ArenaNet makes example of Guild Wars 2 cheater

One Guild Wars 2 player who played outside of the rules has had a very public - and quite medieval - comeuppance.

On the basis of apparently incontrovertible video evidence, game developer ArenaNet assumed direct control of the account and stripped character J T Darkside of his fetching black robe and yellow fancy-Dan hat, then threw him off a bridge (in the game).

Next, the character logged out and was deleted, along with another character on the account. That account was then banned, as have apparently others that were linked to it.

"We don't need to see it in-game, sometimes good video evidence is enough for me to track down who it was," wrote game security lead Chris Cleary. "In this case, the video was enough for me to find out who it was and take action. Thanks for the video, and to accompany your video, I give you this video of his account's last moments:

JT DarkSide stood accused of using third-party programs to give a wildly unfair advantage in the World versus World (lots of players versus players) part of the game. With these programs running, the character could travel around the map at extraordinary speeds, teleport inside structures to take them from opposing factions and apparently both hit hard as well as be hard to kill.

Here's the incriminating video of JT Darkside in action.