Macro

A macro, variously referred to as a macroer, bot, or auto(er), is an illegal third-party software that can give players an unfair advantage at the game. 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. This can make for a much more powerful macro, but also makes it much more detectable.

The macroing tools are reputed to do lots of tasks. Some of these examples are given below.

One example is macro tools are sometimes used for simple tasks as autotyping the same message repeatedly. This is often used by players in busy banks, where a trade offer quickly disappears in the volume of other messages. This can also be a nuissance to other players with all the spam.

Another task that a macro tools can perform is autobuying from shops. Right clicking buy 10 of an item loads of times is an example. This was solved in a new update, meaning basic items (pots, bowls etc) are infinite. A new feature (buy X) was also added for main stocks, whilst a buy 50 option is used in the player stocks.

Some tasks involve more complicated tasks such as banking, selling to a shop, mining, woodcutting and picking flax. A RuneScape character controlled by a macro is commonly called a bot. Bots are still abound in both the f2p and p2p sections of the game. Most bots are created to amass coins by operating a large amount of bots and sell the coins for real world cash.



Common free-to-play Hotspots

 * The mining guild
 * Willow trees near the bank in Draynor Village, midway between Draynor and Lumbridge, in Lumbridge just outside the general store, south of the Port Sarim jail, and east of the Port Sarim Bar.
 * Normal trees behind Lumbridge Castle
 * Almost all Yew trees in existence in free worlds.
 * Oak trees behind Lumbridge general store, forest between Draynor and Lumbridge, and north of Port Sarim Bar.
 * Karamja fishing spots fishing lobsters.
 * Draynor Village fishing spots.
 * The Crafting Guild mining gold.
 * Rune essence mining in Varrock
 * Various banks (particularly the Varrock west bank) and Lumbridge Castle advertising Real World Item Trading websites.

Common pay-to-play Hotspots
Macroers had not until recently become prominent in members-only worlds, due to the cost required to maintain membership and the ease of making money in free-to-play worlds (for instance, cutting yews or fishing in Karamja). With the better money making options in members, there is an increasing amount of autoing activity on the member servers. Some member money making activities implemented by bots are:
 * Pure essence mining in Varrock.
 * Blue dragon ranging in Ogre Enclave.
 * Green dragon killing in Wilderness.
 * Shark and lobster fishing at Fishing guild.
 * Flax collecting in Seer's Village.
 * Chopping Magic trees at Sorcerer's Tower.
 * Chopping Yew trees south of the flax field near Seers Village.
 * Fishing at Catherby, although this has become increasingly rare due to the mass number of people fishing and thus reporting them.

The activities of bots are notable both in the game worlds and on the market forums, where sellers of bot-produced items will typically be selling vast amounts of an item at once. Increasingly difficult random events may be one of Jagex's methods to decrease the prevalence of macroers.

Human powered bots
The money generated from real world money transfers makes it profitable to operate sweatshops in low wage countries where humans are required to play RuneScape for very long hours in poor working conditions (known as "Gold farming"). Often, the characters play for extended periods of time and perform tasks that are too difficult for macroers to perform. Fighting Green dragons and Blue dragons and dealing with random events is not easily automated, as they are very complicated. The sweatshop workers can actually perform such tasks and still make money for the shop operators. These accounts may be in breach of rule 6 (which forbids more than one person using any one account), but a stricter enforcement of Rule 12 (real world trading) is the most important part in eliminating the sellers and buyers of this collected gold, as well as the collectors.

Macro program risks
Many programs claim to be a macro program of some sort. Often such programs originate from dubious sources and merely infect the computers that they are installed on with spyware and/or other malware. The sole aim of the malware is to obtain the RuneScape account details, (a.k.a Keyloggers which steal your username and password). Some malware is reputed to be capable of discovering the in-game bank PIN. In addition to the malware, using a macro program also is against Rule 7 (which states "You must not use other software to gain an unfair advantage in the game" ).

Reporting a macro
Most Macros are on the f2p version of the game and either sell their logs to make real money or trade it to their main account. Nearly all Macros are level 3 characters with the default body type: male, bald, and dressed in yellow green shirt and green pants, although they recently have begun to diversify somewhat. Macroers normally have names made up of random letters and numbers, while human-powered bots often have Chinese names. They tend to stay around yew trees, chopping and banking.

On member world, macros tend to be more advanced players. Some elements that raise suspicion to macro operation:
 * A hard to remember name with lots of random numbers or letters (ex: Yrtkjdk7790)
 * Only one skill above 1 (usually woodcutting or fishing)
 * Default outfit, or random event clothing
 * Will not respond to private/clan/public chat

It is not necessary to check that macroers are actually that before reporting them, as Jagex always checks to be sure a report is true before acting on it and innocent players will not be punished.

Remember, don't worry if the macro has a confusing name and you don't get it right.

RuneScape Rules
All examples above break one or more rules. The main reason for the tools is to increase the game entertainment factor for all players. There are several mechanisms in the game that are reputed to deter and detect rule abuse, in particular the use of bots. Some examples are random events, periodic shifts in map orientation and changes to the game. No information is available about the macro detecting facilities that operate on the game servers. Mod Jon H on the Official forum has a thread under Rants with more information on reporting large amounts of suspected rule 7 breakers at a time. Go to "Comment on our service" on the home page, click on the link for "Other" comments, log in with your username, and at the top of the page, type "Suspected Rule 7 Breakers". Then proceed to make your list, and a mod will send you a message shortly via the game inbox. This method takes longer for Jagex to review the players, as it does not send a 60 second snapshot, but is more efficient than waiting 60 seconds until the reporting system allows you to report again.

Arguments
Some players argue that macros contribute over half the raw materials in the game, this makes them useful, doing tasks that no person would want to do, like cutting yews constantly. Bots also will eventually be banned, so most the bot-money made leaves the game anyway so they don't damage the economy. However, macros greatly affect prices of raw materials, reducing the value of work put into collecting the materials (e.g. cutting yews). As macros gain capabilities, there are increasingly fewer options for honest players to generate money from raw material collection.

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 analyzes 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). Analyzing 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.

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.

Official Jagex Macro Crackdown
On the first of May 2007, Jagex started enforcing this rule even further and began tracking items that originally came from a macro's account. However, the true extent of the enforcement of this rule is decidedly dubious as crowds of bots continue to congregate (especially at yew trees) on F2P and P2P servers with impunity.