Mr. Bean & Other Famous People Playing Drugwars... Something Is Fishy!! 🐠 [Steem-Bounty]
Did you know a lot of famous people have an account here? I didn't either... until I took a closer look at my list of 'Targets' in the Drugwars game... 😂
Source 1 - Source 2 - Source 1 - Source 4 - Source 5
Playing Games
This isn't going to be a very long post, since I'm not feeling well. My stomach is infected and I have migraine attacks that come and go as they please. So, these last few days, I've been lying in bed, either sleeping or playing games. Mostly Steemmonsters, but every once in a while I check my Drugwars accounts too.
Still, I thought what I just found out was funny (disturbing???) enough to put up the effort to publish a post and share it with you.
Eh?
I had noticed that there was something strange with Drugwars before, but I couldn't exactly pinpoint it. Up until today.
I'm still a bit bored by the 'game', especially when I use the account I haven't spent money on. Everything goes so slow... 😒
Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to find someone to attack. I already figured out it's best to start at the bottom of your 'Targets' list, because those are the accounts that are the smallest - and chances are they don't have an army, which makes them an easy hit.
At first, I didn't think much of it... Lots of accounts without a profile pic. All of them had about the same amount of drugs, weapons and alcohol. And 8 or 9 snipers... Bots, of course - that was not a big surprise. After all, the show must go on, right?!
I checked out @eugenelevy, @donaldglover and @feliciamichaels. Nothing suspicious other than that they were obviously bots. The names didn't sound familiar, so I worked my way further up the list.
But then these names caught my eye:
Source
Jay Leno, Fran Drescher, Rowan Atkinson, Mike Myers, Matt LeBlanc, Joan Rivers,... even Hugh Laurie seems to have an account on the Steem bockchain. 😂 😂 😂
No Coincidence
This couldn't be a coincidence. I started looking up other names in my list of targets.
Remember I told you about @eugenelevy, @donaldglover and @feliciamichaels and how those names did't ring a bell?
My bad, because they appear to be famous. Just like all the others.
The person who named the bots sure had a good sense of humor, because every single one I checked was either an actor or a comedian... lol
Dick Martin - Comedian/Actor
Donald Glover - Actor
Eugene Levy - Actor
Felicia Michaels - Comedian
Fran Drescher - Comedian/Actress (The Nanny)
Gabe Kaplan - Actor/Comedian
Glen Wool - Comedian
Hugh Laurie - Actor/Comedian (House)
Imran Yusuf - Comedian
Jason Bateman - Actor
Jason Segel - Actor
Jay Leno - Comedian
Jenny McCarthy - Acress/Playmate
Jimmie Walker - Comedian
Joan Rivers - Comedian/Actress
Woody Allen - Actor/Comedian
Rosie O'Donnell - Actress/Comedian
And the list goes on and on. Even William Shatner is represented (@shatner)
The Disturbing Part
I had a good laugh, and I'm very curious about why the person who came up with this selected so many comedians. And how did he come up with the list? Because this is only (part of) 1 account. I haven't checked my other accounts yet - but there must be more... loads more.
In one way, it is hilarious, but... then I started counting. 😕
So, if you ever wondered how many people were on your list of targets: there are exactly 100. I counted them all, lol.
And what I found out was that the initially funny thing, actually isn't so funny.
Out of 100 accounts on my 'Targets' list, only 10 people are 'real'!!
90% are bots...
And I assume bots are programmed to push the right button at the right time... or in this case, sell the drugs, weapons and alcohol before they run out of storage.
I get that - just like in Steemmonsters - those bots are needed to make sure everyone can play at any level any time of day. But I'll be sure to keep an eye on their behaviour.
Because there is more to it than just the fact that they probably can never be robbed... They probably invest in the 'Daily Heist', and take their cut.
So whereas Drugwars already seemed like a scheme to me, finding out about this only made that feeling worse.
While I'm typing this, I'm starting to wonder... I initially assumed the bots were owned by Drugwars, but are they??
The @steemmonsters bots aren't set up by the founders either. They are owned by individuals. Why would this be different? This would mean at least one person is earning a lot of money from the game.
I will be looking into that a little further once the migraine is gone again.
UPDATE
I just checked a couple of the accounts mentioned above. They all tell the same story:
- Each received a small amount of Steem from Bittrex 10 to 13 days ago.
- Each purchased the Cocina.
- Some are earning referral rewards, some are not.
- None of the ones I checked has any SP. (Can you 'play' the game without SP? Apparently you can. What about transactions???)
- Most of them have 'earned' their investment back - I noticed one who had even doubled it. (Which is good news, right?!)
I'm going to ak some questions in the Discord server to find out more...
UPDATE 2
I've asked in the @drugwars Discord server, and according to @goyard all automated accounts have been banned.
Also, the accounts are NOT owned by Drugwars.
Steem-Bounty
I've added a small @steem-bounty on this post, because it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. After all, I really want to hear your thoughts on this - and I want you to go hunting.
Find 5 names of famous people in your 'Targets' list, and leave these in a comment below this post, together *
Leave your opinion on the matter, and you will earn a share of the @steem-bounty.
(Apparently, whether you see them in your 'Targets' list or not depends on the size of your account, so I'm no longer asking you for 5 names. Just leave an insightful comment to earn a share of the bounty. It would be great, though, if you could at least check your list.)
HAPPY HUNTING
Source 1 - Source 2
There are bots on Drug Wars. There are also a lot of people only farming steem and this isnt good for drug wars if they point is to have fun. Hopefully it is sorted when gangs come out pr in a future update.
