A slight Terms of Service reminder for the Blast Network AFK "players"-Solved since 08-11 Bugfix patch.

73 replies [Last post]
Thoranhippo's picture
Thoranhippo

13. modify any files or use any game hacking/altering/cheating software or tools, including scripting or macroing software, or attempt to disassemble the game client and/or decipher the data transmissions between Spiral Knights' client and server. These activities will result in immediate termination of the Player's Account and may subject you to civil and/or criminal liability.

Specifically the part blaming the use of macroing software. I hope GM will figure the concerned players are in this case and "terminate the Player's Account"

:3

CeCeeS
Legacy Username
Is an autoclicker really

Is an autoclicker really "game hacking"?.

I see your point though. Using any kind of automated mechanism has to be looked at quite closely. In many cases it will be objectionable to use it. You don't need to use them, however. Just have SK running in the background while doing something else. Ah well, nothing for me, I just buy those Mod Calibrators from the AH :-)

OOO may want to look into the lags, though. Bomberman is not worth bothering for many people (including me) right now.

Lycan101
Legacy Username
an autoclicker isn't game

an autoclicker isn't game hacking, but it's macroing.

I don't want to insinuate three rings of being greedy,

but I can't help myself but to point out the following:

Remember when the Bribing option was bugged? How fast did everyone get an ingame mail adressing the issue and promising a fix soon.
and the fix came. A fix for players to be able to spend energy, thus ensuring/increasing profit for three rings.

Now call me conspiratorial...but right now all those afkers with up to six krogmo coin boosters must be a gold mine for three rings...if you were working for three rings...would you deny you wouldn't want to milk this just a little more? even if it happened "unintentionally"
and why ban these well paying players?

after all those boosters cost 300. and fixing a mere 25energy bug for the WHOLE party made three rings get right at it...but now potential 300x6 per participating player...you can't tell me you don't see what i mean by milking this.

Mafiaso's picture
Mafiaso
^ auto click= macro

^
auto click= macro

Soulstaker's picture
Soulstaker
AFK is not against the

AFK is not against the rules....we Afk'ers just farm tokens while eating oreo icecream.usually I AFK to farm tokens.but with the lag and issues it's better to rather just AFK and enjoy the cool kills.

Addy's picture
Addy
Are you aware of the

Are you aware of the programming involved in games? Do you really think that a fix for autoclickers is really comparable to fixing a bug? Fixing bribery is a tweak whereas preventing autoclicking means a checker has to be programmed, debugged, and added to the game files. It's a much bigger process than the bribery system (which worked sometimes before the fix was even done).

Not to mention weekends and the fact that Three Rings is a pretty small company. Didn't somebody say that seven people work there?

Lycan101
Legacy Username
Are you aware of how easy it

Are you aware of how easy it would be to send out a mail to everyone stating "Please don't afk, we will make a list of the most notorious AFKers because we think that's unfair to all the others trying their best."

and have you considered that all these AFKers being online while they sleep with autoclicker are impacting even more on other peoples lag? On and Off the Blast Network?

In town you get kicked for idling, on the blast network you see enough people with sleeping animations abover their head and nothing happens to them indicating a sophisticated autoclicker that only clicks when matches end. or even worse they take their sweet time to type /sleep.

again no insinuation on three rings. Just saying such a simple ingame mail would remove about half the afkers with a conscience and lessen the lag for everyone on the server. Then again high player numbers probably pay the bills.

Rouge-Rogue's picture
Rouge-Rogue
[[As far as I know, most of

[[As far as I know, most of the games I have played frown upon auto-clicking programs and it can result in being banned from said games.]]

But I digress, I don't want to get into this topic completely. I do believe OOO stated somewhere in one of the numerous AFK complaint posts that they are looking into it.

CeCeeS
Legacy Username
"game

"game hacking/altering/cheating software or tools, including scripting or macroing software"

"game hacking [...] tools" which include macroing software. "Non-hacking" macroing software per se is not forbidden by this. Legalese isn't known for easy comprehension and simple sentences (can't say I appreciate that).

So if I found a good macro for my G15 keyboard, I don't see how that wouldn't be allowed by this.

Trias's picture
Trias
@CeCeeS

So if I found a good macro for my G15 keyboard, I don't see how that wouldn't be allowed by this.

