Bot guild invite spammers

LennaTheRussian · December 5

Just want to rant about the bots that are spamming guild invites. It's mostly just that ONE guild, I'm sure you know which. I just reported a bot in Vulkhel Guard that was hidden in a corner behind a bush spamming people with the guild invites. It's absolutely ridiculous that this goes unpunished for the guild.

SwordOfSagas · December 5

I always reject random guild invites, I only consider the ones in chat that give a reason why I should join. Or just look in guild finder.

valenwood_vegan · December 5

Zos won't do anything about it. It's been brought up on the forums multiple times and even briefly got the attention of the CM's, see https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/668877/guild-invite-spam-not-against-the-rules/p1, but they stopped responding and the issue was ultimately ignored.

Not sure why that guild gets special treatment, while many players get bans and suspensions over rather mundane things. I'm pretty sure I'd get in trouble if I stood at a busy wayshrine all day and spammed every player multiple times with whispers or junk trade requests or whatever other spam method I could conjure up - so why is a guild allowed to do this?

scrappy1342 · December 5

that guild is the reason i keep my 5 guild slots full

DenverRalphy · December 5

That particular bot has been around since the very beginning. After all these years, with the Powers That Be obviously aware of it, at this point it's pretty much a ZOS sanctioned bot.

valenwood_vegan · December 5

The funniest thing is I know a couple people who accepted the invite and ran into various issues with this guild and got kicked, only to be auto-bot-invited again within minutes.

twisttop138 · December 5

This must be a PC thing but as long as we're spamming, can anyone send me a stack of soul gems?

Idk how but I accepted some requests from guild applications the other day and one of them was a soul gem spammer. We had some fun with it in guild chat before kicking them. I COD a stack of empty ones for a million gold. Still hasn't paid.

This seems like a frustrating thing. Getting spammed sucks but if Zos won't do anything while at the same time banning bots, they obviously want them there. Or they know where the bodies are buried. Dun dun dun.

Soarora · December 5

twisttop138 wrote: »

This must be a PC thing but as long as we're spamming, can anyone send me a stack of soul gems?

Idk how but I accepted some requests from guild applications the other day and one of them was a soul gem spammer. We had some fun with it in guild chat before kicking them. I COD a stack of empty ones for a million gold. Still hasn't paid.

This seems like a frustrating thing. Getting spammed sucks but if Zos won't do anything while at the same time banning bots, they obviously want them there. Or they know where the bodies are buried. Dun dun dun.

Yeah, there’s one (1) guild (by one I mean its a conglomerate) on PC (NA, at least) that’s known for both being toxic and easy to be kicked from and also spamming everyone in towns with invites. Sounds like the only way to deal with them is to have 5 guilds or… to get banned?

Calastir · December 5

In West Weald there's this one Chinese guild spam which freezes everyone's screen when it appears.

Tandor · December 5

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

Zos won't do anything about it. It's been brought up on the forums multiple times and even briefly got the attention of the CM's, see https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/668877/guild-invite-spam-not-against-the-rules/p1, but they stopped responding and the issue was ultimately ignored.

Not sure why that guild gets special treatment, while many players get bans and suspensions over rather mundane things. I'm pretty sure I'd get in trouble if I stood at a busy wayshrine all day and spammed every player multiple times with whispers or junk trade requests or whatever other spam method I could conjure up - so why is a guild allowed to do this?

I totally agree. Unfortunately, in the original thread you linked it was turned by ZOS into a complaint about harassment which isn't really what it's about. It's a report of bot activity and should be dealt with as such.

Perhaps if someone could DM @ZOS_Kevin with the guild name (I was auto-invited at Vulkhel Guard wayshrine the other day but forget the name) he could kindly take another look into it?

Tandor · December 5

scrappy1342 wrote: »

that guild is the reason i keep my 5 guild slots full

It's the opposite for me, that guild is one of the reasons I keep my 5 guild slots empty. It gives guilds a bad name and I can't be bothered with it.

LennaTheRussian · December 5

I wouldn't have that much of a problem with it if they were blatantly botting. If it was just them telling their guild members to stand by a wayshrine and invite players that wouldn't be that bad (annoying yes but not blatantly breaking TOS).

I know it's a bot because I just checked this morning and the account is still there in the same spot and it's a brand new account with a level 3 character. It's just ridiculous.

