A few people have mailed me about a bot that is impersonating another with a similar name. Rather than have a series of one-off discussions with them, I figured I'd open this up to the community because I'm interested in setting (or not setting) a general policy for this. The details of this particular situation aren't important for this thread's purpose - I'm more interested in discussing a general policy than a specific ruling on this case.
There are currently no rules against impersonation. You can't cheat or spam the forums, but you can create bots with whatever names you want, use whatever logos you want, etc. Should this change? How would it be enforced? I think it's pretty clear in the case that brought this up, but it won't always be so simple in the future which is why I'm a little reluctant to do any enforcement. What happens when one bot is coincidentally off by one letter from another with no malicious intent, but the other bot is demanding it be changed?
I've intervened on something similar to this before during open beta, so it's not completely without precedent for me to step in on things like this, but it just seems like a sticky area that's not well defined so I'm not really sure what the best course of action here is. Thoughts?
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The guy above stole my bot name! Honest :-)
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Lets try the above joke again...may have forgotten username was displayed rather than bot name when posting.
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I Just need 9 stars and the same Logo as Ender's :)
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I'm on his shoulder, what haven't i got the met ender achievement?
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I don't think you should have to worry about what players name their bots. But like any time a player tries to scam another member of the community and it can be shown that they were truly intending to scam or cheat another player through impersonating another's bot, then the community should police it....bring back the known assholes thread.
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I say alright names usernames can be whatever, but using the same Logo, colors, nationality n stuff makes people confuse. I mate mailed me asking how I leveled the bot this fast.
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Honestly I feel like this seems more like an ethics issue than a real problem that something can be done about. If someone names a bot cleverly similar to your name and doesn't actively impersonate you, does that still mean you they are impersonating you or does it mean they wanted your name but it was already taken.
I would take this on a case by case scenario of where the person was actively impersonating another player with a cleverly similar name.
In the case with your fnix, I have a good guess who made that bot and why they are making it. Lets just say I completely agree with them.
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I think it takes a lot to impersonate a person well but I guess it all depends on what that person intends to do with the impersonated name. If I somehow could make a near copy of say, Jan's bot, then me making a bunch of silly statements on the forums isn't that bad. But if I use it to try and sell his bots without his knowledge or scam people to make them -really- think I'm Jans for some purpose then a line should be drawn.
Solution is to make it so that harmless fun isn't that big of deal but scamming or trying to impersonate to sell/buy bots etc. or anything to do with slander/money is forbidden. But also make sure that people know that even making the bot can be grounds for offense.
You could also make it so there is a level requirement for the forums like the good old days.
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What I am saying i dont really care who uses my name or logos or anything Im worrying that someone can pretend me and use my name to get somekind of "secret" information or something lol.
I like neps giving me attention, she has something more to worry or think about than sitting all day clicking and making bots, Im happy for you neps.
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bah this is a waste of time trying to set any policies. if you want to do any trades or deals do it via your main and you can easily link your other bots on your profile like many people have done.
Regardless of whether people copy your name, logo, colour, nationality. I doubt anyone could copy the bot's achievements. i.e. if I made a new bot called "Enter" and copied everything from Ender. There would be no history and no clan.
If you are worried about leaking all your secret animal pronz to the wrong person, just don't communicate via bmail and use other means such as irc, email.
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What Shoy said, anything involving important matters should always be confirmed through whatever means on a persons main account.
P.S. My bot is the best and oldest Ender clone.
~Gpof
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Im happy for you neps.
Hahahahahaha! I'm not going to comment on that. But trust me, once you learn a few things about that bot you're crying about, you are going to feel very, very sheepish.
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This sticks in my throat... but I agree with easy.
Each case needs to be looked at on an individual basis. A simple piss take is fine but trying to defraud someone not so much.
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I have the same stand. For trying to scam people, it is an issue, but just like parodies and satires are for the most part protected from copyright infringement lawsuits, I don't think usernames and botnames meant to mock someone should be considered impersonation. Anyone can register a botname, a newbie registering the name "nepz" has just the same rights over it as I have over the name "neps." And by "just the same rights" I mean zero rights. All our shit belongs to Ender, after all.
If a person tries to scam someone, well, that's where the line should be drawn. People should be responsible though. A second look at a name is free, and isn't that hard to do if you're performing a deal. Right Ehder?
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Never have I tried to impersonate anyone. Good day to you Mr fnixuz.
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Fnix, there are bots called Alansgay and stuff.
No worries man.
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I'm inclined to agree with those suggesting to be hands off about this until it gets to the point of active scamming/fraud. This is in line with my typical stance on moderation/admin intervention (I prefer being hands off on most things). I think word gets around pretty quickly within our community, so if you think someone's playing dirty or being underhanded, just start a forum thread, put out all the facts, and call them out on it.
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I completely agree with this
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