The newest massively hyped MMORPG to hit the scene, New World is the latest offering from Amazon Games. Despite the lack of successful titles from Amazon's video game department so far, New World jumped to the top of Steam's charts and, after a rocky Beta, has garnered a decent amount of praise.
Of course, there are still some issues with New World, including huge wait times to get into a server. While this will no doubt be addressed in time, more insidious, player-created troubles are also making their way into the MMORPG. Perhaps foremost among these are bots, which are hogging resource farming points.
Bots are not an unfamiliar problem to MMORPG players, beocming increasingly prominent as they become easier to program. While no doubt more complicated than bots created for other purposes, MMORPG bots fulfill the same function: perform a simple task over and over again. In this case, New World's bots are made to farm resources, and for most of them, that seems to revolve around hunting rare fish. Bots can tell if a fish is rare on cast, and if not, they pull the line back right away. It's a problem, and like other problems New World players want solved, it's making the game harder to play.
However, players are not waiting for developers to step in: some have already begun solving the problem themselves by channeling Fansy the Bard. Long ago, in EverQuest, Fansy the bard learned how to defeat his enemies by luring hordes of Sand Giants to them. Players are channeling that spirit now by luring enemy mobs, including boars, over to the fishing bots and letting the wildlife kill them off. The bots are only made to fish, so they don't resist. Like other player created solutions in New World it's a bit rough, but it works.
While it is amusing to see wildlife slowly killing unresisting bots, it is not a full solution. Players already have suggestions for New World that will hopefully get Amazon's ear, and if enough people raise their voices, more direct measures may be taken against the bots.
It's hardly surprising that cheating like this has cropped up in New World already, considering its massive release and current player count. Jeff Bezos recently commented on New World's success, but the bots escaped mention. It's a shame too, because once an MMORPG is considered worth botting, that may well be a measurable metric of success as well.
New World is available now for PC.
Source: Icy Veins
