GM Interference

[PumpThump]

I was running some automated EXP on a few silver accounts when I got to witness a GM interfering with me to see if I was, indeed, automating. I am not suspended because I was there to respond, however I thought I'd share the experience so others can benefit from it.

I've been automating for most of the double exp weekend. Yeah I know, it's a dumb idea, but they are silver accounts and I know the risk and don't much care. I do it more for the fun of not getting caught. Just now I sat down to check my computer, and pulls began to go very strangely. I'd pull a mob, it would run about half the distance to me and then just sit there. Sometimes it would warp back to it's spawn, other times it would eventually follow me to my camp. Sometimes a mob would be in camp, then when it was low on health it would warp back to it's spawn point. This went on for about 10 minutes, and then I received the following tell on all 6 accounts simultaneously.

GMName -> Me: Greetings <Me>! GM <GMName> here. May I have a moment of your time?

Then I had a conversation with him. Since I was present and responsive, he just made a note on my accounts (since nothing could be 100% proven). I couldn't get him to tell me what tipped him off, claiming I just wanted to alter my play style so that I wouldn't get flagged again. He just said he accomplished breaking my script multiple times (through messing with mob aggro and positioning).

I have the following safeguards built into my macro to terminate on all accounts if any of the following happens...

A GM enters zone
Anyone sends any of my characters a /tell
Any of my character names is mentioned in any chat channel
Any of the words including GM, petition, report, etc. is mentioned in any chat channel
Any PC, not one of my own, comes within a 1000' radius of me
Any of my chars dies

Since none of those safeguards was tripped, then I could tell the GM went about this pretty secretively.

I don't want anyone telling me I'm stupid for automating in a public zone. Like I said, they are silver accounts so I could care less. I do it for the challenge/risk to see how high level I can get and what I can pull off. I'm just posting this as a public service announcement so people can better understand exactly (or at least close to it) how a GM catches people red handed.

Now to see if I can figure out a safeguard to trigger for this unusual mob behavior...

 

[William12]

GMs can be in the zone and you will never know in fact they could be standing right next to you and fully visible but do not show up on /who or /who all gm or even /who all name of the gm. There are no real safeguards if you got reported they won't show up on /who until they want to and have already caught you.

99% chance you were reported.

 

[PumpThump]

Yeah I know GMs can do that. Hell, through my whole conversation with him I couldn't find him.

99% chance you were reported.

Yup that's what I figure. However, considering no one could have been anywhere even close to within site of me before my macro shuts down makes me wonder how/why I was reported.

 

[supertimmy]

someone saw you on the map in the same spot for two days and decided to be an asshole and report you. /theory

 

[riot]

someone saw you on the map in the same spot for two days and decided to be an asshole and report you. /theory

Either that or they saw x amount of accounts logged in from the same ip for y amount of hours and decided to investigate it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2

 

[PumpThump]

someone saw you on the map in the same spot for two days and decided to be an asshole and report you. /theory

Either that or they saw x amount of accounts logged in from the same ip for y amount of hours and decided to investigate it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2

I hope it's not what Supertimmy said, because that is quite a dick move.

I fully log out each character at least once per day, and at least have my full team of 6 logged out for an hour once per day. So that negates that.

 

[hawthorne]

Thanks for sharing what happened.

William and supertimmy are probably right. Someone saw you in the same place for a couple days, and reported you. Sucks but it happens.

 

[PumpThump]

Thanks for sharing what happened.

William and supertimmy are probably right. Someone saw you in the same place for a couple days, and reported you. Sucks but it happens.

That's a lame way to treat a fellower MQer if that's the case

Now I wonder how to build in a safeguard to notice unusual mob activity...

 

[PeteSampras]

Now I wonder how to build in a safeguard to notice unusual mob activity...

That is actually pretty simple. You can just use a distance check and if you dont see a ${Target.CleanName} begins to cast spell, then you can use a simple timer to perform a ghetto .Stuck check. Animations can also typically be used, although not entirely reliable.

