Everquest 2 And Automation Bot Programs

The biggest harm is a massive gap between the players doing this amassing more plat than bill gates vs the average joe that couldn't possibly accumulate that kind of wealth with one toon in a hundred years. That gives those "rich" players the ability to then control the marketplace over certain items on the broker. It then makes more of a gap and makes the play for the average joe less in quality because they can simply not afford the cooler stuff that if there was not such a huge gap those things would not cost as much.

That's reductionism, and a blatant call to pity "that average joe", and neither hold water.

5 easy reasons that people seem to ignore.

1. Every person botting is one less person that is LFG for a legitimate dungeon run, Dungeon runs that drop loot intended to be acquired with 6 actual players.

2. More bot groups being run equals more chests with platinum being looted all by the same person thus creating a massive advantage to the player boxxing.

3. For every piece of loot that a bot group sells, That is one less person needed to run the dungeon and again. One less person LFG for a legitimate run.

4. Botting of course creates lag with all the input being sent to the servers.

5. Contested content is often camped/crushed with AFK botters, Even non contested content I would see people in one of my guilds in Befallen Caverns of the Afflicted after raids with multiple characters as they were AFK and not being kicked from the game for inactivity for what I assume to be bot farming.

It would hold a lot of water if you were an average joe.

I am not making a call to pity I have a decent amount of plat for my toons. I am stating a fact, fact is one player is getting what should be spread to 6 or more because he/she is using third party software to automate 5 or more other people. Roll it however you like, it's cheating.

First off lets avoid calling people out when you dont know their assets in game. In short? Don't make assumptions about me. It only weakens your points, such as they are. For all you know I'm poor as a church mouse. Moving on.

Boxing and botting are different. Period.

And it was a call to pity, a falacious argument that skirts the topic and applies pressure to emotions, when facts aren't getting the reaction one wished for or if facts just don't exist.

I do think we all understand third party programs are againt Eula. But boxing isn't cheating, thus you cannot claim fact in this case, if someone drives multiple toons without a third party program it isn't againt the rules.

Never said it was against the rules to mash more than one keyboard at a time, in fact in an earlier post I stated exactly that, I do it myself. I am addressing exactly the topic here which just happens to be specifically "Everquest 2 and Automation bot programs", in case you failed to notice.

Uh oh they're gonna ban EQ2U.

Here I found this from an old forum post in 2009...



Simply:
- The use of either hardware or software for the simulatenous sending of keystrokes to the same or across multiple pcs is considered character automation. As such, it is against SOE EULA and is illegal.

Had an interesting night last night. Introduced myself to a new server (went to try pvp) and, in summary, was told by several GMs that the simultaneous broadcasting of keystrokes is considered character automation and as such is illegal.

This simply means that plug-n-play hardware solutions such as the vetra megacaster and software applications such as keyclone, hkn and any other 'simultaneous keystroke broadcaster' are illegal in EQ2

After reading the GM replies, I checked their understanding against previous GM responses posted in Khatovar's MB & Current MMOs.

In Khat's post I found the reference to Ticket 090210-001499 where CSR Xavier "Spadaccino" M. replied:
'Every action taken by a character has to be the result of a unique keystroke. Usually this is accomplished by multiple computers with multiple keyboards, though it is permissible to use one keyboard to control several computers through a selector switch. You are allowed to use 3rd party software, as long as you do not in any way manipulate or change the client (EQ2) program and as long as you are at the controls and capable or responding from each character.'

If we analyse this further - Every action taken by a character has to be the result of a unique keystroke. - the simultaneous sending of keystrokes is not as such 'unique' - it is cloned. Whilst Xavier does go on to mention 'You are allowed to use 3rd party software' - I believe this is in relation to a software selector and defineately not a 'key cloner'

For your information, I have included an edited version of the incident report I submitted last night:

Incident: 091215-002136

Response (GM Yxyran)
12/16/2009 12:49 AM

[shortened]…The problem occurs when you…send commands…at the same time…it is important that you understand why you cannot use any device or program to allow you to control more than one character with one key stroke.

It offers you an unfair advantage over players using the game and interface as designed. It essentially accomplishes an action that…could not be done in the course of play. There is no way to link the actions of two separate characters in game. No way to make them work in sync where you take action with one character and it triggers an automatic action from another. You have to use separate keystrokes for each character's actions. Each character must be under the direct control of the player at all times. Anything that circumvents that direct control constitutes automation. Automation makes them a bot.

Thank you for your time,
Game Master Yxyran
"The Moon Moth"


Response (GM Kaerytha)
12/15/2009 08:58 PM

[Shortened – message relayed from the Lead GM on Nagafen]…In addition, simultaneous key broadcasting is not permitted. So if you are pressing one key on your keyboard, and it's causing all 6 of your characters to cast, or attack or perform any action simultaneously then that is something we would consider character automation, which is prohibited….

Safe Travels,

GM Kaerytha
EverQuest II
Sony Online Entertainment

1. Odds are they wouldn't be LFG in the first place.

2. 6 times the plat looted is balanced out by needing to maintain 6 toons.

3. If the only reason people did groups was for dropped loot there wouldn't be anyone LFG after the first few weeks. Currency grind is what is powering current content, that and rare things like mounts (at least prior to ToV).

