Require a verification code within X mins after purchasing a property

[Penthea]

The simpler it is, the easier it is to bypass. My example was merely that, an example, and if someone can stand there for 16 hours waiting for a plot, they can take an extra 2 minutes to go to a different zone, look at something, then come back. I wouldn't really call that 'lengthy'.

This highly depends on where the npc is located. If they happen to not be at an aetheryte it could take a while to get to the location. You can purchase housing at lvl 50 before you reach HW. This means the npcs would have to be in no fly zones in ARR content.

Sure you could decide that the npc is always near an aetheryte but the coordinates aren't so precise that only one npc could possibly be standing in that location. Npcs are often clustered together. You can move a step between two npcs and the coordinates on your map won't change. I suppose SE could then decide to choose a named npc with no one else near them.

But none of this really matters because bots could very easily be coded to do this given they can do entire questlines and gathering across multiple zones on their own. Bots are already equipped with the ability to search for and get to coordinates.

[Doozer]

This highly depends on where the npc is located. If they happen to not be at an aetheryte it could take a while to get to the location. You can purchase housing at lvl 50 before you reach HW. This means the npcs would have to be in no fly zones in ARR content.

Sure you could decide that the npc is always near an aetheryte but the coordinates aren't so precise that only one npc could possibly be standing in that location. Npcs are often clustered together. You can move a step between two npcs and the coordinates on your map won't change. I suppose SE could then decide to choose a named npc with no one else near them.

But none of this really matters because bots could very easily be coded to do this given they can do entire questlines and gathering across multiple zones on their own. Bots are already equipped with the ability to search for and get to coordinates.

Again, I said my example is merely that, an example. Something I made up on the fly to give a general idea of what I was trying to say. You can nitpick it all you want, but it's not set in stone, and doing so doesn't make my idea a bad one. I also said in my original post that it would have to be in ARR zones because it has to be accessible to everyone; not sure why you didn't read that part.

The point was to have the player answer a question that isn't just simply "1+1=?" because bots can obviously do that. I'm not sure why you're against the concept of making it harder for bots to buy houses. Complex questions that have to be answered in order to acquire or win something is not new. I had to answer a super convoluted one for a contest once (that involved like multiplying then dividing numbers from obscure parts of three different video games), it's not that far-fetched. It's also probably not that difficult to implement some kind of quiz or question that only a human brain can parse. Bots are set to do certain things, search for certain words, etc. It's not that hard to come up with something they can't do.

[Penthea]

AI'm not sure why you're against the concept of making it harder for bots to buy houses.

You misunderstand. I don't like the idea because it's not fixing the root of the issue which is the very limited number of houses. I would prefer a system that cannot be abused by bots and house hoarders, which would be proper instanced housing. If we had that instead there would be no need for demolition, placard timers, using bots to compete in the housing market, or threads like this one.

I'm not a fan of band-aid fixes but at this point it's clear we will get little more than that from SE.

[Doozer]

You misunderstand. I don't like the idea because it's not fixing the root of the issue which is the very limited number of houses. I would prefer a system that cannot be abused by bots and house hoarders, which would be proper instanced housing. If we had that instead there would be no need for demolition, placard timers, using bots to compete in the housing market, or threads like this one.

I'm not a fan of band-aid fixes but at this point it's clear we will get little more from that from SE.

What was there to misunderstand? You literally never said anything about limited house numbers. You suggested one-time passwords as a way to prevent bots from buying houses, you didn't say anything about instanced housing.

Clearly you're arguing something different in your head, so I'll just let you continue doing that by yourself.

[Jojoya]

The point was to have the player answer a question that isn't just simply "1+1=?" because bots can obviously do that.

The problem is bots can be programmed to respond to anything that's in the game's programming, and they're generally able to do it faster than players can once the "test" parameters are known.

Quiz a player on what NPC is at a specific set of coordinates? Bot gets programmed with a list of all NPCs and their coordinates, and find the right NPC name faster than a real player could google ir or find it in-game. You might stop the players using a simple repeating script they've set up on a programmable keyboard/mouse but you're not going to stop the actual bots.

What you're suggesting still doesn't solve the real problem - lack of houses. It just becomes a waste of developer time trying to make things more difficult for real players who are still struggling to get a house.

Solve the supply problem and there would be no need for captchas or purchase timers. That would be a much better use of developer time than continuing to complicate a system that shouldn't be complicated in the first place.

[Penthea]

What was there to misunderstand? You literally never said anything about limited house numbers. You suggested one-time passwords as a way to prevent bots from buying houses, you didn't say anything about instanced housing.

Clearly you're arguing something different in your head, so I'll just let you continue doing that by yourself.

I didn't go into detail but I did make it clear that I recognise that suggestions like OP made are necessary because SE have no intention of changing the housing system. I thought that comment made it pretty obvious that I'm unhappy with how the system works even if I didn't say exactly why.

I'd rather SE just make a better system instead of have players jump through even more hoops to get a house.

I admit I'm not exactly fond of the idea to have it or captchas in order to purchase something but it's clear SE have no intention of changing the housing system enough so that things like demolition and the placard timer would no longer be needed. So with this in mind players think about ways to make it more difficult for bots to game the system, and the one-time password and/or captchas are things that could very greatly inhibit them.

[Jibs]

An in game pop up (In game...not cell phone app or anything) requiring you to enter a code that pops up on the screen after you win the the plot would be a great idea. Randomized code. 3 to 5 mins to respond. If you dont you lose the plot and get your cash back.

[Shibi]

CAPTCHA can be difficult to read for people with partial vision. It would be quite annoying to spend 12 hours clicking actively, win, then get a captcha wrong three times and lose it. It's better they address the root cause, than throwing more and more complexity at the problem.

[Awha]

They could design a script to do the captcha.

[NanaWiloh]

Now this is one idea I can get behind. Got my support on this one