illegal scripting/macroing enforcement

[Thoronnar]

"I would also like to take this time to warn everyone that we will be actioning accounts that are caught scripting and/or multiboxing. We are not going to be giving out any warnings for this if you are caught. We are also going to be posting monthly the number of accounts that were actioned due to illegal program use, macroing, or harassment/disruptive behavior.

Thank you in advance for your patience with us while we get the Account Center and the shards updated tomorrow and Thursday.

Mesanna"

This was posted 2 days ago on the UO website. Honestly, if this is actually enforced it would be great. The amount of people scripting is absurd, and it is one of the main reasons I haven't PvP for the past few years. I know how easy and powerful it can be to use that software you all know. They do not enforce it, I don't think they have the resources to do so, and it isn't easy to enforce. It is almost impossible to prove somebody is scripting if they are not AFK. But Mesanna's post sounds as if they are switching gears on this.

Not to mention the gold miners, completely destroying the UO economy.

What do you guys think? do you believe this will actually be enforced? I guess we will wait and see if they post any accounts as the months pass by. Because man, do I expect to see a lot!

 

[SpyderBite]

"I would also like to take this time to warn everyone that we will be actioning accounts that are caught scripting and/or multiboxing. We are not going to be giving out any warnings for this if you are caught. We are also going to be posting monthly the number of accounts that were actioned due to illegal program use, macroing, or harassment/disruptive behavior.

Thank you in advance for your patience with us while we get the Account Center and the shards updated tomorrow and Thursday.

Mesanna"

This was posted 2 days ago on the UO website. Honestly, if this is actually enforced it would be great. The amount of people scripting is absurd, and it is one of the main reasons I haven't PvP for the past few years. I know how easy and powerful it can be to use that software you all know. They do not enforce it, I don't think they have the resources to do so, and it isn't easy to enforce. It is almost impossible to prove somebody is scripting if they are not AFK. But Mesanna's post sounds as if they are switching gears on this.

Not to mention the gold miners, completely destroying the UO economy.

What do you guys think? do you believe this will actually be enforced? I guess we will wait and see if they post any accounts as the months pass by. Because man, do I expect to see a lot!

I think there will be some snipe hunting and then scripters will find new ways around whatever enforcement procedures were put in place.

This is true for all online games.. not just UO. And as games that are running on much more modern technology also struggle with scripting; I doubt a game running on 20+ year old code will see much success.

It's admirable that they're trying though.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Lore]

I always thought attended scripting was okay. I can understand not wanting to train up skills. I personally find it fun to go out hunting to train, but I get it.

I just hope they don't act like they can't figure out who really is doing these things. It's easy to see someone is scripting. No one does every action a split second as soon as they can for hours.

 

[Giggles]

For me I'm somewhat conflicted. Yes I feel it's great that they are taking a stance against this behavior. But I also feel it's a bit overkill this late in the game.

Now before you start throwing tomatoes, I look at it like this... scripting is something that has been ignored for years and years. I know that some people make a profession out of it, and those people destroy several aspects of the game. I am whole heartedly excited to hope that those people will finally be stopped.

But on the same token, I consider the average Joe. The majority of players who have used scripts to train skills etc. With such lack of enforcement, it has created a general mentality that "well everyone else does it and nothing happens." Not that this train of thinking is ok... But it has become a reality. I have played on several shards in several guilds and I usually always hear the same argument.

So that is what worries me about the whole "we won't give warnings" approach. It's just a bad buisness practice to allow something to go unchecked so long, and then charge in guns blazing. Coupled with the "we will post the amount of accounts banned just to show You guys we are doing our job." The whole thing just rubs me wrong. I find it tacky and unprofessional, and I feel at least one warning should be provided to indeed show us they are finally taking this seriously. If not, I fear the game will lose a whole bunch of people who would have otherwise corrected their behavior.

 

[Tabin]

If a player afks while his/her pet trains off slimes or whatever, is that macroing even if the character isn't performing any actions? I'm assuming yes, it is illegal because it is unattended and your pet is an extension of you. Some clarification would be nice. I can't imagine how people are training their pets so fast without AFKing.

