I'll kick your bot!

[gorboth]

Code: Select all

And I'll also kick your butt ... if I catch you illegally botting. I've had
to have discussions with three people in the last 48 hours about this, as I
decided to investigate some not-so-nifty behavior that smelled deeply of
rotten fish-bot.

Because the wizards have been a bit sleepy on this subject for the better
part of a year, I let these first few folks off with warnings and lower
penalties which are otherwise deserved according to <help botting> rules.

But now that I've mashed these words up on the Common Board, all with bad
botting habits should consider themselves on the "open season" list for we
wizards who consider it good sport to hide in the reeds with a 12-guage
botgun. (yeah ... and you all deserve the puns, too, you dorks!)

In all seriousness, though, botting is something that ruins gameplay on many
levels. Take the time to review <help botting> right now and make sure you
aren't doing any of those things. 

Thanks!
G.

[OgreToyBoy]

Just make automatic play forbidden, no matter if you are in front of the computer or not.
Of course no ogre would even reach max skills if it was forbidden, but as long as you can
automate your play and watch a movie or something meanwhile it spams you are safe.

I just subbed all commands,rooms, fighting etc etc. Highlight the lottery machine and most
social tells or the different descripts you wizards use to appear. Crawl, puff in, fade, step out
from darkness yada yada. Just talk around and you eventually got most if not all descripts and
can automate play and do other stuff while the script run or your friend drag you abouts.

[gorboth]

Just make automatic play forbidden, no matter if you are in front of the computer or not.
Of course no ogre would even reach max skills if it was forbidden, but as long as you can
automate your play and watch a movie or something meanwhile it spams you are safe.

I just subbed all commands,rooms, fighting etc etc. Highlight the lottery machine and most
social tells or the different descripts you wizards use to appear. Crawl, puff in, fade, step out
from darkness yada yada. Just talk around and you eventually got most if not all descripts and
can automate play and do other stuff while the script run or your friend drag you abouts.

There is no way to police this short of having a large staff of wizards dedicated to spying on players all the time. We neither have the means to create this, nor should we want such an arrangement. Rather, we outline the specific and very testable aspects of botting that are most ruinous to the game, which we do have the means to monitor and respond to.

G.

[Draugor]

Just make automatic play forbidden, no matter if you are in front of the computer or not.
Of course no ogre would even reach max skills if it was forbidden, but as long as you can
automate your play and watch a movie or something meanwhile it spams you are safe.

I just subbed all commands,rooms, fighting etc etc. Highlight the lottery machine and most
social tells or the different descripts you wizards use to appear. Crawl, puff in, fade, step out
from darkness yada yada. Just talk around and you eventually got most if not all descripts and
can automate play and do other stuff while the script run or your friend drag you abouts.

There is no way to police this short of having a large staff of wizards dedicated to spying on players all the time. We neither have the means to create this, nor should we want such an arrangement. Rather, we outline the specific and very testable aspects of botting that are most ruinous to the game, which we do have the means to monitor and respond to.

G.

I would wizz to only bust bots..., not 8 hours a day ofc but... doing a bot scan now and then would atleast make the little fuckers nervous

[Makfly]

I would wizz to only bust bots..., not 8 hours a day ofc but... doing a bot scan now and then would atleast make the little fuckers nervous

Do it then.
Nobody is stopping you. Actually everyone but the botters will cheer you on.

[Laurel]

With the current database and number of script-users (aka botters?) you would be finished in 1-2 days, while the active playerbase would shrink by 30-50%?

[Makfly]

With the current database and number of script-users (aka botters?) you would be finished in 1-2 days, while the active playerbase would shrink by 30-50%?

"Active" playerbase...?
Perhaps you can use 'number of characters logged in might shrink by 30-50%'.

If it'll only take Draugor 1-2 days to squash this evil, then all the more reason for him to Wiz'.

[Draugor]

I know some of the bots already, and as long as they are active and responsive when I call... no harm no foul, if they fail to reply on the other hand? Bye bye, we've had this bullshit all to long

Laurel is just pissy cause he wont be able to idle behind his favourite bot should I become a wizard with the authority to kick bots asses

[Laurel]

You loose (mostly forever) a long-time player when you are harsh with him/her. This loss is immediate. The gain (towards other players) is however both potential and time-related (i.e. not immediate). To me it means, that with the current activity level you just loose another name on the who-list and gain nothing.

Much better to give her/him other goals to strive for.

I still remember plenty idiotic deletions over "bouncing" (in-prepare-out-wait-in-execute-out) that were done INSTEAD of just changing the code. In other words players were punished for using code, just as it was given to them.

They are still doing it and will always do it. If you code something with a perk, expect the players to show you how this perk can be abused to it's full extent. If you reward something (ie. size/stats/growth), expect players to go a long way to reach that reward.

Punishing players for creativity (using the code given to them) and dedication (it IS still some degree of dedication to log in to gear up and grind - either manual or scripting) is a rather crap excuse to vent steam imo. Just simply change the rewards/goals/code/etc.

In short: positive motivation is key in a population the size Genesis has now, while negative motivation will drive more and more people away for good. Examples are plenty.

[Arcon]

Delete the bots. They give nothing positive to the game. You say that we would loose a long time player if we would punish a bot too harshly. What player I ask you? A bot is not a player. Bots are NPCs at most.