My Experience and a Suggestion

[VforVendetta]

Hello legit fellow Silkroad Players.

Now everyone that has even heard the word Silkroad uttered bot is the first thing that comes to mind. Yes I know it’s sad but it wasn’t always like this, oh I remember it like the good old days when I was a young noob in Silkroad it was actually fun even though I didn’t know how to play it and no one else did. We all started on equal footings heck even botters didn’t know what they were doing.

Back to the point now the innocent days are over, Joymax has become a money hungry corrupt company, oh “this game is free” I hear you say? Think again, just like premeditated murder it’s no different. They knew from the start they’d reap what they sew with their slight of hand tricks to lure in a customer, and don’t get me wrong this game is great I love it. But it could be so much better if Joymax would actually listen to its customers. So this game is free? So why have they purposely made it almost mandatory that you buy silk in order to progress anywhere past level 40 and if you have the patience of a saint you can even get away with Level 50 without gauging your eyes out from seeing the same thing over and over without so much as a centimeter of progress.

Sorry I strayed off topic there, but I’m just trying to get my point across and let you know (if you don’t know already) just what Joymax is all about.

I am aware that all the servers are crowded, well you got me, it’s the biggest understatement of the year and last year put together… they’re more packed than Japanese trains in rush hour after a new Pokemon game is released. Now some may say that stalls are to blame but of course our real enemy is the botters. Yes these are the same culprits that I’m sure many of you have reported countless times to no avail because anything sent through [Joymax Bug Report of the Dark Abyss] just gets lost in a void somewhere and is never to be found again.

Of course that’s a speculation but I have been a loyal customer and player of this game since December 28th 2005 and I have countless futile bug reports to Joymax and I have every reason to be a bit annoyed at the fact that none of the suggestions I’ve made or any of the countless bot reports I handed in even counted as much as a grain of sand to a vast desert. This led me to think two things.
1. They are working on it quietly so not to attract the attention of third party software creators (bot program creators)
2. They just don’t care to do anything and are just after your money.

I really don’t want to believe its number 2, and yes I know any company will be after your money, but only after their first priority and that priority is always quality service and quality products. Joymax simply does not offer any of these crucial aspects. Now to anyone with common sense this rings a bell that will give you a migraine and scar you for life. SCAM!

Anti-EXP Bot Punishment

My anti-botting method requires minor adjustments of either the coding for exp values or coding for a specific account detail that is generic to all accounts and players. I’m relying on the principal that you can gain a level and lose a level in this game, same works for exp it can both be gained and lost due to the actions you take.. If modified correctly instead of banning botters which seems to have no effect due to the fact that they’re back up and going with 3 more bots for each one banned. Banning just wont work so instead let them be, but slap a punishment on them that would make them lose exp for every kill and have a high possibility of dropping items from killing monsters.

Now lets take a level 80 botter as a prime example, there are plenty of these anyway, you slap the punishment onto his/her account and he will de-level by killing monsters, this will deter him/her from killing monsters and not only will it have a mental effect on the botter that he/she cant do anything even if the botter wanted to.

To summarize it, a botter kills a monster botter gains minus exp, and slowly de-levels him/herself and with a chance of dropping anything from his/her inventory equipped or not. Hopefully this will have a deterring effect that will make any cheater in the game unwilling to start another botting account due to the fact that they still have a Level 80 account but they can’t do anything even if he/she wanted.

Lets take for example any number of botters whether it being 50 to 100.

Step 1: Verify the botter; this should not take the GM’s more than a few minutes an hour at most.

Ok for step one just imagine a big database of already verified botters all ticked ready for the “Punishment”

Step 2: Activate the Anti-Exp punishment onto all the already verified bot accounts.

Step 3: Keep a close lookout on these accounts if anything should go wrong, intensify the punishment, i.e. greater exp loss.


My hope is that this will deter all the botters, and any new accounts they make this same effect will and SHOULD be added to further extend and enforce the rules and ToS of this game which till now has been thrown out the window.

Thank You

1 of 10 Legit Players on Athens

[legitz]

Sounds good, but you have just wasted your time writing this whole complete idea, Joymax wont take our ideas

[Axium]

aaa......






ok?

