How can ZOS tell?

Malyore · March 25

When accounts get reported for being bots, how can ZOS tell if this is the case or not? I have reported some that are clearly low level, gibberish names farming in starter areas. Those report tickets get confirmed. But when it's with higher level accounts though and actual names in dlc zones, usually I get asked from support to provide videos, videos I don't have because I always assume ZOS was able to "track" an accounts impact on their serves and see how it's been playing (down to how their button inputs) and such. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

If how they do it can't be revealed so that people can't bypass it, I understand. It's just strange to me how I can see two characters behaving exactly the same, and some get confirmed as bots and others can't get confirmed by ZOS.

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO · March 25

Malyore wrote: »

When accounts get reported for being bots, how can ZOS tell if this is the case or not? I have reported some that are clearly low level, gibberish names farming in starter areas. Those report tickets get confirmed. But when it's with higher level accounts though and actual names in dlc zones, usually I get asked from support to provide videos, videos I don't have because I always assume ZOS was able to "track" an accounts impact on their serves and see how it's been playing (down to how their button inputs) and such. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

If how they do it can't be revealed so that people can't bypass it, I understand. It's just strange to me how I can see two characters behaving exactly the same, and some get confirmed as bots and others can't get confirmed by ZOS.

Likely due to the tools being used to run the bots. Some are probably more sophisticated or the keys used to create the accounts are fraudulent etc.

Malyore · March 25

I see. I play on Sony (unfortunately) and so I was always surprised to even see bots in the first place. I feel like lately I've been seeing a lot more though. I wonder if the support for add-ons will increase this.

Wish I could get all the goodies they've farmed before ZOS smites the account haha.

ImmortalCX · March 25

Malyore wrote: »

When accounts get reported for being bots, how can ZOS tell if this is the case or not? I have reported some that are clearly low level, gibberish names farming in starter areas. Those report tickets get confirmed. But when it's with higher level accounts though and actual names in dlc zones, usually I get asked from support to provide videos, videos I don't have because I always assume ZOS was able to "track" an accounts impact on their serves and see how it's been playing (down to how their button inputs) and such. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

If how they do it can't be revealed so that people can't bypass it, I understand. It's just strange to me how I can see two characters behaving exactly the same, and some get confirmed as bots and others can't get confirmed by ZOS.

How do you know I'm not a bot when you see me farming?

There is an invisible speed farming setup that people are using now.

zaria · March 25

Malyore wrote: »

When accounts get reported for being bots, how can ZOS tell if this is the case or not? I have reported some that are clearly low level, gibberish names farming in starter areas. Those report tickets get confirmed. But when it's with higher level accounts though and actual names in dlc zones, usually I get asked from support to provide videos, videos I don't have because I always assume ZOS was able to "track" an accounts impact on their serves and see how it's been playing (down to how their button inputs) and such. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

If how they do it can't be revealed so that people can't bypass it, I understand. It's just strange to me how I can see two characters behaving exactly the same, and some get confirmed as bots and others can't get confirmed by ZOS.

Probably as for farming bots its a bit hard to see if some are bots or some farming while watching something on screen 2.
Many years since i saw obvious bots on PC-EU, and its pretty obvious then you see them.

On console i understand they are much more common, who is a bit weird as boting on console would require an hacked one and bot tools compiled for the console who sounds pretty hardcore for me.

El_Borracho · March 25

zaria wrote: »

Malyore wrote: »

When accounts get reported for being bots, how can ZOS tell if this is the case or not? I have reported some that are clearly low level, gibberish names farming in starter areas. Those report tickets get confirmed. But when it's with higher level accounts though and actual names in dlc zones, usually I get asked from support to provide videos, videos I don't have because I always assume ZOS was able to "track" an accounts impact on their serves and see how it's been playing (down to how their button inputs) and such. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

If how they do it can't be revealed so that people can't bypass it, I understand. It's just strange to me how I can see two characters behaving exactly the same, and some get confirmed as bots and others can't get confirmed by ZOS.

