In a surprise move, Neocron has decided to suspend support for the Saturn dimension because of players that harass the GMs. I really don’t see how that is going to help them, and it’s definitely unprecedented.

Update: They clarified tht they will suspend the support only for troublemakers. So there’s a blacklist of players that won’t be given support. Sounds like it makes a lot more sense. Still, I would always prefer to kick troublemakers from the game, because if they can’t behave towards a GM, they’ll be even more abusive towards players.

Game Masters are a very essential part of an online game, and we’re lucky to have an excellent program in Anarchy Online (the ARKs). If someone decides to abuse a GM repeatedly, those players should simply be banned. Or alternatively, support should be a payment option, as it is in some other games. But suspending all support for a server cannot be good, and I don’t see how it hurts anyone except the poor people who really need the help of a GM…

I persoanlly believe in banning abusive players permanently – or at least for an extended amount of time that gives them ample time to reconsider, like a month or two. Being too nice to the people who are out to spoil other players’ fun always backfires.