Curse

spun ducky · May 27, 2010, 09:04 AM // 09:04

If the moderators don't mind I can elaborate on one of the methods they used that created some of the bans and also some of the situations of "but I only botted on my alt account but my main got banned too". So I will respectfully wait for an answer as I rather not get banned from the forums.

majoho · May 27, 2010, 09:06 AM // 09:06

Don't post anything that would help potential botters from being detected.

insta111 · May 27, 2010, 09:07 AM // 09:07

The scary thing is that some people honestly think that botting is part of the metagame. How can not playing the game be part of the metagame?

majoho · May 27, 2010, 09:09 AM // 09:09

They'll say anything and blame anyone else just so they can feel better.

And they don't care about the game and only make threads here to enlighten us

Paradise Lost · May 27, 2010, 09:10 AM // 09:10

Apparently 5 people who never botted got banned just for being on the same wireless as a botter from QQ. Now thats a screw up. It appears that they IP banned alot of people. Which explains why alt accounts of bot accounts were also banned.

Kumu Honua · May 27, 2010, 09:15 AM // 09:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paradise Lost

Apparently 5 people who never botted got banned just for being on the same wireless as a botter from QQ. Now thats a screw up. It appears that they IP banned alot of people. Which explains why alt accounts of bot accounts were also banned.

Occam's Razor.

Bot accounts that were alts of a main account. The accounts were linked via credit cards. Sure the person may not have botted on their main account, but did so on 10 others and funneled the cash to the prime account. When caught, all accounts associated to the CC of the bots account are banned wholesale.

Man, I'm channeling Horatio Cane...

majoho · May 27, 2010, 09:16 AM // 09:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paradise Lost

Apparently 5 people who never botted got banned just for being on the same wireless as a botter from QQ. Now thats a screw up. It appears that they IP banned alot of people. Which explains why alt accounts of bot accounts were also banned.

Alt accounts of botters SHOULD be banned, there really is no difference which account you bot on.

Seriously you don't think you can keep your "title" account safe by making money by botting on an alt account do you?

NeferJackal · May 27, 2010, 09:17 AM // 09:17

Nuff said, dont believe the majority of the claims of innocence here. You paid the price for cheating, good riddance.

aspi · May 27, 2010, 09:22 AM // 09:22

Very very good news, I hope they are all legit bans and noone was punished for very hard work. But I trust that you can see which ones are bots and not.

Thanks for the response.

Sarevok Thordin · May 27, 2010, 09:25 AM // 09:25

Faith somewhat restored, Anet were simply using the Valve Method of banning.

Good show!

To Botters: HA HA.

Nerel · May 27, 2010, 09:26 AM // 09:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by majoho

Alt accounts of botters SHOULD be banned, there really is no difference which account you bot on.

Seriously you don't think you can keep your "title" account safe by making money by botting on an alt account do you?

While I do agree with this in principle, Anet should have a pretty high burden of proof before banning the non-botting accounts to ensure that innocent people don't get caught up in the bot sweep...

IP address isn't good enough, not alone... checking the logs to see where the bot account empties it's cash/loot... probably a better idea.

majoho · May 27, 2010, 09:31 AM // 09:31

I agree, obviously there should be evidence of massive trade between the accounts.

Ariovist Lynxkind · May 27, 2010, 10:12 AM // 10:12

Thank you Anet. While I accept the reality that you cant exactly do anything about them in GW1 (cause all your resources are focused on GW2, and hopefully a way of preventing it) you have renewed my faith a bit with this ban.

I have to laugh at this thread for some parts though. Legal action? Sorry, but to me that is a joke. You violated a contract you agreed to upon the purchase of the game, this is your reward.

To those who 'only used a bot once, for 5 minutes, with no gain,' you still knowingly broke the rules. You knew it was against the terms and conditions, but you still did it, deal with it.

On the other hand, the truly innocent ones that accidentally got caught up in this, if you feel you have been unjustly banned, as others have said: take it up with support.

Kudos, Anet.

Neith · May 27, 2010, 10:23 AM // 10:23

Now I agree with banning the bots, and applaud the way in which it was done. But on the flip side, i received a text last night from someone i've known for a couple of years now, met the kid on the game, he tried logging in last night for the first time in several months. He's on my friends list so I do have a pretty good idea that he hasn't logged on in quite a while, and he freaked out because his account was banned due to botting. Now whether or not he has well I personally seriously doubt that he has, yes I know he needs to take up with Anet. But I do highly doubt this kid ever botted.

Reverend Dr · May 27, 2010, 10:23 AM // 10:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kumu Honua

Occam's Razor.

Bot accounts that were alts of a main account. The accounts were linked via credit cards.

No. Credit card purchases are encrypted. If your database stores this information or which accounts certain cards were used on, then it is a horribly insecure database and no one should use it.

Seriously, if they can run any type of check to correlate CC's and accounts then their system just should not be used.

Really I'm sure it was just a ban on all accounts in a wireless IP range. If you are going to pull occam's razor (which the conditions for it, never actually occur in the real world), then you'd have to go with IP range bans.

SunfallE · May 27, 2010, 10:33 AM // 10:33

Kudos to all of the staff that worked hard on enacting the bans. Plenty of us non-botting players greatly appreciate it.

TheRaven · May 27, 2010, 10:35 AM // 10:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paradise Lost

They aren't exactly telling the truth ANet. Over the past 2 weeks ive been using texmod to get the cartography titles and ive been banned! Im sending a support ticket but if this is the case then im pretty sure their detection methods are whack.

Ive no idea whether ill get my account back now!

I use texmod everyday for cartography and my account is still there. Must be something else.

Reverend Dr · May 27, 2010, 10:35 AM // 10:35

Actually I have a legitimate question: If I sign up a smurf guild for an AT with only intention of it forfieting, but this is done such that there can actually be enough guilds to have an AT, is this match manipulation?

Ariovist Lynxkind · May 27, 2010, 10:41 AM // 10:41

Two things I forgot to add in my previous post:

1) Those saying GW should/should have implemented cheat shield/*insert bot prevention program here*: Ever stopped to think they had considered it, but it was incompatible with their software? There could have been issues that interfered with the client or the servers. Just an idea

2) For those who felt the banscythe: be glad it was Anet taking your account, and not some hacker who slipped a code into the bot, allowing them to access your account, sell your stuff then delete all your characters. Just saying

McMullen · May 27, 2010, 10:51 AM // 10:51

Can't really describe how brilliant A.Nets reaction to this is, really makes up for it being delayed.
Thank you! Please keep the banscythe coming.