Botting is one of the most infamous and deplorable issues that has plagued the online gaming industry. This is one of the primary factors that brings down MMORPG’s because it takes away the essence of fair play and disrupts the natural game balance that the developers intended. This was officially recognized by the South Korean government in their recent online game development symposium. Here’s a quick excerpt from the article posted on MMOSITE:
At the symposium, Ryu In-Chun said that bot is a type of product which infringes the copyright of others, and the South Korean government will formulate relevant laws and policies to prevent bots. He also said the government is making an amendment to Game Law. Once it is approved, people can tackle the problem by legal means. In addition, he said if enterprises put forward any good methods to eliminate bots, the government will respond proactively.
More on this after the jump.
So are bots illegal? If we will take a look at how the courts decided in Blizzard’s case versus the World of Warcraft Glider Bot, then the answer would be yes. Blizzard successfully sued the creators of the bot.
That’s the best way to stop 3rd Party Programs, hit them at the source – the developers of the cheats and hacks. I know the title of my post is “Bot and Get Jailed”, but I just did that to get your attention, hehe. The real title should be “Develop Bots and Get Jailed”.
Now the real question is why is this a good thing for us and how does this relate to the Philippine Online Gaming Industry?
Unlike South Korea, we have no government body that supports and overlooks online gaming. Also note that in the Philippines there are mostly game publishers and not developers. This means that our powers to combat problems like this are very limited, and we don’t have the power or the resources to go after the developers of 3rd Party Programs. If the law in South Korea is passed, then our developers will have the legal right to sue developers of cheats for their games.
I am really looking forward to this and I hope that it’s actualized sometime soon.
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Alcarcalimo on December 15, 2008
This would be good news to MMORPGs with a healthy number of players, but unlike AMDG’s Lineage 2 SEA which depends on the bot population to survive, this is extremely bad. They may need to finally get on destroying the bot population.
Jhoeuy de Guzman on December 15, 2008
…and like me. the reason why i quit most of my games, it’s because of the big bot population.
The Angel-Killer on December 15, 2008
hahaha finally, something to definitely eliminate those no good bots..im looking forward to this implementation at the Philippines :] sumosobra na kc ang bots eh..bot na nga, nangbabastos pa ng tao >_<
dingusfungus on December 15, 2008
For me late na napagusapan yan.. and late na para iimplement.. baket??
Nasira na ang best mmorpg for me which is RAGNAROK.. sira na at hindi na eto mababalek.. Imagine world without BOT..
Kaya maganda ang WOW, kahit na alam nila na mas kikita sila with this bots eh pinigilan nila because they know in the long run ang BLIZZARD at ung game ang magsusuffer..
Yun ang pagkakaiba ng developer sa publisher..
Anyone can be the strongest with bots, anyway its too late
PrimeUser on December 15, 2008
“This means that our powers to combat problems like this are very limited, and we don’t have the power or the resources to go after the developers of 3rd Party Programs.” hahhaha… really….. we dont have to follow the developer… what we must do is COUNTER-ACT this kind of EVENT… there are many FILIPINOS who are on DEconstructing this kind of PROGRAMS… We all know that in pRO 3rd Party Program or BOT is NOW CONSIDER BY THE LUG as a LEGAL USE.
“THANK YOU”
johnny on December 15, 2008
It’s kind of frustrating to find out that this “LAW” was implemented more or less 5 years later the BOT program was used. I’d have to agree with “PrimseUser”, and “dingusfungus “. I mean if this topic is so important, then LUG should have done something about it a long time ago, and I’d have to quote PrimseUser’s statement, “We all know that in pRO 3rd Party Program or BOT is NOW CONSIDER BY THE LUG as a LEGAL USE.” It’s kind of too late for this.. I apologize if anybody got “HURT” with my statement.
paysu on December 15, 2008
if ipapatupad to sa pRO. sasabayan nyo toh ng bongang ads sa tv, radio and newspaper. pag nawala ang bot bbagsak ng population. so need ma compnsate ang lahat. events, ads, promos etc.
Kaiser on December 15, 2008
Yeah, and I can imagine New Chaos dropping down from 4.5k to 1.5~2k..
Matitira na lang ung mga taong “love” talaga ang game.
unknowingly on December 16, 2008
The problem is.. wla naman kc gngwa LU kaht to prevent bots from rampaging ehh..
Whistler on December 16, 2008
new chaos is on the point of no return – taking away bots most probably will put the server on a withdrawal state, unlike valk and valhala with was non-saturated from the start.
bRO player on December 16, 2008
Wauks I would like to talk to you live (irc, msn, icq whatever).
You see, you post that bots bring down MMORPGs. Now what measures can you say that Philippines LUG takes against them? You say you can’t, because you’re just a publisher. That’s a lie. It’s true that Ragnarok doesn’t offer many tools for GMs to punish bots, but I’ve seen bRO almost eliminating bots with GM patrol – and that was one of the best times RO ever had here.
I’ve been to pRO. You (Philippines LU) don’t give a damn about bots.
mjdbest on December 16, 2008
I don’t think nobody cares about bots in pRO anymore. Most players in pRO quitted because of unresolved hack cases, frauds and scams. To me this is a bigger problem than bot.
