They print so much isk, that they never have to pay CCP a cent, ever again.
Can you imagine what would happen if PLEX could no longer be used to sub?
The botters are even advertising their bots in game now.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/9gj3eh/one_day_toon_advertise_bots_through_eve_mail/
Botting, RMT and account hijacking walk hand-in-hand, and feed off each other in a triangle that MUST be interrupted, or it WILL kill the game.
This is a cancer that has to be dealt with, if necessary, with extreme and otherwise harmful means, much like chemotherapy IRL.
Cutting out individual tumors doesnt work, if they have already sent off metastasizing cancerous cells elsewhere.
Bots breed more bots, and RMT and account hijacking.
The longer they are allowed to proliferate, the exponentially worse they get.
If CCP ever released actual figures of overall incident of all 3, aside from only how many they act on per month, peoples head would explode at how bad this has been allowed to get to the detriment of the game and everyone else in it.
True.
But that doesnt mean many others arent botters, nonetheless.
CCP Security Team reports atleast 1k bot bans per month, so we know that much as the baseline.
I think only a fraction of botters are banned per month.
And those banned botters re-start, immediately, on other accounts, because CCP 2 staff Security Team doesnt have time/resources to follow the paper trail to where illegally earned isk/mats are transferred, often via many fences.
If you think there are only 1k bots in EVE per month, man, I have some Moon real-estate to sell you with a great view.
I would not be surprised if the actual figure is >10x that.
Interesting âlogicâ you have.
On the premise that EVE, as a game this size, youd expect it to be filled with bots, yet somehow you conclude that is not the case. Oo
Id estimate about 10k bot characters total, working on and off, within a month.
I think you are wrong, and CCPs capacity to catch them, let alone trace where they send isk/mats through fences through multiple transactions, is severely limited at ~1k/month, due to lack of resources/time of the 2 staff Security Team whom have many other infractions to investigate/deal with on top of that.
Not tracing down and confiscating illegal isk/mats means CCP are probably re-banning the same botters, over and over, in rotation, from the same total botter pool. The ban, especially when now reduced to only a 3 day suspension, is merely an annoyance to botters, even with the SP transfer lock.
Its important to understand and realize that bots breed more bots.
Its rare that a botter runs only one bot for long. Invariably it leads to 2, then 4 and more bots.
What is your estimate of incidence of botted characters in EVE per month?
Botters dont quit EVE when caught and banned.
They just re-start again on other accounts, especially with illegally earned funds transferred through a net of transactions to other accounts.
How inconvenient a ban is to a botter, depends on how lucrative the bot was, how long it ran without detection/ban and how expensive it was to train/buy/equip the bot character. Generally they break even pretty quick, and the rest is pure profit, even after a ban, and especially if they managed to transfer their illegal income through âplausible deniabilityâ transactions.
In anycase âbanningâ a botter, does not stop them.
They just come right back again with other accounts, using the same software, and illegally earned wealth to fund it, and consider it a âbad luckâ outcome, and just get right back to what they where doing all over again, until CCP again invests time/resources to find them and ban them, again, if ever.
Botters COUNT on CCPs Security Teams small size and limited time/resources.
2 staff is like 2 cops policing a town with 30k people.
Every bot they catch is time invested in that, that isnt spent catching another one.
Utterly inadequate.
The very consistent ban reports from the Security Team show they are operating at maximum capacity per month, and just dont have the resources/time to catch more.
You didnt answer my question:
This is not an unreasonable request, since you think my estimate is too high.
Please reciprocate with an answer to the above.
We dont know that.
My deduction based on ban rates, is that CCP infact has very little automated algorithms to check client sent data for bots to create flags for staff investigation, and no auto-bans.
If you have no estimate of your own, then what basis do you have to claim mine as over the top?
With your self-stated lack of information, my estimate is as valid as any.
You claimed mine was exaggerated.
What basis do you have for that, if you dont have an estimate of your own?
You two belong to each other.
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Anymore traction on the existence of Probebots?
No, my estimate is 10k total on/off over a month.
Botters sometimes also cycle bot characters to avoid detection.
My estimate also includes market bots, which you noted also.
You wont âseeâ bots" unless you watch them for a protracted period, and then test it with engaging them in chat or with weapons, neither of which are conclusive evidence.
I dont think my estimate is exaggerated.
I think you grossly underestimate their proliferation.
You never gave an estimate, just stated mine as overstated.
That concretely means your estimate is lower, even though you wont state one.
Do you think:
- CCP is doing enough as is now to fight bot proliferation?
OR
- CCP can and should do more to fight bot proliferation?
Second time I asked you a specific question, and you ignored it.
Wtf has happened to people?
They cant answer simple direct questions anymore?
Do you think I typed the following just for fun or rhetorically?
We have actual information on bans per month.
Nobody has insulted the Security Team, least of all I.
Just pointed out that they are operating at max capacity and dont have time/resources to catch more rule violators.
To be fair, do you expect a particular answer? I feel you probably do.
How was it a loaded question, when its either or, as your choice?
Disappointing would be more accurate.
Even school age kids know how to answer a specific question in proper syntax.
Its not hard.
I havent made up any facts.
Nor have I in anyway shape or form insulted the Security Team.
Just pointed out that they cant exceed their monthly average due to time/resource constraints.
Are you saying they are not?
THAT would be insulting them, as implying they arent working at 100% efficiency with time/resources, and slacking on the jonb.
Your trolling is failing.
No doubt you dont want CCP to do more to stop botting, as you benefit from it.
Otherwise you would not have an issue with agreeing that they should and can do more.
Didnt read.
The consistent average in Security Team stats show they are operating at 100% and cannot do more per month with their limited available time/resources.
Do you, or have you, botted on any of your accounts?