Draconi's Publicity Stunt

[Woodbuthcer]

The burning houses in Luna...

How did they stop scripters, dupers, or speed hacks?

Did they

1) Change the code or connections to the game?

2) Change the Mechanisms of the game to prevent duping?

3) Stop speed hacks from exploiting a third party program allowing players to circumvent the tick clock?

This was a great publicity stunt to calm down the flaming on these boards.

If you say this wasn't a publicity stunt then why the efigy and the burning house?

Now devs can you please just do some simple changes to the game and fix these problems?

If you don't know how there are lots of great ideas here on these boards .

Now you fan devs can flame away at me

 

[Wood]

Too bad the rest of Luna isn't on fire.

:<

 

[Connor_Graham]

"you fan devs"

Fan Devs?


*develops a pink pom pom wielding, rah rah cheering Fan with Paragon speed Troll Flaming and releases it live with a bug that causes it to show hairy legs*

Seriously though, people have also been screaming to have these scripters banned and their houses wiped out so their "stuff" doesn't get rolled back into the economy.

Guess what.....

That's exactly what happened. Do you have ANY idea how much wood/ingots/gems/Bods were removed from the game?

 

[Babble]

I guess it looked nice.
And I still hope that one day if players gather a crowd with pitchforks we can burn down ugly house designs...

As for the anti cheating thing. He just deleted houses gms delete else quietly.
Looks nice and cool, but then we know that you can do quite some things even with this old game engine if you work with it.

 

[Guest]

Removing entire homes, loot, and accounts is a bit more then a publicity stunt.

Dont you think?

Punishing is a good thing if rules are broken.

 

[Redxpanda]

<blockquote><hr>

Removing entire homes, loot, and accounts is a bit more then a publicity stunt.

Dont you think?

Punishing is a good think if rules are broken.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed! It's a huge step in the right direction. It's great to actually see some justice for a change and really boosted my confidence in them.

 

[Babble]

It is still a publicity stunt as gms did the same often before.
Though maybe gms messed up and we need developers now to do that.

 

[imported_GalenKnighthawke]

Sure it was partly a publicity stunt.

And why wouldn't they do it as a publicity stunt?

Only part of the problem is the cheating itself.

Another issue is perception!

Perception matters! And how do you change perceptions? Not only do you have to do stuff, but you have to do stuff and make damn sure people notice!

I'd be disappointed if they did this too quietly.

Draconi, please ignore this thread and keep right on as you were.

-Galen's player

 

[Azaroth-]

Publicity stunt?

You need to not analyze these things so much man. Who cares. You don't know if it's the beginning of things to come. Do you think just all-out banning/busting is going to be a good way to handle this? If that happened then you'll have a million people complaining they have been banned and they were not cheating. Is that a better way to calm down this forum?

They need to investigate these things so they are sure they bust the right people. You have no idea what their resources are in their office, you dont know what their workload is. I really can't see hidden agendas to screw with players, to divert our attention. Do you think they need to do this when nothing has been done about it in the past? Nothing could have happened and it would have all remained the status quo.

It's been like two seconds since Draconi did that, and you're already judging their moves. Chill out man, give them time.

 

[Guest]

Maybe he was grandstanding a bit, but who cares? Not me. The scripter is gone, all his illicit stock is gone, the plots can't be placed till the house scripting fix is ready in the next publish and we don't know yet what else was involved in this event.

It was a lot more fun than reading '# accounts have been banned and # illegal items removed from the game' Same thing happened, but we got a bit of a show.

I'm all in favour of a little visible evidence that cheaters are being dealt with and see nothing wrong with Draconi having a bit of fun at the same time.

 

[Frarc]

If they do something and show its not good. If they don't do something or keep things quiet its not good.... People need to make up there mind!

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

I guess it looked nice.
And I still hope that one day if players gather a crowd with pitchforks we can burn down ugly house designs...

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL...where is the petition we sign for that feature? I have my pen ready...but we should also be allowed to beat the house owner's character to death with deco tools while we are waiting for the house to finish burning.

