Duke picks a fight with BodyBagger's oil rig crew, and the forum argues about it
In October 2016 a thread about Duke's in-game "beef" with BodyBagger ran to hundreds of replies. Players argued over NPC fairness and who controls Duke. Duke answered in character.
Involved: BodyBagger [99177] , RidgeRunner [518314] , Duke [4] NPC , Ceb [68232] Committee , bogie [148747] Admin and 7 more
A loan shark with a grudge
RidgeRunner [518314] started "Duke has a beef" on 07 Oct 2016. The opening post was a mock chat log in which Duke [4] says they attacked and hospitalized RidgeRunner because of a grievance with RidgeRunner's boss, BodyBagger [99177].[1]
The thread ran until 20 Oct 2016 and reached 552 replies and 9,487 views, with 144 different players posting. It is now locked in the Graveyard board.[2]
Duke posts, BodyBagger answers
In the opening post, Duke says BodyBagger's habit of hitting Duke means BodyBagger's workforce goes to the emergency room every day. Torn roleplay[1]
On 08 Oct 2016 Duke replied in character that BodyBagger had hit Duke too many times and that Duke would take out the oil crew in return. Duke also proposed settling it in an alleyway. Torn roleplay[3]
On 13 Oct 2016 BodyBagger wrote that they had mugged about $1 billion and not $20 billion. BodyBagger said a full mug was then $52M and that Duke was on mug protection. Participant claim[4]
BodyBagger said it was unfair for their employees to be attacked and that Duke offered $20M to hospitalize them. On 14 Oct 2016 BodyBagger added that employees had been threatened and sent 100 boxes of tissues. Participant claim[4][5]
Duke's posts of 13, 15 and 17 Oct 2016 kept up the in-character threats. The 17 Oct post offered BodyBagger a deal: attack less often, apologise in the thread, and the attacks on the crew would stop. Torn roleplay[6][7][8]
Who said what
Blexi [1458703] alleged on 10 Oct 2016 that BodyBagger had mugged Duke for 50-100m a day, adding up to 20b+. Blexi said they were blacklisted, hospitalized and mugged after joining one of BodyBagger's attacks. Allegation[9]
BodyBagger replied that Blexi had done no damage and had said they were there only to take the mug. BodyBagger said hospitalizing Blexi afterwards was a fair response. Participant claim[4]
ReyDuvall [1526820] replied on 07 Oct 2016 that a paid member of the Torn team was using powers to ruin a player's company. ReyDuvall called it unprofessional. Allegation[10]
Who controls Duke?
Ceb [68232], an officer/committee member, wrote on 08 Oct 2016 that Duke is a parody of the stereotypical Torn player. Ceb wrote on 10 Oct 2016 that Duke "can only be Ched".[11][12]
sugarvalves [1963573], an officer/committee member, wrote on 10 Oct 2016 that Duke isn't controlled by them. They said they had not been in the game long enough to be allowed to play Duke and that they approved of what Duke was doing. Participant claim[13]
bogie [148747], listed as Torn staff (Admin), wrote on 12 Oct 2016: "Get over yourself, it's an automated system reclaiming debts. Or the reporter account."[14]
Players wondered who ran Duke. -Devil- [1735488] guessed the main account would get a lot of abuse. Community speculation[15]
Jokes, complaints and told-to-harden-up
Dekloren [900534] wrote on 15 Oct 2016 that using an NPC to harass players is wrong. Dekloren alleged that a staff member was using an NPC account to take revenge on a player. Allegation[16]
BodyBagger argued on 15 Oct 2016 that contracts between Duke and certain players were unfair and should be listed as bounties. Participant claim[17]
Collete [1389080] told the thread to "harden the f**k up". KickRocks [1030718] asked why sugarvalves drew so much hate for volunteering to write for a satirical newspaper.[18][19]
MarlonBrando [1337797] posted a joke about Duke joining the Art of War as an honorary general. The post drew 11 likes and 22 dislikes. Joke[20]
Stretch [1846075], an officer/committee member, wrote on 16 Oct 2016 that the Duke affair had created feelings. Stretch said it seemed odd that it had turned back into a faction-bashing thread.[21]
Later references
On 21 Aug 2021 LittleSnitch [941576] linked the thread, saying BodyBagger's employees were hospitalized daily when BodyBagger would not stop "unfairly looting" Duke. Participant claim[22]
On 17 Dec 2023 cookdandbombd [2450557] linked the thread as an example of Duke's life of their own. They wrote that Duke "once went to war with Bodybagger and his company employees". Participant claim[23]
Timeline
- 7 Oct 2016 RidgeRunner [518314] opens "Duke has a beef" with a mock chat log.[1]
- 8 Oct 2016 Duke replies in character. Ceb [68232] calls Duke a parody of the stereotypical Torn player.[3][11]
- 10 Oct 2016 Blexi [1458703] alleges BodyBagger mugged Duke for 20b+. sugarvalves [1963573] says they do not control Duke. Allegation[9][13]
- 12 Oct 2016 bogie [148747] says Duke is an automated system reclaiming debts, or the reporter account.[14]
- 13 Oct 2016 BodyBagger [99177] disputes Blexi's figures and Duke posts again.[4][6]
- 17 Oct 2016 Duke offers BodyBagger a deal to end the attacks. Torn roleplay[8]
Original sources 23
- Post by RidgeRunner [518314] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Thread "Duke has a beef" (Graveyard) ·
- Post by Duke [4] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by BodyBagger [99177] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by BodyBagger [99177] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by Duke [4] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by Duke [4] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by Duke [4] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by Blexi [1458703] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by ReyDuvall [1526820] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by Ceb [68232] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by Ceb [68232] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by sugarvalves [1963573] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by bogie [148747] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by -Devil- [1735488] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by Dekloren [900534] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by BodyBagger [99177] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by Collete [1389080] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by KickRocks [1030718] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by MarlonBrando [1337797] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by Stretch [1846075] in "Duke has a beef" ·
- Post by LittleSnitch [941576] in "Dealing with threats as a Company Director" ·
- Post by cookdandbombd [2450557] in "Can't old players tolerate curiosity of new ones?" ·
Forum sources link to TornLife's archive of the thread, shown as the players wrote it; each archived thread links on to the original on torn.com.
How to read a story
Every statement in a Torn Story is checked against the archived posts it cites. Statements without a label are established: the record shows them directly. Everything else is labelled and says who is speaking.
- Established
- The record shows it directly: a post and its date, staff's own words, a thread's figures or TornLife data.
- Participant claim
- What someone involved said about their own actions or experience. Their account, not verified.
- Allegation
- An accusation a player made, attributed to them. Never TornLife's finding.
- Community speculation
- Guesses, theories and rumours from players.
- Joke
- Banter or trolling, presented as such.
- Torn roleplay
- In-character play, presented as such.
Generated by TornLife from 23 sources · verified · model claude-sonnet-5
Drafted by a language model from the archived posts listed above, then checked three ways before publication: TornLife's validator (every number and citation must match the sources), deterministic statement rules (no unlabelled allegation, no real-world personal details, no claims about why anyone was federally jailed) and a separate critic and fact-checker that read each statement against its sources. It reports what players said; it is not Torn's own statement.