Why isnt ncsoft doing anything against bots?

I recently started playing on the offical server after playing for a while on private server and according to the user agreement "Use of third party programs is forbidden"

yet when I enter the game I see alot of bots on talking island. They are so easy to ban and prevent. The names are so obvious and even private servers have something that block bots so why can't ncsoft do it? its not like there are that many types of bots since its mostly [censored]

When I enter "Wow bot" in google I dont get any working results and when I do the same with L2 I even found the offical site of a bot([censored]) Is ncsoft not banning bots because they just want money?

Things that dont take much trouble to implent:
1.An Afk check, you will need to enter something in the chat every 20-30 minutes and within 1 minute and if you fail to do that you get kicked

2.Invest in a better security system. Gameguard has way to many holes in the security

3.Have gms patrol popular botting areas. If a GM would take a walk trough talking island he could already ban 10-20 bots

Also why isnt Ncsoft threating with legal actions against the [censored] site and those adena selling site?

/rant

wow thank you for ur astonishing find. none of us realised botting existed still in the game. like wow talking island? good find good find.

u ban them and they come back. revenue ++

1. That is easily circumvented by bot progs and would need to differentiate shops too or all afk shops would get booted.
2. We all know the pitfalls of GG and there are ongoing problems. Agreed, this needs sorting.
3. We can spot most bots a mile off. If you see them, make a petition and list the names. Its a pain but the more you list, the better.
4. A while back, there was a big case where a pvt server was closed down. They are active in the persuit of such sites but sites tend to be run from countries where US/Korean authorities have no jurisdiction.

We would alll like a more proactive GM stance on bots.

Wow you think TI is a problem, wait til ya go Cats. Good Luck Finding A Room.

bots and adena selling areillegal.... just like private servers

Every idea the OP has is good. My only comment is that I have read GameGuard is not inteneded to prevent bots, but to protect logins. And it probably does OK at that - but it certainly has problems as a piece of software, including conflicts with AV and other programs.
(Note - this game does not seem to have the problem with stolen accounts that WoW has. Is this because GG works, or just because Wow is so much more popular that it attracts more of this kind of trouble?)

Epic items bind to players. No way to trade the item to another if you stole the account. I dont think theres any penalty with death either, so no delvling a toon.

In other words, no real point.

Every idea the OP has is good. My only comment is that I have read GameGuard is not inteneded to prevent bots, but to protect logins. And it probably does OK at that - but it certainly has problems as a piece of software, including conflicts with AV and other programs.
(Note - this game does not seem to have the problem with stolen accounts that WoW has. Is this because GG works, or just because Wow is so much more popular that it attracts more of this kind of trouble?)

There used to be problems with stolen/hacked accounts... I think that was before GG was added.

GG might be used to protect logins but I would prefer AES to this GG anyday

but that's just me.

An Afk check, you will need to enter something in the chat every 20-30 minutes and within 1 minute and if you fail to do that you get kicked

Lol thats the stupids idea I ever heard

1 Im n playing a game I do not want to type 58584 accept to play its not a webrowser game or somthing..

2 shops bye bye

3 lol in siege sry you got disconected because you dint type the afk code..

Yes GG sucks big time and its not going away GG.

Yes thare are allot of bots and they ban somtimes but they never go away all. They need to make a better bot protection banning bots by hand takes whay to much time...

ibtl.

Common misconception: Bots are always owned by people who are always afk.
Fact: Bots are usually a means of allowing one player to control several players easily. One guy can have 10-20-whatever bots running while still being very much at-keyboard and watching over them, doing work, browsing ****, whatever.

Just because a bot will talk and reply to pm's properly doesn't mean it's a legit player.

GG might be used to protect logins but I would prefer AES to this GG anyday

What is AES?

even private servers have something that block bots so why can't ncsoft do it?

Lets look at it from an economics point of view. NCSoft charges a fee for people to connect to lineage 2. Bot programs charge a fee for people to use their bot program to play L2.

NCSoft has to use their monthly fees to run the servers, expand the games, offer customer service, police the servers, market their games, go at conventions, run a website + forum, etc.

The bot program has very minimal and sporadic development and absolutely no support. Got a question? tough noogies.

When NCSoft has their developpers work on a new way to stop the bot programs, it usually takes a maximum of a few days before the bot program gets fixed and it works again.

When a private server does something to block bot programs, the bot programs don't care, because it's not a big enough market share for them.

So obviously it's much easier for a private server to stop all bots since they don't have to continually find new ways to block them every 2-3 days.

Also why isnt Ncsoft threating with legal actions against the [censored] site and those adena selling site?

