Macro

A Macro (variously referred to as a macroer, bot, auto or autobot) is a third-party software that performs an automated task. A macro program operates by automating user input to the game. A simple macro may automatically move the cursor to a certain position and performs a click while a more advanced one may actually interact with the game client. The terms macroer and autoer usually refers to players who use such programs. The use of such programs can allow the macroers to achieve high skill levels in a short amount of time, if run 24/7. Macro use is not allowed under the RuneScape rules and may result in action taken against that player's account, such as a permanent ban and possibly having that player's IP address blocked from the RuneScape website (usually only with gold farming bots).

Macros can be programmed to perform almost any task. Macro programs are typically used to perform tedious tasks, such as training a skill, collecting an item, or typing an offer. Some examples are given below.


 * Autotyping programs can be used to repeat a specific message over and over. This is often used by players in the Grand Exchange, where a trade offer quickly disappears in the volume of other messages, or used to advertise a real world trading site. This can be a nuisance to other players, as with all the spam, and can be reported under Honour.
 * Autoclickers can be used to repeatedly click a desired spot. Autoclickers are mostly used to circumvent the auto-logout system. They can also be used to perform simple actions, such as cleaning herbs. Autoclickers are easily detectable.
 * Autobuying programs can be used to buy large amounts of items from shops. Autobuying bots can be used to buy and bank items that can be sold for a profit at the Grand Exchange.
 * Many macros involve more complicated tasks such as Mining, Woodcutting, Fishing, monster-killing, and more. These programs often have advanced programming that gives them the ability to solve random events, navigate between locations, respond to chat, avoid dangerous situations, and more.

On 10 December of 2007, Jagex implemented a number of updates aimed at ending the use of macros in the game. Although these updates have been successful at drastically cutting down on the number of both macros and real-world traders, reactions among players who haven't used bots have been mixed concerning how well-implemented these updates were. Despite these updates, bots can still be found in the game.

Gold farmers commonly use automated macroing programs to gather resources that can be sold for gold. In addition to macroing, these accounts are in breach of the Honour rule for both real-world trading and more than one person using a single account.

Common macro hotspots
Because bot programs are usually programed to perform a specific action in a specific location, there are a number of spots where macros can commonly be found.

Common free-to-play locations

 * Advertising Dungeoneering clans at Daemonheim.


 * Chopping willow trees.
 * Chopping most yew trees.
 * Chopping normal trees behind Lumbridge Castle.
 * Chopping oak trees behind Lumbridge general store, forest between Draynor and Lumbridge, and north of Port Sarim Bar, and at both varrock banks (east, west).
 * Firemaking at the Grand Exchange.
 * Fishing in Gunnarsgrunn/Barbarian Village
 * Fishing in Draynor Village.
 * Fishing lobsters in Karamja.
 * Killing chickens south of Falador.
 * Killing cows outside the Crafting Guild.
 * Killing cockroach soldiers in the Stronghold of Player Safety.
 * Mining coal at the mining spot in Gunnarsgrunn.
 * Mining gold at the Crafting Guild.
 * Mining rune essence at Varrock.
 * Mining iron ore in the mine north-east of Rimmington.
 * Mining Iron ore in the Dwarven Mines.
 * Mining iron ore at south-east varrock mine.
 * Mining Coal at the Mining Guild in the Dwarven Mines.
 * Mining inside or just outside the resource dungeon at Dwavern Mines.
 * Standing in the Grand Exchange advertising price manipulation clans (arguably the most common).
 * Spamming Falador teleport.

Common pay-to-play locations
With the better money making options available to Members, there is an increasing amount of macro activity on member servers. Some Members money making and training activities done by macros and gold farmers include:
 * Advertising player-owned houses on World 31.
 * Casting Camelot Teleport repeatedly.
 * Chopping ivy.
 * Chopping magic trees at Sorcerer's Tower.
 * Chopping various trees around Seers' Village.
 * Cooking in Rogues' Den.
 * Fishing in the river near Rasolo.
 * Fishing sharks and lobsters in Catherby and at the Fishing Guild.
 * Fishing monkfish at the Piscatoris Fishing Colony.
 * Fletching headless arrows in the Grand Exchange.
 * Gathering snape grass on Waterbirth Island.
 * Hunting red chinchompas at areas south west/south east of the Hunter expert's house in Feldip Hills.
 * Hunting implings in Puro-Puro.
 * Killing green dragons in the Wilderness and the Chaos Tunnels
 * Killing yaks outside the gates of Neitiznot.
 * Killing ghouls in front of the Slayer Tower near Canifis.
 * Killing goats in the south west of Nardah.
 * Killing experiments in the Experiment Cave.
 * Killing chaos druids in the Chaos Druid Tower or the Edgeville Dungeon.
 * Making planks at the sawmill near Varrock.
 * Mining Rune/pure essence
 * Mining iron ore north-east of Ardougne.
 * Mining and fishing in the Living Rock Caverns.
 * Picking flax in Seers' Village.
 * Picking swamp toads in Gnome Stronghold.
 * Pickpocketing Knights of Ardougne.
 * Playing the Soul Wars and the Pest Control activity.
 * Runecrafting nature runes in Karamja and the Abyss.
 * Spinning flax into bow string in Lumbridge Castle.
 * Superheating at the Grand Exchange.

