Around 3,000 Guild Wars 2 players have received perma-bans for “intentionally and repeatedly” exploiting a bug in the game which allowed them to craft high-level items for one thousandth of their normal price.

The exploit has now been fixed via an emergency patch. Lead producer Chris Whiteside said on Reddit that, just this once, the team would consider changing some of the bans to just 72 hour suspensions. He wrote:

“We take our community and the integrity of the game very seriously, and want to be clear that intentionally exploiting the game is unacceptable. The players we banned were certainly intentionally and repeatedly exploiting a bug in the game.

We intended to send a very clear message that exploiting the game in this way will not be tolerated, and we believe this message now has been well understood.

We also believe and respect that people make mistakes. With this in mind, we are offering the members of our community who exploited the game a second chance to repair the damage that has been done.

This is a first and final warning. Moving forward, please make sure you that when you see an exploitable part of the game, you report it and do not attempt to benefit from it.”

Should the bans be reversed? Share your thoughts in the comments below.