You might not be 100% correct about that, but you’re heading in the right direction. I think that they realized that people won’t stop complaining about people who build in ways that create serious problems for other players and decided to adopt a less tolerant approach. That’s why they rephrased the rules.
Contrary to what the people are screaming about on the forums, the “new rules” are not drastically different from the “old rules”. They are merely more streamlined. One of the big changes was the “we don’t have time to dick around with surgical removal” explanation that I quoted before. Another big change was about the duration of the ban: the old rules left a lot of leeway, whereas the new rules say “14 days for first offense, permaban for repeat offenders or first-offense cheaters”.
You missed the point. I don’t care about any names – in fact, “naming and shaming” is against forum rules – I was explaining that if nobody reported a base that violates the rules, then it won’t get removed.
By the way, when I say “reported”, I mean using the correct channels and the correct procedure. Those who have read the rules will know that they also describe how to report the infractions. Spoiler alert: it’s not done via a forum post.
Seriously, do yourself a favor and read the rules. I’ve already linked them.
Nobody gets the kind of equal treatment you’re expecting, not even in real life. A few years ago, I crossed a street when I shouldn’t have and I got a traffic ticket for jaywalking, because there was a cop on a bike at that intersection and I didn’t see him.
I used to cross that same street in that same way with a bunch of other people every day and nobody cared. But that day, a cop happened to be there and I got a ticket. I can just imagine what that cop’s reaction would have been had I complained that “everyone crosses like that, so why aren’t you there to give them a ticket every morning”.
In case the point still isn’t clear: this is why Funcom published both the rules and the procedure for reporting those who break the rules. See a build that breaks the rules? Report it. Don’t care to report it? Good for you, but it doesn’t magically give you right to be pardoned for breaking those rules yourself.