Curse

Digitalblast · Oct 26, 2005, 02:56 AM // 02:56

when i see these spammers i try sell them my stuff. Figured if they have so much coin anyway they may want some crap i cant sell.

dargon · Oct 26, 2005, 03:42 AM // 03:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheGuildWarsPenguin

OH GREAT ANOTHER SPAM BOT!
not virgoods, but something called guildwars.cc!

Actually, guildwars.cc is virgoods, the site is a redirect.

generik · Oct 26, 2005, 07:56 AM // 07:56

Wow.. I am hating this virgoods lamers more and more by the second.

Well, since Anet already logs all chat messages, they should simply just plug in a database frontend, and simply like... idk.. search the database for users who breathed a word of these companies, and ban them?

Better yet, set it run periodically. Like every 10 minutes. Problem solved.

dargon · Oct 26, 2005, 12:44 PM // 12:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by generik

Wow.. I am hating this virgoods lamers more and more by the second.

Well, since Anet already logs all chat messages, they should simply just plug in a database frontend, and simply like... idk.. search the database for users who breathed a word of these companies, and ban them?

Better yet, set it run periodically. Like every 10 minutes. Problem solved.

The problem with that would be if I said something like

"screw off you virgoods lamer"

and then got kicked for it, I'd be more than a little annoyed

Draygo Korvan · Oct 26, 2005, 04:04 PM // 16:04

I think the only way to stop virgoods spammers is to flag any trade that is over 50k in exchange for nothing. Then a human can look at the trade to determine if it was legitament, then examine the account to see what account it got its money from. The only way anet can stop virgoods is to go to the source of their money.

Sax Dakota · Oct 27, 2005, 01:16 AM // 01:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaklex

A.net is actively pursuing these botters and appreciates all of the help from those that continue to report them. Any more detailed information would have to come from Gaile herself.

If this were the case....the only thing that they would need to do, is go to Lions Arch district 1, and look at it. I started messaging these 5400 words per minute typers, asked them "How they were able to type so fast" The reply I got back was "Need what?" and there were 7 people replying the same thing "need what" In that span of 10 minutes I found 7.....now how are they actively pursuing....

Phades · Oct 27, 2005, 04:11 AM // 04:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draygo Korvan

I think the only way to stop virgoods spammers is to flag any trade that is over 50k in exchange for nothing. Then a human can look at the trade to determine if it was legitament, then examine the account to see what account it got its money from. The only way anet can stop virgoods is to go to the source of their money.

That would just cause the person buying to be punished and continue to fund virgoods. Essentially they would first have to get rid of all trial accounts. Then try to purge any perminant accounts that activly spam or perform such trades, while setting up some kind of name filter to catch the bots setting up the accounts slowing them down from making new ones. There are probably more measures to create speed bumps and cause removal conditions, but its not simple.

Bascially its not going to happen over night, but its going to take a little bit more than just banning accounts to try and eliminate people on trials or performing CC fruad.

One and Two · Oct 27, 2005, 05:08 AM // 05:08

50k is not a lot.

And no, you will not stop them.
They do this for a living.

Draygo Korvan · Oct 27, 2005, 05:09 PM // 17:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by One and Two

50k is not a lot.

And no, you will not stop them.
They do this for a living.

Its not alot, but if you think about it how often do people give 50k in exchange for absolutely nothing? All I'm talking about is that the trade gets flagged with a chat history for GM's to look at for any evidence of virgoods trades. While virgoods may not be able to be completely eliminated, anet can vastly increase their operation costs.

Shanaeri Rynale · Oct 27, 2005, 05:54 PM // 17:54

I suspect they must do this already. But then all the sellers have to do is say just add 1 wood plank/scale into the trade to get the money. Also a few people have multiple accounts and regually use other money to top up the other account.

It would mean the devs looking every trade to determine if it looked valid or not. Which then brings into play the question of Ebay money laundering via valid trades.

By far the best way is to address the reasons why people want to use these services in the first place, as you cant get rid of them without hurting the legitimate player.

Tactical-Dillusions · Nov 06, 2005, 12:20 AM // 00:20

Here are my results from three days of bot hunting. As you could probably guess, i'm not his favourite person in Tyria!

The Son Of Morgoth · Nov 06, 2005, 07:15 AM // 07:15

Just do what i do:
report and ignore....let some other noob fall for it

Zakarr · Nov 06, 2005, 08:54 AM // 08:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by burai

I think some these are real bots - as in programs designed specifically to spam. I guess the coding wasn't meant for trading sessions. Of course it could have been coincidence, but it's worked more than once.

Try it - you may like it

I have tried. It does nothing. In Diablo II experience runner bots were easy to jam because you can't move if someone wants to trade. Botters added some "human like" message scripts so people would think their are humans but it was easy to detect them from their actions.

The key to ban spam botters is to adapt new ad-messages very quickly and then search same messages from chat logs which are repeated often by same players. To avoid consuming too much server resources, these searches should include only popular areas like Tombs, Lion's Arch, Ascalon, Pre-sear Ascalon and Droknar's Forge. You could also ask player to write some numbers from the messed up picture everytime you log in. I don't mind if it would help to get rid of these bots.

These bot accounts must have some kind of IP. Why Anet doesn't track them and destroy the nests directly?