To Catch a Botter: Ad for screencapture.com

[cinos]

CV every time robby misreads my threads you blame me (i.e. rage bug, "OH IT'S NOT MY FAULT, YOU JUST DIDN'T REPORT IT CORRECTLY", even though I did and robby is the one who didn't read it right, but you obviously just wanted an excuse to use it so I guess that works), plus when I say the community takes back cheaters with open arms and blames reporters, I mean people exactly like you, so your words mean nothing here.
No, really, every time robby fails to properly comprehend basic things like banning the guy who cheats literally every time a major exploit is found, you go back around and try to call people like me childish for wanting them banned, or, perhaps, for the community to not accept them with open arms, despite the fact he is an αsshole who constantly cheats and has basically nothing of note to say. Somehow it is our fault for even bothering, and not robby's fault for backpedaling over the last time he had any kind of moderation.
Really, every time robby does something wrong, you always try to say it's because he is one guy, one guy who needs money, one guy who can't take care of things...why not just hire moderators? Before you say those need payment, I'm pretty sure basically every discord server, messy subreddit, and 4chan board proves otherwise, but go off I guess.
Anyway I'm done with your shιτ, the fact an apologist like you even bothers replying proves how much the community rather blame those who do the bare minimum of reporting, because it's "not cool" to "stir up drama", over someone who has cheated and will cheat, and people like you accepting him back with open arms cannot possibly fathom not accepting these people back.

feel free to type your fifty paragraphs of excuses as for how your lot always takes back cheaters or is found cheating.

The fact you still think the bug was because of rage shows you did not report it correctly, or don't even know what it is. You reported "rage stays active when you switch weapons" and guess what, that is exactly what Robby fixed because now if you activate rage and switch weapons, it disables. And he even confirmed that you were saying rage was the issue, and you said yes. How on earth can you blame him for fixing exactly what you reported?

I'd like for you to showcase some examples where Robby fails to punish someone who uses a major exploit when there is concrete proof against them and an actual player report thread (or email), because I can't really recall any examples. Sure, maybe you didn't agree with the punishment that was given, but thats an entirely different thing, and quite honestly, doesn't matter at all.

I have absolutely no idea what you are even talking about with me not wanting cheaters banned? Out of everyone in this game, I would bet I am the one that has reported players / bugs that has gotten the most people banned / punished. Not to mention I am the one who suggested Robby be more strict on punishments, which he has been since then, and has been very nice to see. But yes, when you include a random youtube link and a giant gif in the replies of a completely unrelated bug report and complain that Robby does nothing because he didn't watch it and ban them, it is most definitely your fault.

But yes, Robby is only one man, he cannot possibly see everything or catch everything himself, that is the whole point of the forums in the first place, so he can interact with the community and see any issues. And if you ask me, he does a pretty dang good job. If you're suggesting that moderators don't need to be paid, then why don't you do it yourself? It only takes 2 minutes for Robby to actually ban someone, you don't need the ability to do it yourself. So why don't you spend your time going around, gathering evidence, and reporting bugs / players to Robby in a way he can actually see it and take action on it? You play this game and claim to like it, but all you do is complain and criticize Robby. If you really want to make things better, there are PLENTY of things you can do to help Robby, but all I see you do is complain. Complain he doesn't ban people he has no idea were doing something wrong, complain it's his fault he doesn't know because he he didn't read every single forum reply and watch every youtube video posted on the forums, complain he needs to make money to live, complain even when he does issue a punishment that its not as harsh as you wanted. How are you not sick of yourself? I can assure you, everyone else is sick of you.


As for the actual point of this thread - automoderation / autoban to detect botting.

It could be helpful, it also would likely be a lot of work to make it work properly, and also probably would give A LOT of false signals. An anti-cheat is probably one of the hardest things to make for a game, especially for things like botting, because of how difficult it is to distinguish a botter from a real player, and also how sophisticated botting programs can be. I'll give an example, for whipmasters to kill Colossal, they are extremely "computer-like". What I mean is, they just sit there and spam tornado and heal mp the entire time, thats it. A basic anti-cheat, likely would detect that as botting, which obviously would be a false signal. And sure, maybe that 1 instance could be fixed, but there are 1,000 more instances just like that.

