Interesting (not a sky is falling post)

Mimatas · Post by **Mimatas** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 1:52 pm

From http://forums.interealms.com/ranger/sho ... adid=38929

Was in PoG foraging Planar Oak when I was sat down (which blocks foraging) and sent a tell by the GM asking if I was at the keyboard. I responded, and he said that they are checking on people who are foraging heavily. He also said that they test for the presence of third party programs by executing a "Feign Death" command (no matter what class your character, their command will work, but does not work if certain third party programs are running). Was an interesting conversation, and nice to know that they are checking.

I read this on a ranger board... I found it interesting... anyone know if (and why) MQ would block FD? I'm thinking no, but I really don't know any other third party modifications that run on the same machine... nor do I know of any reason to want to "block" an FD. Perhaps immediately get up from one (if fighting giants in Storms), but blocking it seems like too much trouble for minimal return.

Again.. this is not a "they're out to get you" post. I don't give a shit if they check, cuz I don't AFK macro. I just found this kind of interesting, thought I should share.. and I'm curious as to WHY anyone would want to block FD.[/url]

missingfiles · Post by **missingfiles** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 2:11 pm

I dont think anything is blocking there FD, there mostlikly hitting with a FD then seeing what the toon does. If he stands up or send a petition then he isnt afk. If he just sits there and nothing hapends most likly he is afk.

Some macros could watch for "you must be standing to forage" then auto /stand and the GM's could be watching for that. As in FD then instantly the macro /stand then continues to forage with no responce to tells.

aChallenged1 · Post by **aChallenged1** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 2:23 pm

Interesting? Yes.

Credible? That's questionable.

There are people out there who will post crap to see people piss themselves. This could be one such. Who knows. I'm sure if someone here gets smacked with this "FD" bit that we'll hear about it.
I for one want to see Screenshots of the incident and log if possible.

Mimatas · Post by **Mimatas** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 2:24 pm

that was my first thought.. but the post said "blocked". I wish people would learn to communicate effectively :).

aChallenged1 · Post by **aChallenged1** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 2:28 pm

Read the thread and started thinking.

Have you ever spoken with a GM? Especially one contacting you about a problem? They don't have time to chat most times. If a GM were actively looking for AFK Foragers or other AFK Macro users, they wouldn't bother typing out a lot of crap. Hell, you'd be lucking to be more than a, "Sorry to bother you, just checking on a problem."

I'm sorry but until I see log files and screenshots, it's bogus.

MacroFiend · Post by **MacroFiend** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 2:30 pm

GMs do have a AOE Feign Death that they can use. Not sure if they have a targetted version but it wouldn't surprise me if they did. I heard stories of a perverse GM who would go "corpse humping" after causing a mass FD at a Guide server meeting in CSHome.

Kambic · Post by **Kambic** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 2:58 pm

"No SS didn't happen"

Mimatas · Post by **Mimatas** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 3:12 pm

aChallenged: I have, on occasion, talked with a GM. On a few occaions, actually. Not when they were checking to see if I was doing something wrong, but when I got stuck, a mob got stuck, or I was reporting a bug (that nice one in the ranger epic that allows someone to spawn an NPC as many times as they want (I think I've still got caps of 30 of her running around). On a few instances, they explained why the bug happened, or what they did to fix it. In the case of the ranger epic bug, I think we just sat there for 10 mins trying to figure out what caused it.. until I got to that point in my epic and managed to recreate it. SO in short.. yes, I there have been instances where a GM has talked to me.

Not that I'm saying the post is any more credible. It is The Glade... a collection of people who like to bitch about how underpowered rangers are... and not necessarily a reputable group. This said, there's no reason to think a GM can't FD people (mobs can proc it, so the command exists to send an FD to a character). If there WERE a third party utility that blocked it, I'd think that this would be a pretty good test. Thus, the info COULD be legit.

Can anyone think of a reason to block such information?

missingfiles · Post by **missingfiles** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 3:27 pm

I read your post and the post at the ranger bord they never said anything about blocking the FD. I dont think the GMs are watching for the failure on the FD as there should be no way to block it.

I again think the GMs are just watching to see what the player does when FD.

Mimatas · Post by **Mimatas** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 3:33 pm

hmm.. I suppose I did read into that a bid.. by "will not work" I assumed blocked. My bad, and having see the error of my ways, I agree.. it's probably behavioral.

Too bad.. I was really looking forward to a creative technical reason that blocking FD messages to the client would benefit someone.

aChallenged1 · Post by **aChallenged1** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 4:23 pm

Mimatas, I have also spoken with GMs. It does happen. In a case like yours where you were discussing a problem, one that you were even able to recreate, it does help them to take the time. But then a bug of that nature is a HUGE issue and you know they are not going to allow that. So the time spent is for good cause. But that is not the norm. In most cases, they want to be on thier way as fast as they can because they have other things to deal with (like that online blackjack game they're playing <grin>).

I never meant to come across as meaning the FD thing can't happen. I've heard of that a long time ago. Just don't think they would take the time to tell someone they are doing that to catch afk'ers. Think about it. Why would they tell anyone about a tool they are using to catch AFK Macro/bot'ers? I sure wouldn't if I wanted to catch people. Fastest way to get people to stop, short term, is to let out that you're doing something like that. After a week or month everything is back to where it was, no change in the end.

No, I'd not tell anyone about what was being done to catch macroers. I'd just be trying to earn my pay by doing it, and doing it well.

eqjoe · Post by **eqjoe** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 4:28 pm

No way a GM will tell you what he is doing to catch AFK foragers.

Its bullshit.

-j

missingfiles · Post by **missingfiles** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 4:36 pm

Does seem a little fishie that GM would sit down with a player and discuss there tools of there trade. But rember that there just people to and bound for mistakes.

Moeymoejoe · Post by **Moeymoejoe** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 5:39 pm

I"m guessing with the forage macro you can forage while fd, while with hotbutton forage you cannot. So that is what they are looking for. Just have to force a fd then go off and check logs later if the guy foraged again without standing.

Manaweaver · Post by **Manaweaver** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 6:47 pm

Why would they tell anyone about a tool they are using to catch AFK Macro/bot'ers?

Probably to prevent AFK macro'ers. It's like giving someone a warning when you pull them over, I guess. You tell them you know how to catch them and they'll either not committ the crime or be more careful about it.

Though you have a point as well. It doesn't make a lot of sense to tell people the tools you have to catch them. Perhaps that was his error and he only intended on saying that he can catch them.