Anyone who actively plays Lost Ark should know the masses of bots: mostly on the move as a paladin or sorceress, they stream robotically from quest to quest, advertise dubious gold seller websites with cryptic chat messages and still significantly disrupt the immersion in the action role-playing game.
Now the developers at Amazon and Smilegate RPG managed to hit the bot accounts hard. Over a million accounts were expelled from Lost Ark. The large numbers show the extent to which the problem has now assumed.
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Problem solved?
Lost Ark hits a heavy blow against bots, but the ban wave is just the beginning of efforts to ensure a fair and safe gaming experience. Amazon and Smilegate want to take several measures to get the problem under control.
New anti-cheat measures are to be developed, better detection of bots promoted and, if necessary, further accounts in Lost Ark locked out. in the official forum the developers explain:
Going forward, we will continue our work to detect and remove botting, cheating, and malicious behavior in Lost Ark on a large scale. This includes expanding our anti-cheat tools, improving methods for identifying bots, and rolling out more ban waves on a regular basis.
How did the MMORPG become a smash hit on Steam in the first place? We analyze this in the video:
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Lost Ark – The Price and Reasons for the Incredible Steam Record
Possibly also banned non-bots
However, the developers of Lost Ark point out that in individual cases it can happen that honest players are also affected by the ban wave. If this has happened to you, you can contact the Customer service
In Free2Play games like Lost Ark, it’s usually easy and free to create a new account after a ban and continue the malicious behavior. Even bans on the hardware ID, for example against cheaters, can often be circumvented with the help of so-called spoofers. Only time will tell whether Amazon and Smilegate can put the botters in their place in the long term.
Danger to our hobby
How dangerous are AI cheats?
In the big report above, we look at how modern cheat developers upgrade and also talk to experts who are taking action against it. Either way, frightening implications remain.