-Skylark

 

[Setnaffa]

<blockquote><hr>

Sure it was partly a publicity stunt.

And why wouldn't they do it as a publicity stunt?

Only part of the problem is the cheating itself.

Another issue is perception!

Perception matters! And how do you change perceptions? Not only do you have to do stuff, but you have to do stuff and make damn sure people notice!

I'd be disappointed if they did this too quietly.

Draconi, please ignore this thread and keep right on as you were.

-Galen's player

[/ QUOTE ]Well said, Galen! I couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Shelleybean]

They are probably not going to publicly reveal all the ways they plan to defeat scripting, duping, etc.

 

[Lilith_Mauvais]

A huge public punishment? A publicity stunt maybe, a public spectacle certainly, but I would say this is more of a warning to future scripters: if we catch you, we will publically shame you, bankrupt you, and destroy you. There is a psychological element to this. It may work. I know it made me paranoid; I pulled most of the gold from my Luna vendor last night on the off chance that this person I don't know may possibly be a scripter. I have no evidence to support this paranoid thought, but I'm not going to risk my gold to a random stranger's honesty. Who knows who around you will have a burning house tomorrow?

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

<blockquote><hr>


Now devs can you please just do some simple changes to the game and fix these problems?


[/ QUOTE ]

You have no idea what you are talking about if you think "few simple changes" will fix current and future problems. What UO needs is not only strict code quality control but also a big stick that is used often. In game "fixes" will NEVER prevent cheating alone. You can quote me on that.

 

[Sergul'zan_SP]

It will say that you're right with respect to the fact that they need to keep on it 24/7 and get fixes in the game, but they did announce house scripting fixes coming in that will stop that.

Let's wait and see, shall we? It's been 4 years since AoS, we can wait a few weeks longer.

 

[Guest]

I kinda agree with this. Doing something once every couple of years is not going to stop players leaving over cheating the rest of the time in between.

 

[Kith Kanan]

<blockquote><hr>

The burning houses in Luna...

How did they stop scripters, dupers, or speed hacks?

Did they

1) Change the code or connections to the game?

2) Change the Mechanisms of the game to prevent duping?

3) Stop speed hacks from exploiting a third party program allowing players to circumvent the tick clock?

This was a great publicity stunt to calm down the flaming on these boards.

If you say this wasn't a publicity stunt then why the efigy and the burning house?

Now devs can you please just do some simple changes to the game and fix these problems?

If you don't know how there are lots of great ideas here on these boards .

Now you fan devs can flame away at me

[/ QUOTE ]


Sooooo how much did you loose ????

 

[Guest]

I have an idea. Let's complain about something for months and make a big thread about it. Then, when something is done(regardless of the technique or scope) we can complain it wasn't enough and throw around words we think mean something.

How many scripters/dupers/cheaters took down their vendors and moved their stock because of this "stunt"?

LOL @ U

 

[imported_ParadoxUO]

* grabs his old pitchfork and red cloak *

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"

 

[CassieDarksong]

A publicity stunt is something he would have announced. He didn't. IT was done BAM. I think that says everything. He didnt' advertise it. But those that saw it happen did. And leaving the "burned out husks" there till they fixed the problem with scripting was a great idea.

 

[Babble]

Not necessarily.
Publicity stunts are what people talk about.

Some stunts are even better when not announced and commented so people guess and talk even more about it.

 

[Lord Kotan]

I am wondering if they really did fix scripting to make housing more fair for everyone. Or whatever that line was.

 

[CassieDarksong]

They haven't yet. They said that fix will be goign in with the next publish.

 

[utilitron]

<blockquote><hr>

The burning houses in Luna...

How did they stop scripters, dupers, or speed hacks?



[/ QUOTE ]

This is just another step... not the first...

Apr 29 2006 - Exploiters in Ultima Online Banned

July 7 2006 - 15 Trillion in gold pieces deleted, 180 accounts banned.

Nov 15 2006 - More Than 400 Dupers Banned, Tens of Thousands of Items Deleted

truth be told, Draconi is flamboyant in his method, but this is far from just a publicity stunt... It is more like afformation that our reports on scripters is heard, and will not be tolorated...

