Datamining: An Ongoing Issue Sparked Again By ‘Destiny 2’

Datamining has been a rampant phenomenon in various games. Its purpose is mainly to uncover upcoming unreleased patches, content, or anything that is meant to be a surprise for fans. Indeed, things are bound to arrive, but the feeling of “I got it earlier than you” just gets people; it’s like a privilege. One of the most recent incidents is the Spicy Ramen Coupon in Destiny 2.

It started with Destiny 2 content creator Tryhard ‘Trials Player’ Tristan’s tweet, in which he showed a mysteriously acquired emblem called “A Classic Order.” It was actually a reference to the Spicy Ramen Coupon once available in the game’s Forsaken expansion. While Tristan only intended to flex his new item, the comment section was filled with questions about its source. They asked not because the emblem was a price purposely hidden by the developers as an Easter Egg, but because in the newest patch, there should be no way to get it, officially.

While some commenters were blinded by the idea of “how can I get that thing like him,” keen fans have detected the stench of datamining, uncovering some underground business of selling unreleased codes.

Swim, who has self-admitted to be the ONLY emblem-seller, discussed this controversy with Kotaku. “People wanted it because it was unknown,” he said. “Something to flex that they had before the rest of the world. At the time, no one, including me, knew when this emblem would come out. The mystery behind it is what drew in a lot of players. Tons of people were interested when they heard about it.” Swim also disclosed that his early access was granted by no other than a “Bungie insider.” It was a direct leak from the company.

In response to the blatant data violation, Destiny 2’s community manager, dmg04 urged, “Don’t buy the Spicy Ramen Coupon emblem. It’s meant to be a free gift on Bungie Day, from us to you.” He also pointed out datamining’s harm to the Destiny community. “Dataminers – please stop spoiling content, whether it be story or emblem codes. I know it can be exciting to be the first person with cool info, but please respect the fun,” he wrote on Twitter.

This wasn’t the first datamining to occur in the Destiny community. “Beneath the Endless Night” was supposed to be a lore book with its chapters released on a weekly basis. However, datamining brutally dug out every piece of content on the very first day the first chapter was issued.

“We will always be the ultimate source on what is legitimate and available or not, including what gets data-mined before the game is live, while anyone else is not an official source unless we say so,” a spokesperson said to Kotaku. Still, no information of the data-leaker has been announced.