Request: Anti-cheat system for rampant botting.

[Raiya]

Requesting an anti cheat on the client end is a waste of time, its a waste of time in any game that impliments it because the first thing actual botters do is hack it and bypass and no matter what the developer does theres more hackers than them that will subvert any defences on the client end in days at most and sometimes in as little as a few hours. It also usually causes performance issues on the client end more often than not which is why I'll always be against any anti cheat on the client side.

The only thing that ever works is server side checks because thats the only part of the infrastructure that the hackers and cheaters cant easily see or counter against. It always silly whenever someone asks a developer to impliment something like this with no idea of the history and ineffectiveness this ultimately has.

[KageTokage]

I guess the ideal start would be to step up the overall enforcement to an extent that people actually have some fear of getting banned.

Even the RMTers could be deterred if they were getting banned often enough that the costs of making/level skipping new characters started to outweigh their profits.

[Nayout]

[Sotaris]

So you're a bot user? I just assume as I suspect that's a bot application discord?

[Nayout]

So you're a bot user? I just assume as I suspect that's a bot application discord?

How innocent you are

[KageTokage]

I find it kind of pathetic that rotation bots even exist, but I guess some people are just that desperate to perform well.

Thankfully, I don't think we're quite at the phase where entire relevant encounters are being automated, but it's probably just a matter of time...

[Enla]

Another way is to go after the script writers directly, though that'd take time and resources SE probably isn't willing to invest. That said the botters are so blatant these days they probably wouldn't be hard to track down with CAD's or formal paperwork. It probably wouldn't stop all of them but tackling the people providing the scripting and shutting down the easiest ways to access it would go a long way. We're at the point where something has to give.

[Sotaris]

How innocent you are

Okey? Not sure what you mean by that. Care to fill me in.

[Sotaris]

Another way is to go after the script writers directly, though that'd take time and resources SE probably isn't willing to invest. That said the botters are so blatant these days they probably wouldn't be hard to track down with CAD's or formal paperwork. It probably wouldn't stop all of them but tackling the people providing the scripting and shutting down the easiest ways to access it would go a long way. We're at the point where something has to give.

To play devil's advocate, do someone making a script breaking any rules/laws? Wouldn't the user be the one who breaking any Tos?

[Enla]

To play devil's advocate, do someone making a script breaking any rules/laws? Wouldn't the user be the one who breaking any Tos?

Depends on the game in question and how their ToS is worded. WoW for example was able to take some of their most notorious bot script writers to court a couple years back and won an $8.5mil judgment against them. SE could pretty easily sue them for breach of ToS (linked below) and then use the WoW case as precedent to pursue damages. Especially since many of the script makers charge money for their programs. The most prevalent gathering one, for example, requires an upfront fee for the services and then a monthly renewal to keep it running.

2.1 Cheating and Botting. You may not create or use any unauthorized cheats, bots, automation software, hacks, mods or any other unauthorized software or hardware designed to modify the Game and gameplay. In addition, you may not take advantage of game system bugs and exploits during gameplay.

Course they'd probably be able to get away with just sending out CAD's instead as suing people is often a long drawn out process.