How to handle botters

Runes of magic (think thats the game) is taking action against botters where they get to torture the bot character.

We should also have something similar where we can hang, use as a punching bag (for melee) or targets (for archers) in town.

I'm sure GGG will be on their A game as far as catching them. This would be a great addition to the game.

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sabertoothd3 wrote:

Runes of magic (think thats the game) is taking action against botters where they get to torture the bot character.

We should also have something similar where we can hang, use as a punching bag (for melee) or targets (for archers) in town.

I'm sure GGG will be on their A game as far as catching them. This would be a great addition to the game.

I'm not sure if it's a good idea. It would bring attention to the fact that botting is possible which could actually increase the number of people who want to try botting.

I think that concept works well for people who get caught scamming. Even the most non technical people will realize that scamming is a possibility, so you're not really planting any bad ideas in anyone's head.

fucking yes. make the character a target dummy for testing spell damage and the like.

And you can only ever go on that character.

This is so sadistic.

If botters are caught

-wipe all their stash items, INCLUDING Demi-God (they don't deserve it)
-wipe all their characters and they can only log on as the bot character, can not go out of town.

-set the bot's hp to 5000 and damage reduction to 90%, make it attackable in town so other players can slowly kill it over and over again.

Punishment continues until they publicly apologize on the forum.

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nameless_unknown wrote:

If botters are caught

-wipe all their stash items, INCLUDING Demi-God (they don't deserve it)
-wipe all their characters and they can only log on as the bot character, can not go out of town.

-set the bot's hp to 5000 and damage reduction to 90%, make it attackable in town so other players can slowly kill it over and over again.

Punishment continues until they publicly apologize on the forum.

or make another free account?

Sure, if they continue botting they will just receive the same punishment again and never progress. The main goal is to discourage botting.

This is not as simple as OP believes.

There is a reason blizzard does "ban waves" rather than banning botters when they are caught. If you ban too frequently, botters just learn what you're looking for and change their tactics. Basically, there's no foolproof way to recognize bots server-side. They'll need memory fingerprinting and watchdog software on the client side. Even this can be fooled by someone dedicated enough.

They also need a liberal EULA to allow said watchdog software to do its thing. That takes outside consulting, or you need a legal department. Either way, money and support.

Now we collect data on botters, client side. Before the damage from botting gets out of control, send out a wave of bans. Process repeats: bots get smarter, people start distributing bot software, dirty currency starts to leak into the economy..... ban wave. Eventually bots become very tricky to profile, and you need more advanced watchdog software.

If they break that cycle, bots will just get away from them. And this "public ridicule" idea doesn't solve anything - accounts can be completely anonymous in PoE. Who cares if their bot character is hanging by its wrists outside the Watch? They'll probably stop to throw a rock at it, too. Scot free.

A company like GGG probably can manage server-side profiling, until botters learn to defeat server side profiling. They probably don't have the resources or legal support for client side profiling.

Zakuluka does make a valid point...


Doesn't mean that the idea is any less hilarious.

Step 1: Level requirement of 56 on Eternal Laboratory.

Step one alone would be a big soft-fix for the issue of lvl 1 XP boosters (at least in hardcore) which taint the ladder currently. The players using them are publicly pressing to have them fixed by using them, but as GGG has said in-game, until they change their policy it is legal.

Step 2: Characters must be within a screen or two of each-other in order to trigger the bigger XP and IIQ gain from slain monsters in a party. Irregardless of player location monsters are still buffed.

Its a direct hard hand against boosters and map/fellshrine splitters.

Map/fellshrine splitters split a map saying, "You take that half of the map's boosted XP and IIQ, I take the other." They do this because its just not worth it to stay as a group.

Step 3: Make partying with a group actually worth it... I'm not the one with the calculations (ask DDT and Co.), but they've calculated that it is insufficient to party with a group XP wise than it is to solo.

The boosted IIQ can be nice at times, but navigating loot pinatas can be a severe pain, and while playing in a group you CANNOT have items/maps always on because the screen is nigh unreadable.

Not to mention, the bigger a group gets, the better chance its gona get lagier with all the crazy stuff going on.