OT:
Anyway if you can get jailed for botting then how about throwing a pair of shoes at the president of US?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081215/od_afp/usiraqafghanistanbushshoes_081215103511
Whistler on December 16, 2008
^ has a point. a very likeness of our real government dont ya think? lug needs to tackle issues one at a time starting with the biggest priority, however its up to them what or if they will take action.
but probably a majority of players would have burned out already by the time they implement it, but that’s just my hindsight.
OT: mataas agi saka lucky dodge ni bush, pero naka 1 int with succubus armor
at least wala siya damage sa AB…
bRO player on December 16, 2008
You both above have points. Two words though: renewal + newcomers.
Ragnarok is a great game. It has its faults, as any game. But LU can’t excuse itself on issues like botting pushing things to Gravity. There won’t be a software solution for bots. What you can do is (1) bureaucracy, (2) GM patrolling and (3) game structure measures.
Any protocol, solution or whatever can and will be implemented by botters. LU has no control of client machines. It’s stupid to think some GameGuard will be a solution.
(1) can do quite some good to uncontrolled account creation.
(2) is the only reasonable measure agains bots ingame.
(3) is making changes to the game so that it requires intelligence from the player.
About (3) specifically, when I played on F2P server with no teleport I saw many bots getting completely screwed for just not being able to handle lots of mobs.
But all of that is useless if LU thinks bots are a good money income. Most players want to play the game, but marketing is always making stupid decisions based on stupid numbers.
Brian on December 16, 2008
This is LUG’s fault from the beginning. They tolerated bots. Yeah, they did some bot patrolling before, but then they stopped.
It’s sad to see now that the game I’ve loved ever since college is now plagued with bots. Just go to sphinx level 4 and you’ll see, if not thousands, hundreds of bots.
JekyllVSHyde on December 16, 2008
You cant excuse that LU! is only a publisher of the game. Take example for Gravity LCC who holds International Ragnarok Oline(iRO), although they cannot totally eliminate bots inside the game but still they response to their players’ reports of bot users they saw ingame. They urgently response on their players’ complaint even though the consequence of their response is decreasing the population of iRO. I think LUG! Philippines is after only for their gain not to the benefits and good services for the players. I hope that this coming 2009 we can see the LUG! Philippines response for the benefit of players/gamers.
mjdbest on December 16, 2008
bRO
You both above have points. Two words though: renewal + newcomers.
Agree!!! the story of ragnarok i believe is about a world thrown into chaos (bots? frauds? hacks? hehe) then a new world will be created from its remnants. (like what bRO said. renewal)
Gani on December 16, 2008
For me ndi nmn un bot ang dahilan kaya nagsi-quit un ibang players, well bot has been part of pRO few years ago until now. Most common dito is ung snail na pag resolve ng mga cases to any players individually like resolving hack cases, players who won their prizes and not being able to distribute their prizes at the right time, un compensations… Now, if the bot will be totally terminated to pRO then it’ll be a great collapse to each server, meaning less players, less bot, less income. So what will happen next? Will pRO the next inRO? Na nag stop na tlaga? Will pRO be eventually lost its existence? Sana nmn ndi…
Sa akin lng nmn po e, opinyon lng ^_^ Hehehehe. I’m totally against bot nmn e kaso anjan na yan so wla na tau magawa, eh kng merun man ano? There had been many ways that LU tried to get rid off the bot pro anjan at anjan pa rin un bot in the end.
Anyways, I’d like to greet Merry Xmas and a very prosperous New Year to each and everyone of us. Lalo ka na po Sir Wauks! More Power to you and Good Career pa hehehe.
dingusfungus on December 16, 2008
I dont want to comment anymore about this topic because its just too late..
That is the different between the PUBLISHER and the DEVELOPER i hope you get my point guys.. Compare blizzard to LU??. Blizzard sued directly the creators of the bot program., then what?? no one ever tried again..
However you slash it guys for there is only one thing that destroyed RO this is the bot program. period
Yung mga sinasabe kasi ng iba jan for short term lang.. Yes sa una malake ang kita dahil marame ang magbobot pero in later part marame po tong disadvantages like imbalance, magsasawa na ang tao nagawa na nila lahat eh ng walang challenge!! and ofcourse ung mga totoong players aales dahil sa bot.
pero kung walang bot un ang longterm.. pupusta ako LU or kahit sa inu kung walang bot ang RO ang dame paring tao nian hanggang ngaun, malakas pa sana ang kita ng LU hanggang ngaun o kahit for the next 5 years.. eh wala eh nasilaw eh.. tao nga naman.. greedy..
