Interesting. Sounds like tests were really needed in this case, but some people didn't want to write them. And the code coverage tools were just gamed. ie, an additional level of oversight would be needed there if you really wanted to ensure good test coverage.
I don't see how code coverage is making the situation worse though, it seems like it just wasn't enough in this case. I guess in that it resulted in useless tests by some people, it's a minor setback, but surely it encouraged others to write more proper tests.
Code coverage wasn't making it better. As one of the developers on the project, I already knew who was writing good code or not (but I couldn't do anything about it).
I don't see how code coverage is making the situation worse though, it seems like it just wasn't enough in this case. I guess in that it resulted in useless tests by some people, it's a minor setback, but surely it encouraged others to write more proper tests.