Is this a bannable offence?

Waffennacht

DerAlleinTiger wrote: »

I think one of the most important points is being missed here.

Bow power attacks only 'fire' when you release the button. You could hold it down all day long, finger or rubberband, and you'll just be standing there like a doofus with the arrow drawn back, staring at the boss.

So... good luck with that plan!

Good point, make it lightning or resto staff.

alexkdd99 wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

Chilly-McFreeze wrote: »

If you act like a rubberband... you shouldn't be surprised to be treated like a rubberband. Most people I know try to whisper said players. If they spam attacks for hours at empty dolmen and don't answer me, I take my chance and report them.

Which is fine, but who's to say (on console) that they are actually rubberbanding? If I got a message I personally would just say, yeah I was holding the button down, but had all means of communication cut off while I was paying attention to my phone or tv or something.

I can just see, because there is no actual program running, how difficult it would be for anyone to be punished. (For what OP was sayin)

Except one big thing people are not realizing, they don't have to prove anything. If it is suspected they can ban you and not worry about it. If you ever read the tos for pretty much any mmo you will see you can be banned for anything or nothing at all. While it's not likely you will be banned for nothing, they can if they want.

I just wannabe like, "3 day ban for CE? You better not give me grief over holding down a button!"

Elsonso

alexkdd99 wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

Chilly-McFreeze wrote: »

If you act like a rubberband... you shouldn't be surprised to be treated like a rubberband. Most people I know try to whisper said players. If they spam attacks for hours at empty dolmen and don't answer me, I take my chance and report them.

Which is fine, but who's to say (on console) that they are actually rubberbanding? If I got a message I personally would just say, yeah I was holding the button down, but had all means of communication cut off while I was paying attention to my phone or tv or something.

I can just see, because there is no actual program running, how difficult it would be for anyone to be punished. (For what OP was sayin)

Except one big thing people are not realizing, they don't have to prove anything. If it is suspected they can ban you and not worry about it. If you ever read the tos for pretty much any mmo you will see you can be banned for anything or nothing at all. While it's not likely you will be banned for nothing, they can if they want.

They are not going to ban people for "nothing at all", but this is (again) why I tell people not to act like a bot. Unless you are a bot. In which case, name your character "BOT" followed by a number, so it is easier to identify you.

Enslaved

Vulture051 wrote: »

I have a question.
Is equipping a bow, going to a dolmen, pointing myself in the direction the boss spawns, holding the shoot/swing key down with a rubberband, and leaving it overnight considered automation/botting and therefore a bannable offense? No programs, just a common rubber band.

What is the color of the band?

Unlikely_Ghostbuster

Here's a good rule of thumb:

If you have to ask whether or not something is against the rules, then, at the very least, you already suspect it's wrong.

So do not be shocked if you get banned.

I was doing the Dolmen quest for the Fighters Guild yesterday (Auridon Dolmens, PC NA), and one anchor had at least 20 people just standing there "rubber-banding." It's getting a bit ridiculous.

Sadly, this isn't even the only "botting" issue currently plaguing the game.

In Cyrodiil, all you need to do to get AP and XP for an attack/defense is to be within the area when the "tick" happens. You will constantly find people of your own faction in stealth, hidden somewhere within an often-contested keep or outpost. Or you'll find people perma-AFK inside a gate keep if your alliance isn't doing so well. If your alliance recently took a scroll, then there's a VERY high probability that you'll find more stealth-AFKs where the scroll is kept. People park their characters with a keyboard macro hitting a key every few moments to prevent being logged out for inactivity. They "earn" AP/XP for doing absolutely nothing.

This phenomenon of farming AP/XP in Cyrodiil with AFK characters, I'm sad to say, is not new. And it's far worse than just camping a dolmen because there are population caps in each campaign. Every character just *sitting* somewhere in Cyrodiil is taking up a population slot, but not helping to defend/conquer objectives. These PvP AFKs are doubly insidious because players can easily turn their ill-gotten AP into gold by selling Akiviri motif chapters and special-vendor gear via guild traders.

The Devs could easily fix BOTH issues (Dolmen botting and PvP AFKs) in one fell swoop. Just logout any character that fails these criteria:
(a) The character hasn't moved from the same spot in over 30 minutes.
(b) The character has been submitting regular, repetitious input (e.g., looping heavy attacks).
(c) The character is regularly earning AP/XP without moving around.
(d) The player doesn't respond to in-game messages in any supported language.

