File this under “pretty damn cool.” For years, MMOs have been looking for new and inventive ways to kill gold farmers and bots, and quite a few spectacles have come out of it. Aion instated the G-Unit, a team dedicated to bot busting, as well as public executions, Eve Online had Operation Unholy Rage, Runes of Magic has injunctions, and Guild Wars has had public executions in-game as well. Of course, I’m just summarizing.
I’m sure many of you won’t recognize Martial Empires, but the game does make news today for the company’s intuitive offering in bot busting: Baited NPCs. These monsters patrol the game and act as bait to bots that will attack anything. The monster itself publicly announces “do not kill me!” and those who heed the warning will go unpunished. Those who do decide to attack the monster will be immediately killed and turned into an unplayable ghost, which I’m guessing can only be fixed with an email to Gamigo.
The idea itself is pretty unique and intuitive. Chances at success? None. Considering Gamigo plays host to a large number of MMOs, I don’t understand why anyone thought this would be effective. The entire system could easily be circumvented with as simple as an If/Then statement in the bot’s programming stating that if the NPC sends a certain string of code (that will be unique to the bait-NPCs), not to attack it. It also isn’t difficult for bots to recognize and respond to chat, as even in Runescape and other MMOs there are bots designed to allow very basic conversation should another player approach them.
Martial Empires is a very new MMO, so perhaps I’m being too harsh on it.
MMO Fallout 