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Well, almost everybody and it's ruining this game. The little bastards are everywhere, in Pro-Survivor groups and Zombie groups. Hell, even some of the Zerg Hunters, in fact, Zerg. Easily half the population (and probably more) of this game are Zergs. Resens does what it can but zombie zergs are practically immune to their efforts and against Survivor zergs they are more or less just spinning their wheels.
Zergs are tolerated. Pro-Survivors, even if they themselves do not Zerg, are almost across the board willing to ignore them/revive/heal/help them as long as the Zerg is a Survivor. Zombies are not much better when it comes to policing their ranks.
This isn't a call to action. Only Kevan can do anything more about this and he just doesn't care. Unless its about the additional ad revenue they produce for him.
No it's not a call to action, but just a statement. At this point the game may as well be retitled: Urban Zerg.
Accept it.
Urban Dead: Ready Made for Zerging
It takes about 5 seconds to make a Character in Urban Dead. You don't need to create an account or even have an E-mail address. Even an incompetently run forum usually has enough security to require an E-mail validation. Not so with Urban Dead. All that's required to become a massive Zerger is 5 seconds per character, another 5 minutes or so to spend 50 AP, a google search bursting with Proxies and that you have no real life, sense of honor or character. This being the Internet, we have plenty of people that fit all the requirements.
At any given time there are 4000 "new" level 1 players on the stats page. I'd like to think that they really are new. Then I could point out that since the game population does nothing but drop, that proves that Urban Dead really is just a badly designed game that needs an overhaul and the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" crew could all go fuck themselves. But I just don't buy that 4000 people are constantly trying out this game and almost none are being retained.
No, this 4000 are something like 95% old players that are abusing the system, zerging and alt abusing their little hearts out by spying, meatsheilding, etc. And Throw-Away Zergs are just the tip of the iceberg.
Cheating has never been alien to the human race, but has become even more acceptable as time goes by. You can't trust people not to cheat. It's that simple. Especially when there is no accountability involved. You know that guy. The guy who hates Zergs and hunts them religiously and seems a paragon of honesty when it comes to playing fair? Yeah that guy. There's a 50% chance that any given one of them is a Zerg. They just don't get caught. Compartmentalization can do wonderful, horrible things. They probably do hate Zergs. The stupid ones. Real Hardcore Zerging is for the elite, you see. It's not something that any low born scum should be able to enjoy. The stupid ones serve a purpose though. They are something to hide behind and point at, directing attention elsewhere. And besides, come on, its a minor online game that no one gives a fuck about anyway. Cheating at that is like cheating on your diet, no one really gets hurt. It's not like its your SAT's for crying out loud.
So it makes so much sense for an online game to basically be run on the honor system, right? I mean, come on, it's online gaming. Its reputation is so good when it comes to honest players anyway, right? Naw, you don't need validation in any form, no real anti-zerg measures programmed in, nothing at all to stop anyone and their dog from cheating their ass off morning to night, if they feel so inclined.
So why not just program anti-cheat measures in, you know, just for the fuck of it. Ah well, those same measures that would also stop something else: all that Zerg generated Ad revenue. Gee, what a predicament. Money...or a game with some integrity. Hmm, let's spin the Wheel of Human Nature again.
I'm not even blaming anyone. It's a free to play game and Kevan doesn't own us a damn thing. All I'm saying is, wake the fuck up, people. You are not going to attract new, serious, honest players with this set up. All that's left are the Zergers and those few who don't mind endlessly going through the meaningless mechanical motions that just happen to be associated with their glorified social network. You're only playing what has got to be one of the online games which is the easiest to cheat at. It practically welcomes cheating with open arms. Like bees to honey, it draws in cheaters. Just stop pretending, for God's sake.