<blockquote><hr>


Did they

1) Change the code or connections to the game?


[/ QUOTE ]
Thats one of the reasons UO-KR was created... a more secure client
Plus this gem of a fix was added to prevent a certain kind of scripting...

<blockquote><hr>


2) Change the Mechanisms of the game to prevent duping?


[/ QUOTE ]
Aug 11 2006 - Duped Rare and Event Items Fix

<blockquote><hr>


3) Stop speed hacks from exploiting a third party program allowing players to circumvent the tick clock?


[/ QUOTE ]
This is somthing that Punkbuster would have cleared up, but there are other ways to fix... hopfully it will be fixed soon, but because it doesn't actuly effect the client directly, it will be more of a server change as a check/balance... and isn't that what dracomi said he is working on...

<blockquote><hr>


This was a great publicity stunt to calm down the flaming on these boards.

If you say this wasn't a publicity stunt then why the efigy and the burning house?

Now devs can you please just do some simple changes to the game and fix these problems?

If you don't know how there are lots of great ideas here on these boards .

Now you fan devs can flame away at me

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, these are not simple changes, and I am certain most of them will be server-side, and discrete.

 

[imported_Sarphus]

The burnings were not a publicity stunt. A publicity stunt is done solely to bring publicity to something. If this was a publicity stunt, you'd be seeing advertising saying stuff like "UO burns cheaters".

The burnings were a public form of punishment for blatant forms of cheating. The burnings were also probably a bit of a warning shot. Nail the biggest offenders to discourage people who are only cheating a little. If the problem continues, punish more aggressively. People have been complaining for years that EA isn't enforcing their policies... EA enforces policy and people say it was just a publicity stunt in their eyes.

That must be a really sad world you live in

 

[Guest]

It made me feel good and it creates a good perception which is important at this particular time.

 

[Lady_Rachel]

"This was a great publicity stunt to calm down the flaming on these boards.

If you say this wasn't a publicity stunt then why the efigy and the burning house?"

************************************************************

For how long now has this board been full of

Cheating is rampant!
Save our game!
Show us you care!
We cried for Big and Bold, and In Your Face!

Asked and now answered.


A public display of authority may deter future cheating.
A nagging unknowing of just where he may strike next may make a cheater pause in his next caper. Perhaps not. But he can't say he had no warning that the HEAT is on so to speak.

Granted there is more to be done.
But the team is off to a roaring start it seems.
If that makes one a Dev Fan, to wish them well and enjoy the new journey we are embarking on, then so be it.

Mark me down as one.

Be Safe

 

[imported_Lord Kynd]

all idoc's should do this and not have a set timer as to when the area will be placeable. 1 minute - 30 days

 

[Guest]

People are not realizing how much of a blow deleting these homes were. They were undercutting virtually every resource seller on the shard. They also made it extremely easy for the scripter operating them to sell his ill-gotten gains. There were many positives here:

- People will have a chance to place the houses under the new fair system
- Countless resources and other items deleted
- Other crafters will no longer have to compete with this guy
- Seeing tangible action against cheating brings up the moral of players

 

[Gildar]

<blockquote><hr>

How did they stop scripters, dupers, or speed hacks?

[/ QUOTE ]Any quality game developer knows you can't stop scripters without stopping players from doing what scripts do in legitimate ways. You can, however, deter scripting and remove the benefits that have previously been gained by scripting. One way to do both is to burn down the houses of known scripters (and the contents of those houses), giving time for everybody to be aware of which houses got burned down, and preventing house placement in those areas until scripted house placement can be prevented (or at least deterred somehow - without knowing what the planned fix is, we can't comment on it too much). This is also something that a designer could do with minimal (if any) assistance from the other developers.

Are there any currently working dupes? Last I knew there weren't any remaining known dupes. I might be wrong though - if there are, hopefully the devs are aware of them and are working to track them down and fix them (though not a designer issue [deciding what to do with existing, detectable duped items would be a designer issue, but not finding and preventing dupes]).

