How to stop bot automation.

Phinix1

The appearance of in-game GM's issuing temporary locks to 1% of the bots a few times a week will not solve this problem. Every other major industry presence knows this. Why should a company like ZOS, brandishing the revered Bethesda name, be so behind the times?

The most important and effective deterrent to botting, as every other major studio has determined, is to use pattern recognition filters on movement and behavior to detect any scripted automation, and similarly TO MONITOR THE USE OF EXTERNAL APPLICATIONS (specifically those that access key input/output systems) and external libraries for similar suspicious patterns.

Even if the bot programmers add in sufficient "fluff" (for example, I have seen 1 bot in a chain reliably take 5 steps back before continuing with the group, to attempt to make the group as a whole look more "natural"), there will still be whole blocks of pattern-matching data to incriminate them.

Programs like AutoHotkey need to be intercepted and monitored for any script bursting on a single keybind past a certain threshold needed to enable shift-click binding and the like. This program has legitimate use since ZOS opted to leave shift-click, alt-click, etc. binding capabilities out of the game natively. However, without such monitoring it can easily be used to bind an entire AOE bot rotation to a single key, making botters' jobs much easier.

This is just one example of what I would consider a yellow-list item. Something that needs to be monitored, but not necessarily an automatic account lock.

You need to establish a blacklist of red flag application processes over time, and enforce against them with immediate character lockouts that must be resolved through customer support. Having the customer submit certain system information (which can easily be automated), Support will have all the information they need to determine what specific process tripped the filter, and inform the customer again of the EULA they agreed to as contract to access the game, that X specific application is not permitted, or that a specific use (burst macros to a keybind) are not permitted.

Follow this simple process for enforcement:

First offense on the account: Temporary lockout of all characters. Notation on account (internally) of first warning given and record of confirmation by the customer to unlock.

Second offense: Banned for 30 days. Notation on account (internally) of second warning given and record of confirmation by the customer to unlock.

Third offense: PERMANENT BAN. No refund for remaining game time or initial purchase


The community needs to continue to put pressure on the company to take action on par with industry standards, if expected to pay a premium level monthly subscription fee.

EDIT: Threads posting videos, even when that thread does not contain the names of the bots visible in the video, are now being deleted as "naming and shaming." Yet the only real shame should be on ZOS for allowing this to continue so long.

ShadowDarkwalker

Additionally, and I have seen this work very well, are the use of in-game Marshals and player Wardens. Let me explain:

Marshals are similar to ZOS forum trackers that troll the forums looking for people who violate the forum rules. These people, generally 1 or 2 per zone (depending on population size), play the game as would normal players except their job is to look for violations, or check out potential violations that people report either in /zone chat, or filed exploit tickets. Im sure we already have these however, they work extremely well with Wardens.

Wardens are general players and are strictly volunteers who operate under an NDA, not to disclose their roles to the general public. These people monitor things around, act and play normally within the game itself, all the while watching for potential violations. Their role is to spot these violations and report them directly to the Marshals, so that an official ZOS rep can take the proper action. Wardens also have very small functions they can use to keep the peace, such as using a /silence method to keep people from harassing other players, or generally abusing/offending people in general chat. This is a temporary function meant to keep the peace, and also serve as a warning to the offending player, as each recorded violation gets accredited to that player's account, of which can then be taken into consideration by an official ZOS rep. Wardens can also be used to help with general problems that can save the Marshals (or other ZOS reps) some time to focus on other issues.

I know the immediate concern is trusting a general player with such power. This is why these people would need to be carefully chosen by ZOS and fully entrusted to work with ZOS employees on a strictly volunteer basis. There have been plenty of these people in the past, with other MMO's, that have been utilized in this fashion to greatly enhance the quality of the game. These people can be of great use to ZOS, and to assist in lightening the load, to a degree, so that multiple issues can be tended to simultaneously. They can also assist ZOS in finding and reporting the problems that people have the most trouble with, by chatting and playing with the majority of players so that they have a first-hand knowledge of what seems to be the biggest problems to solve.

In the end, this allows ZOS to have more eyes in the field, per se, and more tools to work with. The teamwork tandem can help to discover, identify, and potentially solve a great deal of issues, versus just ZOS working alone. Volunteer players who enjoy the game and want to see it improve will have no problem stepping up to the plate, but again, these people need to be chosen wisely by ZOS.

Good post OP (and is a very good suggestion, I might add), lets keep the ideas coming and help this game improve.

Laura

very well thought out post. Kudos and +1 awesome for bringing up a concern without

WHY 4 SO MANI BOTZ


I'd have your first boting offence be a permanent ban though. no exceptions.

aco5712

While i do hate the massive amounts of bots and it does ruin the game, the whole behavior tracking kinda breaks down when people grind mobs. Me personally, i have a couple higher levels and i have gone through alot of the story in the DC side. So i created a new player and to avoid redoing all those quests, mob grinding for levels becomes a better way. When your mob grinding you get into a sort of rhythm and follow the same paths and this could be mistaken for a bot (and i think i have been because i am currently suspended when i havent done anything wrong ) Unlike the bots i do use all 5 skills, pots and ulti's so maybe a behavior tracker + skill analysis would be better? I know most bots wear the soul shriven things you get at level 1 and just go in groups spamming either bitings jabs (templar) or crystal shards (sorc). Thats my 2 cents

ElliottXO

ShadowDarkwalker wrote: »

Additionally, and I have seen this work very well, are the use of in-game Marshals and player Wardens. Let me explain:

Marshals are similar to ZOS forum trackers that troll the forums looking for people who violate the forum rules. These people, generally 1 or 2 per zone (depending on population size), play the game as would normal players except their job is to look for violations, or check out potential violations that people report either in /zone chat, or filed exploit tickets. Im sure we already have these however, they work extremely well with Wardens.