Most of those companies are located in countries where legal actions would either be extremely complicated or outright impossible. Some countries have no copyright laws, for example, so them ripping off the official lineage 2 server and operating it would be considered legal over there.

Whenever NCSoft believes they have a good case against such companies as private servers and RMTs, they usually go ahead and bring them to court.

The other issue is in regards to what to sue for. For private servers it's easy, esp. private servers that charge a price, NCSoft can say "you have 10'000 customers, so 10'000 x 15 = 150'000$ per month in lost revenues for us".

For RMTs (Real Money Traders), the situation is complicated, because you have to examine how many customers you lost by having RMTs in your game, versus how many customers you would've lost if it weren't for RMTs to support their playstyle. This would make a very complicated court case and since the court would have to be overseas (since most adena corps are overseas), you have to include the judge biases and, by the end of the day, NCSoft would almost have to be happy if the court doesn't charge THEM for the legal fees incured by the "frivolous lawsuit". Which is outright ridiculous, but that's how things work.

I recently started playing on the offical server after playing for a while on private server and according to the user agreement "Use of third party programs is "

yet when I enter the game I see alot of bots on talking island. They are so easy to ban and prevent. The names are so obvious and even private servers have something that block bots so why can't ncsoft do it? its not like there are that many types of bots since its mostly [censored]

When I enter "Wow bot" in google I dont get any working results and when I do the same with L2 I even found the offical site of a bot([censored]) Is ncsoft not banning bots because they just want money?

Things that dont take much trouble to implent:
1.An Afk check, you will need to enter something in the chat every 20-30 minutes and within 1 minute and if you fail to do that you get kicked

2.Invest in a better security system. Gameguard has way to many holes in the security

3.Have gms patrol popular botting areas. If a GM would take a walk trough talking island he could already ban 10-20 bots

Also why isnt Ncsoft threating with legal actions against the [censored] site and those adena selling site?

/rant

gee..another brand new player, from WOW, who posts an anti-bot rant......

...never seen THAT before!

(jk---we've actually seen it dozens of times....which name of a 'newbie' did u make this post under last month sanosuke?)


go back to your wow kiddy game & stay off our forums

Wat i dont get its that the bot problem is not a bad in any other MMO ... thats why i dotn understand why NCSoft cant stop the bots if other game companies are able to do it or at least keep most of them out their game

The bot problems are not as visibly bad in other MMOs.

Look up WOW gold, or LOTRO Gold, or whatever the currency is in other games. Bots and farmers exist. Most of the time they hide in instances so you don't ever see them, and therefore don't think they exist.

Any game with a repetitive nature or tasks is going to have bots.

yup...& don't get me wrong...real l2 players can bot-rant all they want.

this poster is yet another of these so-called 'new players' upset w/ bots after 5 days that all come from WoW???
....hasn't even been clever or original for months.

it's actually just fatiguing now. I don't go to WoW forums and pretend to be upset about stuff there!

enuf already (srry 4 poor typing--have an inju )

I was surprised to see that Guild Wars has a pretty substantial bot problem there, as well.

Even if the entire game is instanced, you can see dozens of them - all the same class - just constantly spawning in certain lobbies and running into the nearest hunting area.

I just came back to lin2 from WoW. There are bots in WoW, just go to AV to see em. Otherwise they're mostly in instances, from what I heard.

Here in Lin2 there's much smaller market for RMT - if I believe the ads I read they practically have to give adena away - but it's certainly there. I just can't imagine even in mainland China's economy that you can make any kind of a living selling adena anymore.

Regardless, to the OP, the Lin2 folks do investigate and ban bots when they can. What seems to be lacking is any sort of effort on the developer side to stop bots. But that's the case in WoW, too.

What seems to be lacking is any sort of effort on the developer side to stop bots. But that's the case in WoW, too.

It is not that they lack an effort to stop them. The problem is that it is a war of brinksmanship. NCSoft comes up with a new bot countermeasure, and then the bot makers come up with a way around it. So NCSoft has to come up with a new countermeasure, which means the bot makers have to figure out another workaround.

The problem is not the game as much as the mentality of the "I want it now" players, of the players that are not willing to take personal responsibility and work for their money / gear. This game is set up so that to remain an individual is difficult, at best. You are supposed to get help, and work with others, or take a lot of time to do something.

Then establish a NC brute squad......Take the fight to the enforcers!

For the right price I'd take care of the bot/RMT problems at the source. I charge 1m US$ + expenses, don't care for names, only need an address and vague description of who you never wanna see log in ever again ;)