 

[orion949]

GMs can be in the zone and you will never know in fact they could be standing right next to you and fully visible but do not show up on /who or /who all gm or even /who all name of the gm. There are no real safeguards if you got reported they won't show up on /who until they want to and have already caught you.

99% chance you were reported.

QFT a very good chance some hypocrite MQ2er reported you. I really dont think it was your log in time. I have left my crew running in a far corner of a zone that nobody cares about for almost a week straight without so much as a hiccup.

Universally the two main ways any MQ2er every shows up on GM Radar is,

1. Another player (and often a fellow MQ2er) either sees you and is just a dick, you got into some kind of pissing contest with him, you have been camping around a name spawn point that the other players has been trying to get to, your in a super popular end-game zone, or YOU are the dick and you KSed somebody.

2. Your participating in a known exploit that GMs are already doing the rounds on.

Other than ban-waves like when warp went from semi-safe to insta-ban and just pure bad luck, if you avoid all contact with other players (especially dont piss them off) and dont participate in exploits MQ2ing is pretty damn safe.

 

[PumpThump]

GMs can be in the zone and you will never know in fact they could be standing right next to you and fully visible but do not show up on /who or /who all gm or even /who all name of the gm. There are no real safeguards if you got reported they won't show up on /who until they want to and have already caught you.

99% chance you were reported.

QFT a very good chance some hypocrite MQ2er reported you. I really dont think it was your log in time. I have left my crew running in a far corner of a zone that nobody cares about for almost a week straight without so much as a hiccup.

Universally the two main ways any MQ2er every shows up on GM Radar is,

1. Another player (and often a fellow MQ2er) either sees you and is just a dick, you got into some kind of pissing contest with him, you have been camping around a name spawn point that the other players has been trying to get to, your in a super popular end-game zone, or YOU are the dick and you KSed somebody.

2. Your participating in a known exploit that GMs are already doing the rounds on.

Other than ban-waves like when warp went from semi-safe to insta-ban and just pure bad luck, if you avoid all contact with other players (especially dont piss them off) and dont participate in exploits MQ2ing is pretty damn safe.

My concern now is the following statement the GM made...

GM -> ME: It's all automated. But I'm not here to argue. These accounts have been noted for engaging in automated gameplay. If it occurs again, additional disciplinary action may be taken.

I hope having a "note" on my account doesn't put me up for random scrutiny! I refuse to actually grind this game anymore lol, so it's either automation for my exping or no EQ. I could just make 6 new accounts, as I have only just recently started these 6 and they are all mid-60's and silver accounts. Not to hard to recreate that and not have any "notes".

Just wanted to make a disclaimer note, as I've sold a good dozen characters over the last year (on here and Player Auctions). I've not sold any characters that have ever been scrutinized by the GM radar, so if one of my customers see's this post don't worry!

 

[eminem121416]

moving zone every now and then would help you not get noticed?

 

[orion949]

My concern now is the following statement the GM made...

GM -> ME: It's all automated. But I'm not here to argue. These accounts have been noted for engaging in automated gameplay. If it occurs again, additional disciplinary action may be taken.

Yes, you will definitely be targeted in the future by this guy! I dont know the full convo you had with GM Dickface but if you didn't make any admissions of guilt I would start raising hell with CS because this ass-tard has absolutely zero proof that you were doing anything wrong.

Your call to CS is that from a poor innocent gamer who was unfairly targeted by this GM who made wild accusations that were not true. You tried to tell him you weren't doing "whatever he said you were doing" (feigning total confusion about even the terms "hack, MQ2, automate, ect..)
And now he has threatened you with some sort of "mark" on your account, and you want to know what that is and how to get it removed.

Im sure the GM was basically pissed that he KNOWS that you five boxing has to be automated but when he tried to throw in his little tricks he couldn't get the proof that he needed so he is going to "mark" you and try to get you at a later date. That is total crap.

But, if you made any admissions of any kind in your convo with him, even something like, "Im just using me G15 keyboard!" or whatever then all bets are off because he certainly will have logged the convo you guys had.

