[SC] Advice from Admin about bot users

Just a quick question,

DO likes to post about how many bot users have been removed from game. However, the same guy is still botting on my server GE3 and has been doing so for months. Now, how do I send you his details (since we all want bots removed) so you can look into it, because unfortunately in the months and months that you have run your bot detection program you have failed to catch him/her.

Regards

 

If you found player and you think he is using external programs you should contact support.

- Although they wont help you i guess. I sent them a name of player that told me hes botting and they said they have to wait for systems to catch him and they cant do anything. I forgot his nickname with all those strange letters but hes probably continuing doing that .

 

Hello,

As SauronL suggested, reporting suspected bot users at this point in time can have a limited effect (although I will add that "reporting" cheaters in chat or around the forums generally amounts to accusations which is against the rules). When a user is detected for using illegal programs their account is terminated. This isn't something they can take lightly, and so they are reliant on the detection system catching these users so they have sufficient evidence to close out the account.

However, it doesn't necessarily catch everyone in one go. Different users are using different programs to cheat, and not every program goes about things the same way. DarkOrbit's still dedicated to catching the ones they haven't yet, but it's ever a work in progress. They're looking at how best to proceed, and options for the future as well so that they can catch these users, and keep up ways to do so.

I know it can be a bit easier said than done, but please be patient. If someone is playing unfairly, their time will come. It's happened before and it's a matter of time before the less honorable way to "play" catches up with them

Regards,

 

have u been on the pvp maps of almost any server ?xD they are full of "bot users" it's so useless , they just collect every time , their pet is always collecting ,and most of my clan stopped playing cuz of people like that , thru just always collect , never shoot npcs , and just do gates and stuff , but guess why they do it , I partially understand why , the game is way too damn expensive , we've been asking for double rewards on npcs for ages cuz we need more uridium . the way the game is now , it's just gonna push more and more players away from it ,soon enough the same thing that happened a few years ago will happen again,also the matter of time you're talking about , they've been doing it now for about 2 years , same people ,everyday , nothing's happening

 

Just because there isn't some grand visible disappearance as there was two years ago doesn't mean nothing is being done. These things don't happen overnight. Frustrating as it may be, it takes time, but that doesn't mean that these users aren't going to be caught (again) and sent on their merry way short an account when the time comes.

Regards,

 

i believe in fairytales ..guess darkorbit team does too XD

 

You'll hear more on this topic tomorrow.

Thanks!

 

short an acc, some people have multiple just collecting ,and I understand what you're saying ,and I know it can't be done over night ,but it really is frustrating , a lot of players that actually play fairly and pay for certain stuff left the game because everybody was bottling, I'm just saying improvement needs to be done on the system's part in order to catch more of them , a captcha would work , or making your pet only collect for a certain time before you also have to collect , looking on the patters a user click repeatedly on the map , anything , either way , hopefully you guys will find a way of getting rid of them , have a good day

 

Well this thread seems to be more active than I was expecting.

Not to belittle your bot detection program - as you say you are catching hundreds of people each month. However, why is it that the same people who are actively cheating (and the DO community knows who these players are) have not had any action taken on their accounts?

The guy I was referring to is still at it today (botting). If you want I can PM you the name and server as well as his experience points so you can track him if he changes name, and you can look into his account directly and then see if there is anything that looks incorrect. If you cannot look into his account please tell me why, as I am fully aware of the access that you guys have over players account.

I will not waste my time with support - almost 8 years of game play and there is very little they can do, have done, or more importantly want to do to help this community - just my experience when dealing with Kira and co.

Regards

 

Hi - thanks for your patience.

More details here.

 

exactly the same thing on my server .most of my clan has quit because players ( the same players ) collect with their pets all the time , some even 6-8 mill uri and ammo , some never hunt and just collect just to get high ranks , all they do is collect and do gates ,how is that fair ? and they are the same players ,nothing is ever done about it and after being with this game since the beginning I'm getting tired of it

 

Hi,

We appreciate the work you guys are doing, though its frustrating at times but it's really good for the DO team to be discussing their work with the community like this.

I've a question. Most of the time you guys (and players too) stress on bot users. Sure, they're a big problem but I wonder what about other cheats used in the game. Stuff that affects in PvP (like auto locks, etc.).
Do you guys have any plan for detecting & removing such players, and also making it hard for people to use these stuff? (As most of the OAs are about banning only "bot" accounts)

Many explanations are given for them (bigger screen, higher resolution, etc.) but these cheats do exist in the game and it further ruins the game play. I know many players who stopped playing just because of bots and auto locks... cos its waste of ammo and time to fight with these people.

They're not new and exist from long time but I feel that the DO team didn't took any significant action against them compared to the bot users.