Macro program risks
Many programs claim to be a macro program of some sort. In addition to the risk of getting banned, such programs often originate from dubious sources and merely infect the computers that they are installed on with spyware and/or other malware. Because the "bots" can be downloaded from the Internet, there can be viruses or key logging software attached to the file. These types of software can slow down your computer and your internet. The sole aim of the malware is to obtain the RuneScape account details (i.e., keyloggers which record not only players' usernames and passwords, but everything typed on theircomputer). Some malware is reputed to be capable of discovering the in-game bank PIN, usually by taking screenshots of a players computer every time the player clicks or by recording video.

Identifying and reporting macros
Many macros or gold farmers can be found performing highly repetitive tasks such as chopping trees, or fishing lobsters.

Elements that raise suspicion to macros are:
 * Names that are difficult to report; a common example is a mixture of uppercase i and lowercase L, to produce a name similar to "IlllIlIllIlI"
 * Only one skill trained (usually woodcutting, fishing, mining, or melee combat) This can be checked by looking up the name on the hiscores, Adventure Logs (P2P only) or casting Stat Spy on a suspected bot.
 * No experience gains in the past week despite frequent activity; this indicates that a bot has been online constantly for an indefinite period of time and has not logged out, and consequently the high scores have not updated.
 * May demonstrate strange behaviour such as not being able to fish in certain spots and thus running backwards and forwards from the fishing spot (or just not interacting at all with certain spots).
 * Gets stuck after a door is closed, as is the case when going to mine rune essence at Aubury's in Varrock (bots run around attempting to get Aubury to teleport them, but cannot as the door is closed).
 * Will act oddly if a player, follower, item, or NPC is on or near the spot they are working on or moving to.
 * Not responding to a teleother spell, as many bots do not have the ability to close the teleother screen.

It is not necessary for a player to be 100% sure that players are actually using a macro before reporting them, as the reporter will not receive a warning for being a little "overzealous". Also remember that while player mods are quite often helpful, it isn't necessary to scout one out every time you suspect a bot - a report is more than sufficient.

During the days of first-generation macros, that is, those that only replay keystrokes and mouse clicks, Jagex staff would catch macro users by teleporting them to a different spot to see if they repeat the same actions.

Macros and the economy
Some players argue that macros contribute a large portion of the raw materials in the game, thus making them useful, doing tasks that no person would want to do like cutting yews constantly. Many disagree however, arguing that macros sell vast amounts of resources, causing the price of those resources to drop. This then hurts legitimate players who are trying to make money selling that same item.

Macros can also cause the price of rare items to rise. Firstly, by spending their millions that were made easily through cheating they out-bid honest players for rare items, pushing their prices up. When the macroer finally gets banned for cheating, the rare items remain with the banned player, meaning there are fewer of those items in the game, which further drives up their prices.

Internal workings
Like normal players, a macro tool needs to control the game by giving the appropriate inputs. These controls result in some game reaction that the macro needs to observe and interpret to plan the next action. Typically, a macro tool is split into several components that are described below.

Gaming engine
The gaming engine is the part of the macro that interacts with the game and that analyses the responses. A software program running on the game playing computer usually has the capability to generate mouse input (move, click, drag, etc.) and to generate keyboard input (key down, key up). Analysing the response from the game can be done by capturing the entire game image. Some image processing might be required to obtain information about the game response. The gaming engine provides the basic mechanisms to play the game, but it requires task specific knowledge to actually perform the macro operation. Some basic programs click colours on the screen, while others interface directly with the game.

Task script engine
In order to create a bot, a macro tool contains a task script engine to implement a sequence of steps to perform a particular task. A single purpose bot is not particularly useful, so task script engines have the capability to load and execute scripts containing the programming instructions for a particular bot task. Common tasks such as random event detection are supported in default scripts that any bot will need to use.

Response by Jagex
Jagex has responded harshly to the use of macros by banning thousands of accounts, wiping stats, and deleting items. The most prominent response by Jagex was the removal of free trade and other changes that occurred on 10 December 2007, but Free Trade is now back reversing this update. While the changes were highly controversial, they did succeed in greatly decreasing the prevalence of bots in RuneScape. These changes did not, however, eradicate botting altogether, and Jagex continues to enhance its ability to ban bot accounts and disrupt bot activities to this day.

Stopping macros
Bots now usually have complex scripts that deal with attempts to disrupt their tasks. Prior to the use of these more advanced bots, players would throw gnomeballs at bots, lure them to aggressive monsters, or close a door or gate to trap the bot. Although simple techniques like these no longer work well to stop bots, many players spend a great deal of time discovering new ways to impede the actions of bots. For instance, if the bot is going back and forth from a bank dropping items off, such as mining, woodcutting, or fishing, a player could set up a non-walkthrough item in their path, such as a dwarf multicannon. An example is setting up the cannon right outside Aubrey's front door so Rune essence mining bots can't get through. There are cons, however. Some players that are actually not using bots will be stuck from getting in or out of Aubrey's shop. But, of course, this can easily be solved as for the "non-bot" could just switch worlds.

However, many bots are programmed to 'log-out' as soon as these detect suspicious activity e.g. these cannot accumalate enough items (e.g. gold ore) in their inventory within a unit time. Upon logging out, the player must be able to remember the name of the bot before reporting.