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Recent Bans for Botting and Exploiting

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Berek, Oct 21, 2016.

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  1. Berek

    Berek Portalarian Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    As some of you may have seen in our recent Standup Notes, we have been busy working on tracking down a string of botting and exploiting activities. The activity pursued by these players accounted for almost 20% of the total wealth of the game and if left unchecked could have seriously damaged the economy. All activities were confirmed to be macros or bots using exploitable activity like mines where creatures were not respawning or nodes that instantly respawned.

    Fortunately we have been able to fix all of these exploitable areas and we have also put more tools in place to make it easier for us to detect these kinds of activities and deal with them much faster going forward.

    We permanently banned over 30 accounts and gave 30 day suspensions to several others. Those who only received 30 day suspensions had their characters deleted (and all their goods except for items purchased with real dollars) to remove any gains they may have received from the exploits and/or botting.

    Please note that any macroing or botting related to resource gathering can result in a suspension or permanent ban. We do not differentiate between “attended” and “unattended”. Additionally you are responsible for your account and your machine. It is irrelevant if your relative, roommate, spouse, child, parent, etc. did the actual botting because we have no way to confirm that. If your machine / account is confirmed to be botting you will be suspended and/or banned, period.

    If you witness or suspect someone botting / exploiting, or if you are concerned that your own actions may be subject to a suspension or ban, then please send an email to support@portalarium.com.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 21, 2016
  2. Moiseyev Trueden

    Moiseyev Trueden Avatar

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    Thanks for making us aware of this. It is great to see you guys stepping in to stop this behavior. 8^)
     
  3. Xeen Dread

    Xeen Dread Avatar

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    So I can't use a macro that press 'e' for me to help with mining or triggers doubletap running on a single button?

    First we were told attended macros are ok, now we are told it's not?

    Is this specifically just for resource collection?

    What about for training skills or crafting with already collected xp and/or resources?

    Confused and concerned.

    I've been visited by Atos before and immediately was questioning guild and discord what the hell was going on because my character was operating at mach 10 before he revealed himself.
     
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  4. Brass Knuckles

    Brass Knuckles Avatar

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    #support this

    I want nothing to do with a game that allows cheating what so ever.
     
  5. iansmellios

    iansmellios Avatar

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    I knew this had to be happening! So people's vendors had WAY too many resources to offer. Thank you for keeping it fare!
     
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  6. Cinder Sear

    Cinder Sear Avatar

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    Uh oh.. I wonder if my favourite vendor is ok.. hehe :) Got some good cheap resources from there! :O
     
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  7. Sean Silverfoot

    Sean Silverfoot Avatar

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    Good news indeed!
     
  8. ThurisazSheol

    ThurisazSheol Avatar

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    It is heartening to see this activity is frowned upon.

    @Berek, would it have been different if those bots were not exploiting as well?
     
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  9. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

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    Well I am concerned as well. I've seen people get mistakenly banned more than once. OMG we are in development and discovering things all the time. Now one thing if it is a destructive player as mentioned and a real bot, but be careful with those bans for good and loyal people playing the game. Some have been very disheartened by accidental bans lately. There is another side to this and we are in development, let people know why and that the development considers this an exploit, don't just ban in most cases. I am very upset by this. We are not at a released game and testing things out. Now that is all I have to say on this.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2016
  10. Snazz

    Snazz Avatar

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    Macro skill gains aren't a big deal. You already earned the XP legitimately.

    I wouldn't worry about that. Seems all the bans were for bot farmers
     
  11. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

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    So not true, sorry.
     
  12. Moiseyev Trueden

    Moiseyev Trueden Avatar

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    Unfortunately, persistence at this stage in development make this the only response. We voiced this concern when it was first decided, but it is what it is. I'm glad they are taking a strong stance, but like you I hope they are vetting the players prior to the bans.
     
  13. Drocis the Devious

    Drocis the Devious Avatar

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    I thought about this statement some more. I feel like you may want to look into how that gold was being used. For example, if someone was using gold to acquire in-game items then they wouldn't really be hurt with a ban, they'd just sell the items they acquired for cash (since you're not taking away the purchased items). If you're dealing with an entity that is here primarily to "make money" this is the only thing that would hurt them. If you're allowing people to game the system until they get caught, it may still be very profitable to game the system because the loss is nothing that impacts the bottom line of their operation.
     
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  14. Abydos

    Abydos Avatar

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  15. Moiseyev Trueden

    Moiseyev Trueden Avatar

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    Interesting perspective, and I quite agree. But I think it would be very hard to sort through it to figure out what is legit and what was made from the ill gotten gold purchasing. Having said that... ALL non-taxed deeds on banned accounts I will suffer to take so that they stay in game. It is a major sacrifice I make, but they will be put to good use I promise.
     
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  16. Drocis the Devious

    Drocis the Devious Avatar

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    I don't believe it would be difficult to figure out who's selling stuff they acquire with in-game gold (gained by botting, macroing) in the forum marketplace.

    If someone makes 5 million in gold, then uses that gold to buy add-on store items via the player marketplace, I see no reason to allow them to keep whatever they traded or purchased. I think that creates an environment where there would be virtually no risk. Sure their character may be deleted and they may have lost some time. But if they get to keep their virtual assets on their accounts, they may not care one bit.
     
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  17. LoneStranger

    LoneStranger Avatar

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    Sounds like the first batch of items to add to some loot tables at some obscure chance. :)
     
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  18. Solazur

    Solazur Avatar

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    Honestly... I think people generally know when they're Xsploiting. If everybody in your neighborhood is off working 8-5 at the factory and one person is driving a Ferrari while the rest walk it's a pretty good CLUE.
    the ""not released" argument holds water like a sieve given that we are in a persistent state.
     
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  19. Drocis the Devious

    Drocis the Devious Avatar

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    I was thinking public auction, but that's good too.
     
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  20. Solazur

    Solazur Avatar

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    OH Mois... it's too heavy a load brother...*I* shall show my solidarity with you in shouldering this burden

    uhh.. all for the good of the world of course :)
     
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