Now...this post is just to inform some of those who are just starting out in Silkroad and are debating if they should take the long road or the short one. I'm sure we all know what I mean by that.
Some of you may support what I will say, a large amount may say this post is useless, but that is fine, we are all entitled to our own opinions, and this is just mine.
First I want to list a few great things about being a legit player, which for those who are making the decision in which direction to go towards, might help.
1. You are 100% chance guaranteed for not getting ban for using an exploit, by exploit I mean by a program which will auto pick up/kill and other type of functions.
Unfortunately, you will also notice as you lvl up that all the botters around you are never banned. The only ones that do get banned have names like 5j3o2s and are obviously just the cheap-o goldbots.2.Your playing the game, and your receiving more experience and knowledge which makes you more wise than say a bot player.
This is great until you realize that all the experience you learn can't help you kill ppl 50 lvls higher than you with full sox gear but keep pestering you to figure out what critical is used for.3. The legit players are on the same term as you, all is fair game as being a legit, it all depends on you if your willing to work hard and reach a desirable goal.
This is quite a bit of fun grinding together and working together in a guild. That is until stupid drama comes up or you or someone else in your team realizes they have a life and log on less. Now without him you all suffer since you're missing a cleric that heals everyone and you keep dying when you grind now.4. Wouldn't you rather say "I reached level 60 by working hard and having the determination" instead of saying "I used a program which got me where I am now".
Which makes you feel a lot better for knowing how much time and money you've wasted getting there, and the cheater next to you at samarkand spent half the money and 1/10 of the effort.5. You play the game for what it is. Which means, your in party's grinding it up with others, chatting with others. Your making more friends while your doing your "Job" *Trader,Theif, Hunter*.
This is what you thought. Until you realize that the only other people that want to job with you are the legit buddies you grind with. This sounds like it would be a lot of fun until your 8-man team leaves the city to do a trade run and gets 1-shot by a 110 wiz using earth quake.6. I do not know about you guys, but being a legit player, Silkroad has became so much more appealing to me than before, the art work, and the skills and the whole package is truly amazing and sometimes we forget what we take granted for.
Pretty pixels. Too bad you'll never experience the vast areas of SRO since you can't reach it.7."But I hate trying to collect 300 items from a quest -.-" That's something I hear a lot from people, and it is understandable, the Silkroad quest can be extreme some times. However, being legit, once again has its advantages. Thankfully more of those type of quest are not really near beginning areas nor a more upper begining area. Since your legit, you have parted with people, you are now in a legit guild, and you have a connection with many others with some at your level some higher or lower, which can help you complete it. Since your in a party, you can get it done faster then if you were to be AFK.
After about 60 levels of questing, you realize the "storyline" sucks. Eventually you just go grinding and decide to aff the quests unless it's just kill x mobs since you have to do that shit anyways.8. This may relate more towards number two but being legit, you get this connection with your person, you understand your weakest points and your strongest points. Not saying people who are bots do not play and do not understand this, but being legit, your more in depth of knowing these types of things. Which in the future will help you during PVP or during a party, knowing your place in a certain position is very important.
[color=#F0000]In a party, it's either you know your place, or a bot knows its place. Either way you both lvl up, you slightly slower. The thing about legit is when you die, it probably hurts more since you spent all the time grinding up 2%. Back to the pvp thing, I've yet to see a lvl 50 take down a lvl 80 that's trying half-ass...[/color]
9. Being legit and knowing other legit players, a type of trust is build in a way. I would rather have my legit friend help me trade something to my other account than my bot friend any time. If your not willing to play the game for what it is, then why should you care to not stealing something from a friend, bots are greedy people...how do I know this? They bot.
I let friends move stuff for me. I've never let anyone on my account since that's kinda stupid. Random items, meh. I'd rather lose a sun than keep thinking my buddy is just lieing to rob me.10. Your one of the few people in the game who prove people wrong. You show others that people can be more than just greedy, cheating, and lazy people.
You forgot to add that you show others you spend a lot more time on this game and not in the real world. You also prove that you will probably spend more money to reach their state in the game assuming that ever happens. You also make nice targets for them to test their skills on too. 
Now those are NOT my top ten reasons, its just some of the very important few reasons I believe being legit over wins being a bot.
