The truth about RMT and Botting

From what I'v read, most RMT sites are based in countries where things like this are permissible. The value of the economy is at stake because of these sites and players who accept them are only enhancing their capabilities. I agree with the some of the posts about how "botting" is basically and essentially cheating, but I don't think there're ways to stop them; only to gradually decline their efforts. How? with time.
I mean if prestigious MMO/MMORPG/RPG Etc companies such as Blizzard don't have a way to end "botting" or RMT than PoE and other online games don't really stand a chance.

I can tell you that this game is already very on-top of the botting/RMT scene more-so than any ARPG I've ever played, and more-so than most MMORPG's.

Let me start by saying, I've been playing online games and MMO's for many years, and this game has it about right.

Bots in this game can only really bot the very early normal difficulty levels. This is for a multitude of reasons, randomly generated maps, needing to equip characters often at the beginning etc all make this game quite hard to automate. So it appears most bots on this game would have to run LOADS of low level bots in the low level areas. This is rather easy to detect, why do you think the price of Exalteds is so high on the RMT sites. Because it's tough to bot, they would need more proxies, VM's, "sitters" and whatnot to bot this game than others.

Personally, I have bought and sold virtual currency in the past (lets just say using my video game wealth as a "loan" to go out and have a good time, then buying it back later). I've never had an interest in botting or cheating though. I hope discussing this here won't get me in trouble? I'm not some RMT guru, and I'm certainly not a cheater.

The way to combat RMT, IMO is purely to keep on top of the bots, cheaters, and just the people who get the currency using ILLEGAL methods. And when you ban a bot, or an RMT sites store account they can check the chain the items have been traded along until they get to the customer. So trust me, if you've been buying currency, GGG know. They can tell, and they can do something about it if they want.

If they ban a bots trading account, they should first punish everyone who has received currency from it (by taking away that amount worth of wealth, or more, from their account), then ban for repeated offences.

However, if players are buying and selling currency between themselves, that's been obtained legally, I personally don't see an issue.
I love knowing that my video game wealth has value.


Also when you take in to account that most of PoE's competitiveness happens on hardcore, inside fresh leagues etc, this makes RMT even less of an "advantage".

Not to mention, when their is MORE competitive aspects introduced to the game (I'm thinking actual PvP with a purpose, as in PvP ladders and cut-throat), then their are even more ways casual players skill will shine. Because a casual player will always eventually become as "good" (talking in-game stats good here) as a "hardcore" player on a single character. And IMO PvP is where the competition should be.

I personally like knowing that my time invested in an online game has some sort of value in the real world :), and the less bots and cheats in the game, the more value our in-game possessions will have.

How about we just DDOS the fuck out of RMT sites? Somebody write a program and I'll run it.

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lososthefish escreveu:

... that's why prohibition could not last or drug prohibition will not last, why anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia laws will not last. You either control, punish like crazy or play the hypocrite.

I have no issues with any of those things because they do not affect me.

It's not a moral objection I have to buying items. I don't care if someone is playing an offline game and mods the crap out it, plays in god mode, whatever.

But when others buy off RMT sites in a game I am playing, it DOES affect my game. They are saying to me, effectively, "I don't give a fuck about your game, I am selfish and I will buy it anyway."

That is my objection.

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lososthefish escreveu:

But when others buy off RMT sites in a game I am playing, it DOES affect my game. They are saying to me, effectively, "I don't give a fuck about your game, I am selfish and I will buy it anyway."

That is my objection.

How does that affect your game though?

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Barry escreveu:

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lososthefish escreveu:

But when others buy off RMT sites in a game I am playing, it DOES affect my game. They are saying to me, effectively, "I don't give a fuck about your game, I am selfish and I will buy it anyway."

That is my objection.

How does that affect your game though?

Because they are already botting onslaught and anarchy merciless and scewing who tops those competitions.

It was me who said it, not fish.

And I answered that question a few posts ago. It affects any of the competitive parts of the game. Obviously in ladder leagues anyone who buys stuff to get it quicker has an advantage over those who do not. It also affects the trading that goes on. Those sites set the prices for orbs they want, and the players use those as the default prices to buy or sell for. So, players buying from those sites ARE affecting me by altering the trading values of orbs.

Prices were set by the players when the site was legit. The RMT bots are not the source of inflation. The thing that makes prices inflate is general wealth acquired through the game, devaluation of gcp and raising value of exalted because of more people reaching endgame content. I actually can make a statement, that bots who float the game with cheap orbs keep the economy tighter and provide new exalted for the market, since most players just use them up or hoard them or trade them to people that use them up or hoard them. RMT would hit the rich map runners twice - firstly those that use RMT to run maps, and secondly those that buy exalted - the supply will be cut by like 30%. Two separate facts - market and trading in this game are broken and bots that influence it. Economy, trading and crafting dies 2 months into the game. After that, it gets beyond redemption. RMT kept in check by GGG puts close to no negative pressure on the game, as GGG stated a few times. I believe that statement, based on my assumptions.

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lososthefish escreveu:

Prices were set by the players when the site was legit. The RMT bots are not the source of inflation. The thing that makes prices inflate is general wealth acquired through the game, devaluation of gcp and raising value of exalted because of more people reaching endgame content. I actually can make a statement, that bots who float the game with cheap orbs keep the economy tighter and provide new exalted for the market, since most players just use them up or hoard them or trade them to people that use them up or hoard them. RMT would hit the rich map runners twice - firstly those that use RMT to run maps, and secondly those that buy exalted - the supply will be cut by like 30%. Two separate facts - market and trading in this game are broken and bots that influence it. Economy, trading and crafting dies 2 months into the game. After that, it gets beyond redemption. RMT kept in check by GGG puts close to no negative pressure on the game, as GGG stated a few times. I believe that statement, based on my assumptions.

Its ofc. a combination of both. The bots are one source of inflation. (but it would still happen at a slower pace) Most of the botters are not RMT sites, but players massing wealth to buy up the endgame items/maps/exalteds that are around.

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lethal_papercut escreveu:

If we have vendor rates for all currency 3rd party sites couldn't set exchange rates for orbs & control the high orb market.

This. This would solve a lot of the problems, I think. It would be a way to make them somewhat more common while making sure that you actually have to *work* for it.