The house burning had nothing to do with speed hacking. Speed hacking is also not a designer issue. Hopefully there is an engineer working on these issues though.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

all idoc's should do this and not have a set timer as to when the area will be placeable. 1 minute - 30 days

[/ QUOTE ]Certainly the predictability of IDOCs is a glaring facet of the problem, but that won't be the only thing to change... mwaha.

 

[imported_Coldren]

<blockquote><hr>

Certainly the predictability of IDOCs is a glaring facet of the problem, but that won't be the only thing to change... mwaha.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Begin Stewie]

How decliciously EVIL!

[/End Stewie]


Methinks the Firestarter has more tricks up his sleeves. This is a good thing.

 

[Guest]

I think people are going to complain no matter what.
I think the deletion of the houses was done in a grandiouse way and that is not always a bad thing.

I think that its a good start. I know that it takes awhile to do something of that magnatude and it also is hard since they really cant explain any nuance of what they did to find them (since allot of the cheaters are also board warriors) and so they really cant putt us in the loop anymore then they already have.

I am looking forward to more to come of the devs in regards to stiffling all the varouse cheating that is in uo but know they cant involve us in the process and we have to wait and see and I know thats hard for allot of us.

I will like to see though how many of these idiots that cheat because all the game mechanics are tedouse and boring actualy leave the game if Draconi and others actualy stepp on there necks as we hope they do.

 

[IronHorse]

<blockquote><hr>

Now you fan devs can flame away at me

[/ QUOTE ]

Fan Devs???
Well now that you mention it I guess Draconi may need a fan after all that napalm he tossed out, the guy probably has chapped cheeks from the heat.

Flame away at you?
Why bother? sounds like you've already been burned and besides I can't possibly compete with that flame thrower Draconi has.

As one of the many people who pay Draconi's wages I for one am quite impressed with his style and flare.
I greatly enjoyed his fireside chats and look forward to more.

 

[AlanofCats]

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

all idoc's should do this and not have a set timer as to when the area will be placeable. 1 minute - 30 days

[/ QUOTE ]Certainly the predictability of IDOCs is a glaring facet of the problem, but that won't be the only thing to change... mwaha.

[/ QUOTE ]

Predictability is an issue? Now I know you arent specifically agreeing to a 1 min - 30 day RNG timer, but let's pretend you are. Would it be considered even remotely sane to expect me to sit live at a pc and try to place a home in a location I desire every minute of every day for possibly 30 days? Or would it be more palletable to assume that I would rather download a script to do it for me?

Draconi your reply scares the bajeebas out of me. The opposite of predictable is unpredictable. That can only mean RNG. Please don't turn this game into flip-a-coin online.

The only way to beat flip-a-coin online is to spend more time than anyone else flipping coins. That = scripts.

 

[Frarc]

When a house falls there should be a huge explosion all around killing everything and everyone who stands close to it, Visible or invisable.

 

[imported_AustinRules]

I didn't realize it was a year and a half ago when UO did their last big anti-duping effort. If they only do this every year or two it won't make much of an impression with cheaters. It would be nice if Draconi could find another house or two to burn down next week. That way word would get around that the attack is continuing and was not just a one time effort. The cheaters might think it is no longer worth their efforts and move to WoW.

 

[Dank]

Publicity Stunt Sure and why not? Also, if one steps back a bit and looks at what is happening in game, it seems as though an awful lot is happening to curtail scripting. Lets not forget that there are several types of scripting and cheating.... Scripting for material or gold farming, scripting for pvp, packet pushing and so on.
The type of cheating being adressed by burning houses and taking inventory I believe serves to curtail the type of scripting which most affects the game by altering the in game economy in a huge way. After the big guys are out of the way lets focus on the skill and pvp scripters speeders etc....
In short give the devs a break. Well done Draconi keep up the good work, keep taking them out one cheater at a time.

 

[Aboo]

<blockquote><hr>

It is still a publicity stunt as gms did the same often before.

[/ QUOTE ]They did???

 

[imported_Heartseeker]

Maybe.

Bottom line is that Drac and company are trying to do a good job.

Probably to late but if he was in charge a few years ago the game would of been better for it.