[[SD]happynoobing]

meh, i have a simpler idea. just take away the ability for botters to buy pots and trade stuff. what are they gonna do sit around all day?

but sadly they dont listen so yea...

[shoto]

To summarize it, a botter kills a monster botter gains minus exp, and slowly de-levels him/herself and with a chance of dropping anything from his/her inventory equipped or not. Hopefully this will have a deterring effect that will make any cheater in the game unwilling to start another botting account due to the fact that they still have a Level 80 account but they can’t do anything even if he/she wanted.

Lets take for example any number of botters whether it being 50 to 100.



My hope is that this will deter all the botters, and any new accounts they make this same effect will and SHOULD be added to further extend and enforce the rules and ToS of this game which till now has been thrown out the window.


1 of 10 Legit Players on Athens

so wait....why won't those people make new accounts just like banned botters already do?
Also if your idea fell through they would be able to save their (sosun) weapons for their new accounts...your idea is essentially flawed.

and any smart person would make a new account...not a different char on the same account

[HBblade]

pretty much u have no idea on how silkroad works, it cant detect who's botting or not, so ur idea is GAY

[VforVendetta]

pretty much u have no idea on how silkroad works, it cant detect who's botting or not, so ur idea is GAY

Thanks I appreciate the compliment, now how about you grow up a bit and don't just flame randomly, I don't mind constructive criticism because I feel were all working for a common goal here, but what good does this comment do?

[Cyndaine]

not trying to burst ur bubble, but since u already now JM is a hungry company, they wont take ur idea of making if not mandatory to buy silk after 40. besides, its not mandatory anyways. people have hand grinded to 64 without using any GTs apart from the beginner ones

[Millenium]

pretty much u have no idea on how silkroad works, it cant detect who's botting or not, so ur idea is GAY

*Looks at his sigs* I spot a botter. Look how easy it is.

Well back on topic. Why slowly decrease their exp and delevel them when you can just use the banhammer? Bots are taking server traffic whether or not they're gaining or losing exp.

[Spanktastik]

Sounds like a good idea.. but all JM really needs to do to fix the bot problem is invest in Punkbuster or any other anti-cheat software (and actually have it turned on coughGAMEGUARDcough) that detects an impure client.

[StealMySoda]

What about if the bot notices it has a punishment, can't it jus switch items to another account? Sorry if you said anything about this in there, I didn't read it all.

[Frozen]

Ban botters by hardware id.

[jleyens]

good idea yeah... but theres like a million other ways to do it. put it this way

Banning bots is the obvious thing that comes to mine and would be number 1 on the list. JM knows this doesnt suffice anymore.. They are a professional company nethertheless and they obviously no this but they do NOT cchage there methods....

This goes to show they are indeed supporting botting to a certain extent (trying to get rid of a certain type and not others) which keep there profits up.

But your idea is good. these posters above me are thick thats its just not funny.

Your all saying that its flawed. no its not. if boters see they are delevling by farming then why the hell would they carry on lol. they wont. and they wont start another char if JM actually did there job and carried ou the process properly.. there new char would also delevel

dead end for bots..

[clarencekuna]

lets all just chip in and buy Joymax

[[TS]=Hark=[TS]]

im down... so

how much you giving? lol

[jackietang33]

have u guys heard this impersonator in eldorado? his name was "gm_*****" and he went to talklaman and d/ced bots, in the next couple of hours the impersonator got banned, this is how easy the gms can ban bots, but they just dont wanna

[SoBlu]

Just stop playing.

[lingxiaoyu]

a very smart sugestion but i dont know..
everyone else is saying that joymax wont do anything..
so sad..

can they also not let the kidies play this game?
heheheh.. coz im sick and tired of them..

[Shiver]

I've no experience with being banned, but do they ban IP address or just the account? I think they only ban the account name, so the better suggestion would be just to IP ban the mofo.

Of course there's ways around this, but even better BAN MACHINE ID (macshift is a lot rarer unless they're really nerdy).

[RMP]

Its so simple.

Joimax only need to put an image verification code in potion seller, and blacksmith at each town.

I know this can't stop all the the bots (baybysitters) but can greatly reduces the amount of bots.

