Should botting be somehow legalized?

[Vlady]

I am not sure if SE plans to go the route of other popular mmo's in how they handle cheating but it seems that non teleport hack bots are not being targeted strongly. I trully feel that botting may need to be approached differently then how current mmo's are dealing with it. It is is a wound to those who play the game legitimate working on atmas/farming materials and leveling alts and ruins the entire mmo online side of the gaming industry with all these crap gil sellers/botters.

[Vlady]

There are people who are now boldly stating that they have botted near 24/7 since september/october and despite all the reports people put in about these people they are still not punished in any way. Maybe it is time that botting becomes a true legitimate form of gaming with the company allowing certain artificial at commands to be given over when people are offline.

You may say but then why bother playing the game or that is just a stupid idea. Its already being done anyhow and no one is really being punished anymore. Just build the game around a bit of automation and take the power out of these chinese companies/botters hands. I know that Knights of the old republic tried it with some automation robots collecting materials for you but that was more of an after thought and half assed.

[Ghastly]

No never, they should continue to fight these bots. It's like asking of the police should stop protecting us from bad people.

[Zantetsuken]

Imagine how much better endgame fights will be with a party of bots running them.

Perfect wins every time~

[Vlady]

No never, they should continue to fight these bots. It's like asking of the police should stop protecting us from bad people.

The game is almost a year old on a reboot and minus the over the top hardcore cheaters it is relatively easy to get away with cheating on this game. The people who bot themselves are commenting on running 10+ accounts as bots 24/7 since september and have yet to be banned. In order to make a dent in botters they have to be hit in their pocket books. Make having to buy a new account and prep it cost them time and money but at this rate they already make 1000x profit of initial investment with the lax enforcement.

If they plan to go that route then I do not see why you cannot start to phase in some computer assisted legal help to more mundane parts of a game. And the fact you use a real life reference that does not even fit into the game is sort of comparing apples to oranges.

[Vlady]

I am not sure how you are taking my opinions and making it out to be that extreme of a case. Of course raiding should not be automated. What is the point of playing a game if its all done for you. But what is the point of playing the game when player A who bots 24/7 gets to outbid you on his mansion, on the golden saucer games if it has a monetary component built in. On equipping their toons first in the high quality gear at the expense of players who do things the way it was meant to be done. If hundreds of reports still does not manage to get these cheaters banned then let the playerbase have some advantages semi on par with them..

[Kyoskai]

OP is a bot.
Botting makes you a nasty scrub, so no, it shouldn't be allowed.
You have a screwed up way of looking at things, OP.

Serious answer: No.

[Surian]

Why? How would this be any kind of improvement over our current situation.

Now people bot (and actively use them to ruin the economy), they get banned once in a while, some gil gets removed and they have to start over.

If they "legalize" or "condone" it's use, our economy (as much crap as it already is) will get even worse. And what would the benefit be? You can be lazy and dont have to play the game? Please no.

We dont want this. We dont need this. There isnt any kind of reason how this would benefit you or anyone else. And i have the feeling you're just looking to troll.

[Schaeffa]

I'm so confused by this thread. OP, you're claiming that since people are doing it anyway, why not just make botting legal? Okay, let's add that same thought to the rest of our lives.
Some people rob stores. Since some people are doing it anyway, let's make that legal.
Some people rape. Since some people are doing it anyway, let's make that legal.
Some people commit murder. Since some people are doing it anyway, let's make that legal.

The reason we still enforce these rules is to make it so the vast majority of people can enjoy their lives (or this game). I would venture to say that botters are heavily outnumbered by legit players, and those legit players deserve to enjoy the game to it's fullest and not have it run amuck with people who are cheating.

TL;DR: Your logic is bad and you should feel bad.

[Nero]

Snip

Maybe you should check the Lodestone more often, if you really believe SE is not taking action against bot's/rmt's. Just out of the last 4 weeks:

Time Period: Jun. 26, 2014 to Jul. 2, 2014
- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT advertising: 494
- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT/illicit activity: 544
- Action Details: Permanent ban from FINAL FANTASY XIV

Time Period: Jun. 19, 2014 to Jun. 25, 2014
- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT advertising: 495
- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT/illicit activity: 723
- Action Details: Permanent ban from FINAL FANTASY XIV

Time Period: Jun. 12, 2014 to Jun. 18, 2014
- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT advertising: 531
- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT/illicit activity: 346
- Action Details: Permanent ban from FINAL FANTASY XIV

Time Period: Jun. 5, 2014 to Jun. 11, 2014
- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT advertising: 745
- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT/illicit activity: 683
- Action Details: Permanent ban from FINAL FANTASY XIV

Time Period: May 29, 2014 to Jun. 5, 2014
- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT advertising: 1,234
- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT/illicit activity: 583
- Action Details: Permanent ban from FINAL FANTASY XIV

So that makes total:

- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT advertising: 2,879
- Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT/illicit activity: 3,499
- Action Details: Permanent ban from FINAL FANTASY XIV

That is within "just" 4 weeks and i am pretty sure those numbers will grow even more. And no, the numbers are not growing because more people are into rmt/botting, the numbers grow because SE finds more efficient ways to handle it.