Wardens are general players and are strictly volunteers who operate under an NDA, not to disclose their roles to the general public. These people monitor things around, act and play normally within the game itself, all the while watching for potential violations. Their role is to spot these violations and report them directly to the Marshals, so that an official ZOS rep can take the proper action. Wardens also have very small functions they can use to keep the peace, such as using a /silence method to keep people from harassing other players, or generally abusing/offending people in general chat. This is a temporary function meant to keep the peace, and also serve as a warning to the offending player, as each recorded violation gets accredited to that player's account, of which can then be taken into consideration by an official ZOS rep. Wardens can also be used to help with general problems that can save the Marshals (or other ZOS reps) some time to focus on other issues.

I know the immediate concern is trusting a general player with such power. This is why these people would need to be carefully chosen by ZOS and fully entrusted to work with ZOS employees on a strictly volunteer basis. There have been plenty of these people in the past, with other MMO's, that have been utilized in this fashion to greatly enhance the quality of the game. These people can be of great use to ZOS, and to assist in lightening the load, to a degree, so that multiple issues can be tended to simultaneously. They can also assist ZOS in finding and reporting the problems that people have the most trouble with, by chatting and playing with the majority of players so that they have a first-hand knowledge of what seems to be the biggest problems to solve.

In the end, this allows ZOS to have more eyes in the field, per se, and more tools to work with. The teamwork tandem can help to discover, identify, and potentially solve a great deal of issues, versus just ZOS working alone. Volunteer players who enjoy the game and want to see it improve will have no problem stepping up to the plate, but again, these people need to be chosen wisely by ZOS.

Good post OP (and is a very good suggestion, I might add), lets keep the ideas coming and help this game improve.

More reporting is pointless if ZOS does not assign enough man power to follow up the reports. I mean they can't even follow up banning in the zones that are being botted 24/7.

Those Marshals/Wardens would need the power to ban/temp-ban in order to make a difference.

Phinix1

ElliottXO wrote: »

More reporting is pointless if ZOS does not assign enough man power to follow up the reports. I mean they can't even follow up banning in the zones that are being botted 24/7.

Those Marshals/Wardens would need the power to ban/temp-ban in order to make a difference.

Sadly, I must concur. Even after spending hours of my life taking HD video of the bot trains before reporting them one by one with time, place, and a link to the video on Youtube, ZOS can't even manage to send a GM to the areas I hand them on a silver platter after days or even weeks of waiting.

Not only that, but they are censoring my reports on these forums for "naming and shaming" even though the names are nowhere on the forum, and you have to manually pause the video with a magnifying glass to see them.

What good is reporting if nothing is done? Why am I wasting my time?

It seems more and more to me that ZOS has made a deal with the Chinese gold farmer companies like Uldah. Maybe they figure they are doing their humanitarian good deed giving these sweat shop kids a chance to earn a wage, but all they are really doing is supporting extortion and human slavery. GG.

But hey, they make a little on the side to help cover their costs so I guess it's a win-win?

Gwarok

+10 Insightful @AlienDiplomat sadly, I could only click once.

Sakiri

Ive had no issues posting bot videos.

Hide the UI first maybe?

I keep it bound for screenshots.

ShadowDarkwalker

ElliottXO wrote: »

More reporting is pointless if ZOS does not assign enough man power to follow up the reports. I mean they can't even follow up banning in the zones that are being botted 24/7.

Those Marshals/Wardens would need the power to ban/temp-ban in order to make a difference.

That was actually the point of the post ... the job of a Marshal is to do just that. When playing in-game as a character, the person's job (whether it be a dev, or moderator, or other employee of ZOS) is to keep an eye out for the bots, or other violators of the EULA/ToS. They are supposed to mask themselves by appearing as a regular player but their real job is to find people who are taking advantage of the system. Having said that, they would most certainly have the power to ban/tamp-ban those who violate the rules.

Wardens on the other hand, being paying subscription players who have Volunteered their services to help, would only have limited powers, but enough to at least temporarily stop the violation until a real ZOS representative (a Marshal) can come, assess, and assign the necessary punishment, if any. Wardens are merely extensions for Marshals to use because Marshals cannot be everywhere at once (being only a couple in a zone at any particular time) and cannot see everything happening, so they can only investigate what is being reported, both by players and by Wardens. The Wardens are there to help these Marshals in finding violations and have only very limited powers to assist the Marshals in doing their jobs.

Again, with such power, ZOS would need to carefully choose these people to make the system work as efficiently as possible. As to what pertains to "carefully chosen" would have to be left up to ZOS and their company policies, however, having seen the system work flawlessly before, I know it could provide great benefit to ZOS and help to make the game a better product; not to mention, alleviating some of the mounting # of tickets that are filed daily in-game.

Auric_ESO

Okay @AlienDiplomat My question to you is which of your suggestions are being actively worked on by ZOS. None? All three? You see, we dont know and they shouldnt tell us but we'll see it when it comes out. How long does it take to dev, test, and deploy? A day? A week? A month? I dont know so I cant say it should be out by now. I can tell you that I went to alot of the lowbie zones today and the bot problem is ALOT better, even the underground/teleporting/flying bots problem is alot better. Its not fixed but much better than two weeks ago.

k9mouse

I do agree that ZOS should used a pattern detecting aspect for bots. I do have a little concern also -- My play style is farming / grinding (used for personal used). I might rise some flags with pattern detect, but I do report bots, do quests and talk with other players.

With people with play styles like mine, we might trigger the pattern detect. I do think ZOS should used a system like that, but how does one handle real players that act like bots sometimes?

BOTS are so "in your face" about braking TOS, I have no problem what so ever for anyone post the account or char names on the forums.