And Sorry if I went off the topic

Thanks

 

a botter is not just a player that is afk its is a player that uses outside programs to advance their gameplay and AL sounds like a program to advance their gameplay

 

As RΣŦÙЯП-ΦF-§ŦЯЇŇG§HØŦ suggested (thank you^ ^), it's not necessarily just "botters" that are being dealt with here. DarkOrbit is after anyone using third party software, whether it be bot programs, macros, programs to mimic your activity, etc. Just generally it's been summed up as "bots", but everything is included

Regards,

 

Can your security technicians or how ever they called like in most games free to play games do something like anti cheat engine build into the game ? Or does game have to be run by software to run something like that?? In my opinion that could help. I knew a lot of players from my ts3 that they use bot etc. One of them was running bot 2 years ago and he is still very active on same account. I know that some software's are less detected but there should be option that could boost that time of getting person checked. For everything is a solution.

But we can say that Darkorbit team is doing good job =)

 

I like those numbers that are posted in forum but anyways its just a number. I ve never seen any known botter on my server that left beacause he got ban.
How can you prove that those numbers are not fake and its real amount of players that got banned? For example i dont see a point why couldnt be here a blacklist with banned players with its server.

 

a black list would be nice ,and you know what would be even nice ? the admins getting involved ,actually going through the mpas and checking out what's going on there , they can assign a few people to go on a few servers each day , and just check a bit what's going on and who's using a bot

 

There can't be a running list of who got banned. Cheaters or no, they're still entitled to their privacy the same as anyone else. If we started publishing lists of who got banned for X offense, it just opens the gate to where it would be argued that it's "okay" to say another user was banned for whatever else. Not everyone wants people to know the specifics of the bans they receive.

The numbers might not make it seem real to some because they don't see whomever disappear into the ether, and that's something we've seen complaints of for years. The amount of complaints though that we get & see though, and I have no doubt support gets as well, when the larger ban waves happen are proof in its own right. Private rooms, discussions(and admissions) in open chat, and various forum posts - whether people see them or no, the complaints are their own form of evidence that these bans are very real.

In the end, people can either believe something is being done, or they will continue to believe otherwise. As Rick explained in his post, they aren't going to get everyone all at once, but that doesn't mean the numbers aren't real.

We play the game too, so we know what goes on, but that doesn't mean we get to decide who cheats. To begin with, there is always the chance for human error by some means or another. Then consider that not everything someone sees on their screen is necessarily what is happening, or appearing exactly the same, on both sides. I understand you specifically mentioned bots, but I know people have asked me time and again to come check out Player1's autolock ability, and all of that sort of thing. I can't imagine that if we were on 'bot patrol' that people wouldn't then want us to come check out whatever behavior they felt was otherwise suspicious. Then if we didn't see what they saw, would we be left with accusations in chat that whatever was "turned off" (ban), that we were blind or on whomever's side? The mod teams are accused of operating with bias with regularity regardless of what may or may not have happened; I've seen mods be accused just because they warned people in chat for caps, and mods accused of things when they hadn't been online in days. Not everyone would be on board in accepting that "an admin caught you" without saying we're operating for whomever's clan, company, etc. It could always be the furthest thing from the truth, but that doesn't mean it won't be repeated, and held against us by the next person. Negativity breeds negativity, and once it starts, where or how it originated doesn't really come into effect anymore.

Ultimately there needs to be something more than >us<. That doesn't mean we aren't continually poking the team going "hey, bots" - and I doubt we are the only language team doing that on at least a weekly (or near) basis. We send up programs and ideas, things that are notably suspicious or outstanding. Not patrolling the maps doesn't mean we aren't watching (or spamming anyone's inboxes higher up).

I can't speak to how exactly the detection system works or it's integration, however it is running all the time for everyone. How it might evolve only time will tell, but that may also depend on how Darkorbit evolves as well. I'd have to figure that ultimately time, or one of the game team, would be better equipped to every say more on that though

Regards,

 

You have to believe in fairy tales if you want to keep your sanity playing D O.

I remember when I first started to play I could BOX and kill NPC's and earn enough Uridium to BUY a LF-3 or BO-2 every 2 hours. Now with all the ANTI-BOT and information I get from CHAT, I worry about being in 4-1 more than 30 minutes (unless there is something like Parasite Tide going on where I can kill NPC's and let the PET collect boxes) for fear of being hit as a BOTTER.

I have given up buying the doubler as I am too worried about the BOTTER PROGRAM selecting me as one and banning an account I have worked hard to build to FE. My Real Life friends got me involved recently but I remember looking over their shoulders as they did all of their work to become FE and strong enough to stay alive to get to port and now they are back to being a NOOB ship popping every time they get attacked. One entire Family (7 accounts in one clan) have stopped playing as they kept falling backwards in strength with everything they were doing to better themselves in the game.

[removed - please stay on topic, thank you-SE]

 

ok ,but I was referring to bots ,and I mean you can obviously see when somebody is using a bot cuz they go in the same direction , same pattern ,and stay online for hours and they never shoot back when u shoot them , that's what I meant , there has to be a way to stop them from collecting boxes non stop , and I know stuff like that happens ( you guys getting accused ) but we still have to find a solution to better this game , and one way of doing it is to actually make this a fair game , that includes dealing with bots , making it easier to grow ,and focusing more on the player experience , the way the game is going right now ,I'll give credit where credit is due ,it's been a bit better , but , and I'm not saying go around and ban them , just watch them ,and put the on a watch list , I'm only talking about box bot users , not other stuff