Yes, Ive had acouple of mates banned for botting on NPC's.
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Well, ok. Er....that's a shame. I suppose.
Were they telling others about it?
And, was it a ban or a suspension like previously mentioned in this thread?
No, none of them said anything about it.
They have all only been suspended, yet to have a friend permanently banned.
Hi Brightfang,
It's reassuring to know that Evony have taken action against "some" of those who have used bot programmes.
I haven't used a bot.
However, being somewhat human I have some doubts about the information you are giving me. Perhaps you can see where I am coming from. I am not casting any doubt upon what you say whatsoever.
However, I'd like you to challenge me please.
1 ) Is it true that Evony cannot determine who is using a bot unless reported by another player?
2 ) Could you confirm which alliance was closed down due to large scale bot use please. Could you also confirm that these players IP addresses were indeed blocked from access on other servers?
3 ) Could you also confirm that this was the only reason and the prime reason for the alliance you refer to being closed down?
4 ) What happened to those players within the alliance who weren't using bots?
5 ) Are Evony able to say without any fear of contradiction that they can spot the use of a bot within a period of time of say not more than 24 hours? And instantly remove such players from the game?
I'd suggest Brightfang that those who play the game within the rules and guidelines at least deserve to be treated honestly.
What I suspect is that you have only given us part of the story. I can quite see why those who work for Evony would behave accordingly.
But - we need to get down to some basics here. If you are misleading the customer, do you think s/he will find such acceptable. A dangerous place to go in my humble opinion.
What do I want from you? - Well I'd like complete honesty please. Then I can make my own informed decisions as to whether or not I continue to play the game.
I hope you are not ham strung by your employer and that they agree to a reply which is reassuringly honest.
I assure you as a network admin that it is possible to generate bots that are undetectable, it depends on the greed of the player. The bot is housed on the players computer and uses its resources not the servers to do its work. So the input is no different then a person except for timing and paterns. But the smarter bots simply run slower and use a randomizer to prevent patterns and make the timing look like a real person clicking.
Is it possibly for game runners to scour for every cheater and catch most yes, but its cost prohibitive!
To bring back the restraunt anology earlier. Restraunts are constantly ballancing (or at least trying) cost to clean and repair things vs cost of not. This is why restraunts don't look brand new and have a hospital cleanliness to them, as that is just to expensive the restraunt would go belly up trying to maintain that standard. Instead they opt for something they feel will maintain most customers but at the same time maximize there profits.
I garuntee Evony is up to the exact same thing, it makes no bussiness sence what so ever for them to try and drive customers away. But they also more then likely can't afford to have the level of software programers needed to catch just 90% of the cheaters. Which would still probably leave many. Instead they must accept a lower rate, which is testified to being done by several that have stated they know players who have been suspended.
I am certian Evony welcomes all LEGIT and hopefully conrete submissions of players cheating and takes action on them. But note that a players resources X days into the game is NOT proof in the slightest that they are cheating. As resources can be bought! Now Evony may, probably does, choose to check purchase records on reports of players with abnormally high resources. But they are not, and actually due to privacy should not and probably can't legaly, report back to you what the results of an investigation were or how a player obtained so many resources so quickly but are not being suspended or banned. Your just going to have to accept that they are taking action as it is common sences for them to do so ;)
How would anyone notice that people are being banned? Is it posted ANYWHERE? Finally Evony has acknowlege and is using the word cheat because they cannot bury their head in the sand anymore. Right now it feels like the only people policing the game is us,the players and Evony doesn't appear to be doing anything about cheaters.
They know the person through other channels, envoy is not the only means of communication ;)
The person comes back and admits to others they had an account banned. Guess what you can ban an email, you can ban an IP, you can ban a payment method. But you can't ban a person except in wording. Evony can say someone is banned but the person can change there email, they can change there IP, they can use a different payment method, they can lie about there name. So it is impossible to actually prevent someone from returning, it can only be complicated and if there offence is bad enough add another ban whenever they are noticed as being backed.
So yes it is up to the players to do the bulk of the finding. Note I said bulk not all.
---Okay, I was misreading the System eMail that was sent out. For some odd reason it said to me that people were using computer programs to generate bots. That I didn't see as much as people generating other accounts manually and yes, I noticed one alliance on server 48 get kicked and two main players from that alliance vanish, but they joined another alliance with their other accounts and that doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the people. That AFAIC had to do with a rumor that someone had a cheat that protected/helped strengthen their walls, which was BS. They just had a knowledge that few share about how to efficiently fortify your walls. That was not a cheat, that was a strategy and besides simple strategy, they held their position for so long because they didn't have friends, didn't accept members like they were going out of style and they didn't tell anyone what their strategy was, so when people got tired of one or both sitting in world chat saying "Come on attack me, my walls cannot be penetrated" and they did, only to lose, people complained they had a hack... lol. Evony is obviously using the term BOT in a broader sense. Understood completely. The use of the phrase "computer generated" in the system eMail was out of place, unnecessary, even misleading. I guess that's why all eMail messages were wiped from my inbox, before their 10-day expiration (?).