 

[drcossack]

New If a player afks while his/her pet trains off slimes or whatever, is that macroing even if the character isn't performing any actions? I'm assuming yes, it is illegal because it is unattended and your pet is an extension of you. Some clarification would be nice. I can't imagine how people are training their pets so fast without AFKing.

It's not really that hard. Skills can be done easily in a variety of spots: Haven for resist, combat skills on a Shadow Iron Elemental, magic skills wherever you want. I've trained a Greater Dragon from fresh tame to capped in a single day before. Whispering level 3 makes it ridiculously easy for any pet, although Magery will take a little time if they don't come with a pre-set skill level like the GD.

 

[Damon Beasts]

I dont think auctioning off the accounts is the way to go. Just delete them and not look back including all items and whatnot. Dont give others the option to purchase said accounts. This is just another Scam for UO to make money now that EJ is FTP. Greed Greed Greed. nothing will ever change.

 

[The Craftsman]

"I would also like to take this time to warn everyone that we will be actioning accounts that are caught scripting and/or multiboxing. We are not going to be giving out any warnings for this if you are caught. We are also going to be posting monthly the number of accounts that were actioned due to illegal program use, macroing, or harassment/disruptive behavior.

Thank you in advance for your patience with us while we get the Account Center and the shards updated tomorrow and Thursday.

Mesanna"

Are you sure it wasn’t 1st April when she posted this up?

At this stage of the game, after everything that has been ignored to the point of condoning it over the last two decades, this is laughable.

Far too late to make a difference. All this will do is cut subscriptions as cheating is rampant and it’s the cheats keeping the money coming in.

 

[Thoronnar]

I always thought attended scripting was okay. I can understand not wanting to train up skills. I personally find it fun to go out hunting to train, but I get it.

I just hope they don't act like they can't figure out who really is doing these things. It's easy to see someone is scripting. No one does every action a split second as soon as they can for hours.

Scripting is not allowed. Even if you are not afk.

Are you sure it wasn’t 1st April when she posted this up?

At this stage of the game, after everything that has been ignored to the point of condoning it over the last two decades, this is laughable.

Far too late to make a difference. All this will do is cut subscriptions as cheating is rampant and it’s the cheats keeping the money coming in.

UO.com says posted April 3rd

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

I dont think auctioning off the accounts is the way to go. Just delete them and not look back including all items and whatnot. Dont give others the option to purchase said accounts. This is just another Scam for UO to make money now that EJ is FTP. Greed Greed Greed. nothing will ever change.

They aren't AUCTioning off accounts, they are ACTioning those accounts. I had to look twice myself.

 

[Lore]

Scripting is not allowed. Even if you are not afk.



UO.com says posted April 3rd

LOL Alright.

 

[Acid Rain]

In +20 yrs of playing UO I have yet to see a single person I've known get popped for cheats & quit playing. They just log on another account & keep playing, wait out the ban & keep playing, or start a new account & keep playing. I'm sure some folks do quit if caught/banned but in my personal experience I've not seen it happen.

I've seen more folks quit UO & not come back due to cheaters then I can count or care to remember.

 

[Great DC]

Id like to see public hangings of the people caught outside luna for all to see. I also think they should take over their account and strip their characters and then for all the stuff they gathered up scripting should be handed out to random players for free. Kinda like a gift bag for being a honest player. I also hope they add some of those illegal client mods most use to pvp and script. (they know what these programs are called)

 

[whitesmith]

As long as it is NOT
YOU GAIN SKILL - BANNED
YOU SCRIPT MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS, MINING, LUMBERJACKING, GOLD FARMING, ETC, ETC - IGNORED!

 

[Thoronnar]

I personally think nobody really cares about people macroing skills. Specially because some skills are such a pain to increase. Think of all the crafting skills. I mean, just crafting items over and over again for hours looking at the screen is NOT FUN and a total waste of time! at least not for me.... so I don't care if you are macroing blacksmith, tailoring, imbuing, etc...

