Bot reporting?

[Jillian]

Just because they are afk at the nodes does not mean they are bots. They probably just want to farm darksteel ore and are waiting for the node to pop. You can set a timer in the game or use a site like XIV clock to let you know when the node spawns. Please don't report players who are obviously not botting.

[SamSmoot]

Just because they are afk at the nodes does not mean they are bots. They probably just want to farm darksteel ore and are waiting for the node to pop. You can set a timer in the game or use a site like XIV clock to let you know when the node spawns. Please don't report players who are obviously not botting.

Ok, thanks, I just wanted to make sure..

[Vnolan]

If so, is there a way to report them?

When in the game: Main Menu -> Support Desk -> Contact Us -> Report Cheating

Can also use Report a case to the Special Task Force

Please don't report players who are obviously not botting.

Why not? You can't get in trouble for it, it wouldn't be a waste of the STF's time since they probably don't read the majority of reports to begin with and they don't even do anything about blatant botting.

[Jillian]

When in the game: Main Menu -> Support Desk -> Contact Us -> Report Cheating

Can also use Report a case to the Special Task Force


Why not? You can't get in trouble for it, it wouldn't be a waste of the STF's time since they probably don't read the majority of reports to begin with and they don't even do anything about blatant botting.

Why would you file a false report on players who are doing nothing wrong? And how do you know the STF doesn't read the reports? If they didn't investigate, they wouldn't be doing what SE hired them to do. I believe the STF is rather small so it takes them time to investigate the reports. I know a few (obvious) bots that were banned after reports were filed. As for rmt bots, they are like weeds; every time SE bans a bunch of them, more spring up to take their place.

[Krojack]

I too sometimes afk at timed nodes.

Most of the bots run with the DND flag up. Also if you look at a characters search info and they only have mining, Botanist and either a tank or healer at max level, that's another big indicator it's a bot account.

[Vnolan]

Why would you file a false report on players who are doing nothing wrong?

It's not a false report if the reporter doesn't know for a fact that no cheating is going on. The reporter needs only suspect cheating might be going on to file a report. I've seen bots afk at gathering nodes, so it's not like bots don't do it. Players (including the ones suspected of cheating) can't get in trouble if they aren't doing anything wrong.

[Jillian]

It's not a false report if the reporter doesn't know for a fact that no cheating is going on. The reporter needs only suspect cheating might be going on to file a report. I've seen bots afk at gathering nodes, so it's not like bots don't do it. Players (including the ones suspected of cheating) can't get in trouble if they aren't doing anything wrong.

I know a person just needs to suspect a player of cheating in order to report. However, just being afk at a node is not a good reason to suspect somebody is botting. When I report somebody for botting, I look for obvious signs of it, such as the bot dismounting at the exact same time every game day to gather at a timed node.

Making general reports about suspected bots without providing specific details on botting activity that the reporter has observed does not help the STF out. The STF needs concrete evidence to take action against gathering bots and reporting a person for being afk at a node does not provide that. It just wastes the STFs time.

[SamSmoot]

[QUOTE=Jillian;5005701]I know a person just needs to suspect a player of cheating in order to report. However, just being afk at a node is not a good reason to suspect somebody is botting./QUOTE]

That's why I asked I was suspicious because I'd never just AFK like that. (WoW habit, where you get logged off after X minutes AFK.)
If I'm waiting for a timed node, I'll farm other stuff in the area until the node pops, then grab it.