Dancer Archive

Thread: buffbots in well travelled cantinas

Ikewe
Tue Feb 15, 2005 10:34 am
#27


two quick comments and then I'm getting the heck out of here:


1) this needs to be moved to the all purpose ranting sticky


2) the entertainer professions did not propose en masse removing recursive macros. There were a whole slew of possibilities offered. If you want to argue that point, please talk to the Devs.



Thanks,

Ikewe

Message Edited by Ikewe on 02-15-2005 09:34 AM



Ikewe, Master Dancer, Shadowfire
When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor.


Xyrdre
Tue Feb 15, 2005 10:42 am
#28


For those of you who may not know, there is, as has been said earlier in this thread, a Pro/Anti AFK/Bot/Macro All Purpose thread for discussions of these topics. We've had to contain these things to that thread, or it gets very quickly out of hand. Trust me.



If any of you feel the need to continue with this line of discussion, please move it there.





Deila Karlossi , Blue Glowie of Dancers, and become more powerful than you could possibly imagine...
Sunjammer
Tue Feb 15, 2005 12:13 pm
#29


guinnessity wrote:
I wouldn't had start the ent-profession without the ability of using recursive macros, because its no fun at all to press for hours the same function keys....


Yet again we see the assumption that the only alternative to recursive macros is flourishing manually. Guinnessity, see here for tips on making non-recursive macros.

So much of the opposition to ending recursive macros is rooted in ignorance.


J.

Umiio "Umi" Panwanga • Rodian party girl • Bria
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This random sig quote is brought to you by the Flare Sci Fi forums:
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guinnessity
Tue Feb 15, 2005 12:26 pm
#30


Xyrdre wrote:
For those of you who may not know, there is, as has been said earlier in this thread, a Pro/Anti AFK/Bot/Macro All Purpose thread for discussions of these topics. We've had to contain these things to that thread, or it gets very quickly out of hand. Trust me.
If any of you feel the need to continue with this line of discussion, please move it there.






First of all: I couldn't find the reference to your mentioned thread
second: the whole thread shouldn't be here then in the first place, as it is covert by the other thread if you consequently follow your train of thoughts

but then I have to ask the question: why is it possible to discuss in totally packed threads only? Discussions are lively things and too much ruling harms.

I totally disagree that we should move to another forum but I do accept your semi-official decision as correspondent.

As I must presume that this is the way threads are handled here I will do without any further postings which will save you and me a lot of time.
DanceRulez
Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:48 am
#31


guinnessity wrote:

PoetDancer wrote:

Buffbots don't play. Its impossible to play a buffbot, because players don't make the sort of decisions buffbots make. If buffbots played, they would act like players act, and not stay in the same place giving out mechanics because its programmed to do so, at all hours, for no other purpose but to make a prime character, guild, or city have an advantage over someone else who doesn't do it.

Unattendence is not a playstyle. It is an abandonment of play. No matter how you slice it, you cannot convince me that logging in and pressing F1, turning off the monitor, and going to the movies is play. It is not. Yet the character left in such a state mimics the functions of live players. That is a bug in the code, is exploitive, and does not give any player an incentive to play a dancer, if non-play can accomplish so much more than play.

I will attack unattendedness, and I will continue to point out that it is exploitive. They do not "play differently." They do not play at all. And I don't want them mucking up the environment on the servers where real players are trying to play.

A working solution is to have individuals and guilds that cannot or will not work within the constraints placed upon them to either go without, or find a player. NOT PLACE A NON PLAYER. Don't tell me it can't be done. We had little difficulty doing it in the summer of 2003.

I will not tolerate cheaters in my game experience. If SOE tolerates cheaters, it only means that SOE doesn't value players.


As I said: I basically agree with you!

Just to reintroduce my idea of limiting macro commands: if they would remove like automatic targeting, adressing tool-bar-slots, and for example the /setperformance command (the others for making other bots impossible) then their wouldn't be buff-bots or other bots because it would still need interaction, right? Or better: remove all macro-commands that normally need action from the player like /accepts, /joins, /setperformance, etc. plus above mentioned

The game is mainly about making money (like it or like it not) which is why you and others have choosen a profession, and the entertainers make money with buffs! This way we would have the widely demanded healing bots which make no or just a bit of money so its not worth it. People like me could still use recursive macros as described above.

