With it winning multiple most anticipated game awards as well as rocketing to the number one spot on Steam's wishlist, Elden Ring's hype was nothing short of enormous. Post-launch, with many players having beaten the game at least once, Elden Ring continues to dominate, holding steady among some of Steam's most-played games.
However, it wasn't always so positive for the game, especially pre-launch. Back in January, FromSoftware titles, specifically Dark Souls 3, were threatened by an extremely dangerous hacking method that could be used to gain access to players' computers. Not only was the hack an issue for previous titles, but it was believed the Dark Souls 3 hack also affected Elden Ring.
This led to FromSoftware turning to Easy Anti-Cheat for assistance, incorporating the system into the game to stop hackers from accessing online play. While this seemed to work as there have been no reports of that specific hack since the game's launch, hackers have still been able to tamper with the game. In more harmless cases, hackers used techniques to gain access to Elden Ring's empty colosseum area; however, recently a hacker managed to datamine an unobtainable item.
Normally, this would simply result in a ban for the player in question; however, the event led to the soft banning of Reddit user Ok-Communication7125, with the potential for a hard ban. What happened is that Ok-Communication7125 picked up an item that another player dropped for them; this is a feature in online play typically used to give new players a boost in levels or helpful gear. However, Bandai Namco Entertainment issued a surprise soft ban on Ok-Communication7125's account.
What's worse is that the threat came along with an ultimatum for Ok-Communication7125: they would have to choose between deleting 220 hours of progress or receiving a hard ban that would last for a devastating 180 days. Much like the poor player who lost to Elden Ring's Godskin Noble 100 times, Ok-Communication7125 had been told by Bandai Namco Entertainment that regardless of their choice, they were losing a ton of progress. Based on Ok-Communication7125's post title, they decided to delete all of their game files which, while surely heartbreaking, was likely the correct move to make in the face of a half-year ban.
However, the fact that this was Bandai Namco Entertainment's response to a player using an online feature they created is concerning. Commenters told Ok-Communication7125 that they never pick up items from other players for fear of this exact scenario. However, it shouldn't be a player's responsibility. In past FromSoftware games, item sharing has been a wholesome, community-driven activity that is built to help players of lower levels. Responding to hackers abusing this feature in Elden Ring by threatening hackers' targets with massive bans is a backward reaction that threatens to ruin player cooperation and incentivize hackers to continue manipulating the game.
Elden Ring is now available for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X/S.