Until you sit down and actually do it anyways. ***NOTE*** IF you wish to add your own reasons to this topic, go for it:)***
Most people do not see botting being a big deal, or being a crisis...but if you have asked a very experience gamer that has been around with online games, the title of Silkroad is "Bots".
However, there is a good side view. The severs are not as packed as they use to be. More bots are being banned, and I have seen less and less of gold bots since I been back.
Then I woke up and looked at who got banned. Oh, it's just the same old adspfadsf888 goldbots.So it all comes down to, do you want to take the easy road? Or the long road?
Of course 3/4s will want to take the easy road, why do something when something or someone will do it for me? This is what separates Silkroads community, those who are lazy and inpatient, to those who have determination and the will to work hard for something instead of it getting put in their lap. You can compare these "Statistics" to real life, I know this is just an Online game, and real life is totally different. But really in some ways its not, most people are lazy, most people want free things to fall in their lap, and most people want to do all the fun stuff instead of the things that need to get done.
Its people like EX. Avalon and that Union who care about the game, and care about playing for all the right reasons. Its those people who should just make you know you want to be legit because they help you, you work together as a team, and you enjoy the game throughout your SRO experience a lot better then being a bot. I know there are probably other legit guilds, I am just not familiar with them right now.
I will confess, at first I did take the easy road, I did in fact want things handed to me, thinking the game will be a lot more funnier if I had things done for me.
I was wrong.
Being legit makes me love the game 120% more then I actually thought...my top ten reasons are just my opinions, many other legit players can probably give you a hundred reasons to be legit.
Nothing good comes from botting, you might say "You can loot them!!!" get what? Brown bags? Most bots pick up the items/gold. The cons of botting over weigh the non existing pros.
So hopefully for those who will start to play Silkroad, I have helped you in a little way to make you have the right decision. Please, do not hate on what I have talked about, I am simply giving my own experience and knowledge to you, so you do not make mistakes like others and once before, like I have.
Enjoy the game for what it is, do not take the easy road, it will be worth it in the end.
So thank you for reading this! Have a nice day ^^.
LEGIT F T W!
PS! Sorry for grammar mistakes lol.
Note, I stopped editing once the wall of text kept growing.
You can tell I gave up my "hardcore legit grinding" when you look at how i've gained... 3% exp over the past 3 years on Shinken.
The only reason I play this game is because someone gave me their extra character. I'll admit grinding the last 10 lvls to cap isn't quite as bad as it seems considering you have all this end-game content to do like temple runs, forgotten world, etc. Exploring Alexandria was pretty fun to the first week it came out. Made a mad guild dash to see who would get the furthest before being raped by mobs.
It's fun to grind in a party with actual people. It's not that fun to see all your hard work not really affect anything and you can't make a name for yourself. It's great and all you want to be legit. Take it from someone who's grinded to the old 80 cap, someone who's also grinded the last level this cap. Shit is a waste of time. Botters may not know how to use their chars in pvp, but 10 of them casting meteors with their 110 wizards at once will still kill anyone. The game died when JM decided to sit back and let botters get away. The way it is now, they can't ban their entire gaming population and run 35+ servers for 100 people to play. The grind itself is what it is called, a grind. People hate it. Exploring new areas is fun. Grinding for month in the same area waiting until you're strong enough to move on to the next for another few months isn't. Big issue, JM didn't take action. The game's been the same from 70cap-100cap. Grind grind grind. I mean look at 100 cap. Thank-god I got this char and it was lvl 99 with only another 10% left to go to 100. I can't imagine how much fun it was for a legit to walk like 45 minutes to his grinding spot in Chin tomb. It's fun to run and around and explore. I did that with Shinken. To grind like that everyday... TLDR? -> Being legit is a great concept. Is it really worth it to uphold it in this game, not really. Looking back, I feel like I wasted a lot of hours that could've been used doing... pretty much anything else. If 120 cap is released will I come back to SRO and grind it? Only if there is something super new like this cap. How do I know all this? I have 2 chars. 1 I hand-grinded 1-80. The other, I received it at 99, and hand grind it to 110.
Wow, I sound really negative. If I had to do this all over again would I? Yes I would. I would go back in time and let myself play this game until lvl 30. Then I would proceed to bash myself over the head and ensure that I never play this game again. It really is a HUGE waste of time playing it legit... This game, and really any korean mmo now that I think about it... 
Crumpets for Pres
