Let us report retainers who sell items from bots

[dayspring83]

This post reminds me that a lot of people spend more time looking for (stalking) bots than actually playing the game.

[KaedrianLiang]

OP is worried about shard bots, im still oogling at the retainers selling 20-40 tier IV materias at an alarming undercut rate which indicates bot.

Any legitimate market player wouldnt play along with the undercut game to the point where the market is going below last week/month's average etc.

[Stormrider]

So i have seen a few numbers suggested. If I type nothing and farm shards like crazy with out using potions. I can get 1000 an hour. If shards climb to 100 gil per shard I will farm between pvp ques.

Now this doesn't take into account multiple people working together. But I feel you can say 1kshards/hour is a good guestimate.

[braneri1]

The martyr complex sure is strong in this thread.

[Freyar]

I fully expect groups of people rallying to take off "competition" on the boards. No thanks.

[Ceodore]

I fully expect groups of people rallying to take off "competition" on the boards. No thanks.

Well, the fact is, these reports have to be verified. Believe me, SE does not want the scandal of banning an account based on hearsay of "competition". The game would plummet, especially with the bad PR. However, you bring to point an underlying flaw with this system which will make it ultimately less productive. Bias and competition in the markets will lead to massive false report claims.

But then I believe you are saying would be good to give more ability to the player to report gather bots?

No no, what I am ultimately saying is that the system already in place for reporting gatherers is good. The system being purposed in this thread is flawed, less productive, and a larger waste of resources. And that the system for reporting players should be made more stream lined. For instance, the system for kicking players from a dungeon is quite simple and easy to use. The system for reporting players in the field should be just the same, simple and easy to use. That doesn't mean players should have the power to ban, but it should mean that the ability to file a report of botting should be made just as simple.

Example: Right Click Player -> Report Player -> Options include harassment, vulgar language, RMT selling, Bot Program, etc.

This doesn't mean the target player is banned. It just means that SE can receive a notification to investigate something that might be a problem.

[OMEGA_HACK]

Well, the fact is...

...the ability to file a report of botting should be made just as simple.

So you don't think its easy to report possible ToS breaking activities? I mean its as simple as:

1) Open menu
2) Click Support & Information
3) Click "Contact Us"
4) Choose best option suited to the problem
5) Write report and submit

If they make it just

1) Right click player or player name in chat box
2) Click "Report player" and done

Then they open the option to easy trolling, as well as bots to be able to mass report legit players to clog up the system. I'd love it if it were that easy but I don't think it is possible without serious complications.

[Ceodore]

So you don't think its easy to report possible ToS breaking activities? I mean its as simple as:

1) Open menu
2) Click Support & Information
3) Click "Contact Us"
4) Choose best option suited to the problem
5) Write report and submit

If they make it just

1) Right click player or player name in chat box
2) Click "Report player" and done

Then they open the option to easy trolling, as well as bots to be able to mass report legit players to clog up the system. I'd love it if it were that easy but I don't think it is possible without serious complications.

Well anything can be trolled and clogged. That's just the flaw of any system, including the one currently available. That's the issue with any system such as this. But seeing 50 reports come from the same person for the same exact thing on the same exact target as opposed to 50 reports coming from 50 different people that say one thing on 6 or 7 targets are two different things. For obvious reasons, those 50 reports coming from the same person are likely because that person is using a bot program to clog the system. They essentially hang themselves in this way. And those 50 reports from 50 different people on several different targets means SE has more evidence to begin an investigation, and they can essentially ignore those 50 reports from one person being filed about one person.

[OMEGA_HACK]

Ceodore I believe you and I might be on the same page about reporting retainers being a bad move for SE to implement. But then I believe you are saying would be good to give more ability to the player to report gather bots? I mean don't the players already have a means to that? You can call GM and report the suspicious activity. So if that is said then what else could the players have? The ability to temp ban a player if enough reports are put in? This was brought up in another thread about RMT tells and friend requests. The problem with something like that is that it becomes a harassment liability when a group of FC mates who don't like another player for whatever reason decide to mass report that player giving them a temp-ban. Now that player is locked in gaol and cannot play even though he may or may not be guilty.

I mean you don't come out and directly say that but ultimately that is where the conversation would go. And its a place I personally don't want to be in. Not because I'm doing something illegal (because I certainly am not) but because I don't trust the majority judgment of players on this game based on what I've read on this thread and others to boot.

[OMEGA_HACK]

Well I'm no programmer but I'd think it safe to say they don't have to set a bot to spam a bunch of reports back to back, they could set up intervals and with the complexity of programs today I'm sure they could make the times they report to appear to be random. Now you have 100 RMT character-bots doing this and you run into the same "appearance" as a bunch of legit players making reports. I don't think it would be hard for RMT who have proven to be quite resilient to find a work around and 'cloak' themselves amongst the players.

At least by forcing players to have to write a report it weeds out potential bots (because human writing is different that generic bot writing)