Probably as for farming bots its a bit hard to see if some are bots or some farming while watching something on screen 2.
Many years since i saw obvious bots on PC-EU, and its pretty obvious then you see them.

On console i understand they are much more common, who is a bit weird as boting on console would require an hacked one and bot tools compiled for the console who sounds pretty hardcore for me.

Hacked consoles are not that uncommon with Playstations, particularly when there are older models still in use at the same time as newer models on the same game. This was a major problem with GTA V when PS3s and PS4s were in use as PS3s were hacked to do money cheats, mess with players, and ruin gameplay. It would not surprise me that this goes on in ESO.

katanagirl1 · March 25

Bots on PS are usually level 3 characters with the randomly generated names. The people running the bots aren’t going to level them up to CP 160 just to farm mats to refine.

You probably mistake players like me without keen eye who are running their route from node to node and look like bots in their efficiency.

Malyore · March 26

ImmortalCX wrote: »

Malyore wrote: »

When accounts get reported for being bots, how can ZOS tell if this is the case or not? I have reported some that are clearly low level, gibberish names farming in starter areas. Those report tickets get confirmed. But when it's with higher level accounts though and actual names in dlc zones, usually I get asked from support to provide videos, videos I don't have because I always assume ZOS was able to "track" an accounts impact on their serves and see how it's been playing (down to how their button inputs) and such. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

If how they do it can't be revealed so that people can't bypass it, I understand. It's just strange to me how I can see two characters behaving exactly the same, and some get confirmed as bots and others can't get confirmed by ZOS.

How do you know I'm not a bot when you see me farming?

There is an invisible speed farming setup that people are using now.

@ImmortalCX
I assume someone is a bot if they are not using the sprint, cycling the exact same path without deviation, standing at a node site even when there isn't a node, dragging their bodies against walls instead of walking around things, etc. They seem to open their maps often as well for just a split second, not really enough to even look at.

It's pretty obvious someone is a bot when you take their node right before their eyes and they still go for it and stand there for 3 seconds then start walking to the next one I already took as well...indefinitely.

What is an invisible speed farm setup?

SeaGtGruff · March 26

I don't know about bots, but in the last few days I've noticed a sudden increase in the number of gold-and-Crowns sellers advertising a certain online site. That used to be a very rampant problem, then for the last several months I hardly ever saw any at all, so it looked like they'd finally been squashed. But now they seem to be crawling out of the woodwork again.

Askys94 · March 28

Don't think its that hard, from what ive seen most bots tend to run straight to a node, stand there for a bit (probobly spaming E in the air?), then run straight to the next node. Very predictable and... mechanical.

The way to detect this behavior have existed a while now.

Chapta for example, a robot don't really have an issue checking that box, or even checking the boxes with bikes in it... Its the way you click it. For humans be flawed, and wobble around a bit, wondering is that box with 1/100th of a bike handle count? machine goes straight for the answer.

Credible_Joe · March 28

I couldn't say how ZOS assesses bot activity, but if it were me, the first thing I would check is if there's a discrepancy between wealth, crafting mats, and other assets compared to that account's adventure achievements.

New account with lots of gold, mats, and trade activity but no quests completed beyond the wailing prison? Red flag. Do they have any alts? No? Red flag. Yes? Check those characters. Same deal as the first one? Biiig red flag.

That's obviously not comprehensive at all, but it demonstrates what to look for in a bot. Farming accounts do NOT behave like players-- even players that spend a lot of time farming. Hell, just spending a lot of time in a base-game zone that's NOT a starter zone or capital is suspicious.

Find the discrepancies, and you'll have a good template for bot smiting. Of course, clever bad actors will always look for ways to hide, mimic, or otherwise escape notice. But in the end, there's no way to dress up exploitative activities to look like normal gameplay.

wolfie1.0. · March 28

Malyore wrote: »

When accounts get reported for being bots, how can ZOS tell if this is the case or not? I have reported some that are clearly low level, gibberish names farming in starter areas. Those report tickets get confirmed. But when it's with higher level accounts though and actual names in dlc zones, usually I get asked from support to provide videos, videos I don't have because I always assume ZOS was able to "track" an accounts impact on their serves and see how it's been playing (down to how their button inputs) and such. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

If how they do it can't be revealed so that people can't bypass it, I understand. It's just strange to me how I can see two characters behaving exactly the same, and some get confirmed as bots and others can't get confirmed by ZOS.

several of my characters are named something similar to "djkfoilklikjk" for personal lore reasons. so names dont always mean bots.

