Community opinion on botting

[scarazi]

Was personally wondering how strongly the ryzom community felt towards the increasing trend to bot. For those who dont know what this is; it`s to use a non Nevrax piece of software to 'copy' your macro keystrokes at the correct time intervals to continually repeat an action for many hours whilst alseep/afk, the majority use it to harvest to gain stupid amounts of fast levels.

Currently the Nevrax/Jolt way of dealing with this is rumoured to be transporting the offending character out of the "botting zone" so not to get more levels that day and sending them a warning ingame email .

I personnally dont think this is a strong enough measure to deter this sort of behaviourand have voted for a 3 month ban from Atys. i have never witnessed it personnally, but know that it exsists ALOT.

your opinions please

[holstad]

I've never seen this in use in atys, tho i've heard rumors about it...
If this is a fact, and that people in the community use these softwares and get cought...there should be a much harder response from the gm's other than to move them from botting zone...

If there was only me and one other player left on atys i would still not tolerate this kind of exploting...

Voted 3 months ban from server...

[iphdrunk]

I've never seen this in use in atys, tho i've heard rumors about it...If this is a fact, and that people in the community use these softwares and get cought...there should be a much harder response from the gm's other than to move them from botting zone...

I've seen it, reported it and ticketed it. Discussed with GMs several times, started several months ago, in the NA shard. Harvest botting was one of the reasons the use of space to target sources was removed, although it has been 'worked' around easily and is only causing inconvenience to normal diggers.

Until recently, players getting caught only got a warning, etc. and the punishment was very light. I think Nevrax has tightened its policy regarding the use of 3rd party software (cf. recent posts). The latest player I know was caught botting was banned from server 24h (first time).

[scarazi]

The latest player I know was caught botting was banned from server 24h (first time).

that is laughable, surely that is not going to put anybody off. more like premote it as a "naughty" thing, rather than something that cannot be tolerated

[roninpvp]

It was a big problem on NA server before merge and to be honest I've kept quiet about it trying to let Nevrax get rid of it their own way. Finally got fed up with certain people and had to vent/flame on their past record with botting (in another thread). I'm glad someone finally posted a poll cause it was a bad problem.


I voted Other.

I think It should be a temp ban and removal of all harvest levels period. What good does a % decrease do if that % is still not all of the levels botted? If thats not an option then I agree with the deletion of character. Problem is I know of a few botters that are high lvls now. Other online games have very firm stances on this which makes nevrax's actions to date a joke..a joke at all of the people who leveled by putting in long hours.

[altomesa]

I haven't seen it, at least not that I know of, but it certainly qualifies as exploiting when the player has something to gain from it and gives them advantage over those players who do not "bot." Therefore, I think a stronger response is in order than just a warning or a slap on the wrist. It's not like you were botting accidentally or honestly thought it was ok to do it. Perhaps an escalating 3 strike program would be good.

Strike 1: Warning and 24hr ban.
Strike 2: Warning and 3 day ban.
Strike 3: Adios muchachos

Or something to that effect.

[aylwyne]

I don't have a particular strong opinion either way. I guess I just don't measure my enjoyment or progress in the game against other people that I don't play with that are running bots. Now against my friends, that's a whole other issue. I definitely don't like falling behind them.

If someone parks themselves somewhere, starts a bot, and gets to L250, it just doesn't change my enjoyment of the game. With Ryzom's lack of much to do once you reach 250, it seems like rushing a char there with a bot would detract from that person's experience more than anything.

I'm too busy with such things as checking out the Hand of Jena in Maiden Grove, tracking down Average Dust in Majestic Garden, and running the other way when Soma says "Pretty" to care too much of others ruin their own experience by rushing to 250 without really experiencing the game. Heck, in the last 2 months, I think I've dinged 3 whole times (highest skill 191, second highest 143, and a quick dropoff from there).

[holstad]

About time the gm's start putting their feet down for exploiting...
What do we have them there for??

Been disappointed about their actions before, hope i will not be it again...

[varelse]

I don't think Nevrax can afford to permanently ban people unless it's proven beyond a doubt that their behaviour is pushing other players out of the game.

Nonetheless, I don't think cheating and exploiting of any kind should simply be ignored. What should happen really is an escalating series of actions, ending in a permanent ban if the warnings are ignored and the botting continues.

Hopefully Nevrax already has such a system in place and is using it. We'd not necessarily know this was happening unless a banned or warned player chose to communicate this information to one of us who's still active.

Botting is not nearly the problem in this game that it was in my last MMORPG, but it could be a serious issue as dapper and high quality mats become more valued and sought after with the coming of outposts.

[iphdrunk]

I don't have a particular strong opinion either way. I guess I just don't measure my enjoyment or progress in the game against other people that I don't play with that are running bots.

That's a very noble and respectable opinion which I would share if other players actions had no impact *at all* on my game play.

Examples -- just thought of them, may not be coherent, and not specifiucally Ryzom related.

For starters, (it isn't the case) assume we had unlimited funds, and crafting as a lenghty process that could be automated. A player that has been botting crafting would have a market advantage. For aplayer that enjoys the trading aspect of the game, it could be less enjoyable.

Imagine that by botting it was possible to earn money while player sleeps. A richer player could buy the mat merchant, or the NPCs, etc and not letting other players buy gear or mats


In summary, I see your point, but it is not enough. Also, I tend to think that the ideal is where the game/gameplay is done in such a way that is is not possible to find a easily reproducible sequence of actions that can be automated