Attention devs: Game Surveillance Unit re: open world Bots.

[DizzyDragonfly]

I found this petition earlier today, it's sad that people have to go to such lengths to try and make a difference to this game, but at least they are trying

https://www.change.org/p/square-enix...e-farming-bots

[zer0patches]

What's sad is this thread. You all should really just give up. Your obviously part of a very, very small minority, literally like 0.00001% of population cares not to mention your wasting valuable play time whining about something that cannot be fixed. The majority of people don't care and some even enjoy the abundance of cheaper craft material / crystals / materia that no one really wants to farm. If anything you should bitch about how difficult it is to get materia etc which is what makes farming it profitable for gold sellers.

There are better ways of dealing with the issues. Banning a bot that's gonna have a replacement right back farming in 5 minutes is not going to do anything.

The best tool SE has is the ability to control the economy which means following the money. Maybe you should have a little bit of faith that SE are dealing with it in the manner they see is a best fit for the player environment and get over it.

[HEC-]

Bots are there, but they dont affect my game experience in any share or form, I dont see the point of being butthurt about it.

It's saddly people like you not realizing that they DO indeed affect your game experiance and in a big way that leads tosuch massive botting like this. They're killing in game economy, leaving players becaue of bots means less subs fees resulting in less money for the game developers resulting in premature game dead.

What's sad is this thread. You all should really just give up. Your obviously part of a very, very small minority, literally like 0.00001% of population cares not to mention your wasting valuable play time whining about something that cannot be fixed. The majority of people don't care and some even enjoy the abundance of cheaper craft material / crystals / materia that no one really wants to farm. If anything you should bitch about how difficult it is to get materia etc which is what makes farming it profitable for gold sellers.

What's actually sad is people like you. According to you if we'd make a parallel to RL we should be happy to be able to purchase cheap stolen goods and complain to government about high prices or taxes ... If you care or not - it does affect you well (see above). By choosing to ingore the fact and doing nothing you're damaing yourself as well as all others.

[DizzyDragonfly]

What's sad is this thread. You all should really just give up.

So because some of us believe in trying to improve our gaming experience you berate us? People like you are the problem with this game, why even look at this thread if you are going to try and bully people because of what they believe. Think constructive, not destructive.

[zer0patches]

There are no droves of people leaving the game because of botting and I don't see any massive botting going on where servers are overrun. I have yet to actually see any on Siren but I'm sure there's a few somewhere.

Botting does not kill the economy. It stimulates the economy by providing cheap materials that no one wants to farm.

Buying gold can hurt the economy because it creates artificial inflation and prices go up because people have / are willing to spend more for the same quality items.

Your point is moot. For every 1 player that quits because of botting 10,000 new players will take their place. Aion is probably the most botted game on the planet and still releasing regular content after close to 7 years and has tons of players. There is more correlation to the quality of the game than dealing with bots which are in every single game out there and not going anywhere.

[zer0patches]

So because some of us believe in trying to improve our gaming experience you berate us? People like you are the problem with this game, why even look at this thread if you are going to try and bully people because of what they believe. Think constructive, not destructive.

You believe that's air your breathing?

I am not berating you or bullying you, I have a differing opinion. You believe your trying to improve your gaming experience, I believe what you propose would do more harm than good and damage my gaming experience. You're allowed to get up on your pedestal and preach to SE and the rest of us but no one else is allowed to express their views on the matter?

Say it with me, Forum.

Banning any bots will have absolutely zero effect. As soon as you ban one, two will take their place to make up for the lost time. (Hail Hydra)

You really should learn to look past the quips and actually address the talking points.

[zer0patches]

What's actually sad is people like you. ...

Take a deep breath. Count to 5. It's a game.

I don't see the parallel. The goods aren't being stolen, they are being farmed the way the game was intended. There is an actual person running the automation software. They aren't hacking the servers and creating wealth out of thin air,their operating within the confines of the game and using software to expedite the process by using multiple accounts or a continual basis when some of us must sleep or work real jobs.

Is it fair? No,but life isn't fair.Just because it is against the rules doesn't mean it's illegal or that you should get your head chopped off for picking your neighbors flowers.

I disagree that botting damages the economy.What hurts the economy is people buying gold and paying crazy prices for stuff.You convince people to stop buying gold and the prices will plummet,until the gold farmers move on to profitable servers.

[MStowastiqVahlshdeh]

SE does ban bots, they post ban count reports on the lodestone 3 times a month.

They posted one up today in fact.

Whether or not people think banning bots will have zero effect is obviously not effecting the fact that they still actively ban botters and feel it is important enough to post regular reports about it. If the player base wants them to increase the bot banning activity, the forums, as the GM's suggest, are the place to say so while following forum post rules of course.

[Applesnap]

I disagree that botting damages the economy.What hurts the economy is people buying gold and paying crazy prices for stuff.

What you don't seem to realise is that they are directly damaging the economy. If they have such a large supply of materia (and they do, even by your own admission) they can control the price of it. More often than not, when RMT control the price on something, they gradually increase it to unsustainable amounts. Which forces lazy / stupid people buy gil to afford it. Making sense now?

Using third party tools to spiritbind afk is not "within the confines of the game". It's an exploit, it's cheating and it should be an instantly bannable offence. Full stop.

[zer0patches]

What you don't seem to realise ...

Supply does not drive demand. Just because Seller Y has a supply does not mean they can force you to spend X on it, you can always farm the item yourself. Buyers drive the market, not sellers. By your statement the problem is the "lazy / stupid people" which makes up a far greater percentage of your comrades than you would realize or else there would not be a market for it.

Being a programmer and server admin my definition of an exploit definitely does not match yours. Automating 'tasks' may be cheating but the punishment should fit the crime. You wouldn't sentence someone to death for for a misdemeanor in real life?

I would not consider it an exploit unless someone was intentionally glitching the game, modifying packets etc. which should be a bannable offense and easily detectable