Brighter Shores Hopes To Solve Botting Problem With A Legitimate AFK Skilling System
Grinding skill levels is undoubtedly one of the most tedious tasks in RuneScape, a problem that Jagex co-founder Andrew Gower and his team at Fen Research is hoping to solve in their RuneScape-inspired free-to-play MMORPG, Brighter Shores, with an AFK progression feature.
The highly controversial feature will allow players to earn skill XP through various activities even when they’re logged out, albeit at a slower rate, allowing them to focus on other tasks such as hunting down bosses and kicking monster butt. Gower is also hoping to nip the bot problem in the bud by giving players a legitimate way of leveling up their skills.
“A lot of the reason people, in my opinion, use things like bots is sheer frustration about the grind,” he told PCGamer. “We’re hoping that massively disincentivizes people from breaking the rules, there's a safe way that isn’t gonna get you banned.”
Given western players’ dislike for automated gameplay systems, it’ll be interesting to see how the AFK system works in practice when Brighter Shores launches this Q3 2024.