PeacefulAnarchy · December 5

Tandor wrote: »

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

Zos won't do anything about it. It's been brought up on the forums multiple times and even briefly got the attention of the CM's, see https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/668877/guild-invite-spam-not-against-the-rules/p1, but they stopped responding and the issue was ultimately ignored.

Not sure why that guild gets special treatment, while many players get bans and suspensions over rather mundane things. I'm pretty sure I'd get in trouble if I stood at a busy wayshrine all day and spammed every player multiple times with whispers or junk trade requests or whatever other spam method I could conjure up - so why is a guild allowed to do this?

I totally agree. Unfortunately, in the original thread you linked it was turned by ZOS into a complaint about harassment which isn't really what it's about. It's a report of bot activity and should be dealt with as such.

Perhaps if someone could DM @ZOS_Kevin with the guild name (I was auto-invited at Vulkhel Guard wayshrine the other day but forget the name) he could kindly take another look into it?

It is harassment, the problem is ZOS decided to view it as personal harrassment rather than systemic mass harassment. If one person sends an annoying message put them on ignore is a fair resolution. If that same person is sending hundreds of messages a day annoying everyone then that's not a fair resolution. Similarly, if they have different accounts sending messages then now you have to put a bunch of accounts on ignore one at a time. It doesn't really matter if it's a bot or a person, if someone or some group of people is harassing so many people that so many of us know who this is about without naming them that is serious enough that it warrants action.

ZOS_Kevin · December 5

Hi all, you can send either the name of the guild and what mega server you saw this on, or issue a report flagging the spam. We want to get rid of bot accounts when they show up. We can get whatever information you gather over to customer service. Or if you placed a ticket, we can escalate that.

JavaRen · December 5

If this guild really has the track record described here how have the officers not been banned/ suspended?

spantifical · December 5

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all, you can send either the name of the guild and what mega server you saw this on, or issue a report flagging the spam. We want to get rid of bot accounts when they show up. We can get whatever information you gather over to customer service. Or if you placed a ticket, we can escalate that.

As I understand it, it's not bot accounts. It's a guild whose GM has created a script that allows officers of said guild to auto invite everyone nearby to their guild(s). I'm not sure that this is against TOS, but it should be. It's spammy and annoying.

Orbital78 · December 5

scrappy1342 wrote: »

that guild is the reason i keep my 5 guild slots full

Pretty much the same, though I had issues with the spam in Vvardenfell. It gives the guild a bad look if they spam like that, at least tell the people why your guild would be a good to join and what you have to offer. Maybe they just want to maintain a guild bank.

LennaTheRussian · December 5

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all, you can send either the name of the guild and what mega server you saw this on, or issue a report flagging the spam. We want to get rid of bot accounts when they show up. We can get whatever information you gather over to customer service. Or if you placed a ticket, we can escalate that.

You say this and I know you specifically can't do much Kevin but the fact there have been various complaints about this issue for years and yet it's still happening shows that there's apparently no real reason to even bother reporting it.

Banning one bot account isn't going to stop the guild from doing it. There should be harsher punishments for the guild leader and the officers that may be involved.

The guild I am talking about is one big conglomerate of guilds that use roman numerals, that's how big they are because they just use bots to spam invites.

They're goal is to funnel people into their discord. (No idea why but I am sure it's probably for nefarious purposes)

LennaTheRussian · December 5

spantifical wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all, you can send either the name of the guild and what mega server you saw this on, or issue a report flagging the spam. We want to get rid of bot accounts when they show up. We can get whatever information you gather over to customer service. Or if you placed a ticket, we can escalate that.

As I understand it, it's not bot accounts. It's a guild whose GM has created a script that allows officers of said guild to auto invite everyone nearby to their guild(s). I'm not sure that this is against TOS, but it should be. It's spammy and annoying.

Either way the account I saw was brand new and still level 3. Just sitting there for hours apparently going afk spamming. That by definition is a bot.

kumenit_taeynav · December 5

Tandor wrote: »

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

Zos won't do anything about it. It's been brought up on the forums multiple times and even briefly got the attention of the CM's, see https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/668877/guild-invite-spam-not-against-the-rules/p1, but they stopped responding and the issue was ultimately ignored.

Not sure why that guild gets special treatment, while many players get bans and suspensions over rather mundane things. I'm pretty sure I'd get in trouble if I stood at a busy wayshrine all day and spammed every player multiple times with whispers or junk trade requests or whatever other spam method I could conjure up - so why is a guild allowed to do this?

