The War against Bots Continues

[Fallstar]

We recently introduced the next phase of our anti-bot technology Botwatch, and it's already showing its teeth in the battle against botting activity in RuneScape. Last night alone, we conducted a mass ban of no less than 20,000 gold farming accounts. This is a huge blow against gold farming, and you should see the difference in game right away. These new anti-bot systems aren’t limited to gold farmers, however - users of 3rd party clients and botting software are also being aggressively targeted by the newly updated Botwatch.

 

Of course, this is just one victory in the ongoing war against botting. Our zero-tolerance policy stands, and we won't rest while botting and gold-farming exists in your game. It's an ever-evolving race, but with hard work and the support of the community, we'll stay well ahead of the game. We're already working on the next phase of anti-bot tech, which we're looking forward to rolling out over the coming months.

 

The RuneScape Team

 

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I checked a few common spots last night when I heard about this, and frost dragons and green/blue were both almost completely clear. Seems like it's had at least some impact. Hopefully it won't be something that'll get overturned in two weeks (and not just because I have 300k frosties :P)

[Sufem]

2400 total level worlds are free from bots anyway.

[Ginger_Warrior]

2400 total level worlds are free from bots anyway.

If you'd be so kind as to descend from your ivory tower for just a few seconds, perhaps you would see how big an impact gold farming has on the economy of RuneScape as a whole. It's not just about competing for spots at frost dragons. ;)

 

In any case, this is good news. Let's hope it keeps up.

[jayc3399]

The problem with bot nukes now is we need such a massive influx of new members to consume the surplus of goods to bring the economy back to life.

 

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy they are gone, makes grotworm tasks easier, but we are a long way off see the postive effects of this. Even stuff like dragon bones going up is more speculation then absense of product in the markets.

[sees_all1]

I call Shenanigans. A zero tolerance policy on botting means that each botting infraction is treated the same. We've seen that some botters are banned outright, while others are given temporary bans, and some have chances to buy their account back.

 

Well, which is it?

 

In any case, let's all get our broomsticks!

[Mercifull]

2400 total level worlds are free from bots anyway.

Except at castlewars *trololo*

[MPM]

Oh hey, you can see exactly when the botwatch took effect.

 

http://misplaceditem.../2007online.php

Exact link: http://www.misplaceditems.com/2007online.php#1361875895925.9883|1361971770153.911

 

Around 5:50(17:50) yesterday the live player count dropped 10k in a very short time.

[constrictor]

Interesting...

 

I honestly am never sure how useful these "mass bans" are.

 

I feel if anything the biggest thing jagex needs to learn to do is to create it's own coding strategy, one that is not so easily platformed by bots.

Similar to the affect that updates have on bots this would not just remove bots (which in the long run does nothing, bots are easily replaced) but would entirely disable any platforms outside of the RS server.

 

Not being a techie means, to be honest, for all I know this may be impossible. But just my thoughts.

[aerendil]

once againnnnnnnnnnn waffle waffle waffle waffle waffle waffle waffle waffle pancakes.

 

this souuuunddsss good, but I don't think it will do jackshit, more likely just a nice big fat pr to keep the masses happy and content

[strilmus]

It's kinda fun standing in w2 ge entrance and watching the macroers rush in, spout off some gibberish, and then immediately get pounded into dust by a giant hand, over and over, like an ongoing circus attraction.

[Yoko Kurama]

2400 total level worlds are free from bots anyway.

If you'd be so kind as to descend from your ivory tower for just a few seconds, perhaps you would see how big an impact gold farming has on the economy of RuneScape as a whole. It's not just about competing for spots at frost dragons. ;)

 

In any case, this is good news. Let's hope it keeps up.

 

This measure is nothing but a formality that Jagex undertakes once in a while, partly to appease players and partly to deal with their competition (which gold-farmers are). They'll be back. As for gold-farming, the economy is already hideously large and inflated (which explains some of the appeal that RS 2007 has: being part of an exciting and dynamic economy again), so it really doesn't matter for the most part. With free experience littered everywhere, and more and more training methods such as Ivy, LRC, Jadinkos which aren't bot friendly (in the sense that you won't find bots there because there aren't resources to be obtained in them), bots are the least of my concerns, and increasingly they are less of a nuisance for a great deal of players.

[Mojo_Monkey]

Ivy, LRC, Jadinkos don't have bots?

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[Ginger_Warrior]

The point was more directed at gold farmers, which constitute the vast majority of botters overall. Certainly, no one has ever gold farmed ivies or jadinkoes, given it yields no produce or the produce is untradable, respectively.

[Sufem]

2400 total level worlds are free from bots anyway.

Except at castlewars *trololo*

 

Wonder how many comp cape owners here, spend so many hours straight just to get those fancy sparkles. Botting in CW is totaly unproductive so why to bother much, in compare to gold farmers.

 

@back to topic

Problem aren't bots, but players who's buying gold. And as most noticed they are bots to create other bots as they "spawn" really quick. Its nice to see those huge numbers, but got different feeling while playing game in real time. Also wonder if there are some players that get banned for being innocent like was done in last few official/unofficial nukes.

[Yoko Kurama]

What's this fuss about Castle Wars and Comp Caper's afking for their trimmed capes? Aside from potentially distorting team sizes (which really shouldn't mater on an official Castle Wars server because of the sheer number of players there), they're hardly a bother. Alternatively, someone could just organize a Castle Wars Server, purely for Afkers.

[Dracae]

Ok... this may sound weird, but there is something not altogether right about this botnuke.

Almost a week before it MOST gold farmer bots were gone already from the live game. Specially wilderness green dragon ones were gone from each world , totally, wile others like the mature grotworm ones, rune-essence ones and summers garden bots were diminished in numbers big time. You did still see a lot of player-owned-bots around.

For those needing proof: I made a post on rs forums about them being gone days before the botnuke was announced, I can predict some things, but not a botnuke.

A little ironic is that within hours after the botnuke some green dragon bots returned, not a lot, but some.

The disappearance happened at the same time 07 became active, so there might be a correlation. There is some to be said for botmakers being able to make a lot more over there, at least for now. I do not understand though why they would take bots from live game and not make new ones for 07.

 

 

Any ideas ?