Is your G15 keyboard a tool?

There is your answer.

GoottiKustaa
Legacy Username
Is the keyboard a game

Is the keyboard a game altering, hacking or cheating tool. No.

First, to get rid of AFK players, just outright say that you cannot AFK. Currently it is not banned in any way.
Many people who AFK actually click the buttons manually to start the game, and it still pays off in comparison to actually playing the game - since the game lags, and many people don't like the game in any case.

Hetero
no you can't ban people for

no you can't ban people for using g15 macros, or other basic macro software, even if its in the tos. there is really no good way to prove it without more oversight then a small company like this can afford. What they could do is make pvp that doesn't reward afking. The pvp is pretty much garbage and nothing like the actual gameplay, a real disappointment in my book. You can cite rules at people all day long but the reality is the people who do this will do it,regardless of any threatening emails(possibly more so after the email) because the only enforcement method is to watch someone for prolonged periods of time and any self respecting person would be watching the whole process anyway, while they snack and watch tv.

Thoranhippo's picture
Thoranhippo
Yes you can. If ToS states

Yes you can. If ToS states its a banable offence, then it is. Lol, which language should I say that in so that it reaches your brain, y'all sayin "I use macro and ToS says I can't, hence its legal to use macro yo".
Stop arguing the "why it should be allowed" or the "why I'm different than other AFK blasters", you're all the same, doing the same forbidden thing.

Trias's picture
Trias
@GoottiKustaa

Is the keyboard a game altering, hacking or cheating tool? No.
If it is used as a macroing/scripting device it is. The ToS is clear that "game altering, hacking or cheating" includes tools that are used for macroing/scripting.

@qyv
Actually, they can ban you for any reason they want, without any need for proof. That is why any game ToS, contains a "we can terminate your account at our discretion" clause. So, if OOO wanted to they could ban anybody they have a suspicion of cheating. (For example, players that are online 24/7) Whether they will actually do so is another question.

CeCeeS
Legacy Username
A disclaimer seems to be in

A disclaimer seems to be in order: I don't play afk PvP and I don't use any tools. I don't plan to do that either.

Now.
Thoran, Trias: I apparently don't understand the ToS in the same way you do. I read that hacking and cheating tools are not allowed. If I had a macroing software that would hack the game, it would not be allowed. Where does it say "any macroing software is not allowed"?

Thoranhippo's picture
Thoranhippo
You might want to re-read the

You might want to re-read the word "cheating" and put behind "including scripting or macroing"; self maintaining yourself online using a 3rd party program is what you'd call botting in MMORPGs. And botting clearly is cheating.
To help you understand from where I admit this is cheating, I welcome you to read this specific comment from nick, concerning the AFK players:
"This issue is a serious one for us and we'll be taking measures to deal with it as soon as possible." (http://forums.spiralknights.com/fr/node/19569#comment-112483)

What I see is that what happens currently is very similar to the use of macros on internet advertising to "farm" money by generating thousands of automatic clicks on your own website/app commercials using a macro, which is of course illegal.

Also this is clearly an attempt to the game's spirit. Again, similar example: aimbots in FPS. The use of a 3rd party tool to generate online rewards is illegal in any online game you could possibly cross.

miojoxhl2
Legacy Username
My AFKing would be much more

My AFKing would be much more "Flintstone-ish" as I click from time to time. With my fingers.

Orangeo's picture
Orangeo
So now AFKers get to build

So now AFKers get to build one of those comic strip machines to push their mouse button.
However, on the player complaint, it says that "did the player continue harrasment after being repetadly asked not to?"

So if I ask AFK players to stop being AFK twice, and they don't respond, then I think reporting them is justified.
Spiral knights team says; "This issue is a serious one for us and we'll be taking measures to deal with it as soon as possible", and where I'm all for letting three rings do the work as we, the customers, sit back, I think they could just save time and put up an update that says "please immediately report any players who AFK in king krogmos arena from this point on".

Of course, theres Lycan101 theory, that also crossed my mind, but even though I bark at three rings often for doing things the wrong way, I don't think they are gonna make real players suffer so they can profit. Of course, it would make sense, so I'll still keep the conspiracy idea in my mind, just in case I happen to be wrong. Also, a note to AFK players; if three rings really is postponing a fix for AFK players, that means they are extorting you, as opposed to the other way around. I run into AFK's wh sit through matches cause' they think they're "fighting the system".

