The Black Desert community is up in arms this week after Pearl Abyss highlighted one of the game’s Twitch streamers as a “ featured partner .” So what is the big deal with promoting BladeBoques, the game’s first Level 60 player on a North American server?

To get the answer to this, you have to rewind the clock to July 2017, when BladeBoques was banned twice for exploiting the game. He set off a firestorm of controversy on the forums when he attempted to defend his actions, resulting in the community calling him out on alleged lies and spinning. The thread dealing with his exploiting reached an astounding 117 pages when all was said and done.

Ergo, you might understand why the community is a little sore at a known exploiter receiving public acclaim from the studio. This is particularly troubling in light of how Black Desert has developed a reputation for allowing exploiters, cheaters, and hackers to run rampant through the sandbox MMO without any serious consequences.

“So is this like a new low?” one player asked. “I mean, we partnered an exploiter. Holy s**t, this company is a joke!”