ARK: Survival Evolved Player Globally Banned For Exposing Mesh Bug [Updated]

[Update:] In a blog post published on March 27th, 2019 over on the official ARK website, a developer acknowledged H.O.D’s ban, and stated that after further review, they were lifting the ban and going over the footage to make some changes to the game to address the meshing exploit…

“Upon further review of the situation involving H.O.D Gaming, we felt that it was not deserving of a permanent ban. Videos showing exploit techniques are admittedly a gray area when it comes to enforcement, which is just one of the reasons why the appeal process exists for bans.

“Several changes each patch are aimed at fixing exploits but the methods that are used are continually evolving; as such, we are always trying to improve our procedures when it comes to situations that affect the player-base. We use these situations to take a look at our internal process and identify areas where we can do better or provide more clarification.”

[Original Article:] A YouTuber running the channel H.O.D. Gaming has been globally banned from Studio Wildcard’s ARK: Survival Evolved after he did a video exposing the game’s geometry meshing bug, which allows players to exploit the geometry and bypass other player’s defenses.

There was a highly viewed thread over on the Kotaku in Action sub-reddit breaking down the issue, where they explained that H.O.D Gaming (among other YouTubers) complained about the mesh exploit in ARK: Survival Evolved and how some players were making use of the exploit to bypass player defenses and destroy their forts by clipping through the geometry

It started with a video on March 26th, 2019 where he did a 2019 mesh guide for ARK: Survival Evolved.

The video is a satirical take on the mesh glitching issue, with H.O.D Gaming using the “mesh monkeys” to convey the point across about how bad the bug is and how frequently it’s being exploited, and how much damage it causes other players.

This has been an ongoing issue for quite some time, with KIA pointing all the way back to a PCGamesN article from three months ago, but the issue has apparently been persistent for two years.

Shortly after the video went live, H.O.D. Gaming was globally banned from ARK: Survival Evolved.

Now some people thought that maybe Studio Wildcard banned him for meshing on official servers. However, in a follow-up video H.O.D explains that the video guide he did showcasing the meshing glitch was done in an offline single-player server, and he was not playing on the official servers when he put the video together.

He did a follow-up video as well, further going into detail about the meshing issue and some other YouTubers who have also been covering this ongoing bug for the last couple of years.

You can check that out below.

He rounds out the video with a list of suggestion for Studio Wildcard to fix/make/patch/update. They’re listed below:

• Get rid of the climbing pick
• Get rid of sleeping bags (change mechanic)
• Get rid of chair
• Make all mesh inside no build zone (center specifically)
• No cryo while player is grabbed
• No player picking on karkinos
• Limited building on para
• Sleeping bags can’t be placed in enemy radius
• No eating narco on Pvp/narc grenades

Whether you agree or disagree with the suggestions doesn’t really change the fact that he was banned for exposing an ongoing issue to a larger audience. Now, there could be an argument made that instead of making a video guide showing people how it’s done, he could have privately sent the bug report to the developers. However, it is mentioned in the second video that sending bug reports to the developers doesn’t guarantee they will see it or fix it, but bringing wider attention to it via YouTube ensures that they see the problem.

Well, Studio Wildcard definitely saw the problem and globally banned H.O.D Gaming from ARK: Survival Evolved. I did reach out to Studio Wildcard to inquire if they would be addressing the mesh issue and whether or not players who brought the bug up would stay banned or if they would have their bans lifted. If the developers respond we’ll update the article.

(Thanks for the news tip Ebicentre)