• Tag Archives bots

  • Jagex Unveils ‘Optimus’ Anti-Bot Technology

    Posted on January 27, 2012 by Omali 7 Comments

    I don’t think I’ve used that screenshot in almost two years. Last October, Jagex accomplished what many of us had thought to be impossible: busted a grand majority of the bots in RuneScape in one single move known today as Bot Nuke Day, or Project Clusterfutterer. The update demolished reflection and injection bots, or 98% of the bot community according to Jagex’s estimations, and has proven to be successful enough that 40% of the player base was banned within the following month.

    On the main RuneScape website, Jagex is enjoying their recent major victory over a major bot writer in a recently settled case, and they announced plans for even more bot eradication, this time focusing on the more basic bots that auto-click or search the screen for specific colors.

    We remain committed to our ongoing work to ensure that the successes of Bot Nuke Day are never undone by staying a few steps ahead in the arms race with the remaining bot developers and gold farmers. We’re already well underway with our next generation of anti-botting software called Optimus, which is going to be released shortly, and we’re also currently developing ways to remove the remaining screen-scraper bots from the game. We’ll also be continuing to fight gold-farmers on every front.

    Jagex has done quite a bit over the past months to completely rid their game of cheaters and scam artists, from the bot nuke back in October to the removal of popular gambling tools. With the upcoming Stellar Dawn and Transformers Online, Jagex losing their reputation as saturated with cheaters can only boost the game’s receptions.

    This entry was posted in Hot Titles, Runescape and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Jagex Wins Lawsuit Against Bot Makers

    Posted on January 20, 2012 by Omali 1 Comment

    In a measure that will certainly cause more rage-filled comments here at MMO Fallout, Jagex has won their case against bot makers, with some tasty bit of extra information to top it off. In the case of Jagex Vs Impulse Software, the judge ruled in favor of Jagex on counts of copyright infringement under federal law, circumvention of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, trademark infringement under federal law, Computer fraud and abuse under federal law, and Tortious interference with contract (Tortious interference is when your actions damage a company’s relations with customers/business partners).

    In addition, the members of Impulse Software are now forbidden by court order to write bots for any Jagex game, help write bots for any Jagex game, and even play any Jagex game, as well as releasing the source code for their bot software. The URL’s will be transferred into Jagex’s possession, as well as a large amount of documents they had relating to the program. In addition, Impulse has been ordered to put out a public apology.

    The amount that Impulse is paying to Jagex has been sealed, so how can this news get juicier, I hear you ask. Pay attention to this little snippet:

    Within 10 days of the entry of this Order, Defendants shall identify and provide all contact information in their possession to Jagex for all current or past resellers,script developers, code developers, and customers for any product marketed, licensed, or sold by Defendants dealing with any Jagex Game.

    The developers and customer list handed over to Jagex? I smell Jagex Vs Jon Doe 2: Electric Boogaloo coming soon to a theater near you.

    (Court document)

    This entry was posted in Hot Titles, Runescape and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Everquest Channels Jagex: Sends Cheaters Final Warning

    Posted on December 2, 2011 by Omali Comment

    Players who partake in cheating are hereby put on notice: stop now. This isn’t an idle warning. We have quietly invested significant behind the scenes effort into detecting cheaters quickly and accurately. The vast majority of players enjoy the game on a fair and even playing field. Those who gain unfair advantage over others will not be tolerated.

    Everquest is among the elders in our list of MMOs and while the game has seen updates over the years to allow for more a more casual friendly experience, the game still stands as one of the hardest on the market. Unfortunately, the engine and the systems in place have aged far in their years, and the Everquest team has a lot on their plates to deal with hackers (real hackers exploiting the engine, not your run of the mill bug abusers). Well, on the official forums, SOE Piestro has unsheathed his sword (pictured above) and issued a final warning to cheaters: Stop now, or face the +5 banhammer of troll smite.

