A new usage condition for server hosts has been added to the Cod4x Docs
Bot clients shall not be disguised as real players. All bots must report a ping of 0 or 999, and their names shall be prefixed with [BOT].
Context: Some servers in the past have spoofed bots to give them fake pings etc, making them appear as if they are real players. This is a shady and deceiving practice, the server hosts who abused it know it was.
We are now making this explicit in the usage conditions. One of the main reasons CoD4x was created was because servers on 1.7 used bots to appear more populated than they actually were.
A new rule regarding bot names has also been added.
This is to make it clear to new players which clients are bots and which are real players. We feel like this is a fair compromise. We have no issue with servers using bots, so don’t worry about that.
We hope that servers will quickly adopt this change, at the latest by October 1st.
I will give friendly reminders to servers that have not adopted the change leading up to the deadline. (servers using the default bot names of bot0,bot1,bot2.. will not be delisted)
We also removed some old redundant rules from the usage conditions.
If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know.
I want to check to make sure I am in compliance, the bot names on the servers are, “=AG= Bot 1 - 15” and the pings are 0. Being deceptive has never crossed my mind.
Please let me know.
Edit: I am going to change the bot names because I see there is no ambiguity in the requirement. Hopefully action is taken against those who caused this in the first place.
I am contacting server owners at the moment who are not complying with the updated rule, hopefully we can get everyone to adjust to the new requirements
Edit : Servers that could not work in good faith and caused us to add these rules have been removed from the Cod4x master server list
So I am just wondering what gives here? I have counted a few servers that aren’t fully meeting the new usage conditions to date. I also noticed that one server is showing back up on the server list that was previously delisted, which is exactly why I parted ways with that owner and community because I knew they were using bots to be deceptive.
Surely names don’t need to be mentioned, but today is the 7th and there are servers that aren’t fully complying and I know one server for sure is listed again.
Not that I am complaining as I realize that hosting a server using CoD4x is completely voluntary but for those of us who try to do it right its like a slap in the face.
I guess what is really frustrating about the situation is lack of enforcement and punishment for those who clearly knew what they were doing was wrong, and were called out on it. I guess they can give a kiss to the right person and all is well.
Could you please dm me via discord, I will look into all of your concerns right away.
So far I’ve done my best to try and contact as many server owners as possible that are not complying yet with the new conditions, some are hard to reach and some have not responded yet but many have been happy to comply which is good news.
We will delist servers that don’t comply however it feels a bit mean to instantly delist a bunch of servers right on the 1st of October, I’m trying my best to give people the benefit of the doubt.
