Corwan

True enough.

UPDATE TABLE du_marketorders SET market_id='[NEWMARKET15]' WHERE market_id='[OLDMARKET15]';

I want to believe.

I love how you use request for proof as your last ditch argument. Proof is right there. The same issue, being able to edit the construct, was reported on multiple occasions. Plain and simple. Or are you suggesting all those people, independently of each other, all used an exploit or hack?

Agreed. To quote from EULA, "You must refrain from behavior that ... could harm one or more users or have a negative impact on their gaming experience ..." Now, if I say that getting attacked or in any way engaged in PVP has a negative impact on my gaming experience because I'm a PVE player (trader, crafter, builder), will NQ punish whoever attacked me? Mind you, I'm not saying that I want them to do that - but the vague wording really leads to that.

It's perfectly fine that we disagree. There are some who appreciate NQ taking the heavy-handed approach. I'm just speaking my mind and voicing my substantiated opinion as a longtime community manager. Also I majored in Psychology, Mass Communication, and Public Relations, so there's that to back my understanding of how communities and PR work. Personally I cringed when I saw the sithstorm raining down on everyone (Yes I said Sith! They have cookies!). To me, it was a waste of opportunity for NQ to come out of it gracefully.

Whether this has happened due to a bug (i.e. Marketplaces were never supposed to use RDMs but be "hardcoded, which IMO is highly unlikely due to the fact everything in the game uses the same systems that players use, even market tiles are claimed using territory units) or due to incorrect settings in RDMs, the whole thing has been blown out of proportion. Did the players make a mistake by making and publicizing the "ultimate heist" on Reddit? Possibly. Most likely yes. However that only sets the scenery to what is essentially a "make or break" decision on the NQ's side. Had NQ reacted in good humor, fixed the problem, and owned up to their mistake, they'd actually build and reinforce trust of their community. They would've come out on top, as a team that can take responsibility for their mistakes and fix them. As someone with years of community management experience, I'd go a step beyond that: I'd create a "ruin of a marketplace" with a memorial plaque that would say something along the lines of "MP15 has fallen prey to a legendary group of bank robbers", to make it part of the lore. Then I'd build a new Marketplace next to it, and recover lost items to the unfortunate players who had their stuff listed. The lesson is simple: Does it seem like bad press? Take ownership of it, turn it around, make it work for you. It's very unfortunate that instead NQ reacted the way they have. Their response, and reaction of Discord moderators who started handing out mass bans for even mentioning the incident is what creates bad press. I mean, it's their choice to make. Just not a choice that I'd make as community manager.