Salu2.

[VforVendetta]

good idea yeah... but theres like a million other ways to do it. put it this way

Banning bots is the obvious thing that comes to mine and would be number 1 on the list. JM knows this doesnt suffice anymore.. They are a professional company nethertheless and they obviously no this but they do NOT cchage there methods....

This goes to show they are indeed supporting botting to a certain extent (trying to get rid of a certain type and not others) which keep there profits up.

But your idea is good. these posters above me are thick thats its just not funny.

Your all saying that its flawed. no its not. if boters see they are delevling by farming then why the hell would they carry on lol. they wont. and they wont start another char if JM actually did there job and carried ou the process properly.. there new char would also delevel

dead end for bots..

Thank you, you understood my suggestion, and I appreciate everyone else's suggestions were all working together here so that we can maybe make a change and open Joymax's eyes which till have now have been shut tight and the only thing to alert their slumber is a decrease in cash flow or when something goes wrong with a payment method. God forbid they cant have botters complaining that they didn't get enough hours botting with gold ticket now can they?

[ping_lo]

Ok before you all finish verbally raping the guy I have had a similar idea. Though it is a bit better thought out and more detailed. The real problem botters are the AFK KSing ones. The ones that only bot as many hours a day as some legits play I could possibly live with. The GMs gave us an anti bot mechanism. But it no longer works. Why is that? Because it is passive and easily coded around. What is needed are active anti bot mechanisms. The kind that will make afk and gold botters think twice. So I present..........

The Bot Leach scroll
___________________________________________________________
This scroll would replace the pointless protector in the NPC stores. You use it by first selecting a suspected bot. Then right clicking as normal. Instead of spawning a target that you have to rely on the bot to hit it puts a status directly on the char it is used on. A legitimate player would quickly notice this and cancel the scroll by going through an image verification dialog to ensure that there is no auto click through disabling method. This could not be used on jobbed players and if a player sucessfully disables it before the penalty phase starts they are immune from it for the next 15 min.

the first 60-120 seconds the player gets a notice with each kill much like when a unique spawns or dies that they have had the scroll used on them. If they fail to disable it in that time the penalty phase starts.

For the first 5 min after the start of penalty phase the exp from each kill and all gold or items gathered go to the one who summoned the scroll. With each kill the person subject to the scroll gets an announcement that they have just had xxx exp xxx gold and xxx items stolen from them.

If after the first 5 min of the penalty phase the char is still moving and has not canceled the scroll we step things up a bit. For the next 5 min they loose an amount of personal exp equal to what they got for killing a monster along with the gold and items. These will all be given to the player that used the scroll on them.

Still moving and scroll still on? Now the personal exp lost per kill will go up exponentially every 5 minutes. With all exp lost going to the player that used the scroll.

FURTHER EFFECTS

As a bot delvls past the lvl of a piece of gear they are wearing they automatically loose it to the person that used the scroll. Along with a nice announcement to the effect.

Further the person that used the scroll has the option to terminate it at any time they choose. If they do this during the penalty phase they get a random piece of gear the character is wearing or if the char is naked Items from their inventory.

Depending on the length of time a char is grinding in penalty phase there will be a varying ban period. 10 min of penalty time will result in a 1 week auto block. 20 min a 1 month block time. 30 min a nice 100 year ban. These times are all adjustable.

So what do you all think? Yea/nay? Worst case scenario the char will scroll back to town and stay there till the babysitter cancels the scroll. And no it can't be canceled by logging out. This would put the fear in the afk botters and tie all remaning botters to their PC's and keep them away from their so called life.

[ping_lo]

*edit* lag induced double post

[Monkey_guy]

This might sound violent , but I don't care much for programming punishment. I want to be able to kill botters without getting a murder status.

This is how I imagined it works; you have an option to accuse someone as a bot; then a silly little icon goes above the character's head indicating that it could be a potential bot; of course, if you're not a bot, you could manually cancel that status by pressing some code; when 3 or more people accuse this character as a bot and the character still does not respond; then players are free to try to kill it. Just so people don't get annoyed with accusations all day; you can't accused someone again for the day if they already demonstrated they're not a bot. I think from the various youtube vid about ways to kill botters; the satisfaction is being able to kill bots; not some stupid list. Of course, by dying there will be exp consequence for the bot as well.