Algol-Sixty's picture
Algol-Sixty
My interpretation of the ToS

My interpretation of the ToS is that any scripting system, including keyboards, is a violation.

A little background and perspective though: The Spiral Knights ToS is very very very similar to the Puzzle Pirates ToS, and in particular, they both have word-fo-word identical section 6.13 clauses (same number even) with the only difference being the name "puzzle pirates" is changed to "spiral knights".

In puzzle pirates, it is very possible to create scripting programs that actually solve the puzzles and play the game for you, letting you earn crowns (Pieces of Eight) and such. Indeed, two such puzzle (distilling and weaving) requires you to just hit the space bar enough times to and you can earn crowns. OOO doesn't much like even simple scripting for Puzzle Pirates, that may well carry over for Spiral Knights too. In another case, YPP has a "gunning puzzle" (it isn't really a puzzle) that if you use the keyboard to play, you have to hit one key to set an arrow direction and another key to place the arrow, when it would be MUCH faster to have the two actions combined. Gunning is a very time-critical "puzzle", and to no one's surprise, people macro these two steps together. The Ocean Masters on Puzzle Pirates have explicitly stated that such macroing via keyboards or game mice are a violation of the ToS.

Yes, detecting scripting software is hard to do, and I don't think anyone has been banned for scripting the gunning keys, but OOO has written code to detect scripting of other puzzles and has been willing to ban hundreds of players in a single day for doing such. The detection software does not cause you to be banned immediately, since that would let people figure out how the detection software works, but rather you an be banned days, weeks, or even months after the offense, depending on OOO's mood.

I caution anyone who is using any sort of scripting software for any purposes to be very very careful. If, for example, you have software that makes managing the AH easier, talk to OOO and ask permission. For puzzle pirates, they have given the OK for many such applications. If you are using it to gain crowns though, you will probably be told "no".

Thoranhippo's picture
Thoranhippo
What starts to upset me right

What starts to upset me right now is to see that nothing is being done. I'm really just an inch far from blaming GMs policy which seems to be all dedicated to forums 'sanity' and not bent at all on some actual and easily solvable in game issues. They could probably spend more time dealing with in-game abuses than scouting people saying swear words any 13 years old person or above already have heard thousands of times.
I hope GM could feedback on that, it would be interesting to hear an opinion on this comment.

Radeko's picture
Radeko
I'm sorry for my ignorance,

I'm sorry for my ignorance, but could someone please explain me how AFKing works? (AFK means away from keyboard, right?)

And is the Blast Network that profitable? I have even forgotten what you can do with these coins (I read about it, played the game, got mortally bored, and forgot all about it).

Tengu's picture
Tengu
I'm in Blast Network right

I'm in Blast Network right now, listening to people blow me up while I browse on Firefox. What I'm not doing is using any kind of tool or hack to do it; i'm just sitting here with my baby on my lap, checking my morning sites and listening to explosions while I earn 1 krogmo every 7 or 8 minutes. As nobody but the winners and close-to winners get anything, and I'm always laggy anyway, what's the point?

I always sucked at bomberman, no lie. When I heard that it was gonna be the "pvp" activity, and not flaming-jar throwing like I hoped it would be, I was pretty disappointed. When I saw the krogmo coin cost for everything, and the boost cost in CE, I was more disappointed. At least I know I can sit here and not play while other players scurry around and have fun in the race to blow me up. When I run out of crowns, I'll take all the mist I saved by not attempting to bribe Krogmo (why bribe when it's gonna be the winner who gets it? Let good players bribe) and earn some more crown in the gates.

ooo made yet another easily exploitable setup in SN. Oh well. If you're going to get all bent out of shape about it, consult the "paying player" policy and crafters. I have 3 crafters of my own.

Thoranhippo's picture
Thoranhippo
Your case is way different,

Your case is way different, you're behind your computer. But still, its really disrespecting to join a game and just standby to spoil it, hope you realize that. I don't know, its like playing bumper cars (dunno if that's the right name) but you just don't move your car and stand stupidly in the middle of the playground...

