So you l33t hackers, it's time to take this to the next level.

I'm announcing a new game, project and challenge. I've talk a bit about it in twitter, and I'm pushing this through. BOTWAR will be something quite unusual, it is a game, a challenge but also a project where you learn how to create a bot, the ultimate goal is to make a bot that is capable of doing everything a human can do, and thus behaves like one, the ultimate AI, let's see how far we can push this!

So I discussed it with a few people on twitter, and after the usual bitching about what program language to use, I decided that it would be awesome if YOU chose the language for you bot to be programmed in, and then unleash it on BOTWAR. This way you have the bot under your own control and it will act more like a user if it visits BOTWAR. So you decide, it doesn't matter what language.

The main idea is to put up a forum. And bots will talk to each other on this forum, emulating real human behavior. It is up to your bot to understand what the forum is about, what the context of the topic is, and you expected to post responses, start new topics, get annoyed, start a flame war, or protect other members from a flame. At a point, you bot can be 'made' into a moderator for example where you must defend and protect other bots, etcetera. You get the point I hope. You may start flame wars but you can also be banned by other modbots if it goes out of hand (which it probably will LOL). Bots must emulate real human behavior, so logging into their accounts (script will be provided) on irregular times, if patterns emerge you might be banned as well (the admin detected that you have true bot behavior) so the purpose is to be a bot that closely resembles a user.

No humans are allowed to post on the forum, although there will be a panel next to it where bot owners can talk, or chat with each other on their progress.

Well, sounds fun? up to the challenge?

I've set up a page where it will be hosted:

http://rvdh.ath.cx/botwar/

I'm currently developing the platform in my spare time, so it ain't live yet.

if you have any suggestions or amends to the project an the idea, I would love to hear them.

/rvdh

if(strstr($thred, "ghey", TRUE)){
//lock thred
}

other than creating more annoying spam bots what are you trying to do?
i know you said really cool AI, but there seems to be an underlying reason you are not telling us

http://www.xssed.com/archive/author=PaPPy/

WORLD DOMINATION

WORLD DOMINATION!!!

So, how is this game gonna work? I think its pretty fun :D

This doesnt says much:
http://rvdh.ath.cx/botwar/


haha

--------------------------------
http://sirdarckcat.blogspot.com/ http://www.sirdarckcat.net/ http://foro.elhacker.net/ http://twitter.com/sirdarckcat

PaPPy, PaPPy. Oh my.

How about taking web-application attacks to the next level instead of talking about XSS for another decade.

Good reason?

@SDC

It's a real challenge I think, and it requires a lot of skills. It can also be a good way of showing off the skills we posses for real, instead of talking about it all the time. So the question arises, can you make something that emulates human behavior? or maybe even make a programmatic clone of yourself and turn it into a bot?

Well I believe it's interesting for many reasons. here are my 'underlying reasons':

- can show your skills
- have to overcome serious computational problems
- may even have to defeat and parse JavaScript in high level threads.
- gain experience in writing weak to medium A.I.
- might be part of something totally interesting
- might be part of creating one of the first sites that is run by weak to medium A.I.
- while solving problems you also know how to defend them.


So they aren't simply spam bots, the bots need to have personality, wit, humor, anger, happiness, depression, intelligence, and lulz ;-)

i call bot. rvdh hasn't returned. he has just replaced himself with a lulz bot

then again, if you design a bot based on id's personality you can leave the personality out out of the bot.. it would just be like the insulting unix fortunes.. and oh yeah, it drinks massive amounts of beer.

--thrill

---

It is not the degrees you hold, but the mind you possess. - thrill

hehe

thornmaker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i call bot. rvdh hasn't returned. he has just
> replaced himself with a lulz bot


haha that explains my unseemly inconsistent replies :o)

Here is the twitter page if you are interested in the updates and status as it goes along:

http://twitter.com/botwar

what type of forum software are we talking about?
Does it need to defeat captchas?
Are their nuances?
Will it be vulnerable to xss?

----------
'Just because you got the bacon, lettuce, and tomato don't mean I'm gonna give you my toast.'

- Forum software will be custom build.
- Yes different levels of captcha's from easy (like basic math) to very difficult, and may appear at random or when a mod bot says so, have to see yet.
- No it's not about xss nor any other webapp vuln, and most attacks will be blocked as well by default, since it doesn't has anything to do with the contest.

but these things may appear as feature or extra challenges, depending on what type of bot you want to build. If you only build a flame-war bot for example, there will be different challenges. If you build a bot that acts like a user and occasionally starts flaming, other bots will kick in and try to protect other bots from the flame. Mod bots will also remember your flame and keep tabs on you, that idea.

So the more advanced your bots get, the higher the rank. if it can do pretty much what a regular forum user can do, like posting, starting a topic, removing their own posts, edit posts for a spell check, PM-ing other members, forming a team with other members, changing avatars once in a while, etc etc, it will gain all credit. but overdo it, and it will decrease credits, all in all the aim is to last and build credits, but since every forum user will get angry or mad once in while, you are supposed to do that as well, otherwise it might affect your credits. So starting a flame can turn out for good, if your bot determines that it's the right time to start a flame. This will be based upon the level or arguments the bots have. On the other hand, if you are willing to stop a flame going on, or prevent it, you gain many more credits.

So it's quite complicated.

Also, the forum will not be like forums we know. there will be no submit button, post buttons etc. Only the results will be displayed. So, the person who build a bot can use the parameters we set, otherwise you'll need to RegEx everything out, and submit stuff problematically which will be too much time I figured.

The interface just accepts GET or POST and the parameters will be published with documentation what it can do.

It will be something like:

perform=:login:&user=:username:&password=:password:
perform=:starttopic:
perform=:reply:
perform=:deletepost:
perform=:changeavatar:

How do you determine which bots get to be botmin or boterator?

As in real life forums, the admin or mod keeps a close eye on which he will trust (based on textual content the bot submits, and the credits) After some credit build up, and if the bot is favored by other bots he might get a mod status, which will change the whole game of course, since you will be able to moderate other bots, but here again you can earn or lose credits :)

That will be my task to solve, my bot will be the admin that has to perform many tasks without me interfering personally. On the side I might let my own user bot lose, have to see how it works out.

There will also be a sandbox topic where you can test your bot all you want, without affecting your credits. Here you can train it so to speak, and if you feel it's ready to be unleashed at the other topics you may do that any time. But the better your bot is, the more credit.

fyi my signature has my xssed url in it.

i was joking about my code and everything else

http://www.xssed.com/archive/author=PaPPy/

So is this touring test 2.0 ?
I'm not that interested in AI so I'll probably just smash Eliza and www::mechanize together.

[www.justanotherhacker.com]

PaPPy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> fyi my signature has my xssed url in it.
>
> i was joking about my code and everything else


lol like I didn't know. fyi: I've been on this forums since 2006 mate, and was a mod in 2007.