Hide your bots, hide your wives

[rfxDarth]

Game Development Questions

I hear bots are a problem in this game, so why don't you ban them?
We get this question a lot, as well as the related question...
And, also, why don't you ban custom clients while you're at it?
... and the short answer to both those questions is that we can't. Bots and custom clients are both, in the philosophical fundamental of things, only means of generating server input, and as long as the server input they generate is technically legal, there is very little about it that stands out as being obvious and easy targets for anything resembling a "ban". Bots and custom clients are, in short, hard to impossible to meaningfully detect, and the means of detection can usually be circumvented.
... but all other games ban bots?
They may be trying to. Whether their efforts match the results is another matter entirely.
... so what's your take on them, then?
Our philosophy has been, and remains, that we – rather than spend our time fighting losing battles – should focus on building a better game with fewer incentives to bot. We try to take botting as a sign of a broken game mechanic, rather than as a sign of broken players.

And then the same people who wrote this proceed to manually hunt down and ban accounts that don't bot in the intended, developer-blessed way:



Has the stance changed since then?

Is botting still okay?

Is running multiple game instances okay?

Is multiboxing okay?

Is abusing underdeveloped game mechanics okay?

Is bug using okay?

Am I a broken player for making hunting actually fun?

[linkfanpc]

idk what you're talking about but that clip is really funny i always wondered why people dont do that although it probably gets stuck really easily in pvp

[rfxDarth]

idk what you're talking about but that clip is really funny i always wondered why people dont do that although it probably gets stuck really easily in pvp

Just got my 10 accts banned and then the next day another 7 for doing innocuous stuff like moving logs and beating bats and shit with my multiboxing-focused client. Pretty sure it was manual because they've banned accts I didn't use and missed a couple that were.

And indeed, it's not very useful in PVP. At best only marginally better than naked bodyblock. Even for hunting, for every char you need separate study desk, separate set of equipment, feed each one, then run and heal each one individually, only to get spoils capped by the lowest SURV of the bunch. Oh, and no combat moves whatsoever because chance of getting one is lower the more people are fighting... Still, beats cheesing animals on boats or a cliff, which only complete autists would enjoy.

[Halbertz]

Didn't they tell you like five times that they don't want to see it? I've heard it even on dev stream. I mean, yeah, it is fun stuff IMO. But JnL doesn't think the same.
Forum thread won't help for sure, as it this place nowdays populated with h*rmits and they will chimp out from your stuff.
Thoughts and prayers

[joojoo1975]

Any chance can you provide context?

I mean you were able to link a twitch stream.

Any chance you can link forum posts pointing to what you are talking about?

[rfxDarth]

Didn't they tell you like five times that they don't want to see it? I've heard it even on dev stream

Not that I know of, you're probably mistaking devs with felix, that stream remark is the only message that I've ever got from them.

Any chance can you provide context?

I like multi-boxing, i.e. running multiple characters simultaneously, do it in almost every game I play, been playing haven like that ever since legacy days. I admit I pushed it a bit in W16/16.1 with upwards of 40chars. But this world, even though I kept character count low, I encountered bans that are clearly manual, which is uncommon of JnL.

Which raises the questions if they are finally going to be policing the world? If so, will it result in bans to all bots, exploiters, griefers, etc. as well? If not, then why go after me and not bots, exploiters, griefers, etc.

[SnuggleSnail]

ur combat bots kinda suck ass I think the only reason people haven't made far better is because it's perceived at wasted effort since it's expected jorbtar will fuck with your shit once you've actually made it good

they have a history of manually banning/fucking with bots if they perceive it as particularly game breaking. They're retarded hermits, though, so their perception of what's game breaking is kinda warped. For example authority botting realms has historically been nukeworthy in spite of it basically not mattering at all, altho I know several still do it. Unclear if they stopped caring about that 1, or if they just don't check

they're as always just kindof arbitrary assholes about everything. They've fucked with some of my super innocuous bots by KOing them/breaking their hearthfire or similar, and they just don't even tell you they did it

[rfxDarth]

they're as always just kindof arbitrary assholes about everything. They've fucked with some of my super innocuous bots by KOing them/breaking their hearthfire or similar, and they just don't even tell you they did it

Did they do it by spawning a completely random golden eagle super far away from a mountain? That'd be very much in JnL style...

[fallout]

Yall sweaty. 40? What did you expect. What do you expect now from this post. The devs and the majority don't know who you are and are against your side. Automation is accepted. Blocking someone with combat bots probably gonna get you some time served, but as you admitted to being a repeat offender. Probably indefinite now isnt it?

Did you buy rage on the lot and gank some half starved nab?

[drumboy]

i cant rly see any justification with this ban if there aint any groundset rules stating you cant do what youre doing, at least if they had a problem they couldve sent u a warning.

pretty fucked decision by devs tbh, considering the multitude of other ways ppl are exploiting the game with 0 repercussions