SE, how hard is it to eliminate the bot spam?

[Destous]

Why doesn't this game have some basic limitations on sending /tells to complete strangers in game? A fresh character shouldn't be able to hop into the game, open up a player search, and then go down a list of currently online players to send them a /tell about a great new gil selling offer.

Players shouldn't be able to initiate a /tell to players outside of their friend list until they hit level 15.
Players shouldn't be able to add players who aren't in the same area as them to their friend list until they hit level 15.

While I understand that eliminating bots is impossible, it doesn't mean that taking zero precautions against bot spam is acceptable.

[Teirdalin]

They took precautions against bot spam; unfortunately said precautions only really effect the players and not the bots for the most part.

If they added personal filters on tells for players so the bots wouldn't know what words to use or not to use, I imagine people would get a ton less spam. Or even if they added a general tell filter and blocked out all the website names that spammers post they'd get rid of most of them eventually.

[NessaWyvern]

I figured there were already some kind of filters, based on the monstrosities of how they spell things/using symbols and that keyboard mash at the end of the message.

[Ashkendor]

While I understand that eliminating bots is impossible, it doesn't mean that taking zero precautions against bot spam is acceptable.

So restricting trial accounts from sending tells and friend requests doesn't count as a precaution against bot spam? That was fairly recent, too. The fact of the matter is, there's no one thing you can do to just magically stop bot spam. The devs do something to work against them, they find a way to work around it. It ends up being a war of attrition with the players unfortunately caught in the middle. Any measure they take, they have to take into account how it will affect legitimate players as well.

[Anienai]

Quicksand on Balmung would get real quiet if this happened.

[DisFlavored]

The lvl 15 restriction wouldn't do much anyway considering the bots actually level. And with the msq buff, it honestly doesn't take long to hit 15.

[Raikki]

I don't know about other servers, but these commands on Balmung are pretty discouraging:

/sea pgl 1-17 newadventurer
/sea thm arc 1-49 newadventurer
/sea blm arc brd 50 uldah

I'm confident they could do a much better job combating this if they were so inclined.

[Xeonerable_Mizu]

give the ability to only send tells to friends and give the ability to turn off friend requests problem solved

[Ashkendor]

give the ability to only send tells to friends and give the ability to turn off friend requests problem solved

Dunno, I think changing tells to "friends list only" is way too restrictive. Think of the things that tell is often used for (aside from RMT spam, which is a given seeing as how we're in a thread about RMT spam).

• asking to join a farm party when you've seen enrage but haven't managed to clear yet
• asking if you can join a PF on a different class than what's open
• just trying to be friendly/social by telling someone "Hey, cool glamour," or some such.
• recruitment tells (can't say I'd be sad to see this go, but some people use it)
• asking questions of a more experienced player that a friend refers you to
• asking a "friend of a friend" to craft something for you

To me, having to go hunt down the party leader to ask them if I can join is a huge inconvenience. Not to mention, Say chat can be very easy to miss. Honestly, the ability to filter tells would work a little better but would still leave people able to communicate.

[MaeIsMean]

Many of those on the list are for more experienced players who are likely paying a sub. Heck, when you're on a trial, you can't even get mail.

That being said, to allow us to put on /busy and allow people on our friends list, FC list, and LS's to send tells would be a HUGE step towards cleaning up spam. Yes, you might miss the occasional random compliment on your glamour, but it also puts it in the players choice whether or not to restrict incoming tells.