What I do and what I know are different things, and this goes for everyone. Non are their work, it's all about capacity of understanding
things that matter.
If we turn it around, everyone doing mistakes in code, graphics and so on are all working professionaly, for me it just shows one
should never make conclusions just based on what people do at their work.
Before I say anything else, I want to make one thing very clear, in case it wasn't clear in my initial reply to you. I meant absolutely no offense with that statement, my intention was not to belittle you, insult you in any way, put you in an awkward position or any number of other things. I was just stating, that I have no knowledge of what your professional background is and whether or not you have had experience in software development but I personally have. I own a company which does software development and data analysis. This is why I know that this is something that is technically doable. When I said, it's not up for debate, I said that because this is something I know. If I know anything in life, it's my work, what I do. I am not saying this because I don't want to hear the other side or dismiss someone else's opinion, I am just saying that a technical solution can be created and will solve the problem of bots if that is MindArk's desire. Hell, let them hire my my company for the task if they can't do it themselves and I will show you firsthand that it can be done. With all do respect, you as an enthusiast in the field and me as a professional have a different level of understanding of this matter, Joat.
Speaking of mistakes in code and other areas of work, that is absolutely correct. There is a saying in my language that says: "He who works, makes mistakes." This is a God given truth. I just don't understand what this has to do with any of what I was saying.
When I talk about punishments in solutions its about things like limit time to play, limit skillgain and so on.
Solutions should be to have a game play that forces you to be active, where bots will have it really hard time to do the job.
Sadly when there is a potential to get RL money from something same type of individuals shows up, only looking
for personal gains and low insterest in the product itself.
We had a misunderstanding here, it was my understanding that you wanted to say that there should be no punishments for those that break the rules. My stance in this regard is that if someone breaks the rules, there must be consequences. What those consequences are should be up to the authority
(in this case MindArk). I am not advocating for limiting time to play, some people have busy weekdays and then go crazy on the weekends, more power to them.
Please don't use that narcissistic bullshit tactic to try give more power in your answer, thats just an illusion that works in your head.
For me that have study narcissism enough that just made me red flag you as person that might have these traits when using rapists
and murderers as an analogy.
You used another tactic earlier also, when you said its not debatable, that is a tactic they use when they don't like
what they see or hear and just want their opinion and no one elses. I really hope though that you are not a narcissistic individual.
Wow, a narcissist, really, Joat? A narcissist?
Give me a break, mate. If you have really studied psychology
(I don't know how else you could have studied narcissism if not through psychology), you should be more careful throwing diagnoses around on a public forum. Just consider for a moment how big of an insult that is. I am not a narcissist, I am just frustrated beyond words, hence my poor choice of words (eg. murderer) in my analogy but let's leave the worst of the worst of human beings aside and let's use thieves and bullies instead, the result is the same. I am frustrated with this constant back and forth in the game with no clear vision or path for the game. It keeps deteriorating over time because of the the lack of direction and ignoring some fundamental issues.
This may seem like a ridiculous reason to snap so much at MindArk but space mining was the last straw for me. It had such great promise and look at the way it was implemented. We have rare planetside ores and gems in Tailings, just look at the impact on the economy. I unknowingly supported this by winning one of the Prospector ships in the event.
Back in 2023rd, I was competing in the mining Gold Rush on Arkadia. Agg beat me hands down. This person is one hell of a miner. I gave it my all back then. I 100% neglected everything in my life, family, business, all social interactions, gym, just to grind like a machine. By the time it was finished, I caught a nasty cold/flu because my immune system was extremely weakened by the exhaustion. Agg won the amp. We are not friends, we barely had any communication but I respect them. A few days ago, they opened a sales thread in which they're selling all of their mining gear. Our number one miner in Entropia is selling out because mining was obliterated.
Side note:
In these last two days, since I created this thread, I had a lot of communication with different friends in EU and it is amazing how many people actually believe that botting in Entropia is a good thing. So many people believe that MindArk wouldn't be able to keep the game afloat without it that it's scary. What I find scary in this is the effect it has on the economy. We are going towards Unreal Engine 5. Unlike some people, I actually do believe that MindArk will deliver on that promise. But even when we do get Unreal Engine 5 and Entropia gets on the Epic Games
(I think this was the plan), the bot problem will persist and I am not sure how many new players we can hope to bring to Entropia given the underlying issue.
Another thing is that I have no doubt that MindArk is more than capable of making the right decisions, just look at the new immersive AI NPCs, they are definitely a step in the right direction. However, here is the problem with the two updates in two weeks:
- first one obliterates mining and turns it into an obsolete profession altogether;
- second one brings these new NPCs which are a great thing.
So while one does something good, the other deals another devastating blow to the game. This should stop, we desperately need someone to be in charge of balancing the game. If the botting is here to stay, help people skill or whatever but we need to gate endgame behind things such as RDI, Spina etc. so that manual play is rewarded. Otherwise, we are in a downward spiral.