Thanks Jojoya. I haven’t played the game as long as you, and your comments on the problem long-term are helpful.

Quote Originally Posted by Jojoya View Post
We do see SE banning some suspected bots so there are results.
I haven’t seen a bot get banned—are they a particular type of bot that gets banned? Have they banned bots in the last 6 months? I’ve reported market bots and DOL/Ephemeral bots many times.

Quote Originally Posted by Jojoya View Post
Most bots don't pay subs... SE's problem is coming up with enough evidence that bot software is being used. The software is getting more sophisticated so it makes detection harder in many cases if the user follows the bot company's instructions. They do get caught on occasion but it's not as often as players would like.
I’m not sure that SE isn’t making money with the problem in some way.

They have to be making money from subs because there are market bots that have operated for 6-12 months or more with impunity, and these are paying accounts. Considering their diligence in acting on other TOS violations (phishing and harassment), I also don’t think they’re understaffed. I honestly think they avoid addressing some types of bots because they view them as beneficial for their game. It’s sort of like how some players justify DOL/Ephemeral bots because they make crystals affordable, even though the simple solution would be to just make an NPC merchant to sell crystals.

I also am not sure that they don’t have enough evidence. By definition, an account playing continuously and actively (i.e. not AFK) for more than 36 hours is not a human. A human can’t do that. At the same time you have bot accounts playing continuously for months, 24/7. If you’re right about there not being enough information in the reports, they could at least give us guidance on filling in more complete reports.