They wore the same outfits. But wait, where was their guild tag?

Something's not quite right here...

Certain areas, certain quest chains, certain dynamic events have turned into parades, led by an automated gold farmer.

Are you seeing this, ArenaNet?

It's affecting my experience, and I can only imagine what it's doing to the player-driven economy.

Botters are basically the same as racists and Nazis, right?

What kind of game allows a guild called Koon Slayers and the guild tag [KKK] to play unchecked?

That's disappointing -- and surprising, considering ArenaNet actually got some flak early on for being hyper-aggressive about passing out temporary bans for inappropriate names. I hope the banhammer comes back before evil-doers poison this fantasy realm. What do you think, GW2 players? Has ArenaNet fallen asleep at the switch?

Because I love Guild Wars 2 , this is a column I don't want to write. But because I love Guild Wars 2, this is also a column I have to write. And it's long overdue. Because when Guild Wars 2 dies for me, it won't be because of dwindling activity, or a sometimes shaky ingame economy, or the resurgence of World of Warcraft. It won't be because of Borderlands 2, or because of the new content for Rift, or the awesome Diablo 3 patch. It won't be because my friends are busy playing the latest holiday releases. It won't even be because something happened that caused my framerate to drop precipitously while simultaneously taking longer to render characters in my line of sight. Guild Wars 2 and I have weathered these things.No, it will be because of all the Rangers running around with their bears. More precisely, it will be because developer ArenaNet isn't doing anything about it.If you play Guild Wars 2, you've probably seen identically clothed Rangers and their bear brigade. The first time I saw this, I thought it was some sort of guild thing. Lord of the Rings Online had hobbit-only guilds, for instance. I thought it was like that. The Rangers all had the same pets. They were the same race. They wore the same outfits. But wait, where was their guild tag? And why were they named things like Kfhfghgb, Jgfhftgf, and Lhvcnbvb? Who names their characters Kfhfghgb, Jgfhftgf, and Lhvcnbvb?These obviously aren't real Rangers. These are fake accounts. (Well, as fake as any account that requires a $60 retail purchase.) These are bot accounts, probably running with some sort of multibox setup, or a hack that tells them to follow a lead Ranger, or they might all be automated. They run a path around a circuit calculated to pass through regular monsters respawns, or maybe they're just parked in front of a recurring event. Their identical outfits aren't outfits at all, but a lack of outfits to minimize repair costs. They're farming gold to be sold online for real-world money. They're probably Chinese.It's unlikely any of the Rangers will fall, but if they do, actual players will often revive them. Sometimes because they don't know any better, or sometimes because, hey, you get experience points when you revive someone -- even a fake someone. In some cases, players will revive dead bots because they're riding the bots' coattails, following their path, participating in whatever circuit or event is being farmed. Certain areas, certain quest chains, certain dynamic events have turned into parades, led by whichever automated gold farmer has set up shop.These groups were kind of funny at first, in a "Oh, look how obvious the bots are," kind of way. It stopped being funny a week later. Yet another week later it was annoying. Now, two months after launch, it's an ugly blemish. It's like graffiti, or trash left lying in the streets.That it remains is a sign of ArenaNet's negligence. I don't use that word lightly. I don't presume to know what goes on behind the scenes of an MMO, or how hard it is to keep bots out of a game. But I do know when the developers need to do more to police their game. The situation in Guild Wars 2 has gone long past this point. It's affecting my experience, and I can only imagine what it's doing to the player-driven economy. It's a parade of bears and under-armored Rangers in honor of ArenaNet's indifference.I might normally be willing to give ArenaNet's team the benefit of the doubt that they're doing their best to address this issue. Unfortunately, I don't have much confidence in their customer support. Early on, I ran across a character named Goebels. I reported him. Maybe ArenaNet is okay with that. It's their call, and I'll probably never run into him again, but I'd like them to at least know about it. That character is still on the server.You might think Goebels is allowed because the actual Nazi spelled his name with two B's. You'd be wrong, because there's also a character named Goebbels on my server. You can type names into the guild-invite window to see whether it's a valid character name. It's how I know Kfhfghgb, Jgfhftgf, and Lhvcnbvb still have their accounts, which they've gotten to level 40 as I write this the day after reporting them.This lackadaisical approach to offensive names isn't an isolated issue. A few weeks after launch, some folks in my guild noticed a guild called Koon Slayers , with the guild tag KKK. We reported them. A month later, a thread about the same guild appeared on Reddit . The poster claimed he had reported them several times as long ago as August to no avail. An ArenaNet representative apologized for not taking action. They had missed the poster's reports, the representative said. What kind of game allows a guild called Koon Slayers and the guild tag [KKK] to play unchecked fordespite numerous players reporting it? Guild Wars 2, that's what kind of game.So what hope is there for ArenaNet taking action against blatant bots when it can't even be bothered to take action against blatant racism? We, the players, are doing our part as best as we can, ArenaNet. We're trying to help. There is no reason that characters like Kfhfghgb, Jgfhftgf, and Lhvcnbvb should ever see 40th level. Yet I've seen -- and reported -- plenty more that are higher level. This is inexcusable, and we shouldn't have to put up with it. It's time to be swift and decisive. You've made a grand, grand game and you're not protecting it. You're not protecting those of us who love it. Get your act together, ArenaNet.