I'm starting a new thread because the thread I wanted to respond to was locked. But I think this is an important topic and I feel that what I have to say needs to be said very clearly.
I hate cheating. I really do. I want all cheaters gone from the game, 13 years ago. I really do.
Having said that the TOS has never been enforced in UO, and very few people have ever been banned, if any, for using third party cheats. People have been banned for duping, and other obvious violations of the TOS, but for using "The-Program-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named" and other third party cheats, never that I know of. As a result, an awful lot of people use them - an awful lot.
I don't have numbers to throw around, I just know from talking to people in game. Even a lot of clean players use search sites which depend on "The-Program-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named" to gather their information. And I know an awful lot of loyal paying clients, people who are in their real lives nice, law abiding folks, that use "The-Program-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named" to do things like bods, train skills, etc.
My point here isn't to point the finger, just to raise a flag of caution. I welcome the new third party cheat detection, and I hope it works, I really do. I want third party cheats gone, even if it does close down the search sites, whose services I myself use (I hope that their functionality is replaced somehow, or they are allowed to continue operating, but that isn't the point of my post).
I realize a lot of people don't agree with me, but I don't want the implementation of third party cheat detection to result in a mass banning of over half the player base. And the problem is the ones that will be caught are the casual cheaters, not the hard core hackers, because they aren't generally as connected to the communities that would make people aware that a big change is in the works.
All I am asking for is that it is a two strike system. The first time you get a stern cyber lecture, and perhaps a 24 - 72 hour ban. Please don't make the first ban a permanent one, because you will be catching the wrong people. Most of the people you will catch the first time around are the ones who will change their behaviour when they find out the TOS is being enforced.
I realized that many here on these forums have no sympathy for cheaters, but I think that there is enough blame for the current situation in UO, vis a vis cheating, to cover an awful lot of people, and if you want my opinion the devs in UO's past really are the ones I blame the most because they were the ones that allowed cheating, and the use of third party cheats, to become part of UO's game culture. Unfortunately we can't ban them.
I realize also that the devs want to give the developers of third party cheats as little warning as possible, and not give them a chance to figure out ways of getting around the cheat detection. But the fact is they are going to have that opportunity regardless.
Third party cheat detection is hopefully going to be a permanent addition to UO, and the developers of cheats are going to have a great deal of time to try to find a way around that third party cheat detection. Allowing "two strikes" isn't going to change that. It is going to be a game of cat and mouse from here on, and the devs are going to have to have produced a very robust cat to win that war.
I hate cheating. I really do. I want all cheaters gone from the game, 13 years ago. I really do.
Having said that the TOS has never been enforced in UO, and very few people have ever been banned, if any, for using third party cheats. People have been banned for duping, and other obvious violations of the TOS, but for using "The-Program-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named" and other third party cheats, never that I know of. As a result, an awful lot of people use them - an awful lot.
I don't have numbers to throw around, I just know from talking to people in game. Even a lot of clean players use search sites which depend on "The-Program-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named" to gather their information. And I know an awful lot of loyal paying clients, people who are in their real lives nice, law abiding folks, that use "The-Program-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named" to do things like bods, train skills, etc.
My point here isn't to point the finger, just to raise a flag of caution. I welcome the new third party cheat detection, and I hope it works, I really do. I want third party cheats gone, even if it does close down the search sites, whose services I myself use (I hope that their functionality is replaced somehow, or they are allowed to continue operating, but that isn't the point of my post).
I realize a lot of people don't agree with me, but I don't want the implementation of third party cheat detection to result in a mass banning of over half the player base. And the problem is the ones that will be caught are the casual cheaters, not the hard core hackers, because they aren't generally as connected to the communities that would make people aware that a big change is in the works.
All I am asking for is that it is a two strike system. The first time you get a stern cyber lecture, and perhaps a 24 - 72 hour ban. Please don't make the first ban a permanent one, because you will be catching the wrong people. Most of the people you will catch the first time around are the ones who will change their behaviour when they find out the TOS is being enforced.
I realized that many here on these forums have no sympathy for cheaters, but I think that there is enough blame for the current situation in UO, vis a vis cheating, to cover an awful lot of people, and if you want my opinion the devs in UO's past really are the ones I blame the most because they were the ones that allowed cheating, and the use of third party cheats, to become part of UO's game culture. Unfortunately we can't ban them.
I realize also that the devs want to give the developers of third party cheats as little warning as possible, and not give them a chance to figure out ways of getting around the cheat detection. But the fact is they are going to have that opportunity regardless.
Third party cheat detection is hopefully going to be a permanent addition to UO, and the developers of cheats are going to have a great deal of time to try to find a way around that third party cheat detection. Allowing "two strikes" isn't going to change that. It is going to be a game of cat and mouse from here on, and the devs are going to have to have produced a very robust cat to win that war.