Question of the day: 5 June 2008

[Vallend]

Today is on a subject that has people taking a strong stance on both sides of the fence. I know I have a very strong opinion on the subject and will vent it after the question.

What is your opinion of scripters and gold farmers? Do they have a place in UO, or should EA be doing more to combat these problems? Do you think they are a necessary evil to provide players with a desired service, or are they making things tougher on the average player?

As most of you know I have taken a strong stance against both of these and will report anyone I find doing them to the GMs. (normally having to wait a very long time just for a canned response from them saying they will look into it.) I know I do get frustrated getting a scripter removed only to see him/her back a few days later doing the same thing again.

I also hate hearing people saying they provide a needed service by selling needed resources so that players do not have to be bored out of their heads doing the same task over and over again. Some people claim this gives players more time to play the game instead of working at gathering resources for themselves in the game.

I also hate when people use the argument that without scripters prices for items would be even higher then what they are now in game. Sure Scripters can sell resources cheaper then most honest players can because most scripts run constantly, where as a player normally only gathers resources for a few hours everyday. Still I would rather buy from a player then from a program.

I do believe the reason the community collections rewards costs are so high is because of the scripters. The average player has to work three times as hard to get what they want, or will have to purchase the reward they desire from vendors that may belong to the same scripter or may be a duped item.

Also the reason they had to change how resources spawn for mining and lumberjacking was because of scripters. Making it harder once again for a honest player to gather the resources they need for their craftsman. So more then likely the player will buy the resources they need from the vendor owned by the scripter.

As for the gold farmers, well they do tend to tie up spawn areas to make their gold that they resell to the players. On the other side of the coin you can buy their gold for real cash so you can purchase the items you want in game for a huge amount of gold.

Plus many players have taken murder counts and gotten in trouble for luring monsters on them. When they are the ones who should be in trouble for running scripted programs in game. Do the players have to police their shards when EA and the GMs should be doing that?

I also hear from some people that resource gathering and gold farming gives poor people in a third world country a nice living without having to do hard labor and thats why we should support it. To keep them employed and their families fed. I just wonder who is making the profits them or the people that hired them to do it? Plus I do think most resource gathering and gold farming is done by programs its much cheaper that way.

I also hear some people claim that UO would disappear as a game if they banned all the scripters and gold farmers. Without them the number of players would drop below the profitable level. If that is the case then who is left in game that keeps buying what they offer?

So who is to blame for this mess? The scripters for making a profit off the game, or EA for letting this problem go on for so long? Are the GMs even any help anymore with this problem, or have you seen a improvement lately?

Told all of you I was going to vent. lol Oh and sorry for yesterday morning for putting the wrong date. I was not quite awake when I posted.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Obtaining in-game currency by automating gameplay with no (or almost no) risk, is unacceptable. It will flood the in-game market with gold, thus raising the prices and damaging player economy. The result is: If you want to acquire nice items in the game by buying or trading them (this falls under the term "player economy"), you will have to either spend 10 times as much time to acquire the necessary currency, or you will have to buy the virtual money by paying for it with real $$$.

The argument, that scripters make it possible for non-power-gamers to obtain good items, is WRONG! Without scripters, the prices of such items would be 10 times lower. Scripters first destroy the in-game economy, and then sell you the things you cannot achieve anymore, because the economy was destroyed in the first place.

These effects destroy the fun and the original meaning of the game. The game is no longer an MMORPG (ROLE PLAYING game), but it has become a levelling game where only those, who can afford it, succeed. You can very clearly watch these effects also on other games, like WoW.

Thus, scripting is to be condemned. Several actions should be taken to avoid further damage to UO:

• GMs should react on player calls fast and ban players who are caught scripting.
• EA should think of ways making the job of a scripter much more difficult or even impossible. (If certain tasks can be scripted, they usually are too easy or not complex enough. That's why in WoW almost everything can be scripted.)*
• Players should by no means buy in-game items or gold for real money! By doing that, they are paying scripters.

I personally will make sure that any scripter I see ends up dead. I've done so repeatedly on Catskills Trammel/Felucca. I know this won't solve the problem, cause if 1 out of 100 scripted bank runs is interrupted or lost, they still make enough gold to damage the game. However, if other people do the same thing, the job of the scripter will become more difficult.
I already noticed that the scripts have been changed to recognize Lurg. If Lurg appears on the screen, the new scripting characters automatically make a run for the cave exit. Well, I accidentally dropped some old furniture in the cave, and thus the escape path of the scipter was unfortunately blocked. *giggles*

_______________
* Having to solve a small riddle before entering a dungeon would get rid of the dungeon scripters immediately.

