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Epic Threatens to Ban Users who Leak Gears 3 Spoilers

Like death and taxes, it's inevitable that when a fan group of some storyline gets large enough, some social prankster will try to get their lulz by revealing plot spoilers before the fans have had a chance to consume the story for themselves. I don't understand this stunt. It's very unlikely that the prankster will get to actually see the fruits of his labor - the anguish or frustration of his victims. Isn't that what lulz are all about? Witnessing the reactions? This is like putting a whoopee cushion on someone's chair and then leaving the building.

So now along comes Epic to feed the trolls, and shout hilariously out the window at the pranksters who are now a block away "Damn you kids! You and your whoopee cushions! We'll just see who's laughing come September" After an unfinished version of Gears of War 3 was leaked and revealed some plot spoilers (NeoGAF via Joystiq), the company vowed "repercussions," with executive producer Rod Fergusson ominously commenting in an interview with Edge "I don't think everybody's aware of the potential repercussions of those types of actions."

The planned repercussions have taken some shape. Speaking to Eurogamer, Fergusson said "We have a banning system built into our stuff so we can go in and identify certain people. Some people aren't smart about what they do. They'll be disappointed on 20th September when they can't get in and can't play. They may be banned." Does this seem like a bluff to anyone else? I'll bet it does to the people who threw the Gears video up on YouTube, or the guy who tried to crash Fergusson's video chat with fans to ALLCAPS the spoilers in front of an audience. If Epic can really track these folks down, wouldn't they be pressing criminal charges as promised? Are they just going to ban the YouTube commenters who talk about the spoilers and say "Oh, by the way, my gamertag is GearsFan6969"?

Epic, your rage is only feeding your trolls' glee. Best case scenario, you actually manage to identify and ban some aspiring social terrorist, who then wears that ban as a badge of honor and goes and plays Halo 4, Battlefield 3, or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for 2012. Brandishing the banhammer is just giving them what they want - a passionate but ultimately impotent reaction. If you feel you need to ban, do it without warning, and explain it to those who complain afterwards. Revenge is a dish best served cold.