Security Update - Q2 2018

I don’t see how changing the network card would help. The new MAC address would also be banned for running a ridiculous number of accounts.

It’s easy to do for that sort of person, but going into details here would be inappropriate.

It doesn’t matter really all that much if it’s been changed or not.

What matters is that the info will help in spotting increased activity wherever it turns out to be reliable and the offender didn’t think of messing with it.

Even if it’s only an artificial checksum based on various hardware characteristics (RAM size, CPU&GPU types, no. and types of disks, USB devices, etc.) will it already allow to narrow down a group of possible accomplices, because there are many possible hardware configurations and finding several accounts with the exact configuration will help to narrow down the list and speed up the search. A MAC address of a single network card would only be one of many characteristics, and a computer can have multiple network cards each with a different MAC address, which only provides more information and chances for an identification.

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Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

Also that explains why the log in numbers are so low and constantly dropping.

:frowning_face:

Except that there are limits to how many accounts you can run. At some point you run out of processing resources and need a 2nd PC.
There are also use-cases where running a “ridiculous amount” of accounts is perfectly valid. Large-scale afk cloaking comes to mind.
Not to mention that you could split one host into several VMs and spread the accounts out between those.

In other words: Your metric is useless.

Just exactly how do you know it was a bot account?

For my first 5 years of playing this game I was on 23/7, in fact downtime was my signal to get some sleep. Since then I now do it sporadically, meaning I’ll binge play for a few days and then binge watch Sci-Fi flicks or do something else, then come back and binge play the game some more.

Tags for bounties are great idea also the other things mentioned

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True, but that’s not a reason not to ban botters and RMTers.

This on the other hand is a very fair and interesting question.

Pretty much nailed the issue here.

EVE is continously running for more than a decade. If a player continues to play, more and more opportunities arise over the years to build upon previously acquired wealth. This leads to the devide of older and newer players growing over time. I’d say after 2-4 years, any new player can have sufficient funds, experience and SP that the devide does not influence his or her gameplay significantly anymore.

To reach that point, the new player has only 3 options:

  1. Play those 2-4 years and better not too casually (best way in my opinion: most fun, deepest experience)
  2. Grind the game 1-2 years, like it was your only job (not so fun, limited experience, maybe burnout)
  3. Use your real-life wallet to buy SP/ISK (can’t buy experience, but saner than grinding)

Now the thing is that a number of newer players will chose path 1 and that’s great. Players who chose path 2 are principally okay, but they could suffer a bit from the grinding. Both of these groups however could be demotivated by “EVE is dying” stories or in-game reminders of the imbalance they are still facing. This could have positive or negative effects. Positive would be that they join a group, challenge themselves more and also relax a bit about the inevitably of being thrown into the mud as a player, especially a newer one. Negative reaction could be that they join the whiny crowd.

Then there is the 3rd path. People who chose this path are often not deeply looked at, because of the easy-to-digest story of them trying to buy success. There are rather famous cases where this happened and of course the players hilariously failed. But, I can see that normal players chose this path as well, at least partly. They may understand that they can’t buy experience or success, but they still chose to use their RL-wallet to progress faster in terms of ISK and SP.

If those players get the impression that the game is pretty much about older, already established players, being able to stomp others into the ground, even the smarter and more engaged newer players, then those players might get a weird feeling:
The feeling that CCP has no other vision for newer players than to play the victim for years to come, to entertain older players - or - be a moneypig.

If a newer player see’s it as that, and actually I could somewhat understand it, they might not develop the loyalty towards CCP or the game that is the reason why most players don’t RMT. So, if they feel the game puts them at an unfair disadvantage no matter what, they might feel forced to pay. From their perspective, there is no need to be loyal to CCP or the game. Which in turn can lead them to make the decision to buy ISK/SP not via PLEX from CCP, but using illegal methods aka RMT.

