>>13955454
>>13955394
>>13955445
It did and probably still has that freedom to fuck with people, but I don't think it's going to get back the same allure it had.
Goonshitte aside, it used to be pretty good as far as playability went. The earlier generation somehow managed to churn out a pretty decent atmosphere and with the sheer amount of infighting going on, so it didn't suffer the same way most goon-infested places did and do. The open-ended and underexplored nature of any additional mechanics usually meant that there was always a way to fight back. Superfuckers with end-level gear killing scrubs over and over? Get a few people together and hurl a volley of TVs at them from another tile. Accuracy was calculated differently, so you actually had a decent chance of hitting, possibly causing a knockout. So you take everything they're wearing and holding and either run away or go find a way of ensuring the equipment couldn't be stolen back. Things get patched, new things get added, and the cycle continued. And folks didn't take things as seriously. It was all part of the game.
But because they had a nice thing going on, the badmins decide to fuck with this established organic harmony to make the game more inclusive and accessible. They introduced "carebear" mechanics and a challenge system without fully thinking things through. In some circumstances, both you and your apartment-house-hideaway would be completely unassailable. There weren't too many things that could be done directly to other players that wouldn't nullify those perks for a short time. At that point, whoever delivered the first strike would be at a massive disadvantage. Attack one fucker and they, their entire corporation could and would have the option of killing you, breaking into your apartment and any door you had access to without too much of an option for retaliation.
This quelled the constant infighting into a cold war, which meant a lot of fighting took place between completely uneven combatants, and severely dampened the cycle of finding new tricks to get back at stronger players. Without the threat of being unexpectedly steamrolled by another big group, there was no incentive to be choosy or creative with griefing, to really make it worthwhile. Just storm in on weaker players, kill and walk away. No interaction beyond that.
If I recall correctly, they tweaked the challenge and carebear systems, but the damage to the general culture had already been done. Also, over the years, the newer generation of goonshitte took root. The one that takes the fight outside of the game, trying to persuade and schmooze the badmins, get on the staff and generally inflict the scourge that is SJWism on anything they touch. The usual conniving sophistry, lying and getting their often petty will by any means necessary.
Seeing SJWism in HellMOO was really fuckin' weird. Reminds me of how those kinds of politics and tolerance show up in the deepest dredges of degeneracy. The eternal violent schism between babyfur diaperfags and babyfur diaperfags who think Hillary wouldn't have been a very good president.
Fuck.