Interesting discussion with GM Nirvelle about chatbot rules

[desrik]

According to GM Nirvelle:

http://i.imgur.com/v8xEOYT.jpg

and:

http://i.imgur.com/y8ZXbpY.jpg

So after hearing this I decided to ask the real question:

http://i.imgur.com/ti6v48p.jpg?1

Thoughts?

[Gaveup]

That's a terrible font. The message is more or less what is common knowledge regarding FC's stance on bots though, nothing new there.

[desrik]

That's a terrible font.

And what font would you recommend?

The message is more or less what is common knowledge regarding FC's stance on bots though, nothing new there.

So then are there bots out there that post into public channels and don't get banned?

[Agentcora]

That's a terrible font. The message is more or less what is common knowledge regarding FC's stance on bots though, nothing new there.

This.

Also, wrong forum - fourth wall is for ooc discussion of the storyline and events.

[desrik]

Also, wrong forum - fourth wall is for ooc discussion of the storyline and events.

Ah. I apologize I spent 10 minutes trying to decide which forum to post this in. Guess I picked wrong :P Any chance of a move to appropriate forum?

[Agentcora]

Hehe no bother, you'll have to wait for a lurking forum mod to move it

[desrik]

Ah yes The almighty forum moderator :P

[Traderjill]

What exactly is the concern here (or is this in relation to)? Raidbots, Mass-messaging bots or something else?

It's been well known that bots are held to the same standards, that's why Neutnet administration (when it was just RK2) was always so strict. If a bot spams something to hundreds of players that can be perceived as harassment then the bot and its owner can be banned. It doesn't matter if Joe Schmoe initiated the message to the bot, the bot itself is the one sending the message and thus the owner is the one held accountable for any communications.

Unfortunately, a lot of people don't realize that and treat mass-messaging (aka spam) bots as their own personal soap-box.

Now in regards to bots being attached to channels. Over the years I have seen bots attached to the faction-specific Org leader channel (Neutral and Omni) and then removed by Funcom request. I believe that if it is reported, they can fall under the category of spam (they were spamming when people log in/off, online list avail for leaders, etc). I would think that a bot that was a simple relay (i.e. relaying chat directly from an OT OOC in Bor to an OT OOC in Inferno) wouldn't fall under that category though I guess there's grounds to say its spam as well.

[desrik]

Well actually the first though that comes to mind is to have an org bot send out its own recruiting messages. I don't mean on a timer or anything like that though. Simply having it so if I am online I can send the bot a command, say !recruit, and the bot will send one recruiting message into the appropriate channel and be done, until the next !recruit command is sent.

I see alot of people using local scripts to recruit people, which there is nothing wrong with doing, but by having the bot store the recruiting scripts, you could have every recruiter using the same script database.

EDIT:: I wouldn't want to host a bot that relays messages into the public channels, although it would be nice to have the ability to cross OOC channels.

[Youmad]

there are certain bots that do fairly questionable things that are still alive =p

[Anarrina]

there are certain bots that do fairly questionable things that are still alive =p

I would suggest using petition for issues like this that trouble you.

[candle-645]

Well actually the first though that comes to mind is to have an org bot send out its own recruiting messages. I don't mean on a timer or anything like that though. Simply having it so if I am online I can send the bot a command, say !recruit, and the bot will send one recruiting message into the appropriate channel and be done, until the next !recruit command is sent.

I see alot of people using local scripts to recruit people, which there is nothing wrong with doing, but by having the bot store the recruiting scripts, you could have every recruiter using the same script database.

EDIT:: I wouldn't want to host a bot that relays messages into the public channels, although it would be nice to have the ability to cross OOC channels.

Just my personal opinion:

1. if it's on timer - we prooly have unattended gameplay, which is TOS violation
2. if clanner use bot to send message to OT OOC channel (or Omni to Clan OOC) - it's sploit since by game design we aren't supposed talk to chat channels of opposite fachion
3. if someone using bot to spam chat channels of major cities while actually fighting some mob in middle of Inferno - it's sploit again, by game design chat channels split by zone and player have access to chat in 3 zones only (current and 2 he were before)
4. if bot parse chat channel and send tells (advertizing some 3rd-party web site) to peoples when when see some keywords in their messages - it's again unattended gameplay and TOS violation

5. if bot send messages in tels only to ppls who manually subscribed it and only when someone manually sent that message to bot (like Neutnet does) - all is OK
6. if someone using script to send message to channel(s) available from his current location - all is OK

I'm personally petitioned for cases 2, 3, 4 many times. Dunno if that helped to get rid of it, but said bots either no longer exists or don't use public chat channels/tell random peoples anymore.

[desrik]

if it's on timer - we prooly have unattended gameplay, which is TOS violation

how about a timer that is only running if the bot detects an admin online? when the admin logs off the bot stops posting messages

[Iriche]

how about a timer that is only running if the bot detects an admin online? when the admin logs off the bot stops posting messages

Automated Game Play

[Unkfix]

Let's face it, whatever the rules are... they only apply when FC feels like enforcing them.

[desrik]

Let's face it, whatever the rules are... they only apply when FC feels like enforcing them.

Well from what I can tell FC doesn't mind the chatbots. It seems more like it's the community preventing people from being able to do certain things with the bot. Bot does something, someone else sees it and doesn't like it, they petition, bot gets banned. Unless the bot was seriously spamming the channels, I don't see FC issuing a ban without someone else petitioning them with a complaint about it.

[Hell]

What about leveling a toon named "Imarealplayer" to lvl +-15 and make a bot send recruiting script through that character (as a slave bot) so people have actually no clue if its a bot or not.

/solved

[Luckystriker]

"Interesting discussion" you say, and all you do is post 3 quotes?