SWTOR goes Footloose, bans players for dancing

***UPDATE*** BioWare has since responded, claiming that the original email was a fake.  BioWare's Associate Online Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez informed players, "There are no such things as 'special dance zones'.

"Nobody puts our players in a corner.  Everybody is free to get down".

In conclusion, BioWare is NOT banning players for the use of emotes.  And this just goes to show you, and us, that not everything from Reddit is truth.  There are trolls out there.

***ORIGINAL STORY***

A new dancing exploit has led BioWare to ban dancing in video games, a move we haven't seen since the days of Footloose.  It appears the "/getdown" emote makes the player invincible to all enemy damage.

BioWare is handling the situation as we expected them – banning players who take advantage of the exploit and forbidding dancing in any place other than those clearly marked "Dance Zones".  I thought I've seen it all from video games, but then I saw designated "Dance Zones".

Now I'm not sure if these "Dance Zones" are clearly marked, but according to a email from the Terms of Service team regarding a banned player account, BioWare should send out warnings before actually banning your account.

One lucky cheater, who couldn't help but bust a groove, posted an image of the email of the email he received.

In it, BioWare's team clearly states that the "character participated in abusing game mechanics to prevent enemy NPCs from targeting the user."

"By dancing in front of an NPC through the use of the /getdown chat command, the account was able to defeat characters ina manner not officially implemented in the game's mechanics."

According to the email, "Dancing is currently not permitted except in special 'Dance Zone's, and multiple warnings were given not to dance outside of these zones.  By ignoring these warnings, the accounts showed clear intent to continually exploit the game."

As you can see in the video below, the exploit also works against other actual players, as well as NPCs.

The email didn't say how long the account was suspended for, but I assume it's a temporary ban for a few days.  If anything, BioWare has shown they are not afraid to slap bans on people for exploiting glitches in a game.

Yesterday it was discovered that players who were traveling to the planet Ilum at a lower level and looting containers were considered to be "exploiting" the game, and were also temporarily banned.  Despite fan outcry, BioWare has stood by its Terms of Service team and addressed the situation.

[Reddit]