---Now, if you are really paying attention to IPs that log in (once they reach the top of the charts), fine, but the smart cheaters will move their alternative accounts to their other alliance when they reach the top (where you were unwise to state you will look into IPs) and then if their other alliance is too high on the charts, they will create another alliance for those alternative accounts to join. Hence, why you see one that has created 5 sister alliances, all which had less than 50 members when they created a new alliance... because their numbers were too high and high numbers bring too much attention Next week those 5 will be 6 and they will have another sister alliance, and another, and so on, and so on.
---Final banning of IPs that log in on multiple accounts, but haven't contacted admin to explain why they need more than one account on an IP (and exactly how many accounts they need), will be the only beginning to the solution. Posting a sticky consisting the offenders' names will add to the fear of getting banned and knock down an even larger portion of offenders. The mention of multiple accounts isn't exactly in a place where it can easily be found, as a matter of fact it is almost as hidden as eBay's technical support telephone number.
---As for those who get banned, If they haven't at least tried to follow the rules, they need to go... poof, end of story, sorry bout your cheating luck, you can't start a new account, you can't access any of your accounts, you lost your coins, you're SOL, see ya, byebye, two tears in a bucket-to-cry me a river, Adios, AMF, etc., etc., too bad... and everyone knows the truth why you got banned because John Doe read it on the board and told everyone in world chat when billy_joe_bob asked "what happened to F*rs*k*n/F*ll*n?, I tried to contact SirFookalot, SirFookalot2, SirFookalot3, SirFookalot4. SirFookalot5, etc., and it tells me user does not exist."
---Having multiple accounts hurts EVONY (just like it hurts an alliance). If there were 20 people who each had one alliance, each containing 99 "bot" accounts (+1) and they each resided in the USA, held jobs and had at least some attraction to the opposite sex, when someone new came along (or got attacked), there would be no one there to fight (or help) and it would get old, quick and the server would eventually be empty and no one discussing how fun it is.
---At least some response from Admin shows there is some* interest, but IMHO all interest needs to be focused on problems and to hell with new ideas, to make fun a game, that is quickly becoming a waste of time for those who aren't cheating.
---If I told you which alliances to watch on server 48, would you actually watch them or does a posse have to be formed and witch-hunt assembled before attention is...
. . .... hello? Hello? nm, I think attention has gone back to "new ideas" :p
<poke>
---Hello?
---You're going to have to crash the books, review War Reports, watch resource trades from one user to the next, watch switches from alliance to alliance if you want to single them out on your own. Maybe you can start issuing a cookie that contains hardware info so you know what system is logging into multiple accounts and if they paid for coins/items, nail em for retail fraud, sue them for the retail cost of every package, item, medal, etc., that they consumed while playing and throw the settlement into the fund for preservation and advancement of the evony community. One that covers multiple browsers, only allowing one account to log in at a time, unless they have a custom cookie from you, having your system auto-ban someone for having a custom cookie if their IP is not on the list.
---I wouldn't use my protected system to play online games no matter how fun it is, nor would I play games online while at work. I am no a lazy fook when at work, I work or I find something to work on. So, I could care less if evony had my system info, MAC address, what ever. Just like outside the box; I am alright with getting pulled over and searched as long as the hadji with the suicide bomb in the next car has a chance of being busted. As owners of the server you have a right to record IPs and you do, you have the right to ban IPs, because as stated in the ULA you can terminate an account at any time, for any or no reason, etc., etc., blah blah and if they don't like it, they can cry on another... teet.
---War, as well as diplomacy, is not for everyone. If they lie, they die. Hang them from their achiles tendon (network cable) and cut their throats (bottleneck), let em bleed out and make room for players who can follow the rules of engagement.
Thanks for that
Ironically, would it be wise to suggest that Evony would be better off adopting the bots?
I understand that the bots offer the opportunity to "farm" and queue buildings. I've played Tribal Wars and they offer a build queue on their free account.
By adopting the use of bots, Evony, would level the game for all?
Or is my wish to confront reality here somewhat naive?
1 ) Evony don't have the funds to stop the use of bots
2 ) Those who use them will gain an advantage over others - thus with time most players are forced to accept one of two inevitables
a ) They fall behind in the game and loose
b ) They have to use bots to enable them to stay on level terms
3 ) From what I can gather of these bots they simply provide programming which Evony haven't yet done so?
I call upon Evony to review this situation and review their stance and position.
All the very best
Darrell
---When you go to whisper or eMail the player and it says "User does not exist"
:eek: DOH! :eek:
:rolleyes:
---I agree there should be an EVONY said offenders list, title the sticky forum eSOL if you will. Then when people see their buddies being banned they will decide which account they need to keep and if they get banned while transferring resources from one account to the next, oh well... their name goes on the eSOL list too.