Katulad ng sinabe ko lahat kahit grade 1 ka palang magbot ka ng isang taon.. multiple accounts.. 24 hrs.. ewan ko lang di ka tingalain.. ng walang kahirap hirap.
anyway its too late only in my dreams..
dingusfungus on December 16, 2008
regarding the income..
with bot = short term income (isang malakas na bagsak)
without bot = longterm income (constant flow of money, hanggang kelan?? i dont know..)
i played WOW and RAGNA i still like RAGNA..
wrong move LU
Decikator on December 16, 2008
Kaya kumonti ng kumonti ang mga naglalaro ng ragnarok ay dahil nagsulputan na parang mga kabute ang mga ibang company na nag-o-offer ng ibang online games. Sumobra na sa dami tapos ay may nag-offer pa ng free-to-play.
pusa on December 17, 2008
asa pa LU na mapapatupad to sa pinas.. mga asa
Artemis on December 17, 2008
Since sa Korea ito mai-implement. Sana gumawa na ang Gravity ng isang maganda at regulary updated anti bot.
Nagagawa ang ganitong klase ng anti bot sa mga private servers di ba? Gravity should also start implementing this measure! Para mailagay na din ito ng LU sa PRO.
rael on December 17, 2008
no bot no more top up na means baba na kita ng LUG 20 to 30 bot means a lot of load (aminin) pera pera lang yan mga brother and sister pataga ko kamay ko d2 ni isa sa inyu di man lang maisipan mag bot face the realty noh wag mag linis aminin isang malaking desisyun na hanggang sa pagtulog eh talagang pag iisipan yan bago ma implement hmmm kaming mga players ng RO maybe ready na or not hmm kayu LUG ready na ba kayu bumaba ang kita nyu sa susunod na taon? hehehe
pong on December 18, 2008
Sana matupad yan! kahit wala ginawa politicians d2 sa goverment kung-di cha-cha, ang korean govm’t ang titira sa mga bot programmers kahit san parte ng mundo at ang web site na host na garapalan ng bot ay siguradong mawawala tapos ang mga naghahanap ng bot prog ay mapipilitang maghanap sa highly risky bot distributers na will lead them to hacked accounts
Retired pRO Player on December 18, 2008
@ bRO player: I strongly agree with you.
What’s the purpose of this post anyway? To scare away botters in pRO & make pRO bot-free? FYI, I’m sure pRO is not in South Korea, and I don’t think that will happen. Remember LUG, that you were the one who made botting in pRO legal after many days of trying to stop the bot armies.
If that “get arrested from botting” thing will ever happen in the Philippines, do you know who will be blamed first? You, LUG, because it’s your responsibility to make the game clean. So don’t feel very confident if you think that the players will be the first ones to get blamed for botting.
As for the pRO players… whatever, I don’t care about pRO anyways because I already quitted. Too many bots & just f-ed up problems.
Kaiser on December 18, 2008
shutdown sourceforge? ain’t gonna happen kid..
Frostice on December 18, 2008
This is a good news for gamers. But bad news for LU. Since botting is tolerated by LU, pRO is mostly has players who are botters or bot-benefiters as their customers. Assuming that the development of third party programs for ragnarok will be completely stopped, this will obviously put pRO in a dangerous position.
new chaos on December 18, 2008
o yeh botter ako sa PRO!! at ang lakas ko.. kya nio din to.. mag bot lang kau.. bili lang kau load sa lvl up, para kumita sila at hindi ibanned bot. tas tawag tawag nalng 24hrs to mga bro. meron din akong mga highlevel character baka gusto nio buy katas ng bot..
pati billions of zenny meron ako.. kakabot.. o yeh.. over ups kasi ng over ups me date aun lumago.. kakabot ule
hindi yan maiimplement dito.. pupusta ako.. pag malakas na kau mag angas din kau.. go botters!!! angas na angas..
ty Lu for making this happen easing easy…..
rockman on December 21, 2008
I like the idea…
pero sa government ng Pilipinas ngaun?…I think it’s impossible,last time i checked we’re ranked 3rd on the most corrupt country!..hahahaha..(or 1st I think)..pag gumawa ng batas jan,baka mauwi lng s bulsa ng iba jan tapos wla nnmn mangyayari..
@topic
nice post sir wauks..keep it up!!!
dingusfungus on December 24, 2008
@ rael
dude kulang nalang sabihin mong botter ka ah.. halata sa post mo eh.. yup its really tempting pero hindi lahat ng tao katulad ng sinasabe mo may mga tao din nag lalaro for the love of the game itself.
tama ka din bababa ang income ng levelup kasi hule na ang lahat.. na abot na ang dulo ng PRO. pero kung sa una plang ay clean ang PRO baka hanggang ngaun marame pareng tao..
look at WOW
qt on January 6, 2009
back to basic na lang pag implement yan..
para magsibalikan mga ro players..
pero dpat active dn mga gm’s…..
pra d boring
Owen on January 21, 2009
Hindi ako hippocrate pero what’s wrong with playing in autopilot mode? Man! sasagutin ba ng game company yung pambili mo na pain killer sa likod at balakang kakalaro! They earn money as well.
Kung wala yan dito sa tin.. E d mga die-hard fans na lang ang naglaro.
Sabi nga ng mga pinoy.. Pag nde nadala sa bot.. sa private server naman..
Nice article though Wauks.. Rok On!
Zechs on April 8, 2009
wala na bagsak na pRO dahil sa bot hayz! kaya yung iba private server naglalaro