At this point in Star Citizen's drawn-out, 11-plus-year development cycle, we're usually reminded of the game when it hits some crowdfunding microtransaction milestone or updates its increasingly convoluted alpha development roadmap. So last week's announcement that developer Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) has banned over 600 cheaters from its servers is a notable reminder that some people are actually enjoying—and exploiting—the unpolished alpha version of the game.
Shortly after the May release of Star Citizen's Alpha 2.23.1 update, players started noticing that they could easily make extra money by storing a freight ship, selling their cargo, and then returning to the ship to find the cargo ready to be sold a second time. As knowledge of this "money doubling" exploit spread, players reported that the price of basic in-game resources saw significant inflation in a matter of days.
Now, Cloud Imperium Games Senior Director of Player Relations Will Leverett has written that the developer has investigated "multiple exploits within Star Citizen that compromised stability and negatively impacted the in-game economy." In doing so, CIG says it "identified and suspended over 600 accounts involved in exploitative behaviors while also removing the illicitly gained aUEC [in-game currency] from the Star Citizen ecosystem."
A ban for "over 600" players may not seem that notable when games like Dota 2 and World of Warcraft routinely announce ban waves that include tens of thousands of players. Still, it's a reminder that at least a small portion of the game's more than 5.2 million backers are actively playing the alpha so much that they're willing to cheat to see more of what the game has to offer.
"From zero, in two evenings, I did make about [200 million aUEC] just to buy ships that [are] unavailable for me, to try it in full!" user ZeroInsideOut wrote on the game's forums. "There [are] many things in Star Citizen [which] I would like to try and test, but I am short of money."