Friend who bots

[saintsixx]

Okay so, I have a question and I haven't found any answers at all no matter what I google.

I recruited a guy from the official WoW forums, and we've been RaF'ing for a few days now. I recently found out he uses a bot for the dungeon running - not all the time, but when he's going to be AFK for a bit. I also know that he creates new accounts that get banned because he ends up using them to gold sell.

I KNOW it's not morally right or anything not to report him, but I'm extremely broke at the moment (baby on the way, partner has been off sick, rent arrears etc.) - and with all the stress, WoW is the only thing that keeps me sane (my lovely parents have given me my subscription fee for the month during the hard times because they know it helps me) - so it's very helpful to get the free month RaF from him. I'd rather NOT be judged on what actions I'm not taking, but there's my back story anyway.

I was wondering, because he openly talks about it in party chat, to which I just reply a "lol" or don't even acknowledge it, will Blizzard possibly ban me as well for being an accomplice or something? Even if it's just for my benefit of harmlessly RaF'ing without any sole intent to help him after reaching 85? My account means a lot to me and I've had it for around 6 years or so, I'd rather not get it banned.

Anyway, thanks for reading, I know it's long - but thanks for your time

EDIT - People don't seem to be getting the point. I wanted to know whether I, personally, am at risk of getting banned for being associated - NOT whether I should report him or not

[Deleted]

You have no obligation to report bots to Blizzard. Your account is safe as long as you don't directly partake in any 'illegal' actions.

[Somewowguy]

Report his ass. Id report my own grandmother for botting.
A: Why even play?
2: Bots in your group are fun killers. This is a video game. Counter productive.
III: Bots ruin the games economy.
Four: Bots take away new players, and old players. People just quit when they cant compete with cheaters.
Last: If you bot, your a prick. If you bot to sell gold for real money, your so stupid you dont realize you can get a part time job delivering pizza or some shit and make 5x as much as you would playing a video game you dont even like.

Hackers and botters are the shittiest, cowardly people. Ruining peoples fun for the sake of ruining fun, while being anon? Garbage.

[MatadorMedia]

Probably shouldn't link your player / server name in your signature if you're trying to remain anonymous. Anyway, as long as YOU aren't breaking Terms of Service there is nothing to worry about. However, if he is sending you large amounts of in-game gold then there is a transaction there where you can be banned because it will be assumed you are gold-buying from a botter.

[blackblade]

Report his ass. Id report my own grandmother for botting.
A: Why even play?
2: Bots in your group are fun killers. This is a video game. Counter productive.
III: Bots ruin the games economy.
Four: Bots take away new players, and old players. People just quit when they cant compete with cheaters.
Last: If you bot, your a prick. If you bot to sell gold for real money, your so stupid you dont realize you can get a part time job delivering pizza or some shit and make 5x as much as you would playing a video game you dont even like.

Hackers and botters are the shittiest, cowardly people. Ruining peoples fun for the sake of ruining fun, while being anon? Garbage.

Off topic, but your method of numbered lists would probably make a programmer cry. A, 2, III, four, last? awesome.

OT: Really, I don't think it matters that much as long as you're not doing it yourself. Even if he did get banned, you'd still get the free month if he bought in.

[Lysah]

Last: If you bot, your a prick. If you bot to sell gold for real money, your so stupid you dont realize you can get a part time job delivering pizza or some shit and make 5x as much as you would playing a video game you dont even like.

People make hundreds of thousands of USD per year selling gold by botting dozens of accounts at once.

Many of them HAVE real jobs. Why do you think they bot? They don't have the free time to play themselves. Plus, it's free money, and a lot of it.

In fact, most botters in general have jobs, not just the ones that gold sell. They bot so they can get all the un-fun stuff out of the way so that the little free time they have left can be spent enjoying the actual game. Bot BGs so you don't have to spend months grinding boring honor for starter gear so that you can jump straight into arena when you come home from work. Or dungeons > raids.

Still, 5x more money delivering pizzas? haha, you seem not to know much about the actual world of botting and gold selling. And ANY amount of money is more than 0 dollars, because THEY AREN'T PLAYING, I don't know where you missed that, but you somehow put botting for gold and playing a game you don't like in the same sentence and I just don't see how.

[saintsixx]

Somewowguy - I'm understand, and I'm not happy about him botting but at the same time, I've listed my reasons of why I'd rather not report him. The free gametime during the period of hard time I'm currently undergoing is a big incentive.

Deuse - I appreciate the reply, I'm not particularly trying to remain anonymous to anyone, just would prefer to ask here instead of the official forums incase they did say yes, and I'd be at risk there, where as I know they do read here, but obviously if I'm not at any risk then I have no problem showing my in game identity.
He hasn't sent me anything other than around 500g from a character we levelled on my server, and he deleted it because he only cares about the character he wants on his realm. I don't need, nor want any of the gold, I just want the extra xp boosts and the free gametime lol :P

[Somewowguy]

People make hundreds of thousands of USD per year selling gold by botting dozens of accounts at once.

Many of them HAVE real jobs. Why do you think they bot? They don't have the free time to play themselves. Plus, it's free money, and a lot of it.

In fact, most botters in general have jobs, not just the ones that gold sell. They bot so they can get all the un-fun stuff out of the way so that the little free time they have left can be spent enjoying the actual game. Bot BGs so you don't have to spend months grinding boring honor for starter gear so that you can jump straight into arena when you come home from work. Or dungeons > raids.

Still, 5x more money delivering pizzas? haha, you seem not to know much about the actual world of botting and gold selling. And ANY amount of money is more than 0 dollars, because THEY AREN'T PLAYING, I don't know where you missed that, but you somehow put botting for gold and playing a game you don't like in the same sentence and I just don't see how.

This entire mess of words could have just said "Ya I bot, heres a list of bullshit why I think botting is acceptable". Every reason you listed to bot is selfish, and hurts the game, and its players. And if you dont have the time to play an mmo, why in fucks sake are you playing an mmo? Theres a big difference between casual and stupid. Pick another genre.

Oh ya, and... individuals making 100k/yr selling gold in WoW? Ill have what your having, cause I wanna get fuuuuucked up today.

[Didacticus Syntacticus]

Oh ya, and... individuals making 100k/yr selling gold in WoW? Ill have what your having, cause I wanna get fuuuuucked up today.

I was sick in bed with a headache all Monday, would have killed for just a sample of whatever that dude is currently on.

[Deleted]

Report his ass. I would. Not that it would help because Blizzard won't do anything about it for at least few months anyway, if ever. Then he might get 48 hours suspension or something like that.

If by some miracle he does get banned, it will happen many many months later. You'll get your free month and mount. He'll bot enough gold to sell to make profit and fund next account.

[Lysah]

This entire mess of words could have just said "Ya I bot, heres a list of bullshit why I think botting is acceptable". Every reason you listed to bot is selfish, and hurts the game, and its players. And if you dont have the time to play an mmo, why in fucks sake are you playing an mmo? Theres a big difference between casual and stupid. Pick another genre.

Oh ya, and... individuals making 100k/yr selling gold in WoW? Ill have what your having, cause I wanna get fuuuuucked up today.

I know a guy who botted 96 accounts at once and sold the gold from it, he ended up having to rent out an office building so he could install industrial cooling because having several computers running at full 24/7 was starting to destroy his house.

Anyway, you clearly have no idea what you're talking about and are just yet another person who thinks "HURRR SCREW CHEATERS" so I'm not really going to try to convince you of anything. If you'd try to be reasonable you'd realize that bots actually help the average casual by keeping raiding consumables in high supply and prices down, but whatever, think what you want it doesn't really matter to me.

[Trubo]

I know a guy who botted 96 accounts at once and sold the gold from it, he ended up having to rent out an office building so he could install industrial cooling because having several computers running at full 24/7 was starting to destroy his house.

Anyway, you clearly have no idea what you're talking about and are just yet another person who thinks "HURRR SCREW CHEATERS" so I'm not really going to try to convince you of anything. If you'd try to be reasonable you'd realize that bots actually help the average casual by keeping raiding consumables in high supply and prices down, but whatever, think what you want it doesn't really matter to me.

Profitability issues aside I think he brought up a good point in that botting is harmful to the game as a whole.

[Shirohibiki]

Well, I don't think you'll get in trouble for associating with him. Even if you knew, that doesn't make you responsible. But since you're not close with him as a friend, perhaps report him? I mean, he talks about it openly, you said. So he's not even trying to hide it, and you don't really know him other than that he's botting. So if you feel that it would be correct to report him, then you certainly can. If you still feel wrong about it, Blizzard won't do anything to you since you're not botting/taking gold from him.

EDIT: I mean perhaps report him when the month is up, though that might look weird... Eh. Overall Blizz won't do anything to you :P

[Somewowguy]

I know a guy who botted 96 accounts at once and sold the gold from it, he ended up having to rent out an office building so he could install industrial cooling because having several computers running at full 24/7 was starting to destroy his house.

Anyway, you clearly have no idea what you're talking about and are just yet another person who thinks "HURRR SCREW CHEATERS" so I'm not really going to try to convince you of anything. If you'd try to be reasonable you'd realize that bots actually help the average casual by keeping raiding consumables in high supply and prices down, but whatever, think what you want it doesn't really matter to me.

Why are you debating whether botting is acceptable or not? Botting takes something fun, something made specifically for fun, and takes the fun out of it and dont right ruins it for other players. This is the literal definition of being a dick. Its fine if you want to be a dick, hell im a jerk, just embrace it. Stop making all this bullshit up how it helps casuals. It doesnt. Casuals dont bot. Botters bot. And thats what I mean, even if "this one dude you know" made that money, FFS, a smart man would step back and see that he could invest in something far more logical, legit, and profitable. And yea, HURRRR screw cheaters. Its not our fault you suck at video games, stop ruining it for the rest of us.

[MetroStratics]

Reported him.

[Darkfriend]

I know people who bot, I have no issue with it. I don't, not worth the trouble or risk to my account. I wouldn't report anyone over it.

[RoKPaNda]

I tend to report people for botting, yes.

I knew someone in Vanilla who used a bot that fished up deviate fish and then that person sold those for obscene amounts of gold. I didn't report that person, I should have.

[Daswolfen]

I don't like or use bots, but I do find myself wishing I could see my way clear to using a fishing bot to level fishing on alts... it is boring and takes forever. But I don't want to risk losing my account and have well over 400 days of played on it.

[Sul]

I know people who bot, I have no issue with it. I don't, not worth the trouble or risk to my account. I wouldn't report anyone over it.

Then you are just as bad as the bot

[Forsedar]

I'm against botting, but how does it ruin YOUR experience? Because someone doesn't physically sit at their desk and do it like you do? Why does it affect you?

Now, again, I am against botting and I would report it on the spot... but getting mad that someone else is botting, unless its directly impacting your gameplay, is crazy. I would report it on the principle- not that I'm mad at the person.

Most botters sell the gold, which in the end goes back into the economy anyways. Low population servers would be worse off if botters didn't exist. The income of the server would be drastically decreasing if people didn't buy gold, because who has the time to farm dailies all day every day since selling things on the AH wouldn't be productive enough, IE low population.