I'll kick your bot!

[Laurel]

Bots are NPCs at most.

And still - people went a long way to assault/kill Irk or Phantom or Pasha or Pharaxes. There was drama, excitement and emotions.

On the other hand, what exactly did the game gain from (for example) Phantom being gone? The game - not any of you personally.

[Archie]

A player who bots is not a player, hence the game loses nothing.

A player who bots to gain size gain an unfair advantage to those who gain size by actively playing. Especially if the botter uses his non-botting time to p-fight for example.

So in the main botters lower the playing experience of everyone else, hence the game gains a more balanced playing experience.
Archie

[Makfly]

A player who bots is not a player, hence the game loses nothing.

A player who bots to gain size gain an unfair advantage to those who gain size by actively playing. Especially if the botter uses his non-botting time to p-fight for example.

So in the main botters lower the playing experience of everyone else, hence the game gains a more balanced playing experience.
Archie

Exactly.

A botting player is not just a no-gain/no-loss, it's a negative influence to the game.

[gorboth]

I agree with everyone here. I agree with many voices that have stated that bots contribute absolutely nothing to gameplay. In fact, I'll go a step further and say that they are worse than npcs in that most npcs at least have some form of emotes or automated roleplay, and bots merely repeat their preferred scripting behavior, occupying resources that other active players compete to use/achieve. I agree with the many voices that state that botting behavior needs to be eliminated, whether it be by deleting a character who refuses to stop botting or by giving players reasons to stop botting. I agree with Laurel that simply coming in with the scythe and deleting players who bot as a first method to deal with the problem is inadvisable with our current playerbase. Does this mean that I won't delete people who refuse to stop botting? No, I will DEFINITELY delete them. But there is a road to that action that they have to choose to walk. Right now I am doing what I can to remind everyone that it is illegal. And, because we are emerging from a period in which wizards were not able to devote time to policing the botting rules, the first steps were to offer penalties to the bots I found that were less drastic than death, etc. Rather, I destructed the bot I found, destroying not only his inventory but many items that he had been given by the person dragging him around. The next step was to post the note on the Common Board reminding everyone about this important standard against botting. Now we are having a lively discussion about it on the forum, which further raises awareness.

While I share Laurel's enthusiasm for a long who-list, bots will not be tolerated simply to maintain it. The enjoyment of a long who list is quickly trumped by the horrible experience of having a mythbot crash into your room, steal your kills, and move on without responding to your protests. So ... I'm waxing my AoP chariot to begin riding roughshod over such ruinous fools. And I'm putting razor blades on the wheels.

G.

[Draugor]

Aye, like Gorboth said, Bots steal resources that otherwise ACTIVE REAL PLAYERS might have used, I am quite sure alot of people quit cause of asshats with WAY To big stats botted theire mobs away so they had nothing to kill, just killing and/or punishing them wont do shit, takes them a week to bot it up again, and our most notorious botter has been busted for it before, everyone knows whom it is. Just delete the fucker, he sure as hell didnt "enrich" anyones playing last night when he stole 3-4 rooms of Terel trolls from me and my teammate. Nor did the little tard reply in any way.
On the contrary, it made me send a mail and then logg of.

[Tive]

I agree with everyone here. I agree with many voices that have stated that bots contribute absolutely nothing to gameplay. In fact, I'll go a step further and say that they are worse than npcs in that most npcs at least have some form of emotes or automated roleplay, and bots merely repeat their preferred scripting behavior, occupying resources that other active players compete to use/achieve. I agree with the many voices that state that botting behavior needs to be eliminated, whether it be by deleting a character who refuses to stop botting or by giving players reasons to stop botting. I agree with Laurel that simply coming in with the scythe and deleting players who bot as a first method to deal with the problem is inadvisable with our current playerbase. Does this mean that I won't delete people who refuse to stop botting? No, I will DEFINITELY delete them. But there is a road to that action that they have to choose to walk. Right now I am doing what I can to remind everyone that it is illegal. And, because we are emerging from a period in which wizards were not able to devote time to policing the botting rules, the first steps were to offer penalties to the bots I found that were less drastic than death, etc. Rather, I destructed the bot I found, destroying not only his inventory but many items that he had been given by the person dragging him around. The next step was to post the note on the Common Board reminding everyone about this important standard against botting. Now we are having a lively discussion about it on the forum, which further raises awareness.

While I share Laurel's enthusiasm for a long who-list, bots will not be tolerated simply to maintain it. The enjoyment of a long who list is quickly trumped by the horrible experience of having a mythbot crash into your room, steal your kills, and move on without responding to your protests. So ... I'm waxing my AoP chariot to begin riding roughshod over such ruinous fools. And I'm putting razor blades on the wheels.

G.

Instead deleting them just create an item which will lower their stats or skills. You could just play with the amount it decreases them and how long it lasts.
For example, 50% decrease of stats and you could give it to the player for 2 weeks (game time). Next time make it 80% decrease and give it to him for a month (game time), etc. It's still harsh but at least you wont be deleting them
And if they want to sit through the penalty... fair enough, at least they will contribute towards 'who' list

They will have a chance to roam newbie lands and maybe team up with new players

[OgreToyBoy]

Aye, like Gorboth said, Bots steal resources that otherwise ACTIVE REAL PLAYERS might have used, I am quite sure alot of people quit cause of asshats with WAY To big stats botted theire mobs away so they had nothing to kill, just killing and/or punishing them wont do shit, takes them a week to bot it up again, and our most notorious botter has been busted for it before, everyone knows whom it is. Just delete the fucker, he sure as hell didnt "enrich" anyones playing last night when he stole 3-4 rooms of Terel trolls from me and my teammate. Nor did the little tard reply in any way.
On the contrary, it made me send a mail and then logg of.

You sit on a high horse here, cursed be the botters until YOU go triggering behind one
Belive you are only interested to delete those who doesn't enrich your gaming experience.

[Kas]

I was contemplating a similar item you put on players.

What if such an item simply stopped you from moving anywhere while slowly draining away your health until death? Once placed, a player could easily identify and remove the 'lock' by a random phrase visible on the item in his/her inventory (every thick of dropping health would remind the player about the antibot item in his/her inventory, and how to unlock it).

Or something similar.

2cc

[Kas]

In addition, a global command ala <suspect kas for botting> to either automatically trigger a placement for such an item, or/and give the wizards the chance to proceed/deny such an item to be placed upon the potential bot.

[Draugor]

Aye, like Gorboth said, Bots steal resources that otherwise ACTIVE REAL PLAYERS might have used, I am quite sure alot of people quit cause of asshats with WAY To big stats botted theire mobs away so they had nothing to kill, just killing and/or punishing them wont do shit, takes them a week to bot it up again, and our most notorious botter has been busted for it before, everyone knows whom it is. Just delete the fucker, he sure as hell didnt "enrich" anyones playing last night when he stole 3-4 rooms of Terel trolls from me and my teammate. Nor did the little tard reply in any way.
On the contrary, it made me send a mail and then logg of.

You sit on a high horse here, cursed be the botters until YOU go triggering behind one
Belive you are only interested to delete those who doesn't enrich your gaming experience.

The only time I go unattentive while beeing dragged behind someone is when I got to either take a piss or crap.
And I wasnt planning on starting. I do feel sorry that you are in a guild with a silly system for skills, but just because your guild has the need for insane kills, it sure as hell doesent matter that we should let the bots mess the game up for actual players. Or should we just go full bot and have the wizards code stuff for people that dont actually play?