Griefers Are Feeding Players to Worms in Dune: Awakening

Dune: Awakening is facing a new type of player chaos. Griefers are using the game’s vehicle collision to trap unsuspecting players and feed them to sandworms in areas that were meant to be safe. It's the latest escalation in the long-standing battle between PvE-focused players and those who thrive on finding every exploit to ruin someone else’s day.

As noted by WindowsCentral, the issue stems from a mechanic that still allows vehicles—especially ornithopters—to physically push each other around. While Funcom removed the ability to damage other players directly via vehicle ramming, that hasn't stopped certain groups from creatively finding ways to trap and doom others.

We’ve already written about Dune’s latest post-launch upgrades, especially those that aimed to protect PvE players in PvP-heavy areas like the Deep Desert. A recent patch did exactly that, making PvP zones less hostile by protecting spice gatherers from opportunistic gankers. But griefers didn’t quit. They adapted, bringing their antics to PvE regions like Hagga Basin.

Now, instead of high-speed PvP ambushes, these players park their ornithopters on top of others’ crafts. That pins the targeted player in place, preventing takeoff. Then comes the thumper, summoning the iconic, deadly sandworm. Trapped, the victim either tries to wiggle free or use a vehicle recovery tool. But even if they recover the ornithopter, they’re still stranded on foot, out in the open, with a worm bearing down fast.

This interaction clearly wasn't part of Funcom's design. Community voices have already suggested removing vehicle-on-vehicle collisions in PvE zones entirely. That would prevent griefers from using their crafts to trap others. But this change could also remove the danger and tension that makes spice farming thrilling. Dune is supposed to be a dangerous place, even outside PvP zones.

Balancing that tension is tough. If you remove the physical interaction between vehicles, you might strip away part of what makes the world feel dynamic. But leaving it in risks griefers continuing to ruin the experience for those who just want to gather resources or explore solo.

Other games have faced similar issues. In Rust, players routinely trap others inside bases or loot rooms using doors or deployables. In ARK: Survival Evolved, tribes use tamed creatures to box in other players or push them into hazardous environments. DayZ had long-running issues with players being handcuffed and force-fed rotten fruit. Even in World of Warcraft, griefers have dragged world bosses into towns, wiping entire populations of low-level characters.

Every multiplayer survival game walks this tightrope. Allow too much freedom, and players will find creative ways to ruin others’ sessions. Restrict too much, and you kill emergent gameplay. Dune: Awakening now joins that list, and it’s up to Funcom to decide how far it wants to go in controlling this kind of interaction.

So far, the studio hasn’t issued a direct fix. There’s a sense that this issue is on their radar, especially since it came as a side effect of trying to make PvP endgame zones more tolerable. But it's unclear whether a hotfix is even technically easy to implement. Separating PvP and PvE collision behavior might not be a simple toggle, especially in a live service game with complex desert biomes, persistent vehicles, and player-driven economies.

In the meantime, players are taking to forums and Discord to warn each other, share escape strategies, and post clips of the griefing in action. Some see it as a clever use of mechanics. Others see it as outright abuse. The division isn’t new—any online game with an open system will attract both sides. But Dune’s harsh setting and survival focus magnify it.

Whether this becomes a permanent part of the Dune: Awakening experience or gets patched out depends on how Funcom reads the room. What’s clear is that the sandbox doesn’t just belong to spice farmers. It belongs to tricksters, too. And right now, they’re having a feast.