I have to say, Anet does a decent job of keeping up with bot infestations. Every once in a while there are hotspots, but they are cleared up within a reasonable time frame. So this isn't intended to be a QQ thread.
Anyway, today I found myself thinking about monkbots, especially the ones that would appear back in the old days of just Prophecies. While scripts are obviously used to run their actions once they begin farming, it seems reasonable to assume that a human is involved in getting each character up and running.
Back when it was just Prophecies, each monkbot represented at least a few hours of work. Every character had to reach Lion's Arch, be fitted with tattoos, reach Mineral Springs, cap Shield of Judgement, and reach whatever area was deemed by Local Gaming Sweatshop management to be the new hot spot for bots. They also had to earn or buy a -50 cesta (presumably 5 superior runes were donated by Local Gaming Sweatshop), and may well have ascended for extra attribute points, which means doing desert missions.
So, where were they doing this? Have you ever seen a monk, dressed and named like a bot, but moving as if there's a person at the wheel? Going through missions, joining parties? They weren't dropped in their farming towns by the stork. Where do they come from, and why do they eventually come to where people can see them?
I am curious.
Farming bots: where are they born?
creelie
Voltaic Annihilator
Gold selling websites
creelie
That's WHY they're born. But WHERE in the game are they before they settle down and become bots until they're banned?
quickmonty
pre searing
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XiaoTheBlade
Don't be retards guys, this guy has a point 
Its kinda like the chicken/egg question.
Its kinda like the chicken/egg question.
LazyLink
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Originally Posted by creelie
IHave you ever seen a monk, dressed and named like a bot, but moving as if there's a person at the wheel? Going through missions, joining parties? They weren't dropped in their towns by the stork. Where do they come from, and why do they eventually come to where people can see them?
I am curious. |
quickmonty
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Originally Posted by XiaoTheBlade
Don't be retards guys
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Voltaic Annihilator
nightfall or just a pvp char
Songbringer
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Originally Posted by Voltaic Annihilator
nightfall or just a pvp char
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A PvP char farming in PvE really?....that would be amazing accomplishment
cosyfiep
I would assume that the bots have a sort of 'guild' that levels them up so the can go botting....since I doubt that there is just one person doing it---so it would be easy for there to be a leader (or leaders) who run the newbie bots to the area where they will be botting, levels them up there as well; runs them to the armor spot and then lets them bot...
if this is the case there would be no reason to ever see the bots before they start their botting careers.
if this is the case there would be no reason to ever see the bots before they start their botting careers.
1 up and 2 down
Most likely prophecies, most likely in the international districts.
Zahr Dalsk
I suspect Prophecies, since most of the farming monks look like mice.
You can't see me
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Originally Posted by quickmonty
Mental retardation is not a choice. A person who is mentally retarded cannot decide to not be a "retard".
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As for the OP, they were born out of the need for others to create a giant E-peen. Some bored college student wrote a simple program and found out that he could make money from it, getting the idea from countless other games with bot infestations. The program was copied by websites due to lack of patent and now we have them.
quickmonty
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Originally Posted by You can't see me
Do you read these forums regularly?
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In any case, calling people "retard" shows either stupidity or prejudice.
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Originally Posted by Eldin
each one the exact same but with different hair - and each in FoW, a different color.
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Eldin
The monks look like Prophecies ones, but Factions would be the best for fast levelling.
Then again the way these bots act I think levelling is the least concern. Definitely Prophecies. I have an old picture (but after NF's release) of four midget monk bots in Marhan's Grotto, each one the exact same but with different hair - and each in FoW, a different color.
Then again the way these bots act I think levelling is the least concern. Definitely Prophecies. I have an old picture (but after NF's release) of four midget monk bots in Marhan's Grotto, each one the exact same but with different hair - and each in FoW, a different color.
You can't see me
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Originally Posted by quickmonty
Do not confuse mental retardation with stupidity.
In any case, calling people "retard" shows either stupidity or prejudice. |
asp1988
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Originally Posted by creelie
So, where were they doing this? Have you ever seen a monk, dressed and named like a bot, but moving as if there's a person at the wheel?
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-GoldBot 001
-GBR 493498
-0001234 13
If someone was running bots, you'd assume they had the common sense to select believable names. Also, how does a bot look? If you're going solely off armor choices, well than thats just as implausible as naming conventions...
Faer
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Originally Posted by quickmonty
In any case, calling people "retard" shows either stupidity or prejudice.
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Macks Mistress
I remember awhile back I was in the presearing arena, that little mini 'pvp' event to get to post and I was against 4 tiny female monks, in starter armour with silly typical bot names. Of course they were terrible.
This was 3 in the morning, so definatly not a 'peak' time.
This was 3 in the morning, so definatly not a 'peak' time.
quickmonty
Excuse me, but I'm "old school". There are better words to use than such disparagements. I tend to use the word "retard" to mean
–verb (used with object) 1. to make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.
–verb (used without object) 2. to be delayed.
–verb (used with object) 1. to make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.
–verb (used without object) 2. to be delayed.
Mork from Ork
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Originally Posted by asp1988
This is ridiculous, first of all theres no definitive way to discern which characters are bots and which are not. .......If someone was running bots, you'd assume they had the common sense to select believable names. Also, how does a bot look? If you're going solely off armor choices, well than thats just as implausible as naming conventions...
