Assembly Hall

I would like to bring up an issue that will most likely get flamed until the post is locked however i am certain that neither the GM's or the players who support them have any idea what they are talking about when they refer to macros bots key binds and other such input manipulation.

as such the guidelines are vague to the point where based on how the EULA is interpreted a player could THEORETICALLY get banned for using a MOUSE BUTTON to activate a module or perform a interface interaction.

The reason both macros and bots are on the EULA is because the community Wrongly refers to mining bots as Macro miners. while if you build a sufficiently advanced macro it may or may not be classified as a bot but generally a macro is as brief sequence of keystrokes bound to a programmable mouse or keyboard button.

the sad thing is we all use macros even if you don't want to admit it. the very act of assigning programmable mouse buttons to a single key is technically a driver macro. so lets face it if we continue to go by CCP's idioticly worded ELUA all you players with gaming mice could theoretically be banned at the whim of a gm. albeit most gm's have these things called brains and will not bring down a ban hammer without good reason.

the biggest issue in eve is botting not macroing which is generally harmless and does not give players any sort of advantage aside from delaying the onset of carpel tunnel syndrome.

A bot is a third party application which serves to automate some or all functions of the game. for example analyzing market data for fast buy sell orders EG Day Trading. basic npc like ai for roaming belts shooting pirates for bounties. and the infamous macro miners who drive down the price of tritanium and make it difficult for players to actually make money. This is the Enemy CCP is trying to combat know it well.

A MACRO is one or more keystrokes bound to a key. everyone uses these daily whether it be a programmable mouse button mapped to modules or a custom key-bind to a unused media function. however you look at it the definition of MACRO is too broad and wide reaching for a global ban policy especially since the game it'sself has macros built. by the wording of YOUR ELUA using the skill que or delayed market orders could get you banned for those themselves are macros albeit programed and added by CCP.

but regardless of how you look at it a zero tolerance policy for macroing is too broad and wide reaching to serve it;s intended purpose to cut down on automated game play.

there is nothing automated about pressing a button on your mouse to engage your tank or fire a missile. that is just a basic controller function.

additionally macros designed for moving items between a cargo hold and a station may be more advanced than a keybind but it is CCP's fault that these exist. if you troll the forums you will see hundreds of complaints about the ineficiant item interface. considering the sheer volume of items that you acquire on a single mission there is no excuse for CCP to limit transactions to single items at a time. basic keybinds and macros of this nature are not hacking they are not giving players unfair advantages they are fixing a fundamental interface design flaw that has been brought to CCP's attention multiple times and through incompetance, lazieness or downright Petty Spite the fixes and changes players want have yet to be implimented.

CCP says that their game is not to be automated in any way however as the game becomes increasingly complex CCP must add integrated automation features to compensate for this. tasks which should take 5 minutes take hours. We are gamers and this is a GAME not real life i am sure there are people who can sit around for hours on end playing a game but most of us have lives and we deserve to live the, and still remain functional in the online world.

the client needs to be reworked from the ground up for more efficiency in performing common tasks as this is the only way to eliminate the need for macros completely.

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Much of the Eula and tos are vague, giving CCP GM's the broadest possible freedoms in choosing how they wish to define and judge ingame actions,

this leads to GM's and devs often contradicting each other, with judgements varying from GM to GM. Gameplay mechanics become exploits, or Working as intended depending on the time of day and whichever astrological sign is in power

sorry scratch that, astrology has nothing to do with it. or else we'd have some inkling as to how it will be decided.

I am pretty sure they meant to be vague. what starts as a keybind ... Its a slippery slope, the better defined it is in teh EULA/TOS the harder it is for them to make bad decisions/change their minds about which is/isnt against intended play.


i just had a very bad thought, am i the nice version of MXZF? quick someone ... (im not allowed to say what i want here because of EULA/TOS) ... me

While i understand that CCP GM's do not make a habit of tracking down and banning players for programmable mice it would still be nice if there was a little clarification.

additionally it is also known that gm's usually convo a player suspected of being a bot to check whether or not there is anyone at the computer before issuing a ban

and while it may seem dense to some people i think the more clarification in a legal document the better,

This pretty much

Comply with the 'spirit' of the agreement, and you'll be fine. Break it and I'll hunt you down and pod you.