I totally agree. Unfortunately, in the original thread you linked it was turned by ZOS into a complaint about harassment which isn't really what it's about. It's a report of bot activity and should be dealt with as such.

Perhaps if someone could DM @ZOS_Kevin with the guild name (I was auto-invited at Vulkhel Guard wayshrine the other day but forget the name) he could kindly take another look into it?

heya, im the op of the thread that got linked. i gave them the names of the accounts which were spamming as well as the guilds they were inviting for just for good measure. i havent seen those specific accounts around since i made my thread but the spam behaviour from those guilds hasnt stopped

twisttop138 · December 5

LennaTheRussian wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all, you can send either the name of the guild and what mega server you saw this on, or issue a report flagging the spam. We want to get rid of bot accounts when they show up. We can get whatever information you gather over to customer service. Or if you placed a ticket, we can escalate that.

You say this and I know you specifically can't do much Kevin but the fact there have been various complaints about this issue for years and yet it's still happening shows that there's apparently no real reason to even bother reporting it.

Banning one bot account isn't going to stop the guild from doing it. There should be harsher punishments for the guild leader and the officers that may be involved.

The guild I am talking about is one big conglomerate of guilds that use roman numerals, that's how big they are because they just use bots to spam invites.

They're goal is to funnel people into their discord. (No idea why but I am sure it's probably for nefarious purposes)

Now we have intrigue? Damn dude I wish I was on PC so I could go undercover and investigate. My kids are older. Sometimes I get bored lol.

SilverBride · December 5

This same issue with this same guild came up a year ago, although this has been going on much longer than that.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/668877/guild-invite-spam-not-against-the-rules/p1

Orbital78 · December 5

LennaTheRussian wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all, you can send either the name of the guild and what mega server you saw this on, or issue a report flagging the spam. We want to get rid of bot accounts when they show up. We can get whatever information you gather over to customer service. Or if you placed a ticket, we can escalate that.

You say this and I know you specifically can't do much Kevin but the fact there have been various complaints about this issue for years and yet it's still happening shows that there's apparently no real reason to even bother reporting it.

Banning one bot account isn't going to stop the guild from doing it. There should be harsher punishments for the guild leader and the officers that may be involved.

The guild I am talking about is one big conglomerate of guilds that use roman numerals, that's how big they are because they just use bots to spam invites.

They're goal is to funnel people into their discord. (No idea why but I am sure it's probably for nefarious purposes)

The issue is that they gave away thousands of Epic accounts that were easy to make bots with or disposable accounts. Kind of similar to why there are blatant gold sellers just spamming chat, because the account is disposable and banning it doesn't matter. The GM may or may not know about it. I'm sure if it were bad enough they would get a earful eventually and have taken steps to prevent it though.

The guild in question on PCNA did have a discord and was actually a mid-tier trial running guild. I ran with a few of their members through other discords. It def made me not consider joining them later on though even when I was looking for a end game guild.

code65536 · December 5

Something doesn't make sense here.

Scenario 1: There's a bot train farming animals to get hide. They refine the hide into wax, and then sell that wax to get gold, and then sell that gold to get real-world money.

Scenario 2: There's a bot that creates a full guild of random people... and... profit from this... somehow?

Scenario 2 doesn't make sense. What's their angle? Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how someone can illicitly profit from this like they can from other, actual forms of botting. Which is why the explanation in spantifical's post above--that this isn't a bot but rather a guild whose lazy approach to recruitment is to just invite anyone in the zone--is the only one that makes sense.

Orbital78 · December 5

code65536 wrote: »

Scenario 2 doesn't make sense. What's their angle? Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how someone can illicitly profit from this like they can from other, actual forms of botting. Which is why the explanation in spantifical's post above--that this isn't a bot but rather a guild whose lazy approach to recruitment is to just invite anyone in the zone--is the only one that makes sense.

I think they wanted to grow their discord for raiding, not sure there is a real "profit" other than growing the community. This may have even been all done within the ESO API as well. You probably would know better as you mess with the addon coding, but I have addons that can tell when I run into guild mates and such. Maybe they can tell if someone has a guild from API, or just if a name pops up in crosshairs /guildinvite @name.

madman65 · December 5

Is this guild causing game play disruption? If so then ZOS is suppose to police these actions and abide by the rules that are in place.

LennaTheRussian · December 5

code65536 wrote: »

Something doesn't make sense here.