But the gold farmers, resource farmers, auto healers, etc... those should be banned and should not be difficult at all to catch them.... I have an easy algorithm to get them started. If a player has been logged for more than 6-8 hrs, and repeating the same action, send him a counselor to talk to him. If the player does not respond, it is afk, and farming.

Done. It is that simple to get the farmers. Then the auto-healers, and the more difficult to catch might start to re think cheating.

 

[Archnight]

What do you guys think? do you believe this will actually be enforced? I guess we will wait and see if they post any accounts as the months pass by. Because man, do I expect to see a lot!

While I appreciate the effort I fear the "no warning" approach this late will end up killing the game... the amount of people running scripts/illegal programs for pretty much everything will astonish you. Like i'm sure the dev's at this point have an idea of the main cheaters in our game and the focus should be on them, as they're the ones causing the disruption and people leaving the game. Ironically i've spoken to a few of these cheaters and they all claim to be multi-clienting and not multi-boxing, sure they're running scripts but if you respond when the GM pulls you aside then how will you ban them? What's even more ironic is that some of the most vocal against these cheaters actually cheat themselves and do other things like RMT lol

 

[Fridgster]

THIS is popcorn worthy

 

[Thrakkar]

they all claim to be multi-clienting and not multi-boxing, sure they're running scripts but if you respond when the GM pulls you aside then how will you ban them?

Depends on their detection methods.
If you have a handful of clients, where the chars are doing the exact same thing within some milliseconds even for only a minute, it's quite obvious they're multiboxing. You don't really have to pull them aside and talk to them.
If they should get cocky, just rub the server logs under their nose...

If they're really just multi-clienting and respond to GMs (which means they're doing it attended), why ban them? That's legal...
Should they use illegal 3rd party tools for multi-clienting, well, then we're again back to of how good their detection methods are.

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

What's even more ironic is that some of the most vocal against these cheaters actually cheat themselves and do other things like RMT lol

Damn! You just HAD to go and post something I agree with!!!! LOL It is SO true. I have heard A LOT of these RMT people try to "justify" it to me.

 

[Fridgster]

Damn! You just HAD to go and post something I agree with!!!! LOL It is SO true. I have heard A LOT of these RMT people try to "justify" it to me.

You know, I admire your conviction on this subject however, I do want to point out that nothing has been done nor has anything been mentioned about stopping RMT. Like I said, it's all about liability and I doubt they have any intentions of stopping it.

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

You know, I admire your conviction on this subject however, I do want to point out that nothing has been done nor has anything been mentioned about stopping RMT. Like I said, it's all about liability and I doubt they have any intentions of stopping it.

Very true. EDITED: I will say though, in my opinion, there is an existing correlation between scripting, multiboxxing, and RMT's. So maybe it's a start.

 

[Uriah Heep]

A flash in the pan.

A dozen or so will get banned (only to immediately return on another accouint) and then interest will fade and the bannings fade as well.

This is just a warm fuzzy, to make all y'all feel good and think they are doing something

 

[celticus]

I dont think auctioning off the accounts is the way to go. Just delete them and not look back including all items and whatnot. Dont give others the option to purchase said accounts. This is just another Scam for UO to make money now that EJ is FTP. Greed Greed Greed. nothing will ever change.

She said actioning not auctioning..Means they will (finally) take action. Whatever the action might be (ban, delete, go to prison for one month..etc etc..)

 

[celticus]

I personally think nobody really cares about people macroing skills. Specially because some skills are such a pain to increase. Think of all the crafting skills. I mean, just crafting items over and over again for hours looking at the screen is NOT FUN and a total waste of time! at least not for me.... so I don't care if you are macroing blacksmith, tailoring, imbuing, etc...

But the gold farmers, resource farmers, auto healers, etc... those should be banned and should not be difficult at all to catch them.... I have an easy algorithm to get them started. If a player has been logged for more than 6-8 hrs, and repeating the same action, send him a counselor to talk to him. If the player does not respond, it is afk, and farming.

