MapleStory N bans 6,000+ accounts for botting, cheating
Crypto games can face financial losses if they don’t take steps to squash bot accounts
Maplestory and Adobe modified by Blockworks
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Crypto MMORPG MapleStory N said it’s banned thousands of accounts and is monitoring the game’s players for suspicious activity such as bot accounts or cheaters.
“With ongoing updates to the automated system, more than 200 detections and corresponding restrictive measures are now being processed every hour,” the game’s team said in a developer’s note.
The note, the text of which can also be read on a mirror post published last week, continued: “Our team continues to conduct thorough manual reviews based on user reports and submitted evidence. As a result of these combined efforts, a total of 6,503 sanctions were issued over the past 24 hours.”
The MapleStory N team said they’re using security tools to detect cheat programs and those who might try to use multiple devices at the same time via automation tools. They’re also on the lookout for “mass logins, rapid character creation, [and] unusual trading and leveling activity.”
MapleStory N launched just two weeks ago, and uses its own dedicated Avalanche L1 (also known as a subnet) for its crypto elements.
Because crypto games involve financial rewards, some are incentivized to “bot” a game, or automate activity across numerous accounts, to farm rewards in the form of tokens or NFTs that can then be cashed out.
Botting, or other types of cheating, can be present across all types of video games more broadly.
In crypto gaming, though, botters present an issue to game developers because such actors are only playing the game to extract funds — not purchase items for cosmetic purposes or otherwise spend more than is absolutely necessary in a game. This can mean less revenue for the game’s studio, and real players lose out on rewards as a result.
Pixels, a pixelated MMORPG that uses Ronin, has been battling bots in its crypto game for years. For Pixels, ignoring bots would negatively impact their revenue, and may frustrate or even alienate genuine players if botters are the ones reaping most of the game’s rewards.
Pixels’ founder recently noted that they’ve been able to finally get more deposits of funds into the game than withdrawals for the first time this month, creating a long-term healthier financial picture for the game. That’s come in part as a result of their extensive anti-bot efforts and plans to prioritize genuine players.
Going forward, MapleStory N says it’s looking at reducing the amount of false positives — where genuine players were labeled as bots or cheaters — and will adjust its approach accordingly.
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