Destiny Troll Deletes Kid's Characters

Every online game has its share of troublemakers. This Destiny troll is the worst of the worst, though.

An 11 year old boy was livestreaming and was convinced by another player that there was a glitch to boost characters to level 30 instantly. That would be a desirable exploit, for sure, considering how much time and effort it takes to get to that level even with The Dark Below expansion.

The kid gives the other player remote control of his game through PS4's SharePlay feature and then steps away. The relevant part of the video above starts around the 13:00 mark.

While he's AFK, the other player decides to delete his level 31 Warlock and level 26 Titan. He then logs onto the game as the boy's only remaining character, a level 23 Hunter. The poor kid returns just in time to see the troll delete his exotic fusion rifle Plan C. At that point, he resets his PS4 to prevent any further damage.

To the kid's credit, he logs back into a party with the troll and insists he didn't want that rifle anyway. He doesn't keep that composure for long, though. When he realizes all of his other characters are gone, he starts sobbing.

Unfortunately for him, there's no way for Bungie to undo this damage. They note in this support page that they can't recover gear or characters. That may change in the future, though.

"Bungie has some ideas for how we can make regrettable deletions like these less permanent," said community manager David Dague on the company's Weekly Update. "While we plan the right course of action (and build out new game features), protect your Guardians from sleazy online jerks – or dogs that step on your controller."

There might still be a happy ending for this boy, though. He posted about the entire fiasco on Bungie's forums and while some players seem to think he got what he deserved for trying to exploit the game, others were sympathetic. Many players have offered to help him gear up his remaining character or level new ones. That's no big shock, given the community's history of kindness toward players in need.

It's possible that Sony or Bungie could take disciplinary action against the player responsible for deleting the kid's characters, too. One Bungie.net poster notes that the Sony Entertainment Network code of conduct prohibits users from engaging in "deceptive or misleading practices." However, as of this writing it looks like the troll's Destiny account is still active.