Letter From the Producer - 23/08/2016



Date Posted: 23rd August 2016

Greetings Riders,

The Exarahn Badlands PvP update is just around the corner, but before it arrives we want to address a looming question that is now bigger and more urgent than ever - “What about the bots and the spammers?” I want to openly share with you our situation, our plan of attack, and our ultimate goals for Riders of Icarus related to addressing this serious issue.

Since Head Start, Riders of Icarus has been riddled with spammers and bots. We made several short-term attempts to curb this: Temporarily suspending the Megaphones due to abuse from gold sellers, expanding the Block List and making methods of chatting more restrictive. However, many of these quick fixes have only seemed to burden our regular players instead of those causing the grief.

We understand that you are wondering why we’re adding more content when many of you are still frustrated by bots and spammers operating throughout the game. We’ve seen your posts across social media, the forums, and even in game, wondering if our team is aware of the issue.

I want you to know that our team is aware and cares deeply about the overall health of our community and our game. We believe that strong and effective measures should be taken against the botters and spammers. We believe that surface-level fixes should always be accompanied with deeper, more effective solutions to combat the root of the problem. We are dedicated to fixing the issues as much as we are to bringing you new and fun content to play.

I also want to apologize for not being more transparent about our efforts in addressing this issue. We have not been communicating all of the actions we have taken behind the scenes, and that lack of communication has added to your frustration. Our intent was to quietly clean out those who hurt our community, while providing you with the experience you deserve. We understand now that we must have more open communication with you about the actions we are taking on these important issues.

We recently began a new banning initiative, which has already resulted in the removal of more than five thousand spammers, farmers, botters and hackers, in a very short window of time. This number will only continue to grow as we add and refine our ways of making Riders of Icarus the game you have come to expect.

I’d also like to share the actions we’re preparing to combat this issue further, some of which have already begun, and some that will be implemented across the next few game updates. For botting and hacking, we will add significantly more Game Masters who will patrol the game with more tools to quickly find and remove any exploiters. We are also updating an automated system, which will detect and ban swiftly and effectively. Lastly, we will implement an in-game player report system so you can help guide our Game Masters toward any players that may slip through the aforementioned systems.

For spamming, a few immediate chat restrictions targeted at spammers will be applied while we work on a more precise real-time filter system. With the new filter system in place, we will be able to adapt to new challenges on a daily basis. To fine-tune and improve the filters once implemented, we will work with the teams running other Nexon America games to leverage their expertise and take advantage of tools they have honed over the years.

For better communication and transparency moving forward, those who are banned will be posted in a new “Weekly Banned Characters Report”, which will be updated every Monday. However, we will post our first report today, with a new report beginning our regular cadence arriving on August 15th. We will also provide you with updates periodically so the Riders of Icarus community can see our adjustments and give feedback on our progress.

Ultimately, we want to create a high-quality game free of distractions and frustrations, that each one of us is proud to play. Thank you for your patience and support as we continue working to improve Riders of Icarus. We appreciate your feedback and hope these changes will allow our team to continue to rise to your expectations.

Han Sol Junger,

Producer, Riders of Icarus