Resensitized (or, Emptying the Ocean with a Spoon)
"Now you see that evil will always triumph...because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet
It's a cute idea. Unfortunately, in a game where death is meaningless and nothing ever really costs anything, the only weapon in its arsenal is shame. Against a cheater, that's a pretty puny weapon. Cheaters know more about shame than any honest player ever will. It bounces off them like Styrofoam pellets. Being pelted by self-righteous indignation only strengthens the cheaters resolve. Most likely, they see fair play as a weakness. The ideological debate is over for these people.
It could be argued that the Zerg Liste does more damage than good, feeding Zergers determination. But I can't imagine that even 1% of Zergs end up on the Liste anyway. So, probably a moot point.
Zerg Types
The Throw-away Zerg
Typically, when one hears mention of Zergs, this is what is meant. Actually, the least disruptive type but for most this is as far as Zerging goes in their minds.
The Throw-away Zerg is just that, a Zerg that is created, used immediately and then discarded. Typically these will be used these as meatsheilds or as scouts to spy out locations.
The Support Zerg
Used to save AP on their Main Character. Typical examples include:
- The Revive Zerg: Takes care of all that pesky business of rejoining the living. No waiting time, no 10 AP loss to anyone else for the revive itself, etc. Usually the Revive will take place not at an RP, but some out of the way street with no witnesses.
- The Healing Zerg: Takes care of that half HP after standing business.
- The Scout Zerg: Makes sure the Main does not waste AP looking around. The Scout Class is commonly employed by Zombie players to spy out Survivor locations, because of their instant ability to bypass cades. While Survivors can employ pretty much any class besides Corpse to spy out Zombie Ruins.
- The Barricade Zerg: Used by Survivors to raise cades in a building they are holding when the AP on their Main runs low. Sometimes bots are employed to do this automatically.
- The Decader Zerg: Used to lower Barricades. Zombies use them to lower cades so their Main can get at the meat inside with a good chunk of AP. Survivors use them to lower cades to maintain their VSB Barricade policies or to lower Cades on a Pinata.
- The Fuel/Generator Zerg: Used by Survivors to keep their buildings powered.
A single Zerg may be used to cover all of these duties of course.
The Straw Man Zerg
These are Zergs that are created specifically to discredit another group or person. The creator makes them and places them near the person or group they want to discredit. They then either wait for someone to discover them, or more likely, they will report the "zergs" themselves. Typical examples include Zombie players that fill a building with level 1 Survivor meat-shields or a Survivor player that creates level 1 Zombies and places near a legitimate Zombie group. You can usually spot this as the accuser will seldom wish to actually communicate with the accused, but simply condemns their target and wants nothing more to do with the matter besides fanning the flames they have created.
The Protestant Zerg
Typically a Survivor phenomenon. These Zergs all have similar names, such as Fred1, Fred2, Fred3, etc. These guys are the bread and butter of your standard Zerg Hunter, as they are so easy to spot. Often comments will be directed at these Zergs about how "stupid" they are, missing the point entirely. Most of these types are not trying to hide anything. Actually, they are the only type I can actually respect to some degree. They seem to be making a statement with their flagrant Zerging; that being that Zerging is so common that they are openly Zerging in order to combat being zerged against. Although in some cases they may just being paranoid about being Zerged against when they are not or just using being Zerged against as a fallacious excuse to do their own Zerging.
The Harassment Zerg
Created to punish another player for some insult or another. An example were the alter boy Zergs created to harass a character described as a priest with intimations of pedophilia.
The Radio SPAM Zerg
Created to SPAM the radio with insanely long and ridiculous messages. Sometimes using Zerg after Zerg to rant for hours. Real Gamer was probably the most famous of these. He may still be active for all I know.
The Rambo
This is the "Expert" Bounty Hunter, Pker, Zerg Hunter. This one man force of nature can preform feats far beyond that of a normal human. They have preternatural skills when it comes to tracking, intelligence gathering, AP efficiency, timing of attacks, etc. This is because they actually have a small entourage of Zergs that do most of their "busy work" for them. Scouting, Reviving/Healing their "Rambo" Main Character, etc. These support Zergs will be unassuming and usually mildly helpful to anyone else around them.
