiting for silver to buy a deed someone comes and deeds over my home and KOS's me, he has taken away from my plans and work.

An army of workers could lay claim to an entire server... but good luck keeping someones interest that long to keep doing it. That would be a lot of dedication.

Instead of claiming this is a griefing exploit, look at it as an anti-griefing aspect. Build near the guy and try to build a friendship with him. If he likes you, chances are he will make room for you. If you can't get along, than you are the one griefing him, because he was there first.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Jarosz

[conmcb25 378]

This guy wants to expand his deed, in case people struggle to read that fact. Not being able to expand perimeter over someone elses houses (that's not griefing though if you can??), would have the same effect as not being able to expand the deed over them... Not being able to expand your perimeter over other peoples houses isn't the issue, the issue is people claiming areas by slapping down 1x1 shacks off deed and not being able to do anything about it.

Yep thats what I have been trying to say for the last couple of days but most just want to talk about how to change the whole perimeter system. The bigger issue IMHO is going to be this, not whether some ftp noob can keep his shack or not.

What we need to do is find some deeds owned by buddies of the developer and place land holding 1x1 enclosures around it. Then maybe we can get it changed back to the way it should be

[conmcb25 378]

Fence/House placement says: I lay claim to this land, and will maintain it with my own time instead of deed/perimeter until I see fit that I no longer want the land.

The element I believe you are missing here is other than a n00b shack the buildings that claim land undeeded, last a very long time, in most cases long after the person that builds them just disappears. Tying up that land for months and months and months.

And saying this doesn't matter because I can go anywhere and find open land just doesn't cut it IMHO, what if my alliance had there deeds on the bulk of an island, and thats where I wanted to be and a prime location on that island was held by someone outside the alliance via enclsure rules and that person disappears? Now I have to wait forever for that land, now totally unused, to become available. In many cases I may perimeter over his existing structures because thats the only way I "fit in" a deed. Now I cant do that.

I wish I had a silver for every one of my alliance mates who has told me a story of the one building they had to let decay before they could expand there deed to the way they wanted it expanded. And in all cases that building hadn't been used in months, it was just abandoned.

To me thats the real issue of this change. There is not a darn thing you can do about that now and a lot of land is going to be tied doing absolutely nothing.

[Jarosz 189]

There are mechanics in place (maybe dormant currently) that if an object is not interacted with for a certain amount of time, it will have exponential decay.

Instead of asking for the cake and eating it too, perhaps compromise for everyone's play style.

-If my intent is to preserve land around an area I claimed first it is not griefing.

-If I lay a deed down near someone's home that they did not claim, that is not griefing.

-If my intent is to screw with people and prevent them from planting and have no intention of ever using the land myself, that is griefing.

There are different playing styles of wurm. some people buy deeds, other's dont. The devs recognize this. Some people don't have time to upkeep their houses/walls and they will give Rolf more money to do it for them, others have all the time in the world. So, if you interact with objects regularly, than you would not have any issue with upkeeping a bunch of houses to preserve your land.

If you are a griefer, and you only build a home to grief and leave, than a game mechanic should check to see if that house has been interacted with in the last few days and get faster and faster decay until it is gone.

If you don't fence it it isn't yours. So fence a border around what you deem is yours, or what you want in the future. Give the "griefer" a chance to barter with you, if they don't then claim more land around them until it is illogical for them to stay. Think ahead. Wurm is open for land claiming at any time with a multitude of mechanics between deeding, terraforming, housing and fencing. You just have to show intent on use of land.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Jarosz

[Fireflyb 920]

Freedom is brutal. :-/

[Shiraek 464]

If you've got a deed near Freedom Harbour it's safe to say you're in a very old, built up area with a lot of demand for any available land. If you want a bigger deed and can't expand there I would recommend selling that purchased deed and establishing or buying another on one of the three islands to the south which are all much younger with better land available and less contention for all the good spots.

And if you want to think about expanding your deed more in future, plant it with a bigger perimeter from the get-go...

[yarnevk 257]

The 'Fence it or Keep' it policy having replaced the 'Deed it Or Lose' it policy is a sad thing, instead of invisible fences enforced by deed bought by money with passable wilderness in-between, you will now have very visible ugly unpassable claims that cannot be removed and only cost time and materials to enforce.

Solution number 1? Talk to the guy, which is something you should have done before you deeded near him. If that goes nowhere talk to the CA. If that goes nowhere talk to the GM. They will tell you the new policy is they cannot do anything about the shacks, that the feature of the past to perimeter over them for forced decay to enable later deed expansion is now disabled. But maybe they can help you mediate. Solution number 2 is move, as he was there first.

No need to move far if you go inland and upward, I can see the central mainland from my deed and so can my neighbor, yet we have to hike to a neutral corner to be in the same chat radius ,as there is nobody local to our chat windows and we like it that way. Much coastline is unuseable due to development or marsh, cliff terrain that is not easily terraformed, especially for a new player. Once you get your deed in place, respawning at the central market is no longer needed, and there are traders all over the map, and boat building is a fun hobby if you want to be a merchant.

Though if you want to move, and willing to pull up stakes and hike a bit, this guy is giving his place away and it is coastal in a less developed area.

http://forum.wurmonl...ings-available/

Edited November 15, 2012 by yarnevk