The first three conditions can be automated. Failing the first three, a suspected case of botting could then be escalated to a GM for the fourth condition (sending a message). If someone fails all four criteria, logout their character. If it was a mistake, the player will just log back in -- no harm, no foul. If it wasn't a mistake, they won't log back in, and the problem is solved. Additionally, if an account has failed these criteria and get logged out multiple times without immediately logging back into the game, ban them for botting. Easy as falling down.

SirAndy

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

Kodrac wrote: »

Yes, that's unattended play and against the ToS.

And common sense plays a role in this.

If common sense was actually common they wouldn't have to name it that, the common part would be redundant.

It should really be renamed to uncommon sense ...

SaRuZ

That's so stupid that this is a bannable offense yet botters farm by the boat loads and nothing gets done Lol.

They're really desperate for those "active" numbers aren't they?

ADarklore

Vulture051 wrote: »

I have a question.
Is equipping a bow, going to a dolmen, pointing myself in the direction the boss spawns, holding the shoot/swing key down with a rubberband, and leaving it overnight considered automation/botting and therefore a bannable offense? No programs, just a common rubber band.

THIS forum post should answer your question.

Nahtal

Vulture051 wrote: »

I have a question.
Is equipping a bow, going to a dolmen, pointing myself in the direction the boss spawns, holding the shoot/swing key down with a rubberband, and leaving it overnight considered automation/botting and therefore a bannable offense? No programs, just a common rubber band.

Sorry but this is the most stupid thing i ever have read.

zaria

lordrichter wrote: »

alexkdd99 wrote: »

Waffennacht wrote: »

Chilly-McFreeze wrote: »

If you act like a rubberband... you shouldn't be surprised to be treated like a rubberband. Most people I know try to whisper said players. If they spam attacks for hours at empty dolmen and don't answer me, I take my chance and report them.

Which is fine, but who's to say (on console) that they are actually rubberbanding? If I got a message I personally would just say, yeah I was holding the button down, but had all means of communication cut off while I was paying attention to my phone or tv or something.

I can just see, because there is no actual program running, how difficult it would be for anyone to be punished. (For what OP was sayin)

Except one big thing people are not realizing, they don't have to prove anything. If it is suspected they can ban you and not worry about it. If you ever read the tos for pretty much any mmo you will see you can be banned for anything or nothing at all. While it's not likely you will be banned for nothing, they can if they want.

They are not going to ban people for "nothing at all", but this is (again) why I tell people not to act like a bot. Unless you are a bot. In which case, name your character "BOT" followed by a number, so it is easier to identify you.

Nothing at all is being AfK, who is legal, then I joined the dolmen zerg I just went AfK for smoke or other reason while in group and got xp and the chest. legal and you would be kicked if you was afk too long.
Sitting and holding down the button while doing other stuff is legal, the same way as telling the people on the airport to be careful with your suitcase so it don't explode as a joke or rolling down in the ditch for fun then the cop ask you to walk on the road marking
Or in ESO dress in the prison rag run into walls doing puncturing sweeps, its legal, but not smart

IronCrystal

SaRuZ wrote: »

That's so stupid that this is a bannable offense yet botters farm by the boat loads and nothing gets done Lol.

They're really desperate for those "active" numbers aren't they?

Botting is a bannable offense. Your argument is invalid.

Eisenhovver

If you have to ask...

ZiRM

Yep, permabannable.

KanedaSyndrome

Vulture051 wrote: »

I have a question.
Is equipping a bow, going to a dolmen, pointing myself in the direction the boss spawns, holding the shoot/swing key down with a rubberband, and leaving it overnight considered automation/botting and therefore a bannable offense? No programs, just a common rubber band.

yes

KanedaSyndrome

Vulture051 wrote: »

Blah. There's only so many times I can grind a guy to 50 without wanting to paint the wall with my brains.

Would the paint be red or white?

altemriel

Vulture051 wrote: »

I have a question.
Is equipping a bow, going to a dolmen, pointing myself in the direction the boss spawns, holding the shoot/swing key down with a rubberband, and leaving it overnight considered automation/botting and therefore a bannable offense? No programs, just a common rubber band.

yes

Jennifur_Vultee

Vulture051 wrote: »

Blah. There's only so many times I can grind a guy to 50 without wanting to paint the wall with my brains.