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botters can't start their characters in Granite Citadel right at level 20 anymore than you or I can
However, I suspect they are not noticed until they begin farming because I doubt they stay in towns for more than few seconds - just hook up to a leader who will level them and then he heads out the door. After all, they aren't making any money hanging around and chatting and who looks at every name in town?
jiggles
A guildie of mine was running a single person(a monk in a scar pattern may i add) once, she wasnt running as she was killing things along the way. this 'person' tried to pick up every single drop along the way. Sound suspicious?
quickmonty
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Originally Posted by jiggles
A guildie of mine was running a single person(a monk in a scar pattern may i add) once, she wasnt running as she was killing things along the way. this 'person' tried to pick up every single drop along the way. Sound suspicious?
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Captain Miken
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Originally Posted by Faer
Excuse me, but Mr. Daniel Webster would like to have a word with you. I suggest you step into his office.
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Originally Posted by jiggles
A guildie of mine was running a single person(a monk in a scar pattern may i add) once, she wasnt running as she was killing things along the way. this 'person' tried to pick up every single drop along the way. Sound suspicious?
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jiggles
when i said everything, i didnt mean drops just for him. i meant EVERYTHING, this includes drops that werent assigned to him
arsie
I think the main reason why we do not bump into them so often is because they are probably using International District in a quiet hour. Time-zone differences and all.
The next thing is, that they probably have one (or a few) human level 20 that is leading 3-7 monk bots through the outposts and zones. They probably do not need to stay in a outpost more than the time needed for them to move to the next exit. Farmers used to be taught to minimize contact with human players to reduce the chance of them getting complained. This kinda runs counter to the newer website spamming trend.
An expert runner could bring 3-7 bots through in hours, I expect. Bear in mind that all this is scripted and automated. They can be in any instance leveling from 2 to 20, and noone will ever know, except Anet.
A handful of humans, or maybe even one human, is enough to start up such a company for Guild Wars as compared to games like WoW that requires human farmers. So these companies could sprout out anywhere, since labour costs is not an issue.
The next thing is, that they probably have one (or a few) human level 20 that is leading 3-7 monk bots through the outposts and zones. They probably do not need to stay in a outpost more than the time needed for them to move to the next exit. Farmers used to be taught to minimize contact with human players to reduce the chance of them getting complained. This kinda runs counter to the newer website spamming trend.
An expert runner could bring 3-7 bots through in hours, I expect. Bear in mind that all this is scripted and automated. They can be in any instance leveling from 2 to 20, and noone will ever know, except Anet.
A handful of humans, or maybe even one human, is enough to start up such a company for Guild Wars as compared to games like WoW that requires human farmers. So these companies could sprout out anywhere, since labour costs is not an issue.
creelie
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Originally Posted by asp1988
This is ridiculous, first of all theres no definitive way to discern which characters are bots and which are not. Just think logically, do you actually believe they name their characters in a fashion like this?:
-GoldBot 001 -GBR 493498 -0001234 13 If someone was running bots, you'd assume they had the common sense to select believable names. |
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Originally Posted by asp1988
Also, how does a bot look? If you're going solely off armor choices, well than thats just as implausible as naming conventions...
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But of course, as several people have mentioned, nobody really notices bots until they start running their scripts en masse on location.
HawkofStorms
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Originally Posted by cosyfiep
I would assume that the bots have a sort of 'guild' that levels them up so the can go botting....since I doubt that there is just one person doing it---so it would be easy for there to be a leader (or leaders) who run the newbie bots to the area where they will be botting, levels them up there as well; runs them to the armor spot and then lets them bot...
if this is the case there would be no reason to ever see the bots before they start their botting careers. |
@Asp, you can definately distinguish bots (after all, if A.net can't, then how do they ever ban them?). Bots always use signposts to move through towns and run in predetermined patterns. For proof, once in Droks, I saw a guy glitch one of the roaming NPC guards in the town. He made the guard get stuck dirrectly in the path that all the bots take to leave the area and farm the troll cave. In about 15 miniutes, around 40 Mo/Ws were body blocked by this one Dwarven guard (since NPCs can body block in town, while player characters can be walked through) who was just standing there. If they were real people, they could have easily taken one step to the left to walk around him and get out of town. They didn't, and just stood there trying to walk straight forward until the next game update rebooted the town or the bot admin logged the bot off.
Hott Bill
The bots have built in guides for leveling. They can complete the easy quests with henchmen and get to level 20. So basically you load the bot and it levels to 20 by itself then farms.
crazybanshee
I imagine they start them in packs of 2 in pre, then groups of 4, never playing with anyone else until they're in their armor and leveled to where they can start botting. Really, if they've worked out the absolute minimum requirements to do what they need to do, it probably doesn't take more than a couple hours to get them set up to start botting.
Captain Miken
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Originally Posted by Hott Bill
The bots have built in guides for leveling. They can complete the easy quests with henchmen and get to level 20. So basically you load the bot and it levels to 20 by itself then farms.
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Screenshot of the coding or it didn't happen.
/e/: blur the variables
hurdlebeast
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Originally Posted by Voltaic Annihilator
nightfall or just a pvp char
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Lykan
They still come from prophecies, i saw a bunch in LA last week, a level 20 mo/w surrounded by 4 level 5 tattoed monks all with odd names.
Snow Bunny
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Originally Posted by quickmonty
Mental retardation is not a choice. A person who is mentally retarded cannot decide to not be a "retard".
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