When the new CAPTCHAs were released as an update to the previous one made by BSF2000, there was an uproar about it in the forums and yet just over a week from this update, nothing much has changed. Many issues have been raised with it and we at the Buzz decided to dig deep into this matter so you would be able to decide whether they are of help or hindrance to the game. For this, we spent a great deal of time cruising the forums to see how the players have adapted to this new feature. One issue was the duration of time between each CAPTCHA. Various players noticed and complained about this and were annoyed that CAPTCHAs were appearing quite often and it later became quite obvious to the community that CAPTCHAs appear after a certain number of ‘clicks’ rather than a particular duration of time. CAPTCHAs appear only on certain pages such as the bullet factory feature and various others where high XP may be gained rather than a feature like bootmail. Could this mean that if you are preparing for a shooting where you are constantly on the bullet factory page, you will come across CAPTCHAs more often than others would and who exactly decides how often they appear? Well we at the Buzz found someone who could answer this in Sky who confirmed that this was in fact true and that BSF2000 himself decides how often they appear. He later went to say that they are still looking at it and things may change.
Another issue that we found raised in the forums was the location of CAPTCHA’s. Are they necessary everywhere they are situated? Two pages that where CAPTCHAs appeared and were of a major talking point in the forums were the profile feature and busting. Firstly, lets examine why CAPTCHAs are present on profiles. We all know that various individuals and groups (which is believed to not be confined to just one group of players) use scripts to gather data from player’s profiles such as wealth and rank to assist them in determining who to shoot and when, in order to gain an advantage over others. If a script delivers back data that indicates a player’s wealth has considerably increased and decreased constantly over a period of time, in a particular pattern, they could be interpreted as being a banker for a crew. Such patterns include low ranked account that log in once a day roughly around the same time (to reset their interest timer). If an account becomes suddenly rich and then broke all within a short period of time, without casino's being won, on a regular basis, the scripts will also take note of this as that user is probably buying points. Alternatively, the scripts could bring back data that could tell them how many players are over a certain rank and of which could be possible shooters for rival crews. All of these methods are designed at gaining an upper hand over their rivals and is considered cheating. With this in mind, doesn’t it warrant the use of a CAPTCHA on the profile page? We at the Buzz certainly to think so.
The second feature we would like to discuss and of which is probably the most talked about one, is the use of CAPTCHA in busting. Is it really needed and does an issue with cheating in busting really warrant this decision? Once again we probed into the forums to get an insight into what players made of this. FancypantsmanV3, a prominent and well known buster who holds various bust competitions stated: ‘If it is removed from busting I am fine, I understand the need for it on profiles but it is still annoying and with busting, I barely bust anymore, has really taken the fun out of it for me ‘. This quote taken from FancypantsmanV3 really seems to sum up the general view of players and enthusiastic busters alike and with that we at the Buzz understand where he is coming from. The CAPTCHA found on profiles appears to be merited but had the problems with ‘cheating’ really spread to busting and was there an epidemic? Could this truly take the enjoyment out of busting? Scripts can be used in the jail feature but this is not well known as we at the Buzz have learnt. Busting/clicking on Jail, allows you to track which states accounts are in for shooting purposes. An account that likes busting competitions is likely to be in Illinois regularly and you can track the times they are online with a script by heading to the jail page in Illinois regularly. It is also another place to check ranks with a script. Aldarion had this to say: ‘We've had a pretty big discussion on whether it should stay or not and eventually we decided to keep it up. We may reconsider but for now it will stay’. It appears that CAPTCHAs in busting were a major talking point when it was being decided where to have it situated and that cheating in busting could have possibly been at such a level that made it reasonable to have it introduced there and for now, it will continue to stand.
In conclusion, we at the Buzz believe that a lot of time has gone into introducing CAPTCHAs to ensure fair play and like anything that does so, should be given time before opinions are cast upon it. The Bootleggers community seems to united against CAPTCHAs, whether they really should be there but we hope that we have 'enlightened' others as to reasons why they are present. The moderators are adamant that CAPTCHAs are here to stay and that efforts are being made to make them ‘less annoying’ as Sky once said. What changes will be made to them if any? What effect will they have on the Bootleggers community? Only time will tell but be rest assured that we at the Buzz will have it all covered for you if and when it happens.
‘. This quote taken from FancypantsmanV3 really seems to sum up the general view of players and enthusiastic busters alike and with that we at the Buzz understand where he is coming from. The CAPTCHA found on profiles appears to be merited but had the problems with ‘cheating’ really spread to busting and was there an epidemic? Could this truly take the enjoyment out of busting? Scripts can be used in the jail feature but this is not well known as we at the Buzz have learnt. Busting/clicking on Jail, allows you to track which states accounts are in for shooting purposes. An account that likes busting competitions is likely to be in Illinois regularly and you can track the times they are online with a script by heading to the jail page in Illinois regularly. It is also another place to check ranks with a script. Aldarion had this to say: ‘We've had a pretty big discussion on whether it should stay or not and eventually we decided to keep it up. We may reconsider but for now it will stay’. It appears that CAPTCHAs in busting were a major talking point when it was being decided where to have it situated and that cheating in busting could have possibly been at such a level that made it reasonable to have it introduced there and for now, it will continue to stand.