Leech

To leech means to join a party or enter a mission and then do nothing. Leeching commonly refers to a deliberate act of malicious intent, but even a person who joins a party to complete a mission/quest and goes AFK is still leeching on the rest of the party.

In addition to the dishonesty involved in reaping the rewards of other people's work and not helping, leechers hurt the party in many ways:
 * The party is missing a player, who, if they do nothing else, will share some of the enemy's fire power.
 * The party may have expected this player to perform a specific role needed for the completion of the mission.
 * Often, people will be discouraged by the presence of leechers and be tempted to leave.

Leeching is a common problem in Competitive Missions such as Fort Aspenwood, and in Alliance Battles. It is commonly automated through the use of bots. Bots that leech should always be reported.

The _effects_ of leeching could in theory be reduced if Arena Net implemented the following:


 * Each player has a personal Enemy/Lamer list. When the game is trying to automatically assign people to teams, you won't be put into a team with someone on your list. Similarly you won't be put into a team if anyone in that team has you on their list. Perhaps not just a team, but an entire alliance/side.

Note: The lists will not stop an opponent and you entering into a battle on _opposing_ sides, even if you are both on each other's lists.

Leeching could still occur, but after a while more leechers could end up playing with each other (that is if Arena Net still allows leechers to use up their battle servers).

It is not known if such a feature will ever be implemented.