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Gandalf wrote: ↑2019-10-25 07:37pm So... is there any word on the next one of these games, considering that 76 has been an omnishambles?

Like the vaults themselves, Fallout 76 has become a curious social experiment. Since launch, the initially egalitarian West Virginian wasteland has slowly been splitting its community with microtransactions and premium conveniences, which reached their zenith last week with the launch of Fallout 1st, a premium membership subscription. Now some players seem to be gearing up for a class war.

"Fallout 1st players are being targeted in adventure mode," claims a player on Reddit. The Fallout 1st icon and fancy gear makes them stand out, apparently encouraging other players to grief them. While some seem to think Fallout 1st players are fair game, others see it as harassment of innocent players over Bethesda's business decisions.

It's not like West Virginia was a peaceful commune before Fallout 1st, however, and players hunting down their fellow survivors is nothing new. PvP is also largely opt-in, and you can't be killed by another player unless you're hostile. Generally, there aren't that many ways for people to get under someone's skin.

We've even got what looks an awful lot like someone pretending to be a subscriber riling people up on the other side. "We need to assemble and build gated communities for ourselves," reads Potato_Seduction's call to arms on Reddit. "Piss poor 76ers are targeting us!" The day before, however, they were calling the game a cash grab, so this is clearly a double agent. So much intrigue!

I doubt we're going to see a bloody uprising of disenfranchised players, but there's undeniably a lot of frustrated players looking to vent. Lots of games have players split into subscribers and free players and don't get criticised for splitting the community, but in most cases they either launched that way or were originally exclusively subscription-based. In Fallout 76, the subscription came out of the blue. Every time a utility item was added to the cash shop, there was a great deal of grumbling, so the reaction to a $100 per year subscription hasn't been a surprise.

1 November 2019

The ACCC has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from three related video gaming companies after they acknowledged they were likely to have misled consumers about their consumer guarantee rights in relation to the online action game Fallout 76.

The companies, ZeniMax Media Inc, ZeniMax Europe Limited and ZeniMax Australia Pty Ltd (together, ZeniMax), accepted that their actions were likely to have contravened the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

The ACCC received complaints that ZeniMax representatives told consumers that they were not entitled to a refund after they had experienced a variety of faults with the Fallout 76 game, including, in some cases, problems with the servers, lagging, graphic and visual problems.

“ZeniMax has acknowledged that they are likely to have misled certain Australian consumers about their rights to a refund when they experienced faults with their Fallout 76 game,” ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said.

ZeniMax will offer to provide refunds to consumers who contacted them between 24 November 2018 and 1 June 2019 to request a refund and have not already received one. Consumers who accept a refund will no longer be entitled to access and play the game.

“When a consumer buys a product it comes with automatic consumer guarantees, and retailers must ensure their refunds and returns policies do not misrepresent what the Australian Consumer Law provides,” Ms Court said.

“When a consumer has purchased a product that has a fault which amounts to a major failure, the Australian Consumer Law provides them with the right to ask for their choice of either a repair, replacement or refund.”

ZeniMax has also undertaken to amend its customer service documents and scripts to address the ACCC’s concerns about misrepresentation of the consumer guarantee rights under the ACL.

ZeniMax’s undertaking is available at ZeniMax Media Inc, ZeniMax Europe Limited and ZeniMax Australia Pty Ltd.

Background

ZeniMax Media Inc. creates and publishes original interactive entertainment content for consoles, PC, and mobile devices.

The Fallout 76 game was published by Bethesda Softworks LLC who is part of the ZeniMax Media Inc. family of companies. The Fallout 76 game was released on 14 November 2018.

Release number:
203/19

A hack has been causing issues for some Fallout 76 players, who have unexpectedly found themselves stripped down to their underwear while another player runs off with their items. There wasn't much anyone could do when targeted by the hack, though Bethesda claims only a small number of players have been affected and the exploit has now been fixed.

The sneaky hack, which players were warned about on Reddit, let cheating players strip their fellow survivors of items. Aside from caps, scrip and a few other things, it apparently made your entire inventory vulnerable. A player also uploaded a video of themselves doing the deed, rendering their victims confused and nude.

With nothing players are able to do, and with Bethesda apparently unable to restore stolen items, the Reddit post suggested that people shouldn't risk using public servers. Unfortunately, that wasn't really an option for people unless they were invited into a private server by a subscriber.

Last night, Bethesda addressed the issue, updating players and promising that a solution was imminent. It acknowledged the severity of the hack, though it also said it just allowed players to steal equipped items.

"We are investigating reports of a PC-only exploit that could be abused by cheaters, which may have resulted in a few players losing items that their characters had equipped," Bethesda said. "We have been actively working toward a solution for this and have a fix that we are currently evaluating for release today."

Since then, Fallout 76 has undergone maintenance on PC to shore up the game and deal with the exploit. Players who have been robbed have been told to contact the support team and Bethesda is looking into ways to compensate players. If it isn't able to return the items, perhaps some currency could be offered instead, though Bethesda hasn't specified any options.