Driven by player reports and forum screeeee, CCP continues to escalate the war against bots. In early 2018, CCP announced fewer “strikes” and increased vigilance. CCP Peligro announced, more prosaically, Unholy Rage 2.0: TötalBotDeath in mid-December, 2018. I Peligro promised a harvest of bot tears sufficient to rust their mechanical faces, as long as players continue to report suspected bot users
CCP Peligro followed up by wading into the fetid waters of /r/eve to offer a report on the carnage, using mean words, bold fonts, and begging players not to purchase ISK from illegal sources.
New Eden’s preeminent bot tracker, Noizy (@noizygamer),spends countless hours listening to AlienHand (@ansbjerg) while hunting down bots in game; reporting it both on Twitter as it happens, and with write-ups on https://nosygamer.blogspot.com/.
Noizy also monitors RMT markets, gleefully bringing RMT tears to the public eye.
All indications suggest CCP’s battle against bots, while sincere and energetic, is falling short, as ISK sellers are continually busted, and new bots arise immediately after each ban wave.
New Eden is full of people with ideas on how to solve the problem, from Noizy’s fantasy about the day CCP sets bots -10 to Sleepers to “missions” in-game, to repeated suggestions for captcha requests before warping to a signature or accepting a mission. Others propose profiling users by national origin. Most simply report the bots on /r/eve, rather than using the available in-game tools, which reportedly makes CCP Peligro’s head explode.
The community gasped in shock, however, as CCP unveiled their newest response, a “silver bullet” guaranteed to end The Botting Menace.
That’s right…police skins!
In addition to police skins, CCP announced a new year security update, reporting on the identification and ban of 637 accounts, and continued war against botters in all areas of space.
The report reportedly outlines
- 462 account bans for account hacking.
- 665 reprimands for false reports while under the influence.
- 1951 account bans for botting related activities.
- 581 account bans for RMT related activities.
- 42 temporary bans for malicious false reports
- 12,248 police skins sold
Look out botters, your days are numbered; the space police are at the door. Wherever you look, expect to find anti-bots waiting.
Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you
