I was reading the Minecraft article and then this one was suggested to me, so apologies for reviving a dead thread.
My question is, how is it fair to punish people who use this exploit?
Now I did read the article and I understand how detrimental using the exploit can be to the experience of the game. People who use it become more powerful than those who do not. I do not play this game so this may be a ridiculous question but is there a "level cap"? If there is, then some people get there faster. Is that an issue? If there isn't then do some players reach "godhood" after X number of levels? Once again, wouldn't they be paired with others who are in the same boat? How is that a bad thing?
As someone who usually only plays single player games, I am always on the lookout for ways to get ahead. Sometimes these exploits are patched out and sometimes they are not. Either way, no one is ever banned for using them. Why would they be? No one is getting hurt.
Also, how does one separate a bug from a feature? Short of a message when you start the game letting players know about the exploit and telling them a patch is incoming and not to exploit it. I know I would be very angry if I was banned from a game because I was doing something I didn't know was wrong. I know that most people who do this probably see a video on YouTube telling them how to do it and then they go do it. How do you separate those people from those who found it organically? Also, what constitutes an exploit? If I discover that going up these certain stairs 3 times in a row has a 10% chance of gaining you 1XP point at the end of the mission, isn't that an exploit? Is there a line of acceptability?