I have started drafting an article I have been working on for some time with regards to the bullying that takes place in some online games. I'm not referring to the expected pvp (player versus player) that has become an essential component in war games: I'm talking about companies who allow their players to buy items (sometimes exclusive only to the buyers) that provide huge advantages over other players. Out of all the games Oz and I have played over the years, one factor has remained constant in what we consider a game worth our time: purchasable items should be offered as a matter of convenience only, and should not have a negative impact on overall fair game play. In other words, through hard work, research, cooperative efforts, etc. it should be possible for every player in the game to achieve the same items/endgame as those who can buy their way to the top.

As of a few days ago, Oz and I have quit playing a game that was originally hosted on Facebook (now also hosted on Kabam.com) called Kingdoms of Camelot. The game could at times be frustrating enough playing against people who had more time to dominate their foes; but to date it has become a place where the credit card player rules. No amount of hard work or dedication to this game can help a player withstand someone who has a huge disposable income to easily gain what others have had to work hard for.

The article will come later. Right now, I am posting this to share my final ticket submitted to Kabam Support today regarding the excessive bullying they have encouraged in this game... all in the name of the almighty dollar. I have blocked out the name of the specific offender as the point I am trying to make is against bullying in general, not just this particular tyrant.


About a month or so ago, one of the players on [domain name], whose name was [bully's name] at the time, created a Facebook group called "Domain Policy[domain number]". He invited the Top 10 alliance leaders to this group and proceeded to dictate how he was going to run this domain. He further dictated that everyone was to report who their alts were to him, and that if he discovered any alts that were not reported, he would farm them off of the domain if they did not abide by his penalties -- which included purposely dropping might, moving their cities to a spot he unilaterally dictated (i.e. all alts were to be moved to a particular province on the domain and were not to move from that spot).

It was respectfully pointed out to him time and again that only Kabam has the right to deal with alts. And for the record, the people who spoke up most adamantly about these "rules" are players who do not have alts of their own. Indeed, many had expressed that they don't care who has alts or what their alts do in this game. Before I moved over here when the domain re-opened a couple of months ago, I was regaled with stories of one particular individual who had many alts and was ruling the domain. Regardless, it was still considered part of the game and apart from some frustration, there was no real ill-will expressed towards this player, except by [bully's name]. When I came to this domain, I saw for myself the daily mails [bully's name] sent out to the officers of the Top 10 alliances outlining how he was taking down this other player ([target's name]). Both of these players are known to be some of the top spenders in this game, so let them spend their money and take each other out. Well now [bully's name] has diminished [target's name], and he has started a campaign of harassment against the other people who would not vote YES to his Domain Policy. We play by Kabam's rules, not his. He doesn't like that.

I know that others have come to you to complain about the severe harassment and bullying of [bully's name], who was approximately 2 bil might at the time. Your response was to quote the guidelines for dealing with bullying -- none of which were applicable or helpful. This is a player who has the funds to continue to rebuy his troops every time we take him down in retalliation. Good for Kabam business, of course; bad, however, for your reputation. As has been expressed by many of your player base, this game has fast become a place where those who cannot afford the extravagant purchase of gems have become mere fodder for those who can. I have been in the gaming industry for decades. I realize the importance of a company making money, but without a balance of fair game play and some concrete monitoring and action taken against people who can pay to chase other people out of the game, Kingdoms of Camelot and Kabam's reputation are at stake. There are still far too many games out there that will allow for players to achieve the same goals as the spenders through hard work, dedication, and team work. Your income from this game could have continued to build and remain consistent; instead, I predict that bullies like [bully's name] will chase the moderate gem spenders out of this game. These same players will avoid Kabam titles in the future. At least in my experience, that is how this generally plays out.

[Bully's name] has changed his name to [bully's new name] as of a few weeks ago. He has formed his own one-man alliance, the name of which has recently been changed to [name of bully's alliance]. His sole purpose is to chase players out of this game. He doesn't have to worry about sleep and otherwise being engaged out of the game. He has admitted that he pays other people to play his account when he is not there. He has publicly declared that he has access to other players' IPs. I'm not referring to the IPs of the people he claims he pays to play his account, I'm talking about the IPs of other players he is harassing. Of course if this is true, the two main ways he would have of doing this are: 1. He is hacking your code; 2. he is a Kabam employee or representative. He continually replaces his might a few hundred million at a time. While it is feasible to replace troops at the mere drop of a credit-card or other payment arrangement, there are other countless examples of potential code hacks that many of us have witnessed -- all of which have gone unchecked.