    Ten Ton Hammer published an incredibly in-depth article earlier this year discussing the epidemic that is hacking in Everquest, which you can read here. Scripts and bots that allow players to warp themselves and NPCs, despawn bosses, and more. At the end of the interview, we’re left with a tease that investigations into cheating would ramp up once Veil of Alaris was completed.

    Best of luck to the Everquest team in fighting this never ending threat.

    This entry was posted in Everquest, Hot Titles and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • It’s Bot Stomping Day In Runescape

    Posted on October 25, 2011 by Omali Comment

    It’s bot stomping day on Runescape, and that can only mean one thing: Celebration. Now, I’ll be celebrating in the usual fashion (cooking goulash and decorating my bathroom with crepe wrappers), but over at Runescape Jagex is celebrating with in-game events all week. Check out the announcement here, and prepare for a full week of extra experience, points, and more.

    Yes, the servers are still down as of this writing, but what is a nuke without an accompanying electromagnetic pulse? I have a bit more coverage of Bot Nuke Day in Runescape coming up.

    This entry was posted in Hot Titles, Runescape and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Jagex Announced Project Clusterfutterer: Bot Nuking On Tuesday

    Posted on October 23, 2011 by Omali Comment

    Coming on the heels of yet another announcement to ban bots, Jagex has formally announced Project Clusterfutterer. Mark Gerhard posted an announcement on the Runescape home page stating:

    Today, I am really happy to say we are in the long-awaited position of being able to announce that we’ll be launching our most formidable bot-busting weapon in our history, targeting what we believe to be 98% of the bots seen in game.

    The initiative aims at “reflection bots,” so called programs that operate by reading the information being processed in active memory and act upon it, similar to how AI in a single player game always knows where you are because the active memory tracks your location. At least that’s my understanding of reflection bots.

    Check out the full announcement here. Jagex is so excited, they have a plan of events next week to celebrate Bot Nuking Day.

    This entry was posted in Hot Titles, Runescape and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Video of the ___: Runescape, Cheater’s Paradise

    Posted on August 19, 2011 by Omali Comment

    I care little for the inner-drama in MMOs, so the fact that the person who posted this was a player moderator, and had his status revoked afterward, plays no part in this video being posted here. With the overwhelming quantity of gold farmers that have infested Runescape since its reinstatement of free trade, Jagex has taken to issuing the usual “don’t look over there, look over here,” developer blog, promising that they’re doing something to stop the bots.

    And more importantly: What is Jagex doing to keep the game from being swamped with bots and gold farmers like it was pre-trade? They seem to be very sure of themselves that their secret weapon can combat this.

    I’m still waiting to see this secret weapon.

    This entry was posted in Community Concerns, Editorials, Hot Titles, Runescape, Videos and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • It Must Be Saturday, Jagex Promises To Fight Bots

    Posted on July 16, 2011 by Omali Comment

    Daniel Clough is the Vice President of Runescape, probably having just recently been promoted to the position because it is once again time for a public announcement by Jagex that they will be doing everything in their power to trounce the issue of bots and gold farmers that have not only come back in full effect since free trade was returned earlier this year, but have managed to infiltrate and saturate all manner of training spots.

    We are constantly looking into ways of making the game experience the very best possible for all of our players and as part of our on-going programme to rid the game of bots, Jagex is actively pursuing companies that support the macroing market as well as those who bot. As such we are currently pursuing various bot developers through multiple legal channels, although sadly we cannot yet disclose the full details of our actions for legal reasons. Separately, as part of normal legal process and procedure, we have also taken steps to acquire the details of all players who have purchased bots.
    Once we have the information regarding the players involved we will take action specifically to ensure that these players are not compromising the game’s integrity through the use of a third party programs. We are committed to undertaking various initiatives to identify players and companies who are using and distributing bots within RuneScape and will endeavour to inform you all of these efforts as we can.
    In the meantime, be safe, don’t fall to the dark side and we look forward to the positive outcomes of our actions ultimately making the game experience a better one for everyone.