Tengu's picture
Tengu
But there's a difference in

But there's a difference in that: I play bumper cars because I like to. I play bomb network because I stand to make a profit from not playing more that playing. The time investment is not worth the middling results for me, as I suck and I'm laggy.

OOO should have been able to forecast this happening when they made items unable to be accessed without playing. Make the recipes tradeable, and the AFKers will disappear.

AFKers actually are a good thing for good players, btw. We boost kill numbers and create a point rift between the good and bad. Also, they can be sure never to be on the bottom. I was just in a 4 person game a bit ago, and I won. I won with 29 points. Imagine playing that with 3 AFKers? Easy money.

Thoranhippo's picture
Thoranhippo
No no no. The problem is PvP

No no no. The problem is PvP was designed for players' entertainment, not to make it easier for players to make money. There's no blame to put on OOO. Players play, so when they go to Blast Network they want to meet and challenge other players, not dead weights.
For someone who seems to be a parent I think you lack seriously of judgement tengu.

Tengu's picture
Tengu
OOO added in a bevy of new

OOO added in a bevy of new weapons whos recipes are accessible only through krogmo coins. There's only one method of getting into the Triglav/Voltedge/Stutterstrike/venomstrike weapons and not pay high AH prices, and that's to earn krogmo coins. If OOO built Bomb Network in the spirit of PvP passion, they would not have put this system in place. They would have made everything unbound and let the bomb network fiends profit doubly from playing.

See, I want a Triglav, and I'm not paying 600k for one in the AH. So i'm gonna sit in free-for-alls until A) I earn another 200 krogmo coins, or B) they unbind the recipes like they did the Mod somethingorothers. I have an elite bomb focus module because I bought 2 Mods in AH, and lo and behold, i don't have to play for 100 more krogmo coins worth of time, thus keeping me out of your games.

The point is that Bomberman isn't fun to everyone, but new weapons are awesome. If you are gonna design a system for online gamers to HAVE to play Bomberman, regardless of whether they like it or not, to get to new weapons, you're going to expect a tide of apathetic AFKers.

If it's bumming you out, wait 2 months. We'll all be done farming KCs and will never play Bomberman again.

Also, your Ad Hominem is duly noted, and quickly ignored.

Soulstaker's picture
Soulstaker
Better having fun taking care

Better having fun taking care of your kid than games.If I had a son or something I would take care of him not be on the PC

Thoranhippo's picture
Thoranhippo
So all you're able to do in

So all you're able to do in Blast Network is waiting for Krogmo coins to come, just like your baby waits for his baby bottle? Cool, lucky again for you its just Internet!

Soulstaker's picture
Soulstaker
Guess adults don't have the

Guess adults don't have the addiction as kids like me D:
Edit: oops the D: was supposed to be :D imagine ur dad not caring about you.that would be harsh.

Evilduck's picture
Evilduck
19. Termination. Either you

19. Termination. Either you or Three Rings may terminate your account and
this agreement upon notice at any time without further obligation to the
other.

Enjoy it while it lasts, AFKers. They will ban you and they will throw this one out.

Tengu's picture
Tengu
lol personal attacks by 15

lol personal attacks by 15 year olds. Get back to me when your face clears up.

So, unless there's anything in the ToS that specifically states that players who aren't "trying" are subject to banning and termination, I guess I'm done in this thread and the asbies lose to common sense again.

Maybe I should start farming in team play. Hmmmm, sounds like fun! I'll keep an eye out for you guys :D

Evilduck's picture
Evilduck
@tengutengu Reading

@tengutengu Reading comprehension ---
That term means OOO reserves the right to terminate any player's account whenever they want, no matter how many loopholes a player is able to find in the ToS. You can argue the wording of the ToS all you like, if OOO want to ban you, they will.

Negimasonic's picture
Negimasonic
Spent 600 CE on two upgrades.

Spent 600 CE on two upgrades. Been playing for probably 4 hours at least. Still not enough... I'm starting to chillax about winning right now since I get 4 tokens if I win, but 3 if I lose with this setup(so 30-36 an hour assuming at least 10 matches an hour, it'd take five hours to get to 150. And I have a personal goal of trying to get every three star and below recipe but going further might be too hard with this setup). Honestly having the upgrades is making me want to win less than not having them..