Done. It is that simple to get the farmers. Then the auto-healers, and the more difficult to catch might start to re think cheating.

LOL..Autohealers? Sry never heard that one..

 

[skett]

Can’t wait to see all the innocent players post “I got banned and I wasn’t doing anything wrong”

 

[dukarlo]

I have no issue whatsoever if they start banning. They are about to release a free version of uo in which they want old inactive players to log in and give uo another try. No old time pvpers are going to give uo a second thought if they log in and see some of the crap going on. As far as I'm concerned it's now or never as far as cracking down goes.

 

[DSC Napa]

No old time pvpers are going to give uo a second thought if they log in and see some of the crap going on

I sincerely doubt that. In it's prime, That program was downloaded 30,000 a month, every month, for years.


It is so widespread today that if they banned everyone that used it, those remaining could easily fit on one dead ass shard.

This may seem unbelievable to some of you, your friends and guildys would never cheat like that. You wouldn't tell the hall monitor if you were going to smoke a joint after class, would you?

 

[dukarlo]

I sincerely doubt that. In it's prime, That program was downloaded 30,000 a month.


It is so widespread today that if they banned everyone that used it, those remaining could easily fit on one dead ass shard.

The people left now that are pvping as well as other types of players could easily fit on a dead shard. Hence at least the attempt with Endless Journey.

 

[drcossack]

Ironically i've spoken to a few of these cheaters and they all claim to be multi-clienting and not multi-boxing

They're also the same people who ask you to name the cheats they use when you say they're doing it...or hide behind excuses like "all I use is UOA" or "it's the EC"

 

[Cetric]

if you think the real scripting problem is pvp you are in some sort of denial. Few people use scripts in pvp, and if they do they probably aren't the most competent anyways. The real scripting problem is the one that effects all aspects of the economy, from farming power scrolls, to jewels and armor, to quests and ingredients. Everything with value is scripted today.

 

[GarthGrey]

They're also the same people who ask you to name the cheats they use when you say they're doing it...or hide behind excuses like "all I use is UOA" or "it's the EC"

Then you get the ones that simply can't resist and want to share with you their details, "I kept a spreadsheet and I went through 218,556 blank scrolls and 2.5 million regs, ohoh and 2658 pens and all I got were blah blah blah, oh and I did it all by hand and gosh my fingers hurt for days"....these people do exist and some of them post daily on these boards and actually think that the rest of us believe them.

 

[flappy6]

Sometimes i make a macro and tape my button down ,will they be able to detect that?

 

[Fridgster]

Sometimes i make a macro and tape my button down ,will they be able to detect that?

I used the battery method

 

[Keith of Sonoma]

I just have my maid come in an extra day a week and sit at my computer with her finger on the key. So she can respond if needed. And clean my desk at the same time! J/K

 

[Prince Erik]

Sometimes i make a macro and tape my button down ,will they be able to detect that?

Depends on if they're going through log files looking for an inordinate amount of "You must wait before performing this action." or similar messages.

 

[Lore]

If you can think of an IF statement, they can do it.

SELECT COUNT A.ACTION
FROM LOG A(Table if they have it)
WHERE A.ACTION = Send "F1"
and A.USER = " "

It could be as easy as that, but who knows what it looks like.

 

[whitesmith]

my maid come in an extra day a week and sit at my computer with her finger on the key

I googled that...

 

[Cetric]

Some freeshard devs/gms had to ability to basically have what looks like cartographer open, and it shows an icon for players they can zoom to. the right hand side had a column where you saw a giant lsit of players sorted by different things, like logged in time. you could just click on a player and essentially teleport there and see what they were doing.

It was how the freeshard GM kept up on people scripting, if he saw 10 accounts logged in in 1 location for the last 14 hours, and he visited them he could watch for a minute and make a determination if they needed to be checked on/chatted with


I dont think uo does that, they wait for gm pages. but thats not to say that arent now or couldnt easily do that with staffing.