Since this player does not have to worry, like the rest of us (who not only couldn't afford to pay people to play our accounts, but would never do so as it's vile and bad sportsmanship), about downtime from the game, he has frustrated so many people to the point where they see any attempt at trying to grow or enjoy this game as pointless. In the past week I know of three people who have already quit the game for good because of his daily harassment, with several more about to join them. I am one of them. After 3 years enjoying this game and the friendships I have made, I have closed down my account on [my other domain] and am currently working on closing it down on [new domain]. As I do this, I (a 100 million might player) am being constantly hit by this now 2.8 billion mighter. He had at first left me alone, but when he announced in Global Chat a couple of weeks ago a policy whereby people were only allowed to speak in Global at certain times of the day (dictated by him), I spoke up. No one will ever dictate to me or any player when we can and cannot speak to others in a public chat. [Domain name] once enjoyed an abundance of diverse chat, but that too is now dying. This is not a matter of a player hitting another player because this is a war game: this is a case of harassment because someone spoke up against another player who has dictated that he will bully people out of the game if they follow Kabam's rules and not his.

At this point, I don't think that Kabam can do anything to salvage the situation. So why am I even bothering to write to you? I'm doing it out of respect for a company who once produced an impressive and highly immersive game in the hopes that you will put measures in place to ensure this does not continue to happen in Kingdoms of Camelot, or any of your other titles. The players you have inadvertently set up as "fodder" and amusement for the bullies are what have made this game possible. Not all of them are gem buyers -- but those who have worked hard to show others how this game can be played whether you buy or not, are quickly being diminished and frustrated to the point where there aren't many people who can claim that fair play in this game will get you anywhere. You don't need to be smart, work hard or participate as a team player to play Kingdoms of Camelot: you need a large disposable income to remain competitive.

If I am to understand correctly, one of the players forwarded a copy of [bully's name] Domain Policy[domain #] to Kabam Support a couple of weeks ago. I wondered if this was true and that after having read it you requested him to take the page down. It would explain why he took it down and immediately started his campaign of harassment against other players who believed that only Kabam should dictate these sort of rules for their players. When [bully's name] threatened to harass players out of the game if they didn't abide by his Global Chat rules, players continually quoted back to him the Chat Guidelines that are posted to each player as they log in. This incensed [bully's name] and is one of the reasons he is harassing people to the point where they are quitting -- essentially for abiding by Kabam's rules. I would urge you to put a moderator on [domain #] to view with your own eyes what he is doing to players, and to the game in general. Kabam needs to monitor the end results of allowing players to buy their way into bullydom. If there are no checks put in place, you will not have enough players left to sustain this game. The only ones remaining are those who have nothing to lose, and therefore, nothing to spend.

Please do not reply to this ticket by quoting default "bullying policies" to me. I am well aware of them. They are effective only against the casual bully and offer no recourse for dealing with the serial player killer. To save you the time and effort, I think that at this juncture the only answer that would be satisfactory is "thank you for reporting this and we will look into it"... and to mean it. In particular, you need to investigate how this player is obtaining the IP addresses of other players. I know this kind of monitoring can be done on your end, I use to have the pleasure of doing it on my own game servers. And if you can discover for yourself that during his excessive times of harassment that he is logged in from an/other country/ies, perhaps you will take action. Perhaps not. One can only hope.

I had truly enjoyed playing Kingdoms of Camelot and had been one of your hugest supporters. The game had much potential for a long life. I hope it continues to grow... but in a direction that does not include facilitating bullying to make money for the company.

Regards,
[my char names and corresponding domains]

PS. When you check my account to see how many gems I personally have purchased, be mindful of the fact that only one credit card can be registered per household. Gems were purchased for me by my husband (who has also quit the game as of a few days ago) and other friends as a token of thanks. In my humble opinion, what I have shared here with you should not be any less valid depending on the amount of gems I have spent.