And you could take this as compromise unless you don't like compromises and you keep fighting for a long time which can't be fun! I'm not promoting this as the only way to proceed as there are always many solutions, but I believe this could be a solution most can live with as it demands compromises from all and not only from one side.

including myself

I personally like to play a character by myself and not by a machine; others see that differently and thats their good right as it is your right to play the way you want.

And for the record: those that you are calling cheaters are cheaters by your standards. But as you don't define the standards I don't like this term as they play by the rules given to them. I understand your point but this is not the point!

Sorry, absolutely no support from my side there!






Just a few quick comments here. First, if you check around a bit, and the buffbot/AFK sticky that Deila provided is one place to look, you'll see that a lot of entertainers here *do* support the continued use recursive macros. What we don't support, by in large, is a macro system that allows you to leave a character running completely unattended (AFK). That said, the devs have already stated that they are removing the ability to loop macros and AFK in the built-in macro system. There is no compromise in this, they have decided that that is what they intend to do so if you take issue with this decision, you should bring up your concerns with them. As entertainers, this is *not* what we asked for. Several among us even proposed systems whereby recursive macros are allowed, but are identified to the server and simply disabled if allowed to continue for too long without some active input or others simply that certain critcal commands be disabled. What we did ask for was some fix that would prevent our mechanics from being doled out for free by a simple macro. That being said, while some of us would prefer to see a fix that still allows recursive macros, most of us would rather see an end to the abuse of AFK'ing in all forms that we see in the game from bots to spammers to loot campers and even to some even more insidious autonomous creations so I think most of us welcome the end of recursive macros and look forward to it.

As to defining the standard, you're right that no one player can do that. It's the devs who do that (although the players can certainly have an influence), and in this case they have decided that the current recursive-enabled macro system is not in the best interests of the continued health of the game and that it needs to be modified. Unfortunately, like many other changes that need to be made to the game (smuggler revamp, combat revamp, entertainer revamp, etc), it has taken them a while to get to this one, but with the larger dev team they now have and the new commitment to implementing positive changes they seem to be showing. Hopefully it will only be a matter of time.



Shi'ann Dinova
Hot Pink Twi'lek of Mystery

ibispe
Sun Feb 20, 2005 3:52 pm
#32


have a question for you all. Let me preface this by saying that I've often stopped in cantinas to chat with the non-afkers, and was always rewarded by a lively conversation. There are also times that I've just run in for a quick mind-wound healing session or buff and left.

I see a whole lot of negativity toward the afk dance/music buffbots. Maybe this has been talked about before, but are you all aware of what would change if these recursive entertainer macros were gone. The buffbots server hundreds and maybe thousands per day, and these are often the 'l33t d3wds' who don't care much for conversation and view getting buffed merely as an inconvience to going out and fighting some more. Are you all prepared to get hundreds of /tells per day demanding mind buffs? I find it difficult at times to keep more than a couple conversations going at once, I can't even imagine what it would be like getting interrupted in PMs or spatial every minute by a buff request. Sometimes I think that many of those most adamant against the ent buffbots can not envision what it will be like if they are gone.


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Amen!!!!! Someone finally got this on the mark!



Ibispe Caihi - Elder Jedi - co-founder of Killka Bay - Rori and SIN City - Dant.

Kehia - Engineer/ respeced to medic

Azhure Caihi - Chef/Tailor

Lilpa Caihi - BH at the moment
All out of SIN City on Dant - Come join an active Rebel guild!
PoetDancer
Sun Feb 20, 2005 4:17 pm
#33






ibispe wrote:



The buffbots server hundreds and maybe thousands per day, and these are often the 'l33t d3wds' who don't care much for conversation and view getting buffed merely as an inconvience to going out and fighting some more. Are you all prepared to get hundreds of /tells per day demanding mind buffs? I find it difficult at times to keep more than a couple conversations going at once, I can't even imagine what it would be like getting interrupted in PMs or spatial every minute by a buff request. Sometimes I think that many of those most adamant against the ent buffbots can not envision what it will be like if they are gone.


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Amen!!!!! Someone finally got this on the mark!





I am prepared for it, and I am prepared to dance for as many who want me: Rebel, Imperial; Guild, and guildless.


