@Ambiv I use the terms "botters" and "script-kiddies" because hackers, for me, denotes the people who make the bots and scripts they use.
Think of it like comparing a soldier and a gunsmith. Soldiers need only as much training as how to use the guns issued to them, and are expendable. Gunsmiths are the guys who design and make those systems. In this case, change out "Soldiers" with "Botters" or "Script-Kiddies" and "Gunsmiths" with "Hackers".
Moreover, I mean that the focus should be changed to reducing the rate in which new bots are made. The botters are a threat and an immediate one, yes, but if we could steadily reduce the numbers of bots made, it would make for easier and much more noticeable bot clean up.
Here, I would compare the bots and their rate of production to a boat with a hole in it. Plug or at least shrink the hole, and the task of removing water from the boat is all the easier.
Also, you seem to make the assumption that it is a simple matter to come up with a solution AND implement it in a timely manner. Obvious barbs at Nexon's track record aside, I would wager that they are hesitant to make a more restrictive account requirement, since it would cut into availability for a game that has a low player retention rate (a problem aggravated by their own hand, no less). Moreover, because of the largely unknown nature of Nexon NA's Development team, we have no idea how qualified they are, or what drives priorities. For all we know, the reason why the Devs aren't on the botters as much as we'd like them to is that the Devs may not be formally trained in such measures. The Devs may all have gotten their degrees in Computer Science/Programming, but not in Security/Risk Analysis or Ethical Hacking.
As for solutions, I have said before that we could bind accounts to SMS verification systems, much like the Blizzard Authenticator or SteamGuard, but then that cuts off people without cellular phones (yeah, there are people out there DON'T have them). Another idea I heard and adopted as a potential solution is to make bans by MAC address, wherein the machine on which the ban was received can never play MapleStory again. Unfortunately, this has been undermined by the potential hole made by MAC address masking/spoofing.
I support this. I'll admit I'm a bit hotter-headed that most of us here and that this message is a far better version of the locked one I made earlier.
I just hope that a similarly heart-felt response is made, not some cheap copy-pasta from a script-book of responses.
Here's hoping the new CM (when they come) will be up to task. Better yet, a nice collective letter from the dev team would be probably more satisfying.
@Ambiv 1. These are not hackers. At worst, they are botters, but mostly they are script-kiddies. Hackers would have us losing accounts more than losing maps. 2. Sadly, the number of botters/script kiddies you see here is how it's been for years.
However, the problem to address is not reporting the botters. It's actually pretty easy to check and ban a botter. The hard part is being able to control the number of accounts used to bot. Specifically, bot accounts are too easy to make.
Why do you insist on telling them about it when V-Coins are annoying enough to get as it is?
Some people love to see the world BURN
In all seriousness, that cat's been out of the bag since this post and this post.
Trying to cover it up is also a pretty crappy attitude too. We (myself included) talk so poorly about Nexon, often for transparency at that. If we aren't also transparent about issues and bugs we, the players, notice, then we are hypocrites.