Enjoyed killing Tengu earlier, they were awesome :D But AFK is only cool in FFA. Team really sucks with AFK.

In unrelated news...I'm starting to miss the rockets and spikes...

Tengu's picture
Tengu
It's always good to hear

It's always good to hear someone having fun killing me. It's people getting sick of me dying on runs that gives me a sad.

I just can't see the use in putting CE into a 24hr boost. As it stands, I resent even GETTING heat amps for the party packs I bought. It's easy enough to get heat when there's enough of your gear that doesn't need heat, and less heat per level = more levels to get more heat = more mat and cr profit anyway.

Negimasonic's picture
Negimasonic
I play at school. It's still

I play at school. It's still summer right now and my mom has went back to work so I can come to school earlier. So I decided if I was going to do this seriously, I was going to go all out at least once. I probably earned at least 800 CE yesterday through battling so although there are better ways to use this. I don't mind this time. I have that general goal of all the three star krosmo recipes so I can sell em or make em for friends if need be (which I've just done). So that's already 250 tokens out of the way. I'll be more serious about the four star versions since I can't give those away easily so I might just do the electron bomb and quit for awhile (since getting the five star version will take even more time). I have about two weeks left of free time like this and I'd rather not spend it all on this version of PVP (though I do generally like it). So if I'm going to do this, I'll put some of my hard earned CE into it sometimes. Tomorrow I'll go back into the clockworks to make up for today anyway

I would never buy the heat amp though lol.

Right now if someone fills it or I see a "rival'. I'm playing seriously, but otherwise they can just kill me.

Orangeo's picture
Orangeo
tengutengu; "lol personal

tengutengu; "lol personal attacks by 15 year olds, get back to me when your face clears up"
"lol personal attacks by adults."
Better? No, not better. Smooth move tengu, real mature! Adults these days, am I right? I haven't made fun of your possible adult weaknesses, such as;
Shaving cuts,
Beer belly,
Bingo wings,
Man boobs,
Or uncontrolable viagra use,
becuase I'm not going to say that directly, since I'm mature, and don't like picking on old people.

I take lists of AFK people I see, and once three rings says "reporting AFK players is valid", I'm punching each name into the complaint box. If you're lucky, they'll ad a "-from this point on" at the end so I can't do that.

On top of that; I technicaly can report you already. One of the report options is "If player had harrased you and not stopped whan asked, click here". I consider being AFK harrasment; and since you obviously won't stop if I ask; I can report you.

Nodocchi's picture
Nodocchi
I don't see why everyone

I don't see why everyone doesn't like AFK'ers, either ignore them or incorporate them into your strategy. They are no different from an extremely bad player except they probably die less. If people don't feel like doing anything after joining a game, that is their choice, they spent 200cr on it, let them do what they want. If you don't want to see AFK'ers then join a guild and play guild matches. I've played plenty of guild matches and I find them to be much more fun than playing with strangers anyways.

Andyspace's picture
Andyspace
they should ban Afk in Blast

the people on the high score list: most of them AFK a lot and they always get 8th place.

my name is andyspace

Orangeo's picture
Orangeo
I think the easiest solution

I think the easiest solution without having to deal with tha ban hammer is to just have an npc sell coins for 200 cr apece.

Zettalux's picture
Zettalux
Does my phone on my arrow

Does my phone on my arrow keys while I watch TV count as macroing software?

HUEHUEHUE

Orangeo's picture
Orangeo
That was what I said earlier.

That was what I said earlier. But in the end, three rings can ban you purely becuase they want to.

Eurydice's picture
Eurydice
Community Manager
As noted in another thread,

As noted in another thread, AFKing is Not Cool, and we are looking into ways to prevent/discourage those who are really determined to do so. In the meantime, if you're caught doing it, you can expect some attention from a GM.

Thoran wrote:

What starts to upset me right now is to see that nothing is being done. I'm really just an inch far from blaming GMs policy which seems to be all dedicated to forums 'sanity' and not bent at all on some actual and easily solvable in game issues. They could probably spend more time dealing with in-game abuses than scouting people saying swear words any 13 years old person or above already have heard thousands of times.
I hope GM could feedback on that, it would be interesting to hear an opinion on this comment.