ButI'm also prepared to say no, walk away, and let them go without if they can't be nice. And if they cannot be nice when I say no, I'm prepared to file harassment tickets and get this sort of player out of our community.


We did not have much of a problem with these jerks at launch. Why? Because they knew that if they were jerks, they'd end up going without. The problem today is that these jerks can get away with being jerks, because they control the buffer. And this only promotes jerky behavior, since there is nomore vehicle to enforcebehavioral norms. Its like what Shug Ninx said in the rulebook on page 81 of the rulebook:


"So keep your tounge in check: the Bothan you insult today might be the only medic around to save your hide tomorrow."


What would Shug Ninx say today in a climate of buffing alts? Maybe something like this:


"So go tell the dancer to screw off. Your buffbot'll be there no matter what you say to her."


I wonder if that last line should be written in the rulebook? After all, its a lot more true than the first statement.





Madame Sirii Ajaan
August 2003-September 15, 2005
"There is a difference between being /watched and being WATCHED."
shadowdefender
Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:54 am
#34

I have to say I was discouraged yesterday - I was in Coronet hanging out with some people - trying out a few new dance routines - and couldn't help but notice the HUGE binary load lifter droid barking out a buff bots ad (yes in the cantina where mostly live entertainers were buffing) so its almost impossible to get away from the shadow. Why not put the droid at the CNET starport - how about outside the cantina - why in the face of the entertainers - it felt like a slap.



Desire Storm-Shadow'fyre-JuliaChilds
Mayor of Stargate & Dancer-AFLAC Guild Leader - Swordsman-Tailor & Architect & Merchant
Wanderhome Starport Crawl 4/3/05 - Don't Miss It!!! - Stargate

Devil_Tiger
Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:33 am
#35






shadowdefender wrote:
I have to say I was discouraged yesterday - I was in Coronet hanging out with some people - trying out a few new dance routines - and couldn't help but notice the HUGE binary load lifter droid barking out a buff bots ad (yes in the cantina where mostly live entertainers were buffing) so its almost impossible to get away from the shadow. Why not put the droid at the CNET starport - how about outside the cantina - why in the face of the entertainers - it felt like a slap.




Because those buffbot owners fear ATK entertainers, be it musician or dancer.Not long ago I posted a story about a nice young girl wanting to become a master dancer when a master buffbot came in and parked right infront of this poor girl. The spams started and I asked the question is she was afraid of novice entertainers stealing her xp. She claimed no, she was capped. So I asked then why stand infront of a novice entertainer who needs it. Her only response was spam.


I hate buffbots, period. I quit music on Radiant because of them. Nothing like being the only performer in a cantina for weeks and then a buffbot or two show up. I tried my hardest to out perform them (telling jokes, asking questions about places, getting info to pass on, who was what profession-wise, etc) but it all boiled down to not being a master buffbot. The combat types hate entertainers more than they will admit. Sure there are those that will say they don't but deep down inside they view entertainers as a waste of oxygen and time. If entertainers were to be completely wiped out of they game, they wouldn't care at all that a large part of the community would no longer play.


On my other server, I have finally gotten respect for being an entertainer. I've had the pleasure to hunt with an extremely nice fellow who was more than happy to take a 15% dance/10% music buff. I'll never be a master dancer or musician (going to get knowledge 4 in both to support master entertainer), but it's nice to be able to heal people after a hunt. It's surprising to see a master entertainer that can solo rancors, lol.


Back to the topic at hand, but I firmly believe the buffbot owners are afraid of live entertainers. If they keep using load lifter droids in the cantina, /report them for harrassment. It is harrassment, just like if a live entertainer were to drop a bantha on top of a buffbot. For a lack of a better term, it's complete and utter bullsh*t that they are allowed more rights and freedom than people who want to play entertainers. I can't believe that SOE allows buffbot owners to harrass and ruin our gameplay experience, and defends their right to do it. But then again, money talks. Real entertainers are nothing more than a nuisance to SOE, since we are the only ones who even care about our professions. Buffbot owners fear live entertaining beacuse it ruins their gameplay experience with their main account and they may actually have to play as one if the recursive macro fix ever sees the light of day.

I could keep going on about this topic, but I'll stop for now.


/cheer and /hug to all the real and ATK entertainers out there
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