Are these folks doing something dodgy?

[Ariurotl.3718]

Recently I've been noticing bunches of several characters all named very similarly and looking exactly the same just sort of standing around in bunches all over PvE maps. I'm seeing them most days lately and it certainly looks a tad suspicious. Are they botting or something? I'm reluctant to report them because they're mostly just standing around, I haven't seen them AFK farming or anything. Thoughts?

https://i.imgur.com/glX6ws5.jpg

[ShadowKatt.6740]

Obviously they're selling drugs. You should call the police, not the mods.

[Sobx.1758]

Considering it's east of tarir, which is -or at least was- considered to be the easy leech side and that their nicknames are "the golden child" (when there's a title "the golden child" rewarded for completing 100 tarir metas), I'd guess -to the point of almost being sure about it- they're waiting for tarir meta free loot. Specifically the big chests which have a chance for infusion. 

I think to see if there's a reason to report here, it would require you to wait for the end of the meta to see if they're moving all at once or one after another. Pretty sure the first is forbidden, the second is not.

Edited October 17, 2023 by Sobx.1758

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Just your average multiboxer. 

You will encounter them quite often when you do meta trains. 

Even seen them doing map completion. 

They don't get reported as much as you would think. It's been so many years now, that people just accepted them. To the point that they are well known members of the community. 

 

Edited October 17, 2023 by DanAlcedo.3281

[Danikat.8537]

There isn't any way for us to know for sure, especially if they're just standing there.

If they all have the same name and appearance it's likely they're all owned by the same person. But owning multiple accounts, putting identical characters on all of them and even logging into all of them and standing in the same spot is all allowed. What isn't allowed is using software (or any other method) to play all those accounts together. If you saw all those characters moving in the same way at the same time that would almost certainly be botting, which is against the rules.

But if you're not sure the best thing to do is report them and let Anet sort it out. Reports are not actioned automatically so you won't get an innocent player punished by reporting them and you won't get in trouble for reporting an innocent player unless you spam it or try to recruit other players to mass-report them. Anet have access to much more information than we have and the tools and authority to investigate directly if they need to so it's much easier for them to sort it out than for you to try to do the investigation first.