I moderate this forum, and the GMs handle in-game issues. Thus, you may rest assured that the GMs are not regularly diverting time and attention from in-game problems to attend to forum rulebreaking (not that it takes much time to do so anyway). It's pretty simple: If you can't or won't abide by the Terms of Service, you understand the consequences.

Schwalala's picture
Schwalala
Eurydice appears!

Thanks for the feedback, Eury!

So, just to get this out in the open, would it work (for now) for us to just /complain constant AFKers and allow you GMs to check into these problematic players yourselves? Or would that get very annoying, very fast, for you?

I never AFK, but I don't freak out when others do. My life motto is, "Love what is, don't hate what isn't". :) What I want is a game that's the most fun it can be, and if that means killing off AFKers from Spiral Knights, I say go for it, even though I'm mostly Chaotic Neutral about the whole thing.

Eurydice's picture
Eurydice
Community Manager
Just to clarify--I'm not a

Just to clarify--I'm not a GM; I'm your friendly neighborhood community manager. :) I can say, however, that if you see someone breaking the ToS, you should certainly report it. That isn't a problem.

I'd caution you against sending a neverending flood of reports about the same person doing the same thing in the span of a few minutes, if those reports contain no additional information other than "He's still doing it...yep...still doing it...doing it some more..." There does come a point when that could become abuse of the support system, but it doesn't seem to be what you were suggesting you'd do, either!

In summary: yes, do fire off a report. It's still useful even if a GM can't appear instantaneously to check it out.

dancinjen
Legacy Username
So it's ok to report people

So it's ok to report people that afk?

and it's ok to report guilds that have players leave as soon as the match starts so we have a harder time killing them? I ran across a guild today that switched players a few times until I pointed out that "I hoped they didn't have a player leave this time" then they blamed it on lagging out. I understand it's laggy.

I won't report those that might be sleeping or disconnected. But it's those that I know are there because i see their character moving or I see them in multiple games doing the same thing... THOSE I would report.

Also... for those of you that are fighting this tooth and nail. I would like to point out something in the TOS... "spirit of the game"

this is AGAINST spirit of the game. Plain and simple.

Bigfootm's picture
Bigfootm
"I'm just your friendly

"I'm just your friendly neighborhood community manager"

Eurydice, you make me laugh although it's true. Keep me laughing! Anyway, I too despise AFKing.

Eurydice's picture
Eurydice
Community Manager
> So it's ok to report people

> So it's ok to report people that afk?

Yes, it is okay to report people who appear to be intentionally afking or using a clickbotthingy to cruise control their way to PvP winnings.

Bigfootm's picture
Bigfootm
You are GOOD. A

You are GOOD. A clickbotthingy. XD

So is it bad that I had to afk once? And do you guys want us to keep reporting major AFKers or?

dancinjen
Legacy Username
Ok so how do I tell if they

Ok so how do I tell if they are using the clickbotthingy? Is it the blinking that that people do when they die and then lay a bomb as soon as they revive? I'm not sure exactly how to tell this.

Providence
Legacy Username
@dancinjen

The easiest way to tell if someone is using an autoclicker/clickbotthingy is if they are doing the same actions repeatedly at VERY regular intervals.
So, yes. If they revive and lay a bomb as soon as they revive---almost no pause inbetween, or a pause that is always the same length---odds are good that that person is using a separate program to AFK.

Sometimes their actions are more elaborate, but pay attention to their timing.

Shidare
@eurydice

it is also Not Cool to make a laggy ripoff of a better game and create valuable real-game rewards that can only be earned by suffering through hours of it or paying through the nose. the only surefire way to eliminate people joining games and not playing in them is to make a game they want to play.

otherwise, OOO can remove participation coins entirely, but award even more coins to the top 2 or 3 players. that would simultaneously eliminate the reason for AFKing AND make it so that players who are good at PvP are rewarded for being good at PvP.

as it is, the difference between what you can earn doing your best to win each match and what you would earn by not doing anything at all is small enough that there is little incentive to actually play bomberlag. however, removing participation rewards would result in fewer entries and kill krogmo coin booster sales, which means less money going to OOO, which means it won't happen. money > all.