 

[Lore]

The whole verbiage they're using just clues me in that it's going to be a temporary thing. They may stick with banning people for a while, and assuming it doesn't kill the game, they will likely move on to other things until it becomes a huge issue again.

 

[skett]

So how many people have been banned so far today

 

[HoneythornGump]

Almost 20 years in, and now you want to start banning the few active subscriptions left?

Just when I think they couldn't do anything stupider....

Possibly the worst Dev Team in the history of Online Games...

At this point just be happy anyone is paying to play this game.

I haven't logged in for months, in large part to the stupidity of those running the game.

I wish nothing more than for someone to buy UO, and fire everyone currently involved with the game.

Mesanna is the worst thing ever to happen to UO.

 

[Uriah Heep]

EJ is gonna die a quick death, unless they are given bankboxes like everyone else has. sheeesh

 

[S_S]

LOL @ at anyone actually thinking players will get banned for multiboxing or scripting.
Wishful thinking people, wishful thinking.

 

[Cymidei]

"

What do you guys think? do you believe this will actually be enforced? I guess we will wait and see if they post any accounts as the months pass by. Because man, do I expect to see a lot!

Meh, hasn't multi boxing always been acceptable? Why the sudden draconian shift? Why the hate for scripting? It totally promotes the computer sciences among gamers; only lazy people who are afraid of learning a new skill are against it! Go ahead learn a new skill set, don't be just a lamer gamer, be a script kiddy! Seriously UO has always been ban happy over dumb things.

What's the most ridiculous reason you've heard of someone being banned from any MMORPG or UO, that's the likelihood of them banning you for multiboxing. In WOW, someone got banned for buying up all of a particular item on the auction house and they called it "manipulating the economy".

It could happen, but really, it's time to hang up the ban hammer and relax, You don't ban that annoying guy who spams chat every day selling gold on a 3rd party websites but you will ban someone who runs two accounts? WTF UO?

UO needs gamers! At least define what you conside abusive multiboxing. If I log an alt outside my house to friend them is that multiboxing...sheesh. If I run a different account on a different computer is that mutiboxing? What if I live with other people who play the game? Give us a chance to comply with your rules and avoid a ban.

 

[Thoronnar]

Why the hate for scripting? It totally promotes the computer sciences among gamers; only lazy people who are afraid of learning a new skill are against it! Go ahead learn a new skill set, don't be just a lamer gamer, be a script kiddy! Seriously UO has always been ban happy over dumb things.

Are you for real? This is a multiplayer game, and scripting gives you an advantage over other gamers, it is cheating. I am against scripting and I am a data scientist with a computer science background. I did script back in the day when I was an immature teenager playing UO. Do I think e***UO helped me become better at programming? no.... the language is messy and confusing, also coding practices on the scripts of that program tend to be terrible. The point of the game is that YOU play the game, not a silly program you wrote.

This is a fantasy RPG, not an educational programming game. Where on UO mission's statement does it say it wants to promote computer science?. If people are into CS, go get a beginners python book and start coding.

And even though I do not support scripting, I think they should go and ban only people exploiting the game. Because they really are messing it up. I can go ahead and write a script to farm millions of gold a day, then sell it for real cash or offer a lot of money to buy whatever I want in game and destroy the economy. Every other player will lose their hard earned gold as inflation rate would go up because of cheating. That is just not ok under any circumstances.

 

[S_S]

Meh, hasn't multi boxing always been acceptable? Why the sudden draconian shift? Why the hate for scripting? It totally promotes the computer sciences among gamers; only lazy people who are afraid of learning a new skill are against it! Go ahead learn a new skill set, don't be just a lamer gamer, be a script kiddy! Seriously UO has always been ban happy over dumb things.

What's the most ridiculous reason you've heard of someone being banned from any MMORPG or UO, that's the likelihood of them banning you for multiboxing. In WOW, someone got banned for buying up all of a particular item on the auction house and they called it "manipulating the economy".

It could happen, but really, it's time to hang up the ban hammer and relax, You don't ban that annoying guy who spams chat every day selling gold on a 3rd party websites but you will ban someone who runs two accounts? WTF UO?

