I'm always torn on Botting / Multi-ing.
First off though, they are the same thing. At first it might not be, but it always eventually turns into being the same thing. Eventually you need a healer, then you need a basher, then you need a mage, then you need a refresher, etc etc etc. Then you think "bugger!, I can't run these 5 characters myself, this is just too tiring and I just died because of not being able to alt tab or click over here fast enough", Now, enter the bot. Starts off small, then grows. Eventually, you're a bot master. Therefore, they are the same, one is just a more infant stage of the other.
Another game some of you might be familiar with that allows botting is Everquest. I've played that game for a long long time (barely shorter than I've played MUD). I've botted upwards of 18 characters at one time in that game (there are some sweet programs that make it very easy to do) and the one thing I've learned from it is this:
Botting being allowed in an environment where people also do not bot makes things extremely unfair and it becomes simply a battle of "who has more bots" and everyone who has zero bots, quits. simple as that.
Now obviously botting in Arctic might not be as simple as botting in everquest because you can't go out and buy 3rd party programs designed specifically to do it, so there you have even more of a disadvantage and it changes from "battle of the bots" to "battle of the coders"
Botting in arctic would be won by those players who are superior programmers. If I can write a C# program that can control 8, 10 or 12 CMUD's (which I can do) then I have a extreme advantage over any group of 8,10 or 12 players because guess what, my computer can think faster, react faster and process more data faster than your 8 human minds can. This means I always win once I refine my code enough. I just sit around all day, letting my bots run around in a group, slaughtering whatever and whoever I want. Not even AFK. literally just watching them. laughing. playing another game, while my computer slays this one for me.
I could do this with as many groups as I want, and if the "unique" IP becomes an issue, I can create VPN connections and create as many IP's as you need me to so you can't delete me. It is very easy when you know how to do it.
That all being said, that isn't what Arctic is about. Then, as someone mentioned, it just becomes a Solo RPG which are about as much fun as watching paint dry, without any beer, by yourself, in a hot house. Arctic is as much about the interaction with friends as it is getting gear. The reason MUD's were created to begin with was to try to create a D&D electronic environment.
Now, the argument then comes into play about "well no one is on to play with, so now either I can't play or I need to bot" which is a great argument against all that i've said and why I think it should be welcomed in some way that doesn't affect the people who are anti-bot.
All that being said, my suggestion for Botting (in any game but especially one like Arctic where programming knowledge can provide a huge advantage therefor making it extremely hard to balance) is have 2 game ports.
BotPort is for people who want to play solo, but still want to enjoy the entire game of ArcticMUD. It can be for people who can't find a group on the HumanPort so they go here and can still curb the twitch we all get when we don't play the game often enough. It can be for any number of reasons but the main goal is if you want to use bots to do LEGIT things (such as learn the game) you can do it here. If you want to do NON-LEGIT things, like destroy level 15's with your 8 level 30's just because they have a piece of gear you want, you can do that too, on this port because if your not botting, your complaints about botting, on the botport, will go unnoticed. go play on humanport silly human!
HumanPort stays the same, with possibly even stricter rules. IMM's who are spending their time specifically sniffing out players who are botting and stop it from happening. Yes, this can be hard, but no, its not impossible especially if a human is actively trying to spot a bot. Humans talk in groups, humans go afk and get drug around, etc etc. Wizinvis + watching your 8 man = easy tell your botting. "but what if we are on teamspeak, or skype, and not using grouptell" you would be given the opportunity to let the IMM join that conversation and there you go, problem solved. Any excuse someone who's botting can come up with is easily proven one way or the other.
I have always believed that allowing bots to mingle alongside the non-botters is extremely unfair and gives the botters an infinitely large advantage. In order to satisfy both botters and non-botters alike, they should be provided different worlds so they can both be happy.
Now, if there are people out there who bot with the sole purpose of GETTING an advantage of people who do not bot and making those people's gaming experience less than exciting, those people are assholes and I don't care what they think. My goal in life is to out you and get you banned (or abyssed, whatever)
Botting for legit reasons (like having fun experiencing the game, learning the game, noone else is on and I want to run Zone X, etc) are healthy and should be somehow welcomed, but not alongside the people who don't share the same advantages.
Is it possible to have 2 game ports? I don't know.
Would anyone even play on the botting port? I think yes. I know I would.
Would people play on both ports? I know I would.
I apologize if someone else already suggested this, I did not read every post in this thread.
Have fun!
Gyp
