Amazon says it's introducing new measures intended to deal with the problem of New World farming bot accounts. The studio will be revoking keys obtained by bot accounts for farming purposes, so as to give players a fairer environment for gathering resources.
What is the problem with New World resource bots?
Players of Amazon Game Studios' MMO New World have been complaining of bot accounts that essentially automate resource gathering. These "players" walk unusual paths between points, move away from quest objectives suspiciously quickly, and often spam chat with gibberish, presumably so that bot detection protocols don't pick up that they aren't talking. In addition, these bots will often crowd resource nodes, making it difficult for players to gather from them.
Amazon says it's listening to players' complaints and is taking steps to address the issue. The studio says it's moving to revoke "thousands of keys" that were obtained by bot accounts in order to farm resources. Unfortunately, Amazon also says there's a chance that legitimate New World accounts will have their keys revoked. If that happens, the studio says you should get in touch so you can get your key back. Seems like the scorched-earth approach could involve a little collateral damage, unfortunately.
The New World launch: smooth or rocky?
It's been an interesting few weeks for New World. The game launched in late September to extremely high concurrent player numbers, causing lengthy queues that meant some players were waiting several hours to log in. New World has also experienced problems with AFK players, who sign in to the game and leave themselves idle, thereby denying active players the chance to get into a server. Amazon initially said it would offer players the chance to transfer their characters to a new server free of charge due to the launch login issues, but has since delayed that feature indefinitely.
The jury's out on whether these issues mean New World has had a rough or smooth launch, but it's been a phenomenal success all the same. If you want to see what all the hubbub is about and begin your journey on the island of Aeternum, you can grab New World right now via Steam or Amazon. It'll set you back $39.99, but there's no subscription fee after you've paid that initial amount, so you can play to your heart's content.
Have you encountered any resource farming bots in New World? Let us know in the comments below!
