EVE General Discussion

they still continue to bot for 36 hours at a time.

are you saying they found a way to mine during downtime ?

Ah yes, I shall invite the space thugs to systems I frequent so they can try to suck 10m out of me and continue to blow me up anyways.

Or I could yoos rupert butan so my ticket goes straight to the folder labeled "CCP - Trash"

When to report a bot?

Bots are all about rules (events, states, conditions, transitions, actions) and goals! A bot reacts to events according to a predetermined limited set of rules, triggering appropriate actions in response in order to meet its goals. In a world otherwise driven by human players, most of the times this rule based behavior can be observed under close investigation.

Therefore, before submitting a report, we encourage players to perform a brief but structured investigation.


Observe the behavior of the player and break it down into stages of processing (States, Conditions and Actions)

Break down the behaviour into states

What is each individual phase of the activity a subject carries on ?
Consider each phase a "State"
Example of states : "Idle, Docked, Warping, Mining, Hunting, etc"


Break down the behaviour into conditions

When does the activity of a subject change ?

Consider each change one or several "Conditions" that has been met and a transition to another "State"
Example of conditions : "if state is mining and cargo is not empty then; if state is mining and ship is targeted and enemy is not NPC then; etc"

Break down the behaviour into actions

How does the subject carry on his activity ?

Consider each individual operation or group of operations carried out by a subject as an Action
Example of an action in a certain state when a certain condition has been met : "if state is mining and ship is targeted and enemy is not NPC then warp (to safe spot); etc"

Try to determine if the player you are observing seems to act repetitively according to a strict set of rules (for example, executing the same steps over and over for an extended period of time)

Try to determine its goals

Challenge the rules (try to think of possible triggers that would cause it to respond in a certain way if it is truly automated)

Trigger events and perceive reactions (does it respond to communication? How does it react to being locked or being warped in on? Does it react the same every time, for example by warping always in the same direction before returning to the exact same spot minutes later?)

Finally, use your human intelligence to determine whether it is a soulless automaton or simply a fellow, single-minded player.

* Note
There are different types of bots, each type having other rules according to which they carry on their activity. Try to adapt your investigation to the type of bot you are observing.

I'll try not think you a blithering idot,

If you report a bot to CCP, even if it is one they will not be instantly banned. Like many modern MMO's bans are handed out in waves so as to enusre a greater catch area and damage than banning one account at a time and risking the owners finding a work around.

Think of it like a virus.

Now please and kindly go shove your self entitled attitude somewhere your mother cares to listen to it.

Actually, CCP tries not to implement ban waves. They prefer banning bots as they find them. There are very good business reasons for not instituting ban waves and those companies that like to do ban waves really need to get a clue. But if you report a bot, a human does have to look into the report in order to make sure people are not falsely reporting others as a griefing tactic. That does result in effects that resemble a small ban wave. Also, since bots are frequently associated with illicit RMT rings, CCP usually doesn't institute bans until the whole network is investigated.

Also sometimes CCP institutes code changes that borks bots and makes them stand out for people to ban. Then we really do see a ban wave