This "game" is in Alpha right? Been in development since 2012.
The bigger question is. Why is this even being operated as an actual game? Why are their even accounts to ban. How can you cheat on something that isn't released yet and undergoing testing and bug fixes.
The bigger question is. Why is this even being operated as an actual game?
Because the longer they call it an "alpha" the longer they can try to rake in more kickstarter money and the longer they can use "it's an alpha" to excuse game breaking bugs.
The moment they hit 1.0, they become officially answerable to their customers for having a playable game.
Why do that when you/re perpetually raking in the money anyway.
Seriously...whether it ever actually hits 1.0 or not, making the microtransactions/real money purchases live in a product that they "insist" isn't a game yet, is just shady as fuck.
They're ramping up to get to 1.0 so I wouldn't be surprised to see more of this as we get closer. They can't be too harsh though because they still need people to test and find these kinds of exploits, they probably just banned the people that accumulated tons and tons of money doing it.
That is, according to the post on their forums, exactly what they did. The people who were clearly just doing it to grind money as fast as possible without regard for the effects it had on the servers and without attempting to report the results of this "testing" (because they weren't testing, or even playing arguably) got a suspension, not a perma ban.