4. lol

5. Contested content being farmed by botters is a legitimate concern, and really the only legitimate concern. Economics could be, if the economics of this game weren't already screwed beyond belief, and any one person could actually make an impact on any particular market.

IMO the benefits regular players reap from box/bot groups far outweigh the negative effects. I mean, pre-mass production someone had to keep ammunition on the broker right?

Lets boil it down to this, whats going to make soe more money? Ignoring the botters as long as they don't steal contested from players or banning them all.

So lets look at both situations

#1 Banning them all

This will NOT bring any non botting players to the game sorry. Although botters probably make up only a small % of the total active subscribers to eq2 they are still a %. So is sony willing to just cut off a chunk of their revenue? Maybe, is there going to be an increase in revenue from other markets? Seriously doubtful. All I can see if revenue loss in this option.

#2 Ignoring the botters as long as they dont ruin the game for everyone else

Increased revenue from all the station cash, kronos and expacs the botters are buying. VERY minor loss of revenue from a few small chunk of players that would actually quit playing a game they love just because of this. (which honestly in my mind has got to be one of the most petty things I've ever heard in my life. To honestly quit a game just because some random dude is off in some instance doing stuff by him/herself is just freaking laughable).

Lets face it, its a 10 year old game, its basically on money making mode at this point, no new investments are going into it and in all honesty if it loses to much money itll get the axe (so maybe all the botters are whats keeping it green, I dunno only sony does tbh). If there are bots stealing avatars (which I really doubt there are) or some heroic contested mobs, screen shot it, log it, report it and get on with your eq2 life. If they are off in an instance lets be honest its not harming us players at all. Get over it, seriously.

number one- if they are that rich i can assure you they have no need to play the market. number 2. their abundance of plat in no way affects me or my game no matter how poor i am at the moment.
What it boils down to is that they don't affect me any more than Bill Gates' wealth does. I just happen to like and use his products so i guess i am one of the ones who made him rich. The fact that he could buy a bunch of property or anything else he wants to do with his money is no skin off my nose. The same goes for anyone who manages to get rich in this game no matter how they get it. Do i wish i had some of the money? you betcha. But am i willing to sacrifice my integrity to get it? not on your life. Just as in real life, i will continue to enjoy my life in Norrath and not worry about how my neighbor got rich.

i have seen plenty of people afk while their mercs killed the mobs i needed. I don't know that they were botting. only that they were afk and the loot and bodies piled up around them while their mercs killed and they did nothing. whether that is legal or not, i don't know, and really don't care. I just backed off, found something else to do and came back the next day- and they had moved on to something else.

I hesitate to say anyone is cheating. I really don't know if they are because I'm not big brother watching over their shoulder. But as for people who bot not lfg, neither do b=people who box. I certainly don't. and i don't bot. if you have a problem with me not lfg then you have a serious issue that only you can deal with. nothing will make me lfg. that means i am one less person who will lfg. but that's life, deal with it.

as for selling the loot, it is supply and demand. and it certainly is no skin off my back if someone doesn't need to run a dungeon because they bought a piece from someone. I run dungeons, but i also buy loot.

botting creates no more lag than boxing does and if my 3 toons and hteir mercs cause you lag, then you have a computer issue. so tone your stuff down to performance rather than appearance and you might not lag as much. when i lag, i tune my program for performance.

again, just because someone has a team out there doesn't mean they are botting. just because i have problems boxing beyond 3 toons, doesn't mean others can't box 6 or more- of course though, to box more than 6 they have to divide into groups and create a raid. I can barely keep up with my 3 and their mercs. more power to those who can box more.

hope they never make that mistake. we like eq2u lol

Tradeskill cheaters are the same as dungeon cheaters. Regular one box players having to pay ridiculous amounts for plat sinks/krono/etc because of botters is quite the negative IMO.

It bothers me that you think this way to be honest. Do you really think the high prices of Kronos right now is mostly because of botters?

A If it was, then it looks like the botters are supporting this game more than the players and it would be an awful business decision for sony to ban them.

B If it isnt, then its the majority of the players that are driving the prices up because they need kronos.. sony is making them more and more appealing with all the cool stuff you get as a gold sub so more people are going gold.

Please just don't make stuff up to try and prove your point.

Eh, people will think whatever they want to think. As you say, SOE is smart enough not to shoot themselves in the foot over a virtual non-issue that a few people want to get morally outraged about.

Nobody ever said being moral was more profitable. It does hamper the solo player with one account as there is more competition out there for the same items because of botters needing one for each of their accounts.

I would never disagree that bots are profitable for Sony and the game though.

Now its items they are stealing!? What about the people earlier who were complaining all the bots do is SELL items!/?!?!?!?!

Grasping at straws here, sorry but if they are just running instances there is no downside to anyone.

notice not one of you argued with the dev post that clearly outlined that BOTTING IS AGAINST EULA. which includes key broadcasting software, keyboard splitting software.

Who ever said anything about stealing lol. L2 comprehend words. The solo player is affected by 6 accounts used by one player buying consumables and krono for each character. Not much but it's there.

Running the instances fine. But once you take the platinum out of the zone or the loot to someone not in the zone, You are affecting the economy/grouping needs no matter how slighty.