Image Designer Archive

Greetings all,

I'm a BH and know nothing about the id profession. I happened to see a twilek run by the other day with horns and asked an image designer about this. He explained that it was an exploit and that people get their accounts revoked because of this. I'm just wondering if this is true and what the rationale behind it is. I'm merely asking out of curiousity so don't freak out and flame me if this is a big deal. I just heard about it and am surprised that a simple thing like this would cause SOE to ban someone (it has always seemed like the financial bottom line was of more concern than anything else). Sorry if this is a subject that's been talked to death and thanks in advance for the info.

Sicarus Ven

Basically, this exploit ruins the immersion of the game. 1) it's against the TOS, because it's deliberate use of a bug. 2) It's not very starwars-y to see a twi'lek with Zabrak horns.

Although it may not "hurt" anyone, it really ruins some people's gameplay because it clearly is unnatural, and not an intended feature of the game.

They nerfed bodysuits because it was "offensive" to see "nekked" people running around. To many of us it is "offensive" to see unnatural hair on certain species.

It also hurts the profession because those image designers willing to violate the TOS are rewarded by more clients, while those of us who stick to our guns are belittled.

It's a tough issue, with members of this community taking different views. There is no "easy answer". Ultimately the moral resolution on this issuewill be up to the devs should they choose to close this loophole.

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NJ62 wrote:

They nerfed bodysuits because it was "offensive" to see "nekked" people running around.

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I'm fairly sure I'm the reason they did that... after all, that bodysuit thing was the whole reason I took up ID in the first place. ROFL I do know I was the first person on my server to discover that. I started a craze, my tailor sent me email a couple of days after I got my nekkid bodysuit that said "Thank you SO much, now everyone is pouring into my store asking for a bodysuit that matches their skin!" Not long after that, they added those ugly black lines.

Okay, I am done hijacking the thread. Carry on. BTW, I appreciate the respectful tone of the original post, and I'm sure all the other image designers do too. For this reason alone, you will not be flamed.

I think banning is an appropriate response if:

1. the person knows that banning will be the penalty for his/her actions


2. the person goes ahead and does it anyway

It's not really up to us to determine what exploits or other violations of the TOS contract are "bad" enough to warrant banning. This is a principle that extends to real life. For example, you may not believe that smoking marijuana should be illegal. Nevertheless, if you do it, you should expect to go to jail (or do community service or whatnot), if caught. Arguing that it is not a bad thing to do, or that it doesn't "hurt" anyone will not persuade the police not to arrest you. Arguing that the sentence is disproportionate to the crime will not help either - that's just the way the law is.

In real life how you would solve this would be to lobby the legislature to change the rules. In this case, if you feel strongly about having these things be elements of the game, let the developers know. But ultimately, they make the rules.

If you want to play the game, you abide by the contract. You signed the contract, which stated that if you violated the TOS you could be banned. If you don't like it, too bad, you signed the contract.

I appreciate your responses and I respect your commitment to maintaining continuity (not to mention your concern over other people's game-playing experience). I guess what struck me was that people were getting banned for doing this and in the overall scheme of things, that seemed awfully harsh. After all, technology that allows you to change someone's skin color isn't that far removed from being able to surgically graft on some horns or give someone modified hair plugs. In terms of general continuity, I find it more disconcerting that we have a galaxy full of people running around with drawn weapons or that some folks keep fully grown rancors in their PDA's. Again, I'm not arguing for the body part switching and I respect your insistence on professional ethics, but do you really think that banning is an appropriate response? By the way, I haven't had any friends get banned, it's just that for some weird reason, this issue interests me.

Thanks for your feedback.

Sicarus Ven

MBH - Tempest

"The only force sensitive slot on my body is my butt crack."