Protecting crafting and the economy from "bots"

People harvesting resources using bots while they are afk can ruin the value of crafting and ruin the economy. I'm keen to see SotA avoid this trap and wanted to hear ideas on how it can be avoided.

Like the thread on crafting times I think a throttle or timer on crafting would go along way to mitigate this problem.
*It would greatly reduce the unfair advantage obtained from running bots every hour of every day and help level the playing field with genuine players.
*If the limiting factor was crafting time rather than purely how many mind numbing hours you were able to spend harvesting resources we would create a more balanced/fair profession and economy.
*It would encourage more diverse and social interactions since the down time can be spent on other activities rather than just grinding out a production line.
*It would also mean that those of us who can't afford to spend 8 hours playing each day wouldn't get totally left behind by those who can.

 

Btw... Welcome

My idea to this would be to make the resource-spots as random as it gets.

 

The macros that UO used to have could get pretty complex. ( for the free shards. It will be interesting to see what counter-measures are put in place for this.

 

how about crafting using a bot? How do they stop this, or even detect this?

 

Access to cheap resources might help crafters if they buy their raw materials on the market.

There will inevitably be some of it; it will depend upon how much whether it will be a problem or not.

 

My first response to this problem was always Open PvP (so player policed society), but that isn't a viable option in this game and we all know where Open PvP may go (as we can't particularly trust others on the internet).

Perhaps instead we need to try and interact with someone we suspect of being a "bot" than if they don't respond we send a ticket to a GM. Though this could also be abused which may result in a "the boy who cried wolf" situation.

Also, even if we solve the "bot" problem those people can always turn to multi-boxing and all that nonsense.

So (to my own knowledge) there perhaps may not be an effective way to combat this problem... But this is why we are all here! Let's workshop this!

 

well the problem is that :
this game has single player online and just friends online.
so we will not see the bots to send a ticket to a GM.

i myself am thinking of hitting those game modes just for resource gathering so i know all the resource nodes i hit are full .
for now the resource nodes are quite random so i do not think you can script it .
for multy boxing well you are out of luck ( there isent really a lot you can do against that).

 

Or have it to were a gatherer can only gather like a max of 1000ingots, logs, leather, etc.. It's not really a permanent solution, but seems somewhat logical besides that it highly limits the diversity of what a crafter/gatherer can do in a day. Then you bank sit for the rest of the day which would incredibly SUCK! <];D

Edit- I meant ore not ingots lol, and it would probably be smart for players that are trying to get all the good ore, wood, leather etc. in SPO since no one will ever be able to attack you in PvP hexes. . . Unless you aren't aloud to go to PvP hexes in SPO or FPO. So you will never be able to cheat and get the rare materials without fear of consequences. <];D

 

What if I want to stockpile ingots in my house. Why should I be limited to 1000 ingots? I should be able to create as many ingots or iron bars as I have iron ore to make.

 

I agree entirely. What is it with the impulse for people to insist on playing my game for me?

 

Are we able to transfer resources from Single Player to Online? If it were true, that would seem like the biggest exploit of all.

 

Single Player Online, yes. Single Player Offline, no.

 

Ah I see, so why do we get to do this?

 

Why not? What do you see as a problem with allowing people in SP Online changing to FPO or MPO?

 

Because Single Player Online is an online player. If you aren't flagged for PvP then why should it matter if you play Single Player Online or Open Player Online? If other players cannot attack you because you are not flagged for PvP then what's the difference? Resource nodes should be persistent in all instances of the online world. What's the problem?

 

Exactly. FPO just adds a few more people, and if they aren't logged on, you are just as alone. In MPO not flagged for PvP, other players aren't going to interfere with you.

I really don't see a problem.

 

I believe I may have been confused with what Single Player Online mode meant, if everything is persistent and you merely do not see other players then it's all good. In my mind in SPO, you could interact with the Multi-player but had your own exclusive resource nodes to farm from.

 

The story is dynamic and spans across the all the hexes. Each hex can be patched individually without taking down all the others.

What that means is for you to see the world evolve as the story changes you will need to play online. Or at least log in and patch from time to time.

There is more to it than that but if you look at it from the single player online perspective and not from the open play online perspective you will see where the experience is greater than it could be if offline.

Of course that does mean there will be issues that will impact open play online and will need to be addressed. Such as resources.

 

I think it's the same world, but you just don't see other players. If a node is mined out in OPO, it's also mined out in SPO.

 

only thing how to prevent botting ruin the economy

is to separate the pvp and pve economy (materials ,ores ,animal materials) get flagged as "pve only" if they are farmed in a save hex (when you are pve flagged you would meet pvpers only in town) so the crafted armors, weapons out of them have offencive and defencive values only for pve , but wont protect you vs another player.

so pvp economy would be save from botters.

botting cant be prevented no matter what you do, if they can farm in a safe zone !!!!
just other players can prevent it by killing those boters.