    If Jagex wants to give the impression that they are fighting bots, the first step is probably to put a damper to the legion currently inhabiting Runescape. Jagex should be improving their detection software, make it much more difficult to create throwaway accounts, the kind of inhibitory processes that stop a vast amount of accounts being created.

    As I’ve stated before, Jagex’s main cause of concern with bots is and always has been the payment of membership via stolen credit cards, which cause Jagex a large sum in reversals and fees and harm the company directly. While bots are paying with legitimate forms of payment, you will not see the bot population drop significantly.

    This entry was posted in Hot Titles, Runescape and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Final Fantasy XIV Bots

    Posted on May 3, 2011 by Omali Comment

    I’m going to use these bots in a good way, and not just because I want to simultaneously annoy the people who believe me to be paid by Square Enix to prop up Final Fantasy XIV, but also to greatly annoy the people who think I’m getting paid to associate Runescape with the cheater’s paradise that it is.

    I came across these bots in Final Fantasy XIV, and promptly reported them via the in-game support system. While I was taking down each of their names, however, it did dawn on me that these bots might actually be a good sign. Back when I played Tabula Rasa in its year of existence, there were never any gold farmers. I think, overall, there was one guy (not even your stereotypical gold farmer, it was some guy in Utah if I remember correctly) we all knew who tried selling currency and high level armor for money, and he was simply flamed out of global chat, and then his account would be banned. No, he wasn’t particularly good at it.

    Granted, Tabula Rasa was not a game to gold farm. Gaining currency was easy enough that you would expect heavy inflation, but there wasn’t much worth buying from other players, so not much of a market formed. The player base was also tiny enough that there was no one buying. Now, I’ve spoken with other players who tell me that the bots I saw on my server (Karnak server) are much more prevalent on some other servers, and this tells me two things: Foremost, there has to be a decently sized community, because there is a market for currency/items. Secondly, Final Fantasy XIV has an economy, because there is a desire to buy gold to buy things with.

    When the gold farmers leave Final Fantasy XIV, that’s when you’ll know the game is dead. Until then, however, this truck is still…trucking?

    This entry was posted in Final Fantasy XIV, Hot Titles and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • More Bots In Runescape: High Level Edition

    Posted on April 24, 2011 by Omali Comment

    It’s easy to be indifferent towards gold farmers when they aren’t affecting your choice of spots, so for boss hunters and high level NPC farmers in Runescape, brushing off the effects of gold farmers is a lot harder once those same bots start overrunning your high level training areas, as seen in the above video.

    When a company like Jagex has the kind of profits, again like Jagex (almost $60 million annually, and that’s profit), you’d think hiring a dedicated bot busting team would be in the cards. But again, Jagex appears to have the same apathy toward combating bots that I have toward paying my auto-loan.

    This entry was posted in Hot Titles, Runescape and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Runescape: Once Again, Filled With Gold Farmers…

    Posted on April 18, 2011 by Omali 1 Comment

    The video above showcases just one of the many sites in Runescape where botters (almost all of them gold farmers) are farming a mini-game. Now, in this particular mini-game, players must run through a maze, avoiding the creatures that roam it, otherwise they are teleported back to the start. A Splinter Cell stealth-style game. One of the creatures, as noted in the video, became stuck in place, making the maze impossible to complete. That, of course, does not stop the mass of bots from trying to force their way through anyway.

    History repeats itself, and much like last time (2007), Jagex will likely not act until the gold farmers start hitting them where it hurts: The bank. A major point I’ve always thrown forward is that the 2007 trade restriction updates were put into place in retaliation not against botting, but against credit card fraud: Gold farmers using stolen credit cards to pay for membership. I’m not going to speculate on how the bots are paying for their membership this time, but I find it unlikely they are suddenly going legitimate.

    So, your move Jagex.

    This entry was posted in Hot Titles, Runescape and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.


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