[hide=Note to moderators]Please do not move this to the marcoer/autoer discussion. This thread has a purpose of devising a plan to elminate autoers from coming back. It's not strictly a discussion about them.[/hide] Well recently I've realized (well not really recently, it's been known for awhile, I just started to think about it) that no matter how many you ban, they can always come back. Every single time. Why? Because we have the freedom to make and own as many accounts as we want. If we wanted an army of 1 million noobs, then we could have it. Why anyone would want that, I'm not sure, but it's possible. There is no way that you can forever eliminate the autoers unless there is some kind of restrictions put on the account making process. Here are a few ideas I've come up with. I'll gather any ideas that have a good potential from all of you. Idea #1 Add a restriction to the number of accounts per IP. Example Being Used: 5 How it would benefit: If the autoers made 5 accounts on their IP and then got them all banned, they could no longer play and pollute our economy and game. How it could be a problem: Now-a-days there is usually more then computer per household which all are on the same network thanks to a router. If it were to be biased on a dynamic IP then people with same 2 children, with 2 computers, each want their own 5 accounts, they would be restricted to Two accounts per person, plus and extra one. This would ultimately lead to account sharing. If it's not biased on a dynamic IP then they could just get the IP to their home computer changed by flushing and resetting it, or using a proxy and getting around the 5 accounts per IP rule. It would be hassle but they'd still be able to play. This would also interfear with Tip.it Freak Trains. If you're at your limit wth a main, skiller, staker, and two pkers then you wont have room to make a fun account. Also if you have 4 aco[bleep]s I'm sure no one would want to "waste" their 5th account spot on a fun account you're going to use for an hour. ---------- Idea #2 Add a restriction to a certain amount of accounts per computer. Example being used: 5 How it will Benefit: If there was to be a file downloaded to your computer, such as the uid.dat to determine where accounts are coming from, then this would work brilliantly. The file would track black marks and bans, and once someone has had 5 accounts banned, they are no longer allowed to play Runescape. How it would be a problem: If this file was ever discovered then, autoers could roam free, and this could be over come by a simple wipe of the hard drive. I suppose if you really wanted to play that badly, you could wipe your hard rive but who would sit around wiping their hard drive every weekend to play a game? I know I wouldn̢̢̮ââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t. Also if there is only 1 computer per household and a lets say one brother is legit and one brother gets into autoing, and Brother A gets his autoers banned then both Brother A and Brother B are punished for one child̢̢̮ââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s stupidity. This would also interfear with Tip.it Freak Trains. If you're at your limit wth a main, skiller, staker, and two pkers then you wont have room to make a fun account. Also if you have 4 aco[bleep]s I'm sure no one would want to "waste" their 5th account spot on a fun account you're going to use for an hour. ------ Idea #3 I like the suggestion of a new one-time-only random event every week, as well: I think this would be the most effective solution to the macroing problem as it requires the player to be at the computer and ready to handle it as soon as possible. I'd like to add that if the player fails to address the random event properly, a flag is sent up to JaGeX along with information on the player's name, stats, bank, held items, and default clothes. Certain combinations should result in an automatic ban (such as level 3 with high woodcutting, default skin, 3k+ yews in bank) while others could result in as little as teleporting the player (for instance, level 50 with no significant banked items and low stats will be sent to the wizard tower for no particular reason). This random event should not interrupt combat or Duel Arena users, but will interrupt EVERYTHING else, from shopgoers to book-readers to stair-climbers to banking users. Unless the player is in the Wilderness or other combat areas, their ability to log out will be locked. Ban suggestions will be sorted by priority: Banked items, low combat level (20-) and skill level concentrations (such as 10- stats in all skills but woodcutting) take the topmost tier. Legitimate players who are logged out during the issuance of the random event will answer it when they log back in. In order to ensure that all players are issued the event at least once, the same random event will be given three times in one day and a different one issued at three random times on a random day of the next week. Advantages: a. Fast detection of macroers b. Macro writers will not be able to keep up with the sudden appearance of such events c. Bans large number of macroers in a very short time d. Bans shop macroers, who are responsible for a continually inflated cost of death and chaos runes e. Regardless of ban success, will hugely interrupt the macroing operation until a solution is coded f. Macroers are logged in almost 24-7; this means that most legitimate players will not be adversely affected by random events during the issuance. g. A weekly random event will have cumulative effects on bots: those that are logged out for one set of events may be caught by the next. Disadvantages: a. Coding a new random event every week would be stressful and costly b. Can result in banning of innocent skillers c. Can result in the ban of non-english-speaking players d. Floods JaGeX with data, a large part of which may be useless e. May disrupt the economy f. It is critical that the event be issued simultaneously to all online players g. This system is going to be difficult to implement These are only two I've come up with off the top of my head. I'll try and develop some more ideas ------ Idea #4 Impose an ingame requirement of either total time ingame (either 40-160 hours or 30 days ingame) or total level skill (200-450), before being granted permission to join members. Pros: * Right off the bat, numerous level 3s would not be permitted to collect the bulk of members' resources due to them not immediately meeting the requirement of becoming a member. Cons: * This could very well hamper skill pures to the degree of not even being able to come over to members. * It could also hamper pures from other players (with higher leveled accounts) from granting their pures membership. * Legitimate level 3 players or players that don't feel like dealing with freeplay would be left in the dust. * Major revenue drop for Jagex, they'd be less inclined to consider this. ------ Idea #5 Place extra quest requirements in certain resource-gathering areas of freeplay to reduce their accessibility. Pros: * A sharp drop in certain resource gathering spots would be noted, i.e. Yews, Lobsters, etc. Cons: * Wouldn't truly affect Runecrafting due to a quest requirement already in place. Certain skillers on freeplay would also notice a limit of gathering resources as well, and that could very well be a con. ------ Idea #5 Require an equivalent smithing level to mine a particular rock (when you can smith Steel, would also be when you could mine Coal), OR require at least that Knights' Sword and Doric's Quest be completed to mine coal and above. For Runecrafting, impose a certain Runecrafting level to be permitted to mine essence at (for instance, permit only enough essence to be mined to level to a certain point on freeplay) This level cap would increase as time passed. Pros: * It would force players to have the skill of working with the material that they are actually harvesting. Cons: * May hinder legitimate players from leveling Smithing in an effective manner. Well there you have it. I don't think that these suggestions would be a quick fix, nor do I think that it could be done at the drop of the hat. What others must also realize is that this 'battle' against autoers is not nearly as clairvoyant as it seems on the surface; there are many needless levels of complication, legal issues and socio-economical barriers that must be overcome (there IS a reason that people in 3rd world countries do this...it's to put food on the table). ------ Various other Suggestions The CAPTCHA system, which is a randomly generated image on sign-up where the user is asked to confirm the letters/numbers in the image could be added to the RS make account section. This wouldn't completely get rid of autoers, but cut off any use of the auto-make-account problem.