The best way to spot a Rambo is usually through his/her Zerg entourage, since they will be traveling with him in close proximity. If you see the same same characters scattered about wherever the Rambo goes, it's usually a good sign of a Rambo. The Rambo also enjoys the folklore and tales that spring up about his "amazing skills" and if he feels he's not getting enough of this he may use his entourage to help matters along by having them speak about the Rambo in a suitably awed manner.
The Zerg entourage are not Throwaways. They will be kept and leveled up so that they can preform various tasks for the Rambo. They can sometimes be spotted because they level relatively slowly once they have the core skills they need to serve their Rambo and their creation date may seem very old for how many skills they possess.
The A-Team
This is The Rambo on steroids. Not content with one superman, this Zerger allows some or all of his Entourage to shine as well. He may or may not adopt the guise of an actual group. If so the group will be presented as a tight knit group of friends that communicate on IRC constantly. The group may have a forum, and all of the "members" are likely to talk to you there. The give-away is their refusal to participate on any other forum than their own except for one member; "the designated diplomat". This is, of course, because the zerger can't fake their IP address except through proxies which can be easily detected by any reasonably observant Admin.
The One Man Army
This is the lone Zerger that creates a multitude of Zergs in order to create the illusion of a large Group. Sometimes this will be a "random" group and sometimes actually identified as a real group through their profiles. Normally easy to spot as the lone zerger will often leave/return to the game for a time and suddenly that huge group all idle out/reappear en masse.
These are not Throw-aways. They will be kept and leveled up until they become a force to be reckoned with, taking out whole buildings, or even entire suburbs at will.
Usually this will be Zombies. Not because Survivors Zerg any less, but simply because Survivors don't typically need Armies. An A-Team is usually enough. My own estimate is that a single Survivor is worth 3 Zombies. So it's just not as common for a Survivor Zerg to need to raise such an Army. There are exceptions, such as the Gid Army created to combat The Dead.
The Zerg Group
Probably the least recognized form of Zerging and the most disruptive. This is the group that actually does have several unique members. If you have say 20 unique members and each of them creates 4 Zergs each, suddenly you have a 100 man group. Much harder to spot than the One Man Army as each member only has a relatively small group of Zergs to "look after" and as such its much more manageable and there is rarely an Idle-out/Returning en masse event. They will have a Wiki presence and a forum that is active. Also, if the group ever is accused of Zerging, they have 20 non-proxy IP addresses with which to convince others of their purity.
The obvious question is: "How to 20 people keep such a secret". Well, it's probably not even discussed openly in most cases. It may be unspoken but known. It may just happen without the others member knowing at all, each falling into Zerging independently.
Often you can see this in the stats page, as when a group like this falls on "hard times", e.g., when a Survivor group is being beaten by a zombie horde, losing their "home suburb" and needs reinforcements. Suddenly "old members" come out of long retirement and "new members" suddenly pop up. Then during "peace time" suddenly members fall off again.
Often these groups will have a extreme anti-Zerg position predominately displayed on their Group page.
The Borderline Zerg
Actually closer to Alt Abuse, these are characters that all exist within close proximity, but technically don't Zerg. The DEM is probably the most high profile example of this, splitting their group into various subgroups that very often contain alts by a single player within each sub-group. Sort of like The Zerg Group above, but with a rationale for the practice.
This is practiced by many survivors though, not just the DEM. For example, a player that has an alt in four Survivor Groups in four adjacent suburbs. Cumulatively, once many players are practicing it, this creates a large false Survivor Network that can dominate an area. While not Zerging in the usual sense, the sharing of information between these alts is well nigh impossible not to do and being in such close proximity, the occasional instance of actual Zerging may prove irresistible to the player here and there.
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