Scenario 1: There's a bot train farming animals to get hide. They refine the hide into wax, and then sell that wax to get gold, and then sell that gold to get real-world money.

Scenario 2: There's a bot that creates a full guild of random people... and... profit from this... somehow?

Scenario 2 doesn't make sense. What's their angle? Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how someone can illicitly profit from this like they can from other, actual forms of botting. Which is why the explanation in spantifical's post above--that this isn't a bot but rather a guild whose lazy approach to recruitment is to just invite anyone in the zone--is the only one that makes sense.

Even if they're just being lazy, they are still botting. Using a fresh account to go afk hidden to automatically spam invites is botting. It's a bannable offense to automate something like afk fishing so why is it not taken as seriously as that?

spantifical · December 5

LennaTheRussian wrote: »

spantifical wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all, you can send either the name of the guild and what mega server you saw this on, or issue a report flagging the spam. We want to get rid of bot accounts when they show up. We can get whatever information you gather over to customer service. Or if you placed a ticket, we can escalate that.

As I understand it, it's not bot accounts. It's a guild whose GM has created a script that allows officers of said guild to auto invite everyone nearby to their guild(s). I'm not sure that this is against TOS, but it should be. It's spammy and annoying.

Either way the account I saw was brand new and still level 3. Just sitting there for hours apparently going afk spamming. That by definition is a bot.

My experience is from years ago. Maybe accounts were getting banned so they resorted to bots/new accounts to run the macro.

One of my old officers was also an officer there and she used to brag about how effective the script/macro was. She was told she had to get x number of new recruits a week or month to stay an officer. But this was easily 5 or 6 years go.

Back then, it seemed like their primary goal was just to be the biggest conglomerate on PC NA. I just googled and found their website. They boast over 38,000 guild members across 3 games and now are a "leading platform that provides computer science resources and coding challenges for programmers and technology enthusiasts, along with interview and exam preparations for upcoming aspirants" and boast over 12M registered users worldwide. Yet everything on the website is apparently about those 3 games (and nearly empty). So...that's interesting.

Is the spam for clout? So it looks like they have a huge network and can be trusted? So odd.

LootAllTheStuff · December 5

spantifical wrote: »

LennaTheRussian wrote: »

spantifical wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi all, you can send either the name of the guild and what mega server you saw this on, or issue a report flagging the spam. We want to get rid of bot accounts when they show up. We can get whatever information you gather over to customer service. Or if you placed a ticket, we can escalate that.

As I understand it, it's not bot accounts. It's a guild whose GM has created a script that allows officers of said guild to auto invite everyone nearby to their guild(s). I'm not sure that this is against TOS, but it should be. It's spammy and annoying.

Either way the account I saw was brand new and still level 3. Just sitting there for hours apparently going afk spamming. That by definition is a bot.

My experience is from years ago. Maybe accounts were getting banned so they resorted to bots/new accounts to run the macro.

One of my old officers was also an officer there and she used to brag about how effective the script/macro was. She was told she had to get x number of new recruits a week or month to stay an officer. But this was easily 5 or 6 years go.

Back then, it seemed like their primary goal was just to be the biggest conglomerate on PC NA. I just googled and found their website. They boast over 38,000 guild members across 3 games and now are a "leading platform that provides computer science resources and coding challenges for programmers and technology enthusiasts, along with interview and exam preparations for upcoming aspirants" and boast over 12M registered users worldwide. Yet everything on the website is apparently about those 3 games (and nearly empty). So...that's interesting.

Is the spam for clout? So it looks like they have a huge network and can be trusted? So odd.

That last bit sounds like they (the guild conglomerate) let the domain name lapse and someone else picked it up to cash in on the previous reputation? Domain squatters are very quick to find such opportunities, and hard to evict.

Tandor · December 5

Can someone please DM Kevin with the guild's name? I will when I next get an auto-invite from them, but I didn't take a note of it the other day.

Soarora · December 5

madman65 wrote: »

Is this guild causing game play disruption? If so then ZOS is suppose to police these actions and abide by the rules that are in place.

Yes. If you aren’t in 5 guilds and go into a city you will be hit with guild invites. Sure, it’s mildly annoying to keep clearing the invite but there’s also the predatory side of things. They’re not only spammy, they’re— as far as I’ve heard— not even a good guild to be in. Thus, bad experience for new players joining their first guild.