[[TS]=Hark=[TS]]

bravo!!! very nice i love it... especially if i find a botter to put it on and gain some fast free exp. that would speed up my llving so fast

[StealMySoda]

Ok before you all finish verbally raping the guy I have had a similar idea. Though it is a bit better thought out and more detailed. The real problem botters are the AFK KSing ones. The ones that only bot as many hours a day as some legits play I could possibly live with. The GMs gave us an anti bot mechanism. But it no longer works. Why is that? Because it is passive and easily coded around. What is needed are active anti bot mechanisms. The kind that will make afk and gold botters think twice. So I present..........

The Bot Leach scroll
___________________________________________________________
This scroll would replace the pointless protector in the NPC stores. You use it by first selecting a suspected bot. Then right clicking as normal. Instead of spawning a target that you have to rely on the bot to hit it puts a status directly on the char it is used on. A legitimate player would quickly notice this and cancel the scroll by going through an image verification dialog to ensure that there is no auto click through disabling method. This could not be used on jobbed players and if a player sucessfully disables it before the penalty phase starts they are immune from it for the next 15 min.

the first 60-120 seconds the player gets a notice with each kill much like when a unique spawns or dies that they have had the scroll used on them. If they fail to disable it in that time the penalty phase starts.

For the first 5 min after the start of penalty phase the exp from each kill and all gold or items gathered go to the one who summoned the scroll. With each kill the person subject to the scroll gets an announcement that they have just had xxx exp xxx gold and xxx items stolen from them.

If after the first 5 min of the penalty phase the char is still moving and has not canceled the scroll we step things up a bit. For the next 5 min they loose an amount of personal exp equal to what they got for killing a monster along with the gold and items. These will all be given to the player that used the scroll on them.

Still moving and scroll still on? Now the personal exp lost per kill will go up exponentially every 5 minutes. With all exp lost going to the player that used the scroll.

FURTHER EFFECTS

As a bot delvls past the lvl of a piece of gear they are wearing they automatically loose it to the person that used the scroll. Along with a nice announcement to the effect.

Further the person that used the scroll has the option to terminate it at any time they choose. If they do this during the penalty phase they get a random piece of gear the character is wearing or if the char is naked Items from their inventory.

Depending on the length of time a char is grinding in penalty phase there will be a varying ban period. 10 min of penalty time will result in a 1 week auto block. 20 min a 1 month block time. 30 min a nice 100 year ban. These times are all adjustable.

So what do you all think? Yea/nay? Worst case scenario the char will scroll back to town and stay there till the babysitter cancels the scroll. And no it can't be canceled by logging out. This would put the fear in the afk botters and tie all remaning botters to their PC's and keep them away from their so called life.

No, cause then a bot could use 2/3 bots, and grind uber fast.

[PsYch008]

what a long post.... ill read it later, maybe.

[justaskphil]

How about this idea? Image verify to leave/enter town or warp. The warp spots can also be isolated from the rest of town, so that you are free to warp to and from different areas, but in order to do business in town or leave town, you have to do image verify to leave the warp area, and another to leave/re-enter town. It will serve to isolate bot traffic; if they run to town, they are stuck outside the gates; if they warp to town, they are stuck inside the warp area.

For those that make it out of town...Once grinding you'll get a random image verify check every 30 mins or so of combat action. This has to be verified within 5 mins. Any time spent sitting or not under fire is not counted. Answer the right verify and you get 1 hr before next check. Answer wrong and still get 30 mins before next image verify check. No answer in the allotted time if grinding and you get sent back to town's warp area.

After 3 no-answer warps back to town (say, within 3 days' time) the account is suspended for 1 week. Second offense is a 1 month suspension. A 3rd offense is a permanent ban.


@Ping-Lo I totally LOVE this scroll idea!!!! Joymax could profit from a legit item mall purchase vs. the bonehead that pays another company to use the bot stuff.

[PsYch008]

if joymax really wanted to get rid of bots, they would have done it by now. nuff said.

[BlackFox]

@ justaskphil STUPID Idea you have there.....