Housing bots

[Saelu]

Hello, this is my first time posting a thread on the FFxiv forums, I am concerned that house botting has become widespread on my server (Brynhildr).
I have recently decided, despite the horror stories I hear from my friends, that I would like to own a house in this game. I've been camping empty plots for a little while now, doing the standard repeatedly-try-to-purchase spam, and frequently logging my character off in front of for sale plots. Often when I return to the plot in the morning it has sold over night, but there are still people trying to buy it. I am aware that calling out is against the rules of this forum, so I will not share any names. I see the same people do this often, parked in front of plots, repeatedly targeting the placard, on and off, in a predictable rhythmic pattern, and never speaking. They stay long after the plots have sold, doing the same thing.
I am certain that these people are bots, and report them for cheating in-game, filling out all the necessary info. Despite this I still see the same people doing this, recently I saw that one of them had successfully purchased a house, but was still clicking on it's own placard over and over. This was very frustrating to see.
It is so brazen, I do not know how these reports are investigated but I assume a GM could observe the same things I am seeing, surely that is enough as no real person would continue to click on a sold placard for hours for no reason.
Does Square Enix ban housing bots? I could try to make video or screenshot these practices I'm observing, but would they accept that as evidence? The shear popularity of housing bots on my server makes me sad because it suggests to me that it is not taken seriously, I've seen bots with fully maxed out jobs, these players have a lot to lose, but they are so brazen about their cheating.

[Jojoya]

Does Square Enix ban housing bots? I could try to make video or screenshot these practices I'm observing, but would they accept that as evidence? The shear popularity of housing bots on my server makes me sad because it suggests to me that it is not taken seriously, I've seen bots with fully maxed out jobs, these players have a lot to lose, but they are so brazen about their cheating.

We don't really know. If they are, it doesn't seem to be putting a dent into the number of players using bots when trying to purchase a house.

SE seems to have relaxed their old rules a bit about using screenshots/videos as evidence though doing so is still at their discretion. It can't hurt to submit what you have when filing the report with the Special Task Force on the website submission form. There's still no guarantee they will choose to take action based on what you submit.

[Nepentha]

Those are old school bots you're seeing, then. Usually used by people who are more desperate to avoid the clickfest than habitual resellers and plot snipers. Current bot software has different tells and the user of it does not stick around after a sale, usually teleporting out automatically to a random location or simply logging out once the bot realizes the plot has sold. The author off the bot has gone to great lengths to make it appear as natural as possible to avoid detection. But if you know what to look for, you can tell who's actually at their keys and who's set up a bot to run for them while they sleep or something.

Jojoya is right though, you should report them to the STF. I can say from experience their response to reports of this nature has been non-existent, but maybe they'll prove me wrong this time.

[Saelu]

@Nepentha
Goodness, from what I gather from your response the problem is probably worse than I'm imagining. I was unaware of 'current bot software'. Could you tell me what those 'tells' are that I should look for? I've been afraid to report anyone I see clicking the actual for sale placard because I do not want to file a false report and be scrutinized/ get a house hunter like myself punished.

Both you and Jojoya paint a very grim picture regarding seeing these people actually face consequences, makes you wonder if I'm a fool for not joining in. That's all hypothetical of course, I'd never do anything to jeopardize my account, I've worked so hard.

[Nepentha]

@Nepentha
Goodness, from what I gather from your response the problem is probably worse than I'm imagining. I was unaware of 'current bot software'. Could you tell me what those 'tells' are that I should look for? I've been afraid to report anyone I see clicking the actual for sale placard because I do not want to file a false report and be scrutinized/ get a house hunter like myself punished.

Both you and Jojoya paint a very grim picture regarding seeing these people actually face consequences, makes you wonder if I'm a fool for not joining in. That's all hypothetical of course, I'd never do anything to jeopardize my account, I've worked so hard.

tbh at this point it won't be a thing much longer. If SE goes with mostly lotto only wards, the need for bot software will be non-existent. And plot sniping will be dead in the water with 6.0's release. I do wish you luck finding a place of your own. If you have any questions or just want to talk feel free to send me a tell in game, since we're both Brynhildr-ites.

[Jojoya]

tbh at this point it won't be a thing much longer. If SE goes with mostly lotto only wards, the need for bot software will be non-existent. And plot sniping will be dead in the water with 6.0's release. I do wish you luck finding a place of your own. If you have any questions or just want to talk feel free to send me a tell in game, since we're both Brynhildr-ites.

Use of the bot software would continue if SE retains any FCFS wards. There would be no reason not to take advantage of the opportunity when being able to click the placard at the right moment is still the key to getting the plot.

[aajae04]

Looks like they don't punish them even when multiple witnesses have all claimed to have also put in a "Cheating" report. I literally just witnessed someone with a pretty well played character used a bot/mod to get a medium plot, she won and she still owns the house about a week later. I'm appalled by this because I've been saving for years for a medium house plot and when I finally saw one available a bot won it. Really hurt the soul a bit when I saw this person STILL CLICKING the placard after she won the plot. And checking back today, she still owns it and I know I sent a very detailed report of the cheating that occurred.

[Fenril7]

I reported this one bot, next day they were still there, same for days 2-7 and every time I send in a reported, I would tell them until the issue is fixed, I would be sending a report. Long story short, it took awhile…close to 10 days. So the only thing I can say is keep filling out those reports. Same issue with something else in the game that I won’t name…it also took awhile and multiple of 20+ reports before it was dealt with. That’s just my take on things like this, one or two reports IMO are ignored.

[Kyssa]

Careful, you'll get those that tell you it's because they're watching Netflix or something on a second monitor and they've got such great muscle memory from doing this so many times that they can sit there mindlessly clicking for 10 minutes after they've won and not realize it!

Yes, believe it or not, people have said that's why you can't just accuse someone of being a bot. Muscle memory.

[Shibi]

Yes, believe it or not, people have said that's why you can't just accuse someone of being a bot. Muscle memory.

You make it sound like 00-040 needs a lot of concentration.