Elite Dangerous has a bot problem, it seems, and it's gotten to the point that thousands of players have now organised a petition against the problem of bot abuse within the game. 

The issue stems from the game's Power Play system, which is a feature that allows factions and empires within the game attempt to win control over the various star systems in the game. Some players are using bots to manipulate the Power Play element of the game in their favour, meaning that the territory will likely end up in their control. This has apparently been an issue ever since the game's launch but has recently become a bigger issue.

The community have now launched the "Anti-Botting Agreement" on the game's forums, which has been signed by more than 160 different groups and squadrons, totally more than 20,000 pilots - with all those who have signed agreeing not to knowingly use or abuse bots and to report any suspected bot users.

The agreement should hopefully help cut down on the bot abuse, although players are also calling for changes to the game's systems and back-end to identify and flag bot users.