Tree of Savior Forum

Anti-BOT method

General Discussion
#52

(not a fan of the captcha idea, because it’s either annoying to the legit players, or not hindering a botter that’s aware of how it works and simply checks their bot every 40min to do the captcha etc…)

The proper way of preventing botting is of course by making it not worth doing. If botting didn’t yield results, people wouldn’t do it.

In other words, if the game is designed to reward players who pay attention (actual reaction to what’s happening necessary, positioning mattering etc, randomized timers on variable things happening etc.), instead of motivating you to try your best to play like a bot (when quick repetitive monotone behavior is what makes you level/get silver/drops the fastest).

That’s hard to do in a grindy repetitive game however XD

An additional way to expose botters (besides actual footage of them)… is by making statistics about character-activity/logs publicly accessible. If you can look up some player and see their gameplay history, only to notice that they’ve played 24/7 for 50 days straight on the same map and killed 30483406754604066 of the same monster, it’s obvious what went on there.

I believe TOS has tried a bit of both of these already (by making late game silver-gain that much higher than early-game, and by (unfortunatley) disabled trading and its limits crippling bots and goldsellers… and the latter by having an NPC where people could check stats about people, but I think that NPC was removed by now?).

I still think completely disabling trading isn’t necessary though. Just have to set the limits on it right:
-anyone can OPEN a trade-window with anyone. What and how much you can put into it is what is being restricted
-1 trade INPUT per day (10+ with Token)
-max 5 items possible to put into a trade window
-no silver tradeable (but there needs to be the option of storing/transfering silver between same-account characters)
-only things with potential can be traded (some additional things with Token)
these are just examples. All of them, even in the worst limitations, are still better than trading being disabled altogether. (Also they’d allow for one-way trading, since while one person might not be able to put anything into their side of the trade window, the other one could if they haven’t reached their limitations for that day or whatever)

Another help would be an initial minor one-time payment to access the game, as that wouldn’t be too drastic for a normal player (if it’s like the cheapest founders pack, and especially if it comes with TP as well, absolutely no reason to be against it), while escalating quickly for anyone intending to make 20+ accounts.

I’m not sure about a flagging system (if there was one, THAT would have to have a captcha or something, instead of being a single click option). Perhaps if it was merely used as a pointer for GMs, who would then check out that player (and their log). But definitely not in a way where players themselves could hinder legit innocent players from playing by simply gathering enough friends to flag some person they don’t like etc…

Just my 2 cents on the issue.

#53

Sounds good :
-A debuff at login that drop exp/loot rate to 0% and when you complete the captcha (at login and few times ingame), it gives another that boost it to 100%. This allow a boost for exp book that will up the exp rate from 100% to the amount wanted.
-During the Captcha, the player is unkillable and unable to do any action (like a hide/freeze status).
-If the player close the client (alt+f4 or what ever) or get disconnected, it will still ask to complete the captcha at the next login.
There are certainly some issue to think about but this can be great.

#54

No captchas thanks. Bots get through it easily while players take some time to read and key in…

EDIT: or maybe have some fun with captchas…

1 Like
#55

Most effective solution :

  • 2-5 $ symbolic fee for per acc creation
  • no silver transfer (only beetwen same acc’s characters)
  • +50 lvl for trade and market acces
  • effective report system (video record with implement acc ID detect system)

Nearly impossible profit with bots (actualy loss)

1 Like
#56

Make an Anti Bot GM Guild like we had on Ragnarok - worked just fine but dont copy their pikachu picture
GMs hunting bots while player chillax and enjoy the game…thats what our game is about right…OUR game i claimed it

#57

This is a great idea. Implementing random sidequests/task that has to be completed in the area or get a debuff (by evil spirits), will greatly complicate writing the botting software.

@senemcem85

Some players will not want to pay for a F2P game.
This is a great idea, like random quests / mission that you have to fulfill in the area or get debuffed (by evil spirits).

It will greatly complicate the bot writing process.

Edit: Didn’t finish reading your whole post. I agree with what you said.

BOT Information
#58

Rather than relying on IMC to do the work, the COMMUNITY should step in and simply report bots. I think we have a far superior advantage over bots and IMC because of our in depth knowledge of the game, dedication, and number.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attachments/transformers-toy-discussion/27423427d1394129793-kre-o-appreciation-thread-let-hunt-begin.jpg

#59
5 Likes
#60

Another way to detect “botting” is that if you are in an area for a longer period of time, but did not move much from an area, it could trigger the capcha. However, I will say, even in other games, a Capcha itself can be botted >.>

#61

Imagine when whole party got into boss room, and they decide to afk a bit to take a break. Splash back to first stage and have to climb the long way again, lmao.

#62

And people can abuse each other as well. We’re human and human are evil.

#63

Reporting bots is great, but these reports have to be handled by real human people. I don’t believe that the ToS developers have the money or the manpower to realistically do anything with these reports.

1 Like
#64

Unfortunately, bots are extremely hard to stop, by nature of their creators being fellow humans. It also doesn’t help that most methods just aren’t that good

Manual reports - slow, prone to error
Mini-GM players - greifing
Minigame - can be scripted through (Wakfu’s Captain Atcha)
Captca - non-random -> image-answer pairs

  • random by client -> read memory for answer
  • random by server -> image recognition
  • mathcha -> it’s a computer
  • waitcha -> wait statement
  • select all with X -> image-object pairs

The only way I can think of to possibly stop botting from hurting player experience is to make the game systems in such a way that bots are somehow a boon unto the human community.

1 Like
#65

i like the minigame one bcuz of rewards and its fun compared to typing in numbers

#66

Heres another suggestion.

If you had an dynamic image generator then ask the client a question every hour ( or random time duration ) i think would be pretty good idea. for example

how many pedals on this Popolion?
what color are the pedals on this Popolion?

if the user gets it wrong, another question will come in 10 mins. if they get 3 wrong in a row. They get a 2 hr debuff where drop rate and exp rate goes close to zero.

if the user gets it right, the they get an random unique buff for 30 mins or something like that

That way, if the regular user gets the question. they are happy because they get a buff. if they get it wrong by accident, they still get 2 more tries. after failing 3 times they might as well turn off the game and just go outside or read a book or something.

#67

Convenience of reporting is also important.

Being able to right click a chara and having options like

Report Bot

Report

Block

For when you right click someone so that we have a much easier time to report these bots.

2 Likes
#68

So people are not allowed to afk?

#69

So let’s say 10 people hate you. And decided to report you as botting, even if you didn’t. /gg

#70

Its better than having to go to the support section of the website and manueling reporting them with some proof.

People are lazy. There’s going to be more people happy they have that option than not.

#71

What’s the buff? Would the buff mean that the players lucky enough to get asked the question means they would ultimately be faster at gaining levels, or making money, etc than a player who was unlucky enough to not get the buff? Would this mess with PvP? Would this mean that it’s essential to get the buff before tackling a big boss if you want to be top DPS?

How do you implement the image generator? How does it appear to the player? Does it pop up automatically so that it disrupts whatever the player is doing? Does it just give a small message letting you know you must complete it? What happens if you don’t notice the message because you are AFK? What happens if you don’t answer it? What if you’re AFK and you decide to grab lunch and don’t come back for an hour or two? What happens if this message just pops up during a crucial moment in a boss fight, or pvp?

1 Like