 

[Setanta]

I say mash 'em like a bug!

 

[Giggles]

Quote "*EA should think of ways making the job of a scripter much more difficult or even impossible. (If certain tasks can be scripted, they usually are too easy or not complex enough. That's why in WoW almost everything can be scripted.)*


Thats what they have been doing, and thats why I have soul stoned my mining and lumber jacking and don't bother looting gold anymore. You however are purposing they make it more difficult and more button pushing etc, but in all honestly anything no matter how many buttons or prompts are required can be scripted.

Using this method only makes it harder for the average casual player and pretty much gives the resourses and economy over to the scripters because now they are the only ones willing to do it.

Just my 2 cents. Either get rid of the problem at its root or don't bother.

 

[Bob_the_fart_guy]

I wish there was a way of at least EA keeping track of reports of players doing so. So maybe at least if EA notices a certain name enough then maybe they'd take a look. Meh...

 

[Magdalene]

Ban them all to hell. And ban sales for RL money.
But make ingame things +- within reach of casual player (people who work and have a family etc.). Make skill/stat gain less tedious and reasonably timed.
Randomize other things, such as loot, spawn locations, etc.

 

[Nystul]

I say talk and all about this has been going on for years and years and is really a waste of our time.

Usually all that happens is EA decides to make some change to the scripters, that end up hurting the casual player more. The scripters dont care, because they script. All they do is develop work arounds, and make thier script take a little longer. They still gain profit one way or another, and always will.

I'm tired of crap always happening that affects non scripters more in the long run tbh rather then them going directly after the scripters. Either by having the GMs actually take some freaking action (Like they used to), or they should'nt have ditched thier plans for what was that, punk buster?

 

[AnneNomilly]

Usually all that happens is EA decides to make some change to the scripters, that end up hurting the casual player more. The scripters dont care, because they script. All they do is develop work arounds, and make thier script take a little longer. They still gain profit one way or another, and always will.

I'm tired of crap always happening that affects non scripters more in the long run tbh rather then them going directly after the scripters. Either by having the GMs actually take some freaking action (Like they used to), or they should'nt have ditched thier plans for what was that, punk buster?

I completely agree. In my opinion, for what it's worth, the changes to ore and wood have done nothing but hurt the casual player. Before the changes, I had books marked with different colors of ore and different wood spots. Several of us worked together and swapped runes so that if we needed a particular wood or ore, we could hop on, gather the resources, craft the item or fill the order and go play. I'm talking a day of gaming time tops.

Since the changes, if I want to craft something, fill a bod, get an item from the collections, it's easier to pay someone else. And who do we really think most of us are paying? Scripts don't care if it takes DAYS to get ore or wood. Honestly, it's easier and more fun for me to buy gold from a broker and go BUY the wood, ore or reward item. I don't enjoy spending what little time I can carve out to relax and play instead mining or chopping.

I'm by no means saying that every person who sells these items scripts but I know many like myself who have just flat given up on mining or jacking. I only do it if I want something completely mindless to do.

EA really needs to think about the changes like this before they put them in and do something active to STOP scripting instead of just put in things that hurt everyone BUT the scripters.

Just my two cents.

 

[Blackrock Frank]

I know many like myself who have just flat given up on mining or jacking.

Oh Anne, if you ever need some wood, you know who to ask, right?


Franklin
[Blackrock Infected]

 

[Mish o sha]

 

[ParadoxUO]

What is your opinion of scripters and gold farmers? Do they have a place in UO, or should EA be doing more to combat these problems? Do you think they are a necessary evil to provide players with a desired service, or are they making things tougher on the average player?

Posted May 2007, after our annual GRI guild meeting...

"We will make sure game mechanics are respected... warring...
- scripts
- hacks
- cheats"


(grabs his black book)

Since then we got scripters banned, exploiters vanished, speedhackers went missing in the Yew gate battlefield... in a weird way, it seems GM show up really fast when we call them... great GM support!


No matter what we did in the past... nothing changed this game more than making most items common... and cheap... the value of a UO milion dropped to $0,70... all due to the devs conjuntural policy... and some explosions.


Owning the Fellucan facet with one goal... RL profit, is slowly becoming less and less profitable... and soon the same players that always defended "risk vs reward"... will move on to other games, leaving behind an empty Facet and a UO Social Gap.

 

[Farsight]

Ban them all to hell. And ban sales for RL money.
But make ingame things +- within reach of casual player (people who work and have a family etc.). Make skill/stat gain less tedious and reasonably timed.
Randomize other things, such as loot, spawn locations, etc.

My thoughts exactly.