I have noticed that people put in a lot of effort into making those anti-bot/anti-zeny-buying ads that appear when your loading a screen. The problem I see with them is that even on a crappy connection, the loading screen pops up and is gone in a matter of at most 3 seconds, not nearly enough time to read all the texts! (I had to see the "Experimenting table" ad at least 4 times before I could read all the texts, and I have 3 comps usually running, on a severely out-dated Buffalo Airstation router with RoadRunner LITE internet!) Imagine how hard it is for people who aren't fluent in English to read all that. After reading a bit in the "IP banning proposal" thread, I came up with a better solution:
When everyone logs in, the first screen they see is an Epileptic Seizure warning that they have to agree to. That's all well and good, but I say just stuff that warning into the Terms of Service if you have to. Only a small percentage of gamers have this problem anyway. Replace this with a SHORT but clear message, about 3-5 lines MAX with it being repeated in a minimum of 3 of the most popular languages in the server. People will be able to take the time to read and understand it BEFORE they click the Ok button, and proceed into the game. When a zeny-seller/buyer or bot is caught in-game, the GMs proceed with a three-step process to eliminate them:
#1-Drop the +20 Ban Hammer O' Death
#2-When the zeny-buyers and botters create tickets or post on the forums, smack them with a Clue-by-Four.
#3-Watch the crying take place while enjoying some popcorn and a soda.
With this in place, our community artists can begin making their wonderful (and some times disturbingly ugly) screen loaders without having to include those messages.
Another idea: Fight fire with fire:
We have all kinds of NPCs in the game that teach people how to play, especially in Izlude and the Academy. Hell, we even have one just outside Izlude put in just to teach people how to SIT! (I found it amusing to over-hear a novice asking a second-class how to sit when they could have walked 5 tiles away from the Izlude portal to be able to hear the message. xD)
We also have zeny-seller novices popping up in Izlude where new players will hear their messages first, before any other warnings (with the exception of the unread Terms of Service.)
How about the GMs create a new NPC, or hell, even just create their own spammer warning that people can (and will) get banned for botting and buying zeny? And they can even be left on the newbie ship, so the warnings will be the first things that a novice will see?
They aren't the most tech-savvy ideas, but on iRO, simplicity is often the best course. What do y'all think?