saxum Report post Posted January 24, 2012 Does trustbot work for bots? Then that could be a solution: mark the bot that has no gc/no slots/no emu repeatedly as untrustworthy, and after a while (to get enough votes) you can ask trustbot about the trade bot you want to deal with. Abuse is possible of course, but you can check who voted. Advantage is that the whole mechanism is in place, and works for all bots (if it works for bots at all). And no need for the bots to advertise their gc content. (Note: @ zombie: bots don't have to be stocked with gc by their owners; some can be used as outlets for the production of their owners => the gc comes from the customers, the owners skims off the profits...) Problem with your idea is that bots change hands. However, if you mark the bot as 'untrustworthy' due to a previous owner, then you obviously need a means to update that if the bot then changes hands. As far as i'm aware, trustbot doesn't have that functionality. You can update trustbot by clearing (/trustbot clear <name>) your vote; some may complain that they are a new owner and should not have old rating but it is the same thing which happens to players who buy or are given character from someone else. I refused to trade with "new" player despite claim of new owner; you inherit the baggage and pay for name change if you do not like trustbot reputation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GreyElf Report post Posted September 3, 2012 Cleaning out my sto of unused items and running across many bots with no gc or no free EMU. VERY ANNOYING. Can the bot send a message to the owner for each occasion that a user is unable to complete a trade for these reasons? Then when the owner logs onto the game or returns from AFK he or she will be notified that 1. the bot needs attention and also that 2. he/she has lost business from 'x' number of transactions. I realize that each owner buys or writes their own bot scripts. Could an enterprising person write and sell/donate such a bot script for bot owners in the future? Given 2 bots that are buying or selling an item at the same price, I would definitely give my business to the bot with better customer service. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bat17 Report post Posted September 3, 2012 Also it is often the bot offering the highest price for an item that has no slots/gc available and in one case this went on long enough to make me wonder if it was an attempt at price fixing. IE. "bots are offering to pay Xgc for item Y so my offer to sell at Z gc is a good one." though the high offer bot has no intention of being able to buy, so not slots or gc available. Mentioning no names :-) Bat17 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WiFi Report post Posted September 3, 2012 Yes it is annoying when bots dont have gc, but this is something that isnt going to change. The bots that dont have gc are going to suffer because you wont go to it again. Use channel 3 if you dont want to deal with bots. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GreyElf Report post Posted September 4, 2012 (edited) @ Bat17. You have a great point there! Never thought of that. There are certain bots offering the highest price ofr a certain item and they consistently have no gc or EMU. I'm going to start a thread and copy paste everytime I come across a bot with no gc or no EMU. Dated and time stamped, of course. We'll get to the bottom of this problem somehow. @ WiFi. Channel 3 is also a good place to announce bots with no GC or EMU. It is trade related after all!! Edited September 4, 2012 by GreyElf Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ghrae Report post Posted September 4, 2012 @ WiFi. Channel 3 is also a good place to announce bots with no GC or EMU. It is trade related after all!! I don't think this would be appropriate. #jc 3 isn't for calling someone out - i.e. if you think someone is scamming you or charging outrageous prices or doesn't have as much money as they thought they did. In similar fashion, it's not appropriate to call bots out. RE: Topic as a whole What do you do when a store is having a special and they run out before you can buy one? Do you stop shopping there? Even when the store advertises "While supplies last"? And just like real life stores aren't open 24/7 in most cases... most players aren't on 24/7 and active. So a bot could easily fill up while someone is at work or asleep. And even if they are on, they may not be monitoring gc levels or EMU levels 100% of the time. Bots are not a perfect solution for many reasons. Perhaps leave a simple mercator message to the owner that you had to go elsewhere because of lack of gold or EMU. It doesn't have to be "And I'll never shop here again!!!~!111one!!!". But it would help to make him/her aware of the issue. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WiFi Report post Posted September 7, 2012 @ WiFi. Channel 3 is also a good place to announce bots with no GC or EMU. It is trade related after all!! All we want in ch 3 is buying, selling and pc's. We dont want to ruin ch 3. What we need to do is start a thread in the bots section and simply post any bad dealings we have with bots concerning no gc. [Pending radu approval]. All we need to do is make a post and state: 1. botname 2. item you tried to sell 3. the amount of gc the bot has 4. the date/time Fill in the blanks and post it. [btw, two times today I tried to sell rostos and the top 2 paying bots had no gc.] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nardo Lala Report post Posted September 8, 2012 Personally I don’t think a forum thread would help, a direct message to the owner, via the bot, or via Mercator, like Ghrae described above is in my opinion the very best way to go. Just like real life and in game, if disappointed twice, three times, I let them know politely and they will not see me again, ever, no matter how convenient or tempting the offers. Behind every bot is a player, and as every player is different, so are the bots. Each play with their own tactics ( choice of location, choice of assortment, choice of pricing, choice of market tactics (buying/selling) ) according to their own play style. There are no rules that the offer has to be realistic or that the bot can not afford its offers. Then there is also the challenge of orphaned/neglected bots with outdated market values and gold coin/stock. One of the solutions I have seen suggested before and like most (if at all possible but we can dream can we ) would be if the bot has not enough gold coins to pay for it, that it will also simply not offer to buy it, in wanted list, on website(s) and in advertising. After each trade it checks the amount of gold coins in stock/float and update it’s ‘want to buy’ offers accordingly. ( example if a bot desires to buy 2000 essence and can only afford to buy only 500, it will advertise/wants to buy only 500, if it wishes to buy 1 Rostogol ( or 10 ) but can not afford one, it will not buy/advertise them at all, until being able to afford ). It means that bots without gold coins would have an empty ‘wanted’ list and these ‘wanted items’ will not show up in websites. Future music or even possible? I have no idea. Another possibility would be to add to the bot rules that a minimum set amount of gold coins, as a float, must be on the bot when launched for the first time, and this float amount has to be maintained on a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly (?) basis by the bot owner, but I am not so sure if this solution is a very desirable one for its own good reasons. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
caladina Report post Posted February 22, 2015 something should be done, been to 4 separate maps to sell stuff and none of the bots have any gold coins i cant see why the gc level cant be displayed like the emu and slots are. that way you still know what they are buying just a matter of waiting for the owner to replenish on that matter there are a few bots that have had no emu for several weeks, is there a system where the owners are automatically notified? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
revi Report post Posted February 22, 2015 First off, there are good reasons why bots don't tell just anyone how much gc they (don't) have. I even seem to remember some of them being discussed in this thread (but 18 months is a long time). And I thought at least the bots hosted on el-services only asked for stuff they actually can pay for? Anyway, for such things as bots out of gc and emu, there's a very handy command on the bots, "/<botname> about", which tells you the owner. You could then contact the owner and complain to the only person that can help you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
caladina Report post Posted February 24, 2015 nope, the run out alot, they all have their owner displayed. as for a good reason not to tell, cant see what that would be other than to waste peoples time. i appreciate that genuine bots trying to keep up to date with gc run out when popular stuff is traded in but if bots were to show their gcs they might have an advantage over some that don't as people would go to them first in the same sell prices Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nardo Lala Report post Posted February 24, 2015 My stance in this is the same as it was in 2011 when this thread started: one of the reasons why some botowners don’t want to have their gc amount made public is because of players who try to scam / steal from them ( it has happened ), another reason why some bots have no gc is they just offer to ‘buy’ it just to inflate prices on the market, not to actually buy them, another reason is because the owners don’t play anymore. Normally I also check webpages first before travelling. There are bot owners who would mind if their gc amount on the bots would be made public, I don't, but if not too difficult to code: add the option to opt out/in and any botowner would be happy. Its up to the customer to trust and travel to bots without their gc amount not public. See for the rest my post here above, my opinion on this has not changed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites