First, a word from our sponsor: A jerk who plays Atlantica Online for the sole purpose of annoying other players.
Do I sound pissed? Good, because I am. Some jerk used the in-game “Report A Bot” feature of Atlantica Online on Elphame, my wife’s Level 9x Axe character, while she (the avatar) was in a player versus player match. Good thing I was on hand to type in the code that would prevent the character from falling into ban hell.

Don’t get me wrong. A “Report” feature in a massively multiplayer online game like Atlantica Online is great. It encourages the participation …read more

Have party, will grind. That’s the name of the game whenever my former Perfect World Philippines Tiger Server clanmaster winwin and his brother weejay are online on the North American Rohan: Blood Feud server Akhma. The brothers don’t seem to get tired of hacking and slashing (and shooting arrows and spells) at the mobs that spawn in their chosen hunting ground, Shadow Gorge.
Back when I was playing Rohan: Blood Feud on the Marea server, I used to go around the different towns—Einhoren, Vena, Kai’inon, Rev’Decca, Par’Talucca and Montt—and grabbing all the quests available before setting out to eliminate monsters required …read more

A couple of weeks ago, some players (mostly Yaojings or Werefoxes), desperate for attention, blocked two Perfect World Philippines Tiger server teleporters, Dragon City South and Universal City, with their pets. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem since most veteran Perfect World players know the workaround—that of pressing Shift on the keyboard while the cursor is hovering over the area where the teleporter is located. But what of new players?
I could just imagine the horror of watching valuable Internet and computer rental time (fact: most online games fanatics in the Philippines play at Internet cafes) run out while trying in …read more

Whew! What a year! Indeed, it’s been one hell of a ride for me and, hopefully, for MMOtaku’s loyal followers. What started out as a mote of light in fellow b5media Technology Channel blogger Jayvee Fernandez’s brilliant mind is now a good—not yet great (that has yet to come)—source of news for massively multiplayer online games in Asia and those made in Asia.
First off, I’d like to thank MMOtaku’s avid readers, those who visit the blog every day, those who come and go for a dose of MMORPG news, reviews and what-have-yous, and those who have dropped in just to …read more

I’ve talked about bots, or third party programs designed to automatically control the movements and actions of online game characters, making a killing in Perfect World in the past month, and remember saying that they’re popping out of the woodwork. I’ve also taken a few screenshots to prove my point. But nothing could have prepared me for what I encountered just recently. Here, take a gander:

Active bots are one thing—by active, I mean moving and killing monsters—since you can’t really tell if the character is being controlled by a program or a living, breathing human being. The only time you …read more

I hate to be the one to announce this but, yes, the dregs of online games, from kill-stealers to griefers to harassers, are moving in to Florensia, and seem to be hellbent on staying. Sigh.
While playing my Mercenary yesterday, I came across a player who, using his mother tongue, cussed and hurled invectives at other players. Gee, how brave of him, cursing from the comfort of his own home other players who haven’t done anything wrong against him. Unfortunately for the offending player, some people, including yours truly, understood every word he typed, including the phrase “Mga tanga at bakla …read more

The past two days have been absolutely dreary, thanks to the flu doing the round of our household. Fortunately, virus, except the electronic kind, can’t spread onto the computer and into the Internet. Unfortunately, everyone who uses the computer can be infected. And this is exactly what happened.
But wait, that’s not the point of this particular posting. It’s about an unscrupulous player seeking to make a buck or two out of hoodwinking his fellow players. Check out our conversation, through private messaging in the online game Perfect World, below (translated, of course):
darkwolf: kua (Bastardized Filipino word for older brother)
darkwolf: pssst!
darkwolf: …read more

I got a really hilarious comment yesterday from a very angry player of Cabal Online Philippines. Yes, the comment is hilarious, but relevant to the problems plaguing IP E-Games‘ latest baby.
Here’s an excerpt from the comment of player pintados26 (note: I took the liberty of translating it from my mother tongue into English):
Why do my characters always get blocked when I’ve already paid for the bot I’m using in Cabal Online? To think that I also topped up for premium service. If bots are illegal, then why do you sell them?
Hahaha! What did I tell you? Hilarious, right? Sorry, pintados26, …read more

Don’t you just hate it when cheats, hacks and (gasp!) bots start invading the online game you’ve come to love?
Imagine our despair when my wife and I found a couple of yaojings, or werefoxes, on a killing spree, unmindful of other player characters in the area they were haunting in the virtual world of Pangu in Perfect World. To make sure we weren’t unduly accusing anyone of botting, we conducted the test that we had seen a game moderator conduct on suspected bots a few weeks ago.
We tried to lure them into small talk. No go. We tried to see …read more

Something’s seriously amiss in these screenshots I took from the highly successful Ragnarok Online:

No, the names—Vanilla Cake, Mocha Cake and Pandan Cake—are not the only telltale signs that the three characters, thieves, are all bots. Movement and attack pattern also give them away. They all move in the same path and attack the same monsters.
Are bots really an integral part of today’s Ragnarok Online? If so, then what’s the use of having this annual Ragnarok World Championships? Might as well have a bunch of bots sit behind those consoles at the tournament.