UO needs gamers! At least define what you conside abusive multiboxing. If I log an alt outside my house to friend them is that multiboxing...sheesh. If I run a different account on a different computer is that mutiboxing? What if I live with other people who play the game? Give us a chance to comply with your rules and avoid a ban.

You REALLY need to learn the difference between multi client and multi box!

 

[drcossack]

Meh, hasn't multi boxing always been acceptable? Why the sudden draconian shift? Why the hate for scripting? It totally promotes the computer sciences among gamers; only lazy people who are afraid of learning a new skill are against it! Go ahead learn a new skill set, don't be just a lamer gamer, be a script kiddy! Seriously UO has always been ban happy over dumb things.

What's the most ridiculous reason you've heard of someone being banned from any MMORPG or UO, that's the likelihood of them banning you for multiboxing. In WOW, someone got banned for buying up all of a particular item on the auction house and they called it "manipulating the economy".

It could happen, but really, it's time to hang up the ban hammer and relax, You don't ban that annoying guy who spams chat every day selling gold on a 3rd party websites but you will ban someone who runs two accounts? WTF UO?

UO needs gamers! At least define what you conside abusive multiboxing. If I log an alt outside my house to friend them is that multiboxing...sheesh. If I run a different account on a different computer is that mutiboxing? What if I live with other people who play the game? Give us a chance to comply with your rules and avoid a ban.

Please tell me this is sarcasm. If not, no words.

 

[Treasure Hunter]

You don't ban that annoying guy who spams chat every day selling gold on a 3rd party websites but you will ban someone who runs two accounts? WTF UO?

The benefits of being in her old guild maybe???
At the rares fests when she pops in and passes out gifts, them are the people she goes out of her way to find!!!
From what I've heard we have a EM that is "tied to the hip" with the gold selling website.
They have her on their ICQ's...Christ we all know who her friends are!!!

 

[Cymidei]

Are you for real? This is a multiplayer game, and scripting gives you an advantage over other gamers, it is cheating. I am against scripting and I am a data scientist with a computer science background. I did script back in the day when I was an immature teenager playing UO. Do I think e***UO helped me become better at programming? no.... the language is messy and confusing, also coding practices on the scripts of that program tend to be terrible. The point of the game is that YOU play the game, not a silly program you wrote.

This is a fantasy RPG, not an educational programming game. Where on UO mission's statement does it say it wants to promote computer science?. If people are into CS, go get a beginners python book and start coding.

And even though I do not support scripting, I think they should go and ban only people exploiting the game. Because they really are messing it up. I can go ahead and write a script to farm millions of gold a day, then sell it for real cash or offer a lot of money to buy whatever I want in game and destroy the economy. Every other player will lose their hard earned gold as inflation rate would go up because of cheating. That is just not ok under any circumstances.

Forgive my sarcasm and snarkiness but yes I am serious. Interest in gaming often helps one get into coding, etc. If a script saves your hand and doesn’t hurt anyone what’s the problem???

Just look at the activities on Hour of Code for young people. Most coding activities for beginners on their site are gaming related . I took Networking classes, etc to better understand lag! Games are great for people to get interested in learning tech skills. Imagine how much more fun UO could be if it fostered creativity and learning. Meh I should just go play Second Life where they value those sorts of things. Even WoW encourages players to make add ons.

UO is medieval in all the wrong sort of ways! People who are curious, and want to learn those skills, will end up doing their own private servers, etc. instead of playing here. More brain drain from the community while hard core cheaters will stay and muck up the economy and pvp because that is what they are after. Yet oddly, never heard of a cheating PVPer or gold spammer getting banned ever...huh? Just wish there was some balance and guidelines instead of banning people without explaining what is considered bad.

 

[MalagAste]

IMO if you can't play a game the way it is designed and you have to resort to cheats, scripts and hacks to "win" you are a bigger loser than those who can't get there actually playing the game as intended.

Only losers cheat.