The real problem isn't was is happening now but what is not happening now.

Even if you get rid of all the cheaters and improve crafting and such, it will not attract more players or bring others back.

We all have done almost everything in game 100 times over.

What this game needs is new things to do; SA.

Till SA is announced again we are just pi$$ing in the wind.

 

[imported_Cyrah]

With all due respect I think maybe you missed the point.

Draconi =fire. Fire=fun for most UO players (unless directed at them) In game as irl other people's misery is sometimes highly entertaining. Sad but true.

He cannot repair all issues alone.

(well two devs cannot )

This is no flame at you either and I am extremely critical of Mythic. Nothing has changed that so far.

 

[PaganOfLegends]

I think this house burning, effigy thing was good. You can compare it to a huge drug bust. Sure, the cops and DEA didn't get all the drug dealers off the street, and they never will, as long as it pays. If folks willing to buy, there's folks willing to sell.

Draconi is the DEA. Busts some big operations. Didn't get em all. But there were folks here on the boards saying things like, "If they don't do anything about scripters and dupers, then I'm thinking of doing it myself". Well, now, folks who were thinking about cheating will think twice. I know, they were just probably venting their frustrations. And Draconi heard your frustrations. And some big operations were shut down. Which is better than nothing being done. Can't clean up all of UO at one time, but it is a start.

Publicity stunt. A deterrent. Call it whatever you want. It was a good thing and a step in the right direction. More steps to come.

 

[Sergul'zan_SP]

<blockquote><hr>

When a house falls there should be a huge explosion all around killing everything and everyone who stands close to it, Visible or invisable.

[/ QUOTE ]

*Ties Frarc to the Effigy of a traitor and walks away*

 

[eolsunder1]

Personally I liked what was done, was fun. Only trouble, was years too late. That person has been there forever selling tons of stock, and had years to do it. Suddenly now they are taken care of, and everyone is going "great job!"

No sorry, it would have been a great job if it was done years ago before they emassed such gold and resources. As it is now, it was just a job. Nothing "great" about it. Though still needed to be don.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

all idoc's should do this and not have a set timer as to when the area will be placeable. 1 minute - 30 days

[/ QUOTE ]Certainly the predictability of IDOCs is a glaring facet of the problem, but that won't be the only thing to change... mwaha.

[/ QUOTE ]

That doesn't sound good...

 

[GarthGrey]

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

all idoc's should do this and not have a set timer as to when the area will be placeable. 1 minute - 30 days

[/ QUOTE ]Certainly the predictability of IDOCs is a glaring facet of the problem, but that won't be the only thing to change... mwaha.

[/ QUOTE ]

Change it any way you wish, but if you don't make it so it Can't, let me repeat CAN NOT be done AFK, you've really done nothing. If you want to kill everyone and everything within a 10 mile radius that's one thing, but doing something like making the times completely random (which is what I think you're going to do, thats what you did to Doom) won't stop Raxxmax (clever I know)or any of the others from cheating their way to bigger and better plots.

 

[HD2300]

More publicity stunts are need. Then you wouldnt have idocscriptman and treasures coming back 3 days later to thank everyone for the publicity.

Integrating Puckbuster, HackShield or some in-house anticheat software would be great PR and convince many former players to come back, especially when SA is released. Even forcing a patch everyday would shut down the script program.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

all idoc's should do this and not have a set timer as to when the area will be placeable. 1 minute - 30 days

[/ QUOTE ]Certainly the predictability of IDOCs is a glaring facet of the problem, but that won't be the only thing to change... mwaha.

[/ QUOTE ]

Change it any way you wish, but if you don't make it so it Can't, let me repeat CAN NOT be done AFK, you've really done nothing. If you want to kill everyone and everything within a 10 mile radius that's one thing, but doing something like making the times completely random (which is what I think you're going to do, thats what you did to Doom) won't stop Raxxmax (clever I know)or any of the others from cheating their way to bigger and better plots.

[/ QUOTE ]

What they will probably do is remove durability notifications from house signs so people don't know if and when a house might collapse OR they will randomize it completely. My bets are on the first.