With apparent evidence of suspected 'bot' accounts rife, and claims of various scripts being in use, coupled with the removal of various high profile Ban-on-Sight players from the BoS list, we saw it as about time we at the Buzz looked into this potential cheating and the effect it could be having on the game. We had previously received detailed evidence and suggestions of the profile-watcher and banking-detector script, which identifies bankers in order to allow the power-hungry and cheating users of the game to remove cash, increasing the value of their own assets.
But what is this claimed cheating doing to our game? Accusations are made day in day out, many of which are or at least seem to be, rubbish. However, there are some which should be taken in a more serious manner, as along with evidence of them occurring in the form of users personal screenshots and indeed the action within the game itself, they have the potential to and indeed could be, destroying the game we all love.
The idea behind the alleged scripts is a simple one, but is both effective and devastating if executed properly. It records in-game money on the Statistics page, identifying when interest hits the total money, thus increasing it. For example, if someone were to be banking two hundred million a day, the six million a day interest would show up on the scripts readings, along with any other cash injections of an amount over a lower limit which can be chosen by the script user. It also keeps a record of the users online, each minute of the day, all day. The timing of the bank interest injections can then be compared with the users online at this time each day, resulting in an extremely small list of the potential bankers it could be, or in most cases from self-proclaimed users, providing just one name. This allows individuals or sometimes groups, the chance to remove vast sums of cash from the game, increasing the value of their own commodities, as of course we all know, whenever there is fewer of somethings, its value increases.
The claims of these scripts being used, or even others of a more minor nature, are not helped by the removal of well-known Ban-on-Sight players from the BoS list. Users such as Moxie and pariss, renowned in previous rounds for their illegal antics, can now be found mixing it with the community in the game, despite their previous ways. Further claims of Elite Guard corruption have been made regarding users such as this. Responses to such claims can be found in an article regarding the matter in last weeks Buzz, all of which were of course denied.
Claims of bot and script use may find some support, via the simple in-game money graph which can be found on the statistics page. With the total amount hitting $20,430,000,000+/- on 18/12/2012, it seems implausible that shooters would be so lucky in their random killings to of removed over half of this money in the two months following this date. Despite of course, having to include any counts of banning from this figure, it would still seem implausible for the shooters to have been so lucky without some sort of lucrative means of identifying their targets, surely?
The fact money has not dropped in such extreme terms since then, would seem to verify claims from crews such as Asura and Most Wanted that they now have to spread their assets and money more carefully in order to not be subject to any information that potential scripts and/or bots may throw up.
Evidence that supports the claims that users are indeed using bots and scripts seems to far outweigh any claims that they do not exist. The community is, at times, wise, and has identified many suspicious elements that contribute to this greater issue. Your own viewpoint on such issues is of course considered right until proven wrong, and with no evidence that the Elite Guard has reacted to in terms of the use of these scripts/bots, everyone's claims will remain just that, unfortified claims. Evidence, all be it much of which is subjective, stringy and at times weak, continues to grow and be thrown around the Forums. When will there be some response to this? Who knows.
