I think that working on creative ways to report on that information would be far more effective to the playerbase than telling you how many people touch the problem, which is kinda the point. Communication about botting and RMT is certainly something we intend to be more open about in the future. I think as an example, I've given talks that have addressed the subject in a few venues in the past year but that information has never made its way to the forums, so I think maybe it's time to distill some of that into a blog and get it out to you guys to digest.

as such we can never know if CCP has, or has not, been taken over and turned into a vodka-subsidies based organization.

i do like the idea of zero plantations and slave masters though

we have a position open in the getting whipped department, I'll pass your resume along

lol, go boi go! get 'im!

can you give me a semi-witty reply to this post too?

Ill give you extra points if you can throw in an insult about me being a carebear, and bonus points if you can use at least two logical fallacies and an insult about my intelligence.

lol, u so funny.

I think that working on creative ways to report on that information would be far more effective to the playerbase than telling you how many people touch the problem, which is kinda the point. Communication about botting and RMT is certainly something we intend to be more open about in the future. I think as an example, I've given talks that have addressed the subject in a few venues in the past year but that information has never made its way to the forums, so I think maybe it's time to distill some of that into a blog and get it out to you guys to digest.

For people asking how RMT effects them: If you subscribe via PLEX is certainly does. Maybe you have noticed the recent PLEX price rise? Some of the PLEX price is held up by the existence of RMT. People get ISK via RMT rather than purchasing a PLEX and trading it in game for ISK. The result is a lower PLEX supply and a higher PLEX price.

If you PvP, the guys you are fighting could have better stuff because they bought it with ISK obtained via RMT. RMT breaks the sandbox.

Also if more people purchased PLEX and sold them in game, lowering the isk price, then more subscriptions would be paid for via PLEX. A subscription paid for via PLEX gives CCP $17.50 a month, more than any other subscription option. Its in CCP's best interest to get rid of RMT for just this reason.

It irrelevant how many people are actually involved in RMT/bot detection. Even if it's ONLY CCP Sreegs, if the tools he develops are effective the job's being done.

The actual number of RMTer/botters is likely far less that you believe, simply because some people tend to be paranoid and see conspiracies and corruption everywhere, even when it's not.

Well I think that came from when the list of customers of one of the largest ISK-selling organisations got leaked and most of their largest buyers were... in the NC.

I'll address this as well as possible ...

Thanks!

unholy rage made the players feel better.
when ccp announced they have banned a few hundred or so bot accounts and other RMTers it just looks good for CCP and to the players.

RMT is an ubiquitous problem in MMO's and it is an endless, thankless battle for the companies who have to handle the problem. I mean **** if even one person gets mistakenly banned for botting the PR shitstorm would be extreme.

I personally believe CCP invests very little manpower, time and effort in the RMT war. Especially since some CCP staff have their fingers in the RMT pie as rumored.

Regarding insinuations of staff members being involved in RMT you may report allegations of misconduct to IA. Otherwise it would be pretty peachy if you would refrain from making allegations you have absolutely no reason to believe. If you have a reason to believe it and want it to stop I can only assume you'd report it. Otherwise the alternative is that you're just trying to cause trouble and that makes my job harder which is pretty uncool.

Kitten -> Worst idea ever, you realise that a lot of the RMT sites are scams and will just steal your credit card info? Lets not have CCP encouraging people to visit these sites please!

Everyone else accusing people of Botting/RMTing, either show some evidence or shut the hell up please. You are just making yourself look stupid (or more stupid in some cases)

While I'm sure there are botters and RMTers in game, the number from what I've seen that I would even think are bots not players is in the 0.1% range, aka not a massive problem and eventually they will get caught. The reason you often don't see action on the 'report bots' is because when they find a bot, they want to find where the money is going. There is no point in banning the botting account without banning the master and control accounts which are holding the ISK and doing the sales. These accounts been shut down are what really hurt the RMTers and thats why CCP target them.

I'll address this as well as possible though to be frank I don't think the answer is one you'll find 100% satisfactory.

- We are not going to divulge numbers of employees devoted to security tasks.

- We have old and continue to implement new detections for various types of activity regularly

- Leniency is relative. The numbers we've been collecting show that the current system of administrative actions is effective at curbing the behavior.

- Never. Security is a process not a powerpoint presentation or a graph.

Regarding insinuations of staff members being involved in RMT you may report allegations of misconduct to IA. Otherwise it would be pretty peachy if you would refrain from making allegations you have absolutely no reason to believe. If you have a reason to believe it and want it to stop I can only assume you'd report it. Otherwise the alternative is that you're just trying to cause trouble and that makes my job harder which is pretty uncool.

It irrelevant how many people are actually involved in RMT/bot detection. Even if it's ONLY CCP Sreegs, if the tools he develops are effective the job's being done.

[
I think that working on creative ways to report on that information would be far more effective to the playerbase than telling you how many people touch the problem, which is kinda the point. Communication about botting and RMT is certainly something we intend to be more open about in the future. I think as an example, I've given talks that have addressed the subject in a few venues in the past year but that information has never made its way to the forums, so I think maybe it's time to distill some of that into a blog and get it out to you guys to digest.

My vote for deterrence is to have published information on the log-in screen about the anti-botting and anti-RMT effort, information that is always there, always up to date, continuous and persistent. Something like "Last week xx players were banned for botting, yy were banned for RMT and zz billion isk bought via RMT was removed from the game". That will make sure everyone is always reminded that CCP Sreegs and customer services will come for any EULA violator.

Since CCP is active in this thread, I might as well ask a few questions myself...