RIFT Guild Throws Heavy Accusations At Trion As They Quit

Whether you consider it calling a company on their crap or whiny nonsense, there is no doubt that major RIFT guild Apotheosys have raised a few eyebrows during their exodus to World of Warcraft. A video—embedded below—and accompanying article posted late last week throw several extremely heavy accusations at Trion. An official statement has yet to be released regarding the accusations and likely will not be, which is unfortunate given the gravity of the situation.

Of the accusations made, there are three that are quite concerning. The first is that one Trion employee allegedly attempted to blackmail the creator of the video into removing an image from his stream. The second is that an unfinished boss was released in an easily exploitable state. When Apotheosys exploited it, they were punished. When another guild exploited it, they were allowed to keep their first status. The third is that players are allegedly being banned in-game—some permanently—for even linking to or talking about the video and article in question. Other accusations, such as rushing unfinished content to fill the cash shop or extreme forum censorship, aren't exactly surprising, especially in the free-to-play arena.

Following the release of this video, its creator was banned. This was confirmed by Trion employee Ocho, although he states that "he didn't get banned for constructive criticism." Unfortunately, he offers no explanation about what he was banned for. We can guess based on Ocho's statement about expected forum behavior, however, that it may have had something to do with the "don't call people names" part of the statement that Ocho considers to be a strong case for its removal from the forums. If this is indeed the case, it is a dangerous precedent, as players may see themselves getting banned for statements made outside of the company's domain more often if these statements are made in reference to the game or its staff.

As part of Ocho's statement, he claims that "less than 10" players have been suspended as a part of the fallout following the "kerfuffle." Many players have contested this, saying that in-game friends that are not involved with Apotheosys have been suspended for long periods of time for linking the video, but he has stood by the "less than 10" claim in response to each comment.

We have reached out to Trion's PR firm for comment and will update this article if we hear anything back.