You're seriously going to complain about having to play to get to level 50? You would never have survived when Veteran Ranks were around. You had to get every character to VR16 individually...there was no getting to 50 and jumping to your max VR level on new characters. When CP replaced VR I had 3 VR16 characters and several from VR 5 to VR8. Maybe you'd be happier if all characters started out at max level...oh wait they pretty much did that with Tamriel One.

Eleusian

Vulture051 wrote: »

I have a question.
Is equipping a bow, going to a dolmen, pointing myself in the direction the boss spawns, holding the shoot/swing key down with a rubberband, and leaving it overnight considered automation/botting and therefore a bannable offense? No programs, just a common rubber band.

Yes they ban , I got banned 3 days. Don't do it between 8-5 est a GM mite be on . At night seems it's a free for all

Vulture051

Nahtal wrote: »

Vulture051 wrote: »

I have a question.
Is equipping a bow, going to a dolmen, pointing myself in the direction the boss spawns, holding the shoot/swing key down with a rubberband, and leaving it overnight considered automation/botting and therefore a bannable offense? No programs, just a common rubber band.

Sorry but this is the most stupid thing i ever have read.

Then you haven't read your birth certificate.

KanedaSyndrome wrote: »

Vulture051 wrote: »

Blah. There's only so many times I can grind a guy to 50 without wanting to paint the wall with my brains.

Would the paint be red or white?

Red with grey chunks.

Jennifur_Vultee wrote: »

Vulture051 wrote: »

Blah. There's only so many times I can grind a guy to 50 without wanting to paint the wall with my brains.

You're seriously going to complain about having to play to get to level 50? You would never have survived when Veteran Ranks were around. You had to get every character to VR16 individually...there was no getting to 50 and jumping to your max VR level on new characters. When CP replaced VR I had 3 VR16 characters and several from VR 5 to VR8. Maybe you'd be happier if all characters started out at max level...oh wait they pretty much did that with Tamriel One.

"In my day we had to walk 50 miles in the snow to school. BOTH WAYS!. You little s***s don't know how easy you got it!"

"...this is why your kids put you in the home Mrs. Vultee. Now, eat your soup."

ZOS_Ragnar

We have Closed this thread as comments have started getting a bit out of hand. As many of you have pointed out, this type of behavior is considered a violation of our Terms of Service.

Turelus quoted a previous statement from us on this topic; for viability I have quoted him below.

Turelus wrote: »

Yes this is an offence which can get you banned. See official comment from Jessica below.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone,

We know there have been a lot of questions recently about botting, automated play, what’s a Terms of Service Violation and what isn’t, and what we’re doing to combat TOS-violating behavior. We’d like to answer some of those questions and provide insight.

Per our Terms of Service, this is the definition of botting and automated play:

Utilizing automation for your character is a violation of our Terms of Service. This is defined as taking action on your character, without human input, to further advance your progress in the game. Which is considered botting.

Recently, some of you have asked if it’s okay to put tape or a rubber band on your controller. The short answer is “No.” Automating your character in any way, including placing tape or a rubber-band on a console controller, is considered a violation of our Terms of Service, and action may be taken on your account. You must be actively controlling your character.

In regards to our efforts to combat botting and automated play, we’re tackling it on two fronts: Game Development and Customer Support.

On the Game Development front, we are auditing the monsters that are most commonly targeted by those who bot and automate play to ensure the spawn timers are what they should be. As we find them, we’re fixing any monsters that are instantly re-spawning or on a spawn timer that is shorter than intended.

On the Customer Support side of things, our Terms of Service team suspends and bans accounts daily. We review all TOS reports that we receive, and prioritize the investigations of accounts that have received multiple complaints. We regularly send our Support Agents in-game to watch high-traffic areas such as Dolmens, and take action on any violators we identify. We turn over identified “black marketeers” and repeat offenders to Sony and Microsoft, which sometimes results in a ban of the individual’s PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. We also do other secret things.

So how can you help us with our efforts to get rid of those who are botting and/or automating their characters? Reporting them to us is a huge help, and we do review every ticket we receive.

<snip info on how to report>

We hope this info helps – thank you for being a part of our community and continuing to report any potential TOS violations you see!

Edit to snip out reporting information and bold important information in Jessica's post.