Posted using Partiko Android
That's just it... If I look at some people's investments, I think 'fun' is not really what they are looking for, lol. But I guess you can say the same about Steemmosters.
The devs told me all accounts are monitored and all bots are banned. So I guess it must be my vivid imagination and someone who plays Drugwars 24/7 to keep all those accounts manually active... ;0)
Interesting find...and I guess you have made me stand aside to watch the war instead of joining it myself :) it's a game with a game-able system, so of course this has to happen (the players are real humans after all). Now I'm interested in what the game devs will do against it, guess I'll just watch more, hehe.
They say they have an anti-bot system into place and that they are closely monitoring all activity.
I guess we just have to see where this goes...
@simplymike has set 7.000 STEEM bounty on this post!
Bounties are a new way you can earn rewards irrespective of you Steem Power. Go here to learn how bounties work.
Earn the bounty by commenting what you think the bounty creator wants to know from you.
Find more bounties here and become a bounty hunter.
Happy Rewards Hunting!
Lately, I have made up my mind not to get involved in any games that involves me investing. But I like drugwars because one could earn without investing, which is just like the opportunity steemit gave us. We could earn without investing if we've got a lot of patience with it. #Steemit and #drugwars
I can't argue with that... although it takes a lot of patience, lol.
But that's no different from Steemmonsters - I'm building an account there without investing external money, and that takes a lot of patience too :0)
Hi @simplylike! It looks interesting. When I'll come home I'll try to find somebody famous name . My opinion that creators should moderate this bots. Coz it's not only problem with how to fight with bots when you have silly account in Steem Monsters. DrugWars may bring to you more currency and it looks like theft. More bots - >more income from daily prize. So and in Steem Monsters and in Drug Wars I'm against them!
Posted using Partiko Android
I agree. I'm not 100% sure these accounts are automated, but I see no other explanation. I'm currently hanging out in the Drugwars Discord channel, trying to find out more...
Catch the one who looks like bot Starbuckscoffee. And couple more Sinta1, Sinta2
all bots are banned, if we have to believe the admins
Let's hope that it is! 🤞
Posted using Partiko Android
Not playing the game. Just about everything about it seems wrong to me. And what you just wrote confirms this even more.
Posted using Partiko iOS
Jep. I got a little carried away in the hype during the first day. An hour and 44 Steem later I realized it was a ponzi that had the potential to turn into a giant flag war here on SteemIt, and now this.... I see people investing literally thousands of Steem in it.... :0(
That is crazy!!! I was turned off by the name to begin with and find those games where it is pretty clear that someone is making a lot of money a waste of time. I guess I am earning my money the hard way and can see a lot more good I can do with it 🤓 Seems you came to the same conclusion.
Hope you feel better soon!
Posted using Partiko iOS
Thanks!
I feel so stupid for getting pulled in. I'm not used to that either, lol. Normally, I choose my own path, but I guess it was a moment of weakness when I gave in because of the peer pressure.
I can only hope it won't turn out as bad as i'm imagining it...
Well, we live and learn. And I hope that people find something better to do with their time. And I hope too that it will not be so bad. I see a lot of people posting about it and making it a draw to join Steem. It would be very bad PR if people come on only to lose a bunch of money...
Great article.
I found many known and unknown names including Hillary Clinton.
How come you find the game boring?
I've been looting all kinds of bots all days long now. And nights.
interfecto1, interfecto2,... al the way to interfecto91 is also probably a bot. A quite profitable one.
Just make some units and the way you go.
A lot of free resources everywhere. :D
You just have to go and pick them up....
Right now I can't remember any prominent names because there had been so many fights already.
But looking at my history, these are probably all bots:
veliz, timsot, anelio, molamola, mysteem3, pambi, pejoto,...
The accounts in one series of bots have a simmilar name, a simmilar shield cooldown, a simmilar resource income, simmilar building lvls and no troops.
There are many different series of different levels and some even have matching profile photos...
No need for the names anymore. I noticed it depends on the size of your account whether you see them or not.
I'm in the middle of a conversation with someone from Drugwars, and they claim to have banned all the automated bots...
And the reason I'm still a bit bored is probably because I got addicted to the adrenaline rush I get when playing Steemmonsters 😂
Maybe there are still semi auto bots :D
I get the adrenalin rush when I wake up to a fair amount of resources to spend. :)
Mmh even bots there. I assume they are everywhere.
Those bots killed sm for me but they won’t kill drugwars for me. The great thing about the game is that it only costs max 10 minutes per day. Making some choices, checking if your army is still in place and make a quick deposit in the heist!
Haven’t checked my to attack list will do later!
Hope you will feel better pretty fast!
Cheers,
Peter
Posted using Partiko iOS
Thanks, @fullcoverbetting.
According to the admins, all bots have been banned from the game. Why do I find it hard to believe?
as long as they do not sign the json, bots will be able to act
Me too!
How is the back?
Posted using Partiko iOS
Not as good as I'd want, but slowly getting better. Thanks for asking :0)
Back when the game first launched I saw some people that even posted they were creating multiple accounts and even put out guides on what the best buildings were to get the best ROI and how much time it took to make the STEEM back, etc... i'm not surprised by this at all, I don't blame the people that are using bots, I blame the devs for not putting anti-bot systems in place. EOSknights, for example, has an anti-bot system where every couple of hours you need to do a math problem to keep playing
According to the devs they do have an anti-bot system in place. All activity is monitored and all bots are banned... at least that's what they've told me...