The same could also happen to older players. Loyal behaviour goes both ways. If one feels betrayed (and by no means must their feeling be correct), they might chose to buy from RMTers. If the moral binding is gone, the pure economic thought might lead them ahead.

I think this makes it a complicated topic. Most players won’t do it and in any case it is good if anyone taking part in RMT gets the banhammer. Still, I think there will always be someone trying to sell because they’re fucknuts who want to make money with a game they didn’t create and always someone trying to buy, because they feel betrayed by game mechanics.

All of that being said, CCP can’t really change it. They can’t change that people feel betrayed, because they can’t make EVE a game that is without imbalance. It’s simply not possible and would not be fun for most players.

If you have specific ideas, that could really solve this complicated issue, I think many people will be happy to hear them.

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Back when I started in 2012, there were regularly 60,000 accounts logged in. After coming back this year, I see 20,000 accounts logged in, Alpha accounts, skill injectors, NPC miners and a proliferation of RMT websites. Is any of this connected?

CCP finally succumbed to the pay-to-win mentality.

The only thing that hasn’t changed is the toxic, juvenile culture on the official forum.

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It were 45-50k at peak times.

Look at CCPs development decisions since 2013 (when Seagull took over) and you’ll see what happened.

EVE isn’t pay to win. It never was. You can buy SP to fly certain ships and buy PLEX from CCP to sell for ISK to fund officer module fits, but you’re not going to win anything with those. Because actual game knowledge and piloting skills are way more important than the SP you have and you can’t buy that knowledge. A noob that bought everything with cash (ship, modules, sp) is always going to lose to a proficient player. Even when the vet is in a much worse ship.

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I give up. Denial at its worst.

There are a couple of sure signs for any pilot to spot.

  • A player, or multiple players, do the same thing over and over again for 24 hours a day without any pause and thus without sleep. This is a sure sign, because people need sleep and two people aren’t supposed to share one account.
  • Multiple pilots do the same exact thing, and more importantly, they do it in sync. I.e. can a player have multiple mining ships, but as long as the mining lasers turn on one by one with a small delay in between can this still be done by hand. When all mining lasers turn on at the same moment then you have input multiplexing, which is against the EULA.

Botting thing

My perspective is that most botting that is achieved in eve is achieved in 2 possible ways;

~ access to internal API’s that have been compromised
~ emulation of the user interface of the client to perform activities

morality is is in question here

Update

rock n roll the update and thanks for the re-assurance for the people hacked that’s its being addressed.

sorry obvs being that if people can emulate on their own clients then you can never really know for sure

There is also the way how bots reacts especially if these bots are in Null-Sec. They first warp out to a safe spot as soon as someone (usually a red player) shows up on local, which of course human players often do anyways if they’re flying an expensive ship like a carrier that’s ratting. But then they do the exact same thing over and over again especially when the red player in local logs off to trick the bot into warping back at the exact same spot that they left.

Keep up the good work CCP. Thanks!

Nonsense. You’ve just told the botters to script a delay between mining lasers activating .You’ve also told them to script a break to simulate human sleeping requirements. You’re either so far behind the ball or you don’t care or you are complicit.

Shut up. I’ve listed what are sure signs for botting. Learn the difference between sure signs and uncertain ones, noob.

Some of you people are beyond help. Shut up noob. That’s your response. Are you 14?

Yes, that’s my response to your fear-mongering. And no, I’m not 14.

I’m giving players information on when they can be certain to have a botter in front of them. In theory could anyone be a botter or macro user. In fact, you could be a clever AI who is simulating a child, who knows?

The point is to help others to identify botters and to encourage them to report these. Some players report almost everyone as a botter, which doesn’t make the job easy for CCP and spamming false reports may even aid botters. Others however feel completely uncertain as to what is and isn’t a botter. Hence letting others know what a sure sign is makes them smarter and allows them more often to make accurate reports. We don’t need spams of false reports and we need to encourage people so they don’t fear making reports.

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