The Rise of Fake Players: Understanding the Phenomenon in FiveM
- Visibility: Servers with artificially inflated counts (e.g., always showing 50/64 players) gain algorithmic preference in server lists.
- Deception: New players are deceived into joining "active" communities that are actually empty or populated by AFK bots.
The Cat-and-Mouse Game
But look closer.
- Be transparent with the community: explain purpose and scope if bots were used for testing or seeding.
- Roll back economic damage: if bots inflated currency/items, consider targeted restores or wipes.
- Implement detection and mitigation quickly and share steps taken.
- Engage affected players with compensation where appropriate.