How to end/reduce Bots problem

We all know that detecting and banning bots is relatively easy, but the real challenge lies in finding a way to permanently ban the individuals behind these activities. I recall playing on some Lineage 2 servers a long time ago, where they had a seamless method for banning bots, hackers, and real-money traders (RMTs). When you create an account, it is linked to your motherboard, similar to the activation process for Windows.

Could this approach work for Ashes of Creation? Implementing a system where game accounts are tied to specific hardware components, such as a motherboard, is technically feasible, but it comes with both advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:

Effective Anti-Bot Measures: Linking accounts to hardware can make it more challenging for users to create and manage multiple accounts on the same machine, reducing the prevalence of bots.

Deterrent for Cheaters: The knowledge that their hardware is at risk of being permanently banned may discourage some players from engaging in cheating or exploiting the game.

Stability: It can contribute to a more stable player environment by discouraging malicious activities.

Disadvantages:

If you change your motherboard

Trying to login in other device

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Myosotys

- Put mobs everywhere to make impossible for bots to farm.
- Make a report system that really works with enough ressources allocated
- Track other caracters of these bots
-
Bots are cancer, and after 20% of the population is bot, Studios don't want to ban them if they pay every month...

HughJardon

Three factor authentication to prevent account selling

TheHiddenDaggerInn

escarreta1 wrote: »

Cyridius wrote: »

Voxtrium wrote: »

Personally if I were going to combat botting I would just design a system that tracks the mouse movement of a player, every change in angle creates a point in a database, then use an algorithm to determine if there is a pattern across all changes in mouse movements. If so its a bot, if not probably a human. A bot cannot be random, fundamentally it has to have a pattern. Still I don't understand the entire picture so perhaps this is a useless endeavor. Of course it doesn't combat any RMT either.

That’s already been tried, it’s easy to simulate random or “human-like” mouse movement.

No automated system can replace human oversight, monitoring and enforcement. Actual people are better at recognising botting behaviour than any algorithm. Any MMO that doesn’t hire enough GMs to actually take on that kind of role will end up suffering.

That i agree but then why even companies with unlimited money like blizzard have barely no active Gms?
Looks like an expensive solution even more for Entrepid studio

Because Blizzard are greedy pieces of crap, that only care about the bottom line and little about anything else. Once a great company, now has sold out to be no better than EA.

Zehlan

I would start by not allowing anyone using a vpn to log into the game. You must use your Ip making it easier to track who you are.This wouldn't deter the more serious and qualified botter/hacker but would eliminate the wannabe botters leaving the GMs to deal with alot fewer but more serious bots.

Iskiab

Best way - add a box price. All the systems in the world won't help if the cost of creating a bot is low, the financial decision for gold sellers is the cost of the bot compared to the amount made per bot, just working to catch them quickly will help, but increasing the cost per bot will help too.

Endowed

Zehlan wrote: »

I would start by not allowing anyone using a vpn to log into the game. You must use your Ip making it easier to track who you are.This wouldn't deter the more serious and qualified botter/hacker but would eliminate the wannabe botters leaving the GMs to deal with alot fewer but more serious bots.

Agreed. Allow an account to have 5 ISPs associated with it. They can replace one every 4 months or so. That covers their possible different play spots. And serves to remove many bot farms.

nanfoodle

Iskiab wrote: »

Best way - add a box price. All the systems in the world won't help if the cost of creating a bot is low, the financial decision for gold sellers is the cost of the bot compared to the amount made per bot, just working to catch them quickly will help, but increasing the cost per bot will help too.

That's just not needed. Actively ban anyone who buys gold or items with RL cash. Add a counter to a Ashes site that keeps track of every player who who has their account banned. Make a pop up when you log in of everyone's chars names of people banned once a week. Make buying from bot farmers such a scary thing and you will drive away the customers. No customers no bots.

PherPhur

IPs change even if you're not using statics. It can be locked to a region though, so if an IP is trying to log on the same account 2 hours later from hundreds of miles away, that's an issue.

That more deals with account security though and less on the botting end. Botters don't have much need for VPNs in the sense of evasion, IP banning is not a real solution anymore. You use to get IP only bans, then it was like IP and MAC, but then people learned how to change both of those. Now you'll see some places that will HWID ban, but even that's changeable(with a bit of work).

Honestly I'd just like to see them take on South Koreas approach, at least for the US, and make account creation require a Social Security Number. Apart from that they need to have client side kernel level anti-cheat software. It's widely hated these days cause "muh privacy", but lets be real, these days you could be stranded out on a deserted island without any tech and still have your data stolen.

KingDDD

PherPhur wrote: »

IPs change even if you're not using statics. It can be locked to a region though, so if an IP is trying to log on the same account 2 hours later from hundreds of miles away, that's an issue.

That more deals with account security though and less on the botting end. Botters don't have much need for VPNs in the sense of evasion, IP banning is not a real solution anymore. You use to get IP only bans, then it was like IP and MAC, but then people learned how to change both of those. Now you'll see some places that will HWID ban, but even that's changeable(with a bit of work).

Honestly I'd just like to see them take on South Koreas approach, at least for the US, and make account creation require a Social Security Number. Apart from that they need to have client side kernel level anti-cheat software. It's widely hated these days cause "muh privacy", but lets be real, these days you could be stranded out on a deserted island without any tech and still have your data stolen.

Requiring a social security would drive away a significant amount of people and be extremely risky for IS.

There's really not much you can do to stop bots from existing; it's going to happen regardless of any punitive repercussions. The best thing they can do is have more people actively working to hide/mitigate the effects of bots. The unfortunate thing is it's wildly costly to do such a thing.

Endowed

PherPhur wrote: »

IPs change even if you're not using statics. It can be locked to a region though, so if an IP is trying to log on the same account 2 hours later from hundreds of miles away, that's an issue.

That more deals with account security though and less on the botting end. Botters don't have much need for VPNs in the sense of evasion, IP banning is not a real solution anymore. You use to get IP only bans, then it was like IP and MAC, but then people learned how to change both of those. Now you'll see some places that will HWID ban, but even that's changeable(with a bit of work).

Honestly I'd just like to see them take on South Koreas approach, at least for the US, and make account creation require a Social Security Number. Apart from that they need to have client side kernel level anti-cheat software. It's widely hated these days cause "muh privacy", but lets be real, these days you could be stranded out on a deserted island without any tech and still have your data stolen.

That is why they get a handful of ISPs to set to their account. And then can change one every few months. That's your limit. That will handle more than 99% of the normal player base.

Freemeta

maybe make a game that does not reward heavy farming.

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