Community opinion on botting

[sofiaoak]

I think player should be get warning and info what happen if continue actions what is against rules of game. If player continues same activity after warning, then just close account and delete all characters. In that point player does know that her/his action are worng but doesn't care.

[dakhound]

sry to be a complete n00b but how the hell would you bot harvesting?

1. when the sources run out do can you program it to move to another?
2. when you get a full bag does it go and empty them in stables/merchants as even 6 hrs digging could easily fill up 3 packers
3. digging aint exactly safe *especially PR* so how does that work

hey, my opinion is, if they bot and thaey figured a way round these problems it probably took em longer than most people would have to hit 250 legit

[akicks]

sry to be a complete n00b but how the hell would you bot harvesting?

1. when the sources run out do can you program it to move to another?
2. when you get a full bag does it go and empty them in stables/merchants as even 6 hrs digging could easily fill up 3 packers
3. digging aint exactly safe *especially PR* so how does that work

hey, my opinion is, if they bot and thaey figured a way round these problems it probably took em longer than most people would have to hit 250 legit

1. yes, a targetting macro can be assigned to a key like "Alt+T"
2. Keep digging, you don't care that your full - You're not botting to take advantage of extra materials, you want levels dam it, and levels while you sleep.
3. Digging is VERY safe in some areas. Yes, even in pr. Infact, because of the pvp zones, most pr are safer (from mobs) than other similar zones.

[dazman76]

Voted Other...

There should be no long-term bans for anything (or at the least, the initial ban should be 24 hours as Saranda suggested) if there's a chance that a warning will suffice. There *is* always a chance that someone tried botting because they heard about it recently, and will regret it very much if they receive just a frank warning from the GMs.

You all seem to be frothing at the mouth and baying for blood here - give some people the benefit of the doubt first. Yes, there are evil nasty botters out there, and there may also be people making genuine mistakes. A warning can be very effective, if the same thing happens then a ban is more appropriate. Don't you realise how long 3 months is? I have never botted in my life, but I tell you this - If I *wrongly* received a 3 month ban from an online game without a warning or chance to explain, that ban would convert into a lost subscription within hours. Absolutely nothing gained there, since the botter may have stopped after the first warning and behaved themselves. Innocent until proven guilty - anything else is just not democracy.

If people have seen Botters in Ryzom, sure, make your opinion known and choose your vote. But if you haven't, remember that some problems can be sorted out via diplomatic means Also think about how you would feel if you were wrongly accused of this exploit, and resultingly had your account banned for 3 months.

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.

That's one of the most surprising and annoying thins I've heard so far. They broke the damn keyboard-only control by removing that feature (I'm a programmer, so halt your mouse comments right there ), and they NEVER (from what I remember) explained that it was due to botting, in full or in part. Pfft. Having to write a sloppy macro that targets every known source until it gets the right one, and not really being able to map that to space without changing the target friendly function, is plain rubbish. Anyway I'm ranting now.

[iwojimmy]

I am in favour of the graduated series of responses.

1st offense.. warning: lose a full level in highest harvest, lose 10% of dappers. they may not beleive botting is unacceptable behaviour.

2nd offense.. shame:- lose ALL titles, including refugee and homin, replaced with "Botter", regain normal titles after a month maybe, but not special titles. Also reset harvesting skill to 50, or maybe even 20. this is someone who just doesnt learn, could even be a mule?

3rd offense.. this person has no respect for the game or the other people playing it.. get rid of them.

[cygnus]

Unfortunately in every game you will get people who cheat or attempt to cheat. You cant stop it, you never will. In fact I bet this thread has led to many players who had no idea that botting was possible or even existed within the game now frantically searching google etc looking for 3rd party apps/scripts/macros so they can try it themselves.

I voted for 3 options as I didnt think a single option covered it.
Name & shame - always a brilliant detterent imo
Rollback of char - there should be no gain from cheating
1mth ban - I 'm not sure a ban is the answer but a severe offence requires a severe punishment and this seems severe enough to me.

I dont think a lifetime ban is a good idea for many reasons (unless its a repeat offender). From a Nevrax point of view its a loss of revenue which cant be good. From a players point of view, chars disappear all the time, most would never know the player was banned (unless a name and shame was implemented as well) so would imo not act as any form of detterent. People make mistakes, its learning from them that makes us who we are. A lifetime ban gives no chance for a sinner to repent.

Is it a problem within the game? Personally, I would say no. I cant say I've ever met a char within the game that I thought was botting. To an extent the player cheating is only cheating themselves as they are not actually affecting anyone elses gameplay or character. If its supreme nodes in pr, easy, take em out or drag aggro on them as already suggested. Unless the botting has got so good they can rez themselves or respawn and return to their spot this will stop it immediately. If the community acted on these people as well I'm sure it would help to stop it more than relying on the powers that be to take action.

How to spot a true botter though? I'm sure at times I look like a bot as I use macros/shortcut keys a lot and if waiting for the right weather/time condition I will sit for a time, stand, prospect, get no hit, sit and wait, repeat, get a hit, dig.... While doing this I will probably be half watching tv, chatting in guild, browsing websites etc so often have little interaction with anyone or anything around me so dont nuke me if I'm in pr

Another option of course is to rollback the offending char to n00b lvl, strip them of all tp's and spawns and drop them in the middle of Wastelands.......

[drizzeth]

Voted all except 1 month lol heres why and how:

1st incident: other which will be a serious warning combined with removal from area, depending on abusers arguments there could be a level rollback or not.

2nd Incident: Public name as offender, rollback, 3 month ban

3rd Incident; Permanent ban and deletion of acct.

[norvic]

I voted other, was gonna say lvl Rollback by a percentage but think to delete that char would be a lesson enough, or should be anyhow

[iphdrunk]

How to spot a true botter though? ....

a few hints -- oooof course, I'm not implying any of those is proof enough, just sharing some experiences, in a humorous tone --

* a player targets you and he's rude enough not to even answer your "hello" how rude!
-> explanation: player was a botter and was using the autotarget with space. It happened to target me instead! I thought he was just digging but wouldn't talk to me ... how rude ! -- that's how we found a first botter -

* a player is supposed to answer a GM request in a reasonable time. Of course, no GM will think a player is botting just because they won't answer, but still, if you don't answer to a GM request, you better be afk

* you see the player over caring, or getting very variated and weird qualities. You can recognize a pattern: prospect, extract, care, care, extrac, care, sit, up, prospect etc

* there seeems to be a preference for safe and mission spots, for obvious reasons. For example, Kami ToT, the mission and node mats. I spotted 2 there.

* player died because of aggro or gas or whatever. Autorespawned and the macro kept on -> effect: a player is continuosly prospecting at the respawn point, kinda weird. Same, player is teleported to nother place and keeps prospecting.

* the macro/script etc is bugged and player randomly says weird text in around chat like '77' '85' or "target source"

* you can prospect your own sources and the botter may target your sources instead of his. A nice way to get extra xp

etc, etc



ps: to be honest, for a while 'bot hunting" was a common sport as well. You can set up "Bounty/Botty hunters" parties

[alyssah]

ps: to be honest, for a while 'bot hunting" was a common sport as well. You can set up "Bounty/Botty hunters" parties

I like it. There could easily be a reward of 200 supreme mats of choice for a reported botter ( if guilty). It also adds extra gameplay at a stroke.

Nice one Iphdrunk.

I often complain about the DEVS not listening, so are you awake this time? Only needs your approval as CSRs could administer the reward.