Don't get me wrong it would be great to have something like this, that even just works a little bit, however I don't think its worth it to add anytime soon because of the time commitment it would take. Elia isn't really that big yet, so players just reporting botters is very effective (as long as they actually do it).

>completely ignores the fact I waved the footage of him doing it right in his face
okay

no real comment on anti cheat, it is physically not possible for things like botting, the only really flawless anticheat is that to stop basic memory editing. That is kinda why I'm suggesting moderators for this kind of stuff, I myself know I'd both record and give a ban (30 day if I was forced to do that honestly, otherwise it'd be more, or permanent), and I'm guessing others would do that aswell, others more responsible and active than me...yknow, not you, since you take their lot in and accept them no problem, someone like flashlight, he doesn't really play but it wouldn't hurt to be able to reach to him on weekends.

Like, why are you trying to pretend I don't report botting properly? We literally reported the same thing one time, it's pretty clear I do a decent job.

[CrazyVanilla]

Like, why are you trying to pretend I don't report botting properly?

[cinos]

Like, why are you trying to pretend I don't report botting properly?

[Robby]

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I've tried to implement botting detection in the past, but it's simply not worth it. When players use a botting program, they can set it up with pretty much any pattern of keys. Some of those botting programs, even have ways to randomize certain key presses, as a way of purposely making it so that a game would fail to detect any patterns. So at that point, it's insanely difficult to really make out any clear different between a legit player and a botter, if not impossibly if the botter uses a detailed enough pattern and utilizes those randomize pressing settings I just mentioned.

Currently, the best way would just be to record them and post a video link to the in the Bugs & Errors section or somewhere. I thought about having a dedicated "Report" forum, but I think it'll just get flooded with a lot of "he said this, she said this", kind of posts, which I don't have time for.

[MaxBlue01]

This might be too early to suggest something like this, but might as well try.

Back in HH, there was a dedicated "PvP" server, where anyone can attack anyone else anywhere. In some cases, this helped some high level grinders against afk farmers.

I am NOT suggesting a PvP server in Eliatopia (not now anyway). However, since botters are only reported by "witnesses", how about we make those witness more "usefull"? Here is my idea: everyone (like Player A) can send a PvP duel to anyone they meet (like Player B). If player B refuse the challenge (by PHYSICALLY clicking "No"): there will be no PvP fight, and player A must wait a bit before challenging anyone else again (to prevent challenges spam). If player B accept, both player A and player B can attack eachother. Surrounding enemies can STILL attack both players, however, others players can't attack the 2 players (although "spectators" playrs can still block their movements). Winner of the duel get coins and equipment, like he was "robbing'" the loser. And during the duel, neither player can change area. To prevent stale-mate, there must be a duel time limit (maybe 5 minutes?). If one of the players log out / refresh during the duel (likely because ragequit), that player will still die and will still lose money / equipment. However, we must be careful to be sure to differentiate intentionnal log outs and unpredictable servers crashes.

What's that have to do with botting? Well, player B actually have a time limit to answer the challenge (for exemple 1 min). If after the time limit, player B haven't answered, the duel START. Meaning player A (the active player) will fight a botter (player B) that is passive, and usually easy to attack (lightning storm and other big range skills might still be a problem).

Few notes to be aware: From HH experience with PvP server, it is a very bad idea to allow PvP literally everywhere. A few areas should be without PvP possible. In Eliatopia, those "PvP-free areas" should be: all the main shops, the 3 main cities (even though tepplar village have some enemies), inside normal building / houses (this does NOT include inside sewer, caves and factories). To prevent very high level players from botting (when currently they take no / extremly low damage), maybe force both players to deal at least 1 dmg every attack (exception: gunners deal 1 dmg every 4-8 bullets depending of gun used, to prevent exploit), and to remove HP regen (at least at last 1-2 minutes of the duel?).