The title of the thread is a pretty big clue to what this is going to be about. I was just browsing the forums, keeping an eye on my accounts in the background and I just sort of started thinking about how far bots have come. I mean from what I can remember of Glider days bots were pretty basic with added plugins to add some niffty features Bots now.... Obviously now the bots seem to becoming quite sophisticated; developers are working on ways of pretty much fully automating everything and this advance isn't very far away! So I guess what i'm asking is... what is your opinion/thoughts/ideas, whatever you wanna call it on the development of bots and how far they have come . Also, what do you see in the future of botting? Will it always be about WoW, are other MMOs going to become increasingly popular and will bots be released for these? Leave your thoughts Just thought this could be a lil' interesting discussion. (Sorry if a similar post to this has been made already) Toby
if it's not wow there will be another game...and there will be bots...as proved several times: no antihack system is unhackable
A bot, most prominently in the first-person shooter types (FPS), is a type of weak AI expert system software which for each instance of the program controls a player in deathmatch, team deathmatch and/or cooperative human player. Computer bots may play against other bots and/or human players in unison, either over the Internet, on a LAN or in a local session[1]. Features and intelligence of bots may vary greatly, especially with community created content. Advanced bots feature machine learning for dynamic learning of patterns of the opponent as well as dynamic learning of previously unknown maps -- whereas more trivial bots may rely completely on lists of waypoints created for each map by the developer, limiting the bot to play only maps with said waypoints. Bots are also currently against the rules of all of the main MMORPGs. In MUDs, players may utilize bots to perform laborious tasks for them, sometimes even the bulk of the gameplay. While a prohibited practice in most MUDs, there is an incentive for the player to save his/her time while the bot accumulates resources, such as experience, for the player character. Bots can help a PC gamer learn the gameplay environment and the game rules as well as help them practice shooting accuracy and gaming skills before going online to compete with other human players in a multiplayer environment. Some PC gamers prefer to play exclusively with bots rather than human opponents ? especially in the case of those who have slow dial-up internet connections and thus may be unable to play online. Bots can also be used to allow players to play without worrying about opponents using *****s or exploiting bugs in the game. Players may also use bots to fill in spots on a server when there are few other players. In this respect, bots help create a longer interest in the game. Most bots use existing 3D models, textures and sound of the games or mods. Some multiplayer games were released initially without single-player components and bots were created or added later on by fans and enthusiasts in the modding community. Bots are usually written in C or C++ as stand-alone, completely independent applications or plugins or just dynamic link libraries (dll) for an existing game engine. In the Ragnarok Online game, the Perl programming language is exclusively used to create bots. Some authors also write some applications with which the bots' behavior, skills and other characteristics can be created or modified, such as Bot Studio for Quake III Arena. Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters (NPCs). The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence (AI). However, the term game AI is often used to refer to a broad set of algorithms that also include techniques from control theory, robotics, computer graphics and computer science in general. Since game AI is centered on appearance of intelligence and good gameplay, its approach is very different from that of traditional AI; hacks and *****s are acceptable and, in many cases, the computer abilities must be toned down to give human players a sense of fairness. This, for example, is true in first-person shooter games, where NPC's otherwise perfect aiming would be beyond human skill. Game playing was an area of research in AI from its inception. In 1951, using the Ferranti Mark 1 machine of the University of Manchester, Christopher Strachey wrote a checkers program and Dietrich Prinz wrote one for chess.[1] These were among the first computer programs ever written. Arthur Samuel's checkers program, developed in the middle 50s and early 60s, eventually achieved sufficient skill to challenge a respectable amateur.[2] Work on checkers and chess would culminate in the defeat of Garry Kasparov by IBM's Deep Blue computer in 1997.[3] The first video games developed in the 1960s and early 1970s, like Spacewar!, Pong and Gotcha (1973), were games implemented on discrete logic and strictly based on the competition of two players, without AI. Games that featured a single player mode with enemies started appearing in the 1970s. The first notable ones for the arcade included the 1974 Atari games Qwak (duck hunting) and Pursuit (fighter aircraft dogfighting simulator). Two text-based computer games from 1972, Hunt the Wumpus and Star Trek, also had enemies. Enemy movement was based on stored patterns. The incorporation of microprocessors would allow more computation and random elements overlaid into movement patterns. The idea was used by Space Invaders (1978), sporting an increasing difficulty level, distinct movement patterns, and in-game events dependent on hash functions based on the player's input. Galaxian (1979) added more complex and varied enemy movements. Pac-Man (1980) applied these patterns to maze games, with the added quirk of different personalities for each enemy, and Karate Champ (1984) to fighting games, although the poor AI prompted the release of a second version. Games like Madden Football, Earl Weaver Baseball and Tony La Russa Baseball all based their AI on an attempt to duplicate on the computer the coaching or managerial style of the selected celebrity. Madden, Weaver and La Russa all did extensive work with these game development teams to maximize the accuracy of the games.[citation needed] Later sports titles allowed users to "tune" variables in the AI to produce a player-defined managerial or coaching strategy. The emergence of new game genres in the 1990s prompted the use of formal AI tools like finite state machines. Real-time strategy games taxed the AI with many objects, incomplete information, pathfinding problems, real-time decisions and economic planning, among other things.[4] The first games of the genre had notorious problems. Herzog Zwei (1989), for example, had almost broken pathfinding and very basic three-state state machines for unit control, and Dune II (1992) attacked the players' base in a beeline and used numerous *****s.[5] Later games in the genre exhibited more sophisticated AI. Later games have used bottom-up AI methods, ranging from the first use of neural networks in a videogame in Battlecruiser 3000AD (1996)[citation needed], to the emergent behaviour and evaluation of player actions in games like Creatures or Black & White. Fa?ade (interactive story) was released in 2005 and used interacitve multiple way dialogs and AI as the main aspect of game.
