Classic Bot Suggestion thread

Like many veteran RO players I've came and went throughout the years since the times of beta and there has always been problems as well as solutions. The latest problem I've seen partially fixed is the spam bots which I give thanks to the iRO staff for trying. Lately though, being a classic player, I have noticed an influx of botters polluting all major and non major leveling areas with no signs of any intervention from GM's. I guess what I'm getting at is why aren't GM's (and the entire iRO Staff) working to fix this problem? Not only is it ruining the economy for those of us who work hard to get our items but also it's discouraging to see bots and makes players feel a sense of loss at how impersonal the game has become. I appreciate all that the Gravity staff is doing by offering us events and listening to our feedback; so i'm asking for you to listen to this feedback and please take a stand and start cracking down on those who use 3rd party programs.


Update:
After doing a bit of research and thinking i've thought of a potential solution to our problem...after viewing how other games deter/detect the use of third party programs it's obvious that something such a a CAPTCHA test won't work for RO. First of all it'd be too easy for bots to overcome, as well as it would lift the suspension of disbelief from the players which is pertinent to enjoying any game.
With this said, I feel something such as NPC-Based tests or random occurrences may work. By an NPC test I mean that to enter certain dungeons or areas you must talk to an NPC who mixes up what is said, what the answers are, and where the answers are each time you speak to them. This will initially take a little bit of code work for the Gravity team to do but once completely should put a pretty heavy halt on bot activity for any area with this type of system.
The other method, random occurrences, isn't my favorite but could be an option for those players whom have been online for so many hours out of the day (logging out doesn't matter). It would be an event that would either pull up a chat window with some sort of dialog and answer (relevant to the game as to keep the suspension of disbelief) or teleport you to an area where you must accomplish a simple task, i.e. hit the bapho jr. (1 hp) named "xxx" and bring the "xxx" colored item back to me, and for this task you receive some sort of prize, then being warped back to your original location. These random occurrences would obviously have to be disabled for big dungeons and MVP maps but I believe would work quite well.


Please post your thoughts on this.

Edited by kbb93, 29 May 2013 - 01:37 PM.

unfortunately the community and GM team have developed a policy of complacency when it comes to alot of things including bots... some people even go as far as defending the botters so they themselves dont actually have to farm supplies...

Not just Classic. I'm tired of watching bots at my guild spot. :x And just the other day I saw a new bunch made. I constantly report them but see nothing done about it. u.u
I was also told by an AB that there are bots botting for cards that are valued between 100m-200m. I don't want to name which monsters, but I saw someone posting on the market thread selling multiple quantities for it. *shrug*

:[

Edited by WarlockFier, 28 May 2013 - 11:55 AM.

It is kind of amazing that after 10 years or so bots are still an issue. What ever happened to the simple solutions like making people type a random number on the screen within a certain amount of time?

Disabled for WoE and higher level party maps ofcourse.

It is kind of amazing that after 10 years or so bots are still an issue. What ever happened to the simple solutions like making people type a random number on the screen within a certain amount of time?

That won't do much. Captcha and other similar tests can easily be solved, either by a computer alghoritm or by using inexpensive workers.

Disabled for WoE and higher level party maps ofcourse.

High level parties of bots exist too.

Edited by ShiveringShadows, 28 May 2013 - 12:18 PM.

Although I agree with the OP, I can't get past the horrendous abuse of apostrophes.

High level parties of bots exist too.

Thats surely some dedication to the caue of botting to be able to configure such a party. Do regular players ever pump into them? Whats their AI like?

ive ran into a few interesting ones the ones in chiv 1 and 2 have priest following them asperio and buff/hs

IF ppl uses botting in WoE why complain now?
WoE promotes the usage of botted items, and i seen mvpers also using bot program.
The GM already knows this~
Buts its part of iRO.

^ its this kind of attitude that we have the botting issues we do

I also agree with Facekiller, inasmuch as botting should not be "accepted" as part of RO. If the community apparently doesn't care, combined with the right people not wanting to do the real legwork to control them, see the vicious cycle there? Botting has gained a degree of acceptance it should not have.

Even if you think it will do nothing, send tickets, send screen shots. It will at least show we DO care and do NOT accept them as "part of RO".

Do people accept steroids and other types of doping as "part of" competitive athletics? NO.

And just because certain of you HAVE "accepted" them does not mean we all have, and that we ALL have to.

Edited by Trixdee, 29 May 2013 - 01:59 AM.

I agree bots are off setting to this game... I personally like the game but bots make it... *have nothing to say*

bots do make it harder to actually farm your own items, or grind...>.>

It is kind of amazing that after 10 years or so bots are still an issue. What ever happened to the simple solutions like making people type a random number on the screen within a certain amount of time?

I think all Gravity needs to do is start trying to fix the problem and from there they can refine it and make it better. I'm not so sure on something as generic as a random number but your thinking is in the right place.

