MMORPG is shutting down its prison server where cheaters are being held – but that’s causing real problems now

In EverQuest 2, a special server was set up in 2015 to which cheats were locked. However, Drunder has now been deleted – with consequences. Because the accounts there were permanently banned, but not every player was really a cheater.

What was that server? Drunder was dubbed the “prison server” by the developers themselves. All accounts that have broken the rules of EverQuest 2 have been banned there since 2015.

Marked accounts could only play on this server and continue their lives there, but without a game master, without customer service and in the presence of other cheaters. However, a subscription was still necessary. So the prison inmates continued to pay for their gaming experience.

What happened now? Daybreak Games, the developers of EverQuest 2, have shut down Drunder. All characters and accounts accumulated on this server have been permanently banned. But that had some consequences:

• For one thing, players have had their entire Daybreak account banned. So this also applies to games like DC Universe Online or Planetside 2, although they sometimes played there for years without cheating.
• On the other hand, innocent players were also hit who deliberately transferred their characters to this server in order to continue playing with their cheating friends. These players have also lost all access.

Players are mad about Daybreak, but there is hope

How are players reacting to this? In the end, only about 1,000 accounts should be affected, like EQ2Wire on Twitter reported. There was no big outcry outside the EverQuest bubble, after all Drunder was closed on July 1st.

However, in the Discord on the MMORPG, there were some players who were disappointed. They would have liked an early announcement of the server closure so that they could react and create a ticket themselves. This would probably have spared the developers some discussions.

Some also criticize that players were cheats, but sometimes still enjoyed EverQuest 2 for years. These players would have finally spoiled the fun.

What do the developers say? They point out that the players were warned when they were transferred to Drunder that this was a “one-way” ticket. The announcement at the time said (via DayBreak):

Drunder has no customer support and requires a membership to access and play. Instead of disrupting the live servers to join the “prison server”, players can use our /petition system and ask to join Drunder. To be clear, you will not be able to move individual characters to this server while you can keep characters from the same account on another server. This is a one way ticket for a whole account forever.

However, players who have not cheated should contact customer service. If the latter finds that they were unfairly blocked, the account will be restored. However, players must create a new account in order to be able to submit the ticket.

What do you think about the concept of prison servers? And is it right that you can suddenly be banned after all, even though you’ve been having fun with a game for years?

In another MMORPG, many permanently banned players have now been unbanned:

MMORPG suddenly lifts permanent bans – is it because of the weak player numbers?