 

[William12]

G15 is not against the EULA neither is stuff like isboxer. I know devs who use the G19 and G19s while playing. You have to understand they know you're playing all 5 toons they see the same IP and probably the same hardware ID.

best bet take a break 2-3 weeks don't bot.

 

[PumpThump]

G15 is not against the EULA neither is stuff like isboxer. I know devs who use the G19 and G19s while playing. You have to understand they know you're playing all 5 toons they see the same IP and probably the same hardware ID.

best bet take a break 2-3 weeks don't bot.

Too bad there's no legitimate means of /sticking to a mob, otherwise ISBoxer and G19 keyboards would be most of all I would need (other than the automation/afk exping).

I didn't hide that I was playing all 6 toons. I even asked to make sure that the multi-boxing was ok and he said yes.

 

[eminem121416]

couldnt he just have suspended him if he wanted to be a dick an then reviewed it and just made some shit up like they normaly do if they dont find anything

 

[riot]

couldnt he just have suspended him if he wanted to be a dick an then reviewed it and just made some shit up like they normaly do if they dont find anything

I believe the GM was being very generous with him by just tossing out a simple warning. OP said in his first post that the GM broke his scripts multiple times by messing with aggro and the mobs so the GM did know that OP was botting and had the proof serverside.

There is no substitute for a human player. No bot will ever behave like a human when a GM comes in and starts playing with the mobs.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2

 

[SiegeTank]

I agree. The GM would have to be pretty dense not to be sure the OP was running an automated script. No script is going to react properly to a GM messing with mobs, certainly not react like a real person would. Since he didn't suspend you, take the "note" as a bargain. If the toons are level 60, your thought about just making new toons and starting over is reasonable, especially if you ever intend to sell these toons.

I've boxed 6 toons for years, much of the time without ANY benefit of hacks. I always worried that could be mistaken for hacking because random passing players would always express surprise that anybody could box 6 toons at once. That's less of a problem now because every player either multi-boxes or knows someone in their guild that does. So I doubt any GM would target a player just because he's running 6 at once even in an open zone if indeed the player is at the keyboard and handling all 6 himself.

 

[StaticX27]

G15 is not against the EULA neither is stuff like isboxer. I know devs who use the G19 and G19s while playing. You have to understand they know you're playing all 5 toons they see the same IP and probably the same hardware ID.

I think it's more that feigning ignorance only works if you remain fully ignorant when you call up and talk to the CS rep at sony =P

 

[smith8454]

GMs can be in the zone and you will never know in fact they could be standing right next to you and fully visible but do not show up on /who or /who all gm or even /who all name of the gm. There are no real safeguards if you got reported they won't show up on /who until they want to and have already caught you.

99% chance you were reported.

QFT a very good chance some hypocrite MQ2er reported you. I really dont think it was your log in time. I have left my crew running in a far corner of a zone that nobody cares about for almost a week straight without so much as a hiccup.

Universally the two main ways any MQ2er every shows up on GM Radar is,

1. Another player (and often a fellow MQ2er) either sees you and is just a dick, you got into some kind of pissing contest with him, you have been camping around a name spawn point that the other players has been trying to get to, your in a super popular end-game zone, or YOU are the dick and you KSed somebody.

2. Your participating in a known exploit that GMs are already doing the rounds on.

Other than ban-waves like when warp went from semi-safe to insta-ban and just pure bad luck, if you avoid all contact with other players (especially dont piss them off) and dont participate in exploits MQ2ing is pretty damn safe.

QFT a very good chance some hypocrite MQ2er reported you. I really don't think it was your log in time. I have left my crew running in a far corner of a zone that nobody cares about for almost a week straight without so much as a hiccup;

A; I do this all the time, when I reach my minimum safe PP count ( like after you party all night with hookers at the topless club ) I log off for 3 days, buy PP on day 4 and resume end of day 4 /rinse & repeat

response to 1> who me NEVER......only with my BARD
response to 2> go to instance or scout zone not populated with n00bies that are 80 - 85 level mobs: mech guardian, level 80 - 85 zones // instant // repops a plenty and good for 6 - 10 hours, and BTW u can swarm till u get sick