Botting does makes it harder to farm own items, and it shouldn't be tolerated.
I reported two of our well known woe guilds botting and has it recorded aswell, but the GM's think its fine seeing that the guilds are still active and WoEing.
Same goes for the mvp types. and just normal farmers/players.
Bots even gots better gears then me..
**Chaos**

Edited by leiand, 28 May 2013 - 05:32 PM.

Farming bots and bots that kill steal are the worst, they come in flocks and swarm like locust. They destroy the fields and make the real farmers ie the real players that levels and hunts for supplies, to get a very hard time trying to gather their goods and to get good EXP.

The bots also inject the server with large amount of zeny causing great inflation, all this made the price of goods to go way up the roof. Bots make it hard for newbies to even get a head start here, they find it difficult to get themselves any zeny as the bots are running around killing in the lowbie maps, and in addition, they have to compete with the botters that keep on undercutting them.

If GMs were not to no anything to fix this soon, we will not get anymore new players coming into the game and we lose some old players at the same time as well.

Please GMs, try to patrol the fields now and then and ban some along the way. The community really wanted to see that not only they care for the game but also the enforcement by the management to provide the real players a chance to enjoy the game like it is suppose to be.

Edited by TsubasaWingz, 28 May 2013 - 09:05 PM.

The bot problem is growing more and more everyday. When you go to turtle island to level, you can see lots of bots there partying with each other. It is not possible to do anything. Bots are also killing DR/GR/angeling in poring island ! Bots are farming cards and elu in GH ! They are everywhere. I reported one sinx that was farming elu's in clock tower because he was ks ing on us all the time. I see him everyday in the towns etc. I wrote 6 mails to GM team about what happened to that sinx. They always told me they cannot give me information but they will solve the problem. Yet he is still there... Lots of bot like this that I reported and yet they are still there. Whenever I stay in geffen I see many bots coming and going from glast heim and leaving their eluniums and cards to storage. How do I know they are bots? When I am farming for some hours in a day in GH they are always there. And believe me there are like 4 combo monks that are 99 and 4-5 crusader. It makes real players feel so bad to see you can do anything but in the end bots will get better stuff then you because they dont have a time limit!

GM's we need a solution, not a reason...

It is kind of amazing that after 10 years or so bots are still an issue.

Since the solution has never been resolved maybe a totally different approach should be made: just have an iRO official legal bot program from the kafra shop.

Since the solution has never been resolved maybe a totally different approach should be made: just have an iRO official legal bot program from the kafra shop.

Err... That only gives those cheaters more methods of botting. But first of all, why should people use an official iRO bot when they could just get the old and free one?

IMHO, the issue with botting is not about its legality or efficiency. We all know that botting is illegal, no debate there. We all know that it is surely efficient despite being illegitimate, no argument here. But just like the TS said, bot infestation really gives a sense of loss to see how impersonal the game has become. I mean, players should be playing the game and not their programs for crying out loud.

Edited by Lyrage, 28 May 2013 - 09:47 PM.

Well at least spam bots are easily taken care of, but for some reference, (i am on chaos) there are a ton of well botted fields, im sure the gms know this? wouldnt it be easier to fix that knowing where most of them are?

i got a friend to join, and he stayed because i setup nospam for him on spam bots, but i couldn't do anything about bots ksing us in the field T.T

i got a friend to join, and he stayed because i setup nospam for him on spam bots, but i couldn't do anything about bots ksing us in the field T.T

It's these sorts of situations that i'm referring to the most. Gravity, how are we suppose to invite new players to enjoy this game with us when we're having a hard time enjoying it ourselves? Please fix this before it becomes not just our problem, but yours as well.

Edited by Trixdee, 29 May 2013 - 01:59 AM.

I applaud your ability to completely miss the point, friend.

I was tempted to say "the apostrophe" instead of "the point", but come on. It's not like you'd get it.

Haha yeah, yeah. I'm sure I totally wouldn't get it.

Edited by Trixdee, 29 May 2013 - 03:04 AM.

While i may reside on renewal the issue is still relevant.

They totally embrace the botters now. I have tried getting one bot banned on multiple attempts, and that said bot is still cranking away on the same field after a month of being there along with a ton of screen shots of said bot. Long story short i gave up after 3 long time interval tickets providing them with as much info as i could each time. The only info i did not add was direction on how to get there and maybe next time i will because it seems like none of the moderators have ever set pixil in the game environment

Like i have said in other places, if anything was being done about the bot problem the bots would not feel safe to wear nearing a billion zenny in gears while botting. Another thing of concern is that there are obvious maps such as magmarings that are known constant bot spots that should just automatically be cleaned up without having to send in a ticket. I would have to waste at lest a hour taking all those screenshots and writing their class/name down, while a GM could go in there for a few minutes and (hopefully) see how many of them respond like bots and have a follower auto buffing.