Stamicka · March 28

zaria wrote: »

On console i understand they are much more common, who is a bit weird as boting on console would require an hacked one and bot tools compiled for the console who sounds pretty hardcore for me.

You can’t do stuff like this on current consoles, not while playing an online game at least.

The people who bot on console are just automating controller inputs, there’s no software that runs on the actual console.

Valpro · March 28

Malyore wrote: »

@ImmortalCX
I assume someone is a bot if they are not using the sprint, cycling the exact same path without deviation, standing at a node site even when there isn't a node, dragging their bodies against walls instead of walking around things, etc. They seem to open their maps often as well for just a split second, not really enough to even look at.

It's pretty obvious someone is a bot when you take their node right before their eyes and they still go for it and stand there for 3 seconds then start walking to the next one I already took as well...indefinitely.

What is an invisible speed farm setup?

" I assume“ are the words that Zenimax looks at. The reality is if they call it wrong because I assumed you are blameless. Zenimax on the other hand.... And they already got enough people mad at them for this or that

So it's more a matter of which one causes more damage when we're wrong? Banning legitimate clients is more damaging then having legitimate clients upset about bots.

zaria · March 28

El_Borracho wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

Malyore wrote: »

When accounts get reported for being bots, how can ZOS tell if this is the case or not? I have reported some that are clearly low level, gibberish names farming in starter areas. Those report tickets get confirmed. But when it's with higher level accounts though and actual names in dlc zones, usually I get asked from support to provide videos, videos I don't have because I always assume ZOS was able to "track" an accounts impact on their serves and see how it's been playing (down to how their button inputs) and such. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

If how they do it can't be revealed so that people can't bypass it, I understand. It's just strange to me how I can see two characters behaving exactly the same, and some get confirmed as bots and others can't get confirmed by ZOS.

Probably as for farming bots its a bit hard to see if some are bots or some farming while watching something on screen 2.
Many years since i saw obvious bots on PC-EU, and its pretty obvious then you see them.

On console i understand they are much more common, who is a bit weird as boting on console would require an hacked one and bot tools compiled for the console who sounds pretty hardcore for me.

Hacked consoles are not that uncommon with Playstations, particularly when there are older models still in use at the same time as newer models on the same game. This was a major problem with GTA V when PS3s and PS4s were in use as PS3s were hacked to do money cheats, mess with players, and ruin gameplay. It would not surprise me that this goes on in ESO.

Get it, and you can just create new accounts if banned as I understand. On PC bots was an serious problem some time after launch, then they was gone. Seen bots a couple of times doing all the quests over the years but it looks more like normal players AFK leveling.

HybridFreak · March 28

Bots are absolutely rampant on Xbox. Especially in the starter zones like Bal Foyen. And it's stupidly easy to tell them apart from a regular player. They've been an issue for over a decade now and ZOS seems content to just keep banning them. Even though it makes zero difference, at least on Xbox. They just use game sharing so they only have to buy 1 copy of the game and then create a new gamer tag each time one gets banned. With zero risk to the account that actually owns the game. There are so many ways ZOS could fix the issue or at the very least significantly impede them more than they currently are.

They could work with Microsoft to start hardware banning Xboxes when multiple gamertags have been banned on the same console.

They could significantly increase the number of possible spawn locations for nodes while keeping the number of nodes spawned the same. Which would make it significantly harder for the bots to consistently grab every node. A regular player would be able to see the nodes and still go grab them without issue.

ZOS just doesn't seem all that interested in addressing the actual core issue and instead is content with just using bandaids.