I think we all deserve to get our accounts yanked for botting, but we won't, because WoW can't detect it... yet. But don't cry if it happens, just remember all the gleeful fun you had watching TV, eating, sleeping, going to work, while your bot ran. THAT'S the best fun about botting. For me, bots are an 'addiction buster' - they keep me from spending too much time on a game I love. And when you see a bot running around with its knees bent, doing all the stuff that YOU used to do, you feel pretty foolish spending any time at all on the game - unless it's to spiff up your bot to run better. I only wish I was in on the beta of the new release of HonorBuddy. I'm a developer myself, and was in the middle of a large custom class set. Now I have to wait an untold number of years until the new version is out, sigh. Oh well, at least I upgraded my yearly subscription to a lifetime subscription, so I won't be out real life money on the deal.
i remember back in the day, glider used the waypoints.. then ppather came out, and it was like.. HOLY HELL! Now, if a bot doesnt have some kind of pathing system, nobody would ever use it. Think of something that this (or any other bot) does now that makes your jaw drop (like instancebuddy) and soon it'll be standard and something else amazing will take it's place.
there is no "bright" future for botting. Just enjoy the fun while it last... you dont hope to see wow running for another 20years right? or hb/gb for another 20years? i dont know... but i think game will die off after some time, eventually... *edit for extra notes* wait, do you mean just wow bot? or bot in general for all other game?
Instant LVL 80 hack = future of botting. Clientless bot running thousands of bot instances as threads on one PC = future of botting.
Ultima Online. Those were the good ole days. Made a ton of easy money on that game without botting. I had a Luna Vendor House on Chesapeake and before all these sites that scan all the vendors in game for the lowest price there was no competition hardly. Unlike WOW where you compete against everyone on the server on the AH(Ebay equivalent) Ultima allowed you to compete based off location(brick and mortar equivalent). And you didn't have to worry about re-listing items you just had to take them off your vendor and reprice them And another plus while you got banned for botting(unattended macroing they called it) you did not get banned for selling gold. So no worries or expense of a lost account.
In reply to haykinyau.... I mean botting as a whole... At the moment it seems a good all rounder for making money, getting mundane tasks done etc... I was just wondering people's opinions on the future of botting with wow and generally Hope that helps
botting on wow is like playing with fire, you can try to "tame" it, but you wont know when its going to "consume" you... botting on another game i know(Ragnarok Online) is completely "legal". The game company knows it and do nothing about the bot. botting as a source of income, only good as a side income, if your livelihood depends on RMT, well, only few able to buy cars and houses with it. botting as a way to play game, yupe, many game is adapting bot as a play-style. Some chinese mmorpg i know have auto hit and leveling if you subscribe to it. The game company is selling the bot itself. They called it "game-aid", helping and enriches your game playing experience~ thats all i know... i'm no expert so dont take my words for it. This thread opened as a discussion and i just giving my opinions...
The future of botting is only going to get more intensive. I use to play World of Warcraft occasionally then it started taking more and more of my time until I realised it had completely taken over my life and even started to effect other parts of my life. Some kids growing up now have only known WoW. Botting has more Pros than Cons in my eyes; As a gamer I hated botting I felt you were *****ing the system for personal gain, then I bought wow gold because I could not keep up with the farming required or AH’ing required for my Achievements on my toon (I had about 10200 when I stopped). Botting gives you the time to enjoy life, live life while still enjoying the game with a supply of money; those that bot for real life money are making money on the side to support their life styles. World of Warcraft is more than just a game to some and looking at it this way it’s become a support system. A Drug, An Income, A Escape. All walks of life play this game. As some people have stated already, nothing in this world is unhackable; the very design flaw in hacking is the person sitting behind the keyboard; there will always be a way. The Cons? Well its upsets the ‘economy’ of the game which in turn negatively effects Blizzard cough ‘Umbrella Corp’. Players are upset that the economy is unbalanced but to be brutally honest all things aside it’s JUST a GAME. If the game supplied you with the means to by a Ferrari ‘grats’; you played the GAME well J I believe WoW can’t really introduce new technologies to combat botting when it comes to game play and that botting will be even stronger come cata. Wall of Text Crits you for Over 9000!
Well WoW will be around I am sure much much longer and whatever game is the current FOTM will eventually find gold sellers, bots (or at least macrobots) to help assist us addicts in not having to spend every moment infront of our monitors. I for one hope that future MMO's would take a page out of the book of the original SWG crafting system and that would help to regulate the economy much better. Of course you will always have creature grinding and if there is a bot that will tilt the "economy" off center a bit.
I play wow and have hot steamy sex at the same time all the time; its an aquired skill tho. Usually requires female that also plays wow or for the ladies a lovely bloke whos totally into you.
IMO blizzard will dominate the MMO world for awhile. They won't release a new MMO though while WOW controls the MMO market. Think about it once WOW dies down and they can't revive it with expansions/patches anymore what are they gonna do or possibly currently working on? World of Starcraft and possibly a Diablo based MMO. Even if they deny they are working on either of these they would be absolutely foolish to not be. Both of those games have ridiculous followings just like warcraft did and they can ride those followings all the way to the bank and create money for us botters along the way
I agree buddy, Botting has pretty much broken my addiction.. I have all the gold i need to keep my main suplied for when ever I feel like raiding.. I also make a nice amount of cash on the side becuase of it.. Really supports my life style ^_^
