Macros, 3rd-Party Apps and XP

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 '''Macros, 3rd-Party Apps and XP. . . Oh My!''' 

June 6, 2002

During the first part of May, players from Asheron's Call completed a survey to help us gain a player's perspective on two of the most challenging issues facing all Massively-Multiplayer Online Games: macros and 3rd-party applications. We thank you for your time. We have studied the results and weighed them along with other forms of feedback to determine what our policies will be.

Macros

“Macros” are programs that allow a game character to repeat productive actions without anyone directly controlling the character. While only a minority of surveyed players were opposed to the use of macros for things such as trade skills and providing services to other players, a majority were opposed to the use of macros to repeatedly kill monsters for experience points (XP). We agree that this practice is not beneficial to the game, so we will be increasing our attention to the sort of dynamics that allow this behavior.

For Asheron's Call 1, we will continue to hunt down popular “combat macro” locations and reduce their effectiveness or eliminate them from the game.

For Asheron's Call 2, we have designed new systems that should greatly reduce the benefits of “combat macros.” We will reveal more about these systems as we develop and refine them during the AC2 Beta test.

In addition, the AC2 Beta Code of Conduct states that it is forbidden to allow your character to gain experience points or items from creatures or any other sources besides yourself or other players without your being at the keyboard, ready to respond to an Administrator on demand. (This activity is commonly called a “combat macro”.) For more information, please see FAQ 7.13.

3rd-Party Applications

3rd-party applications are programs written and distributed outside of Microsoft and Turbine that change or extend the functionality of Asheron's Call for the players using them. As with any software from an untrusted source, we strongly caution against the use of such applications, as they can maliciously or accidentally compromise the security or performance of your computer and personal information. However, we recognize that players will still take the risk and use such 3rd-party programs, so our survey attempted to gauge player response to our policies about them. It is difficult or impossible for a game of this nature to block the use of all 3rd-party applications, but we could direct more effort toward discouraging them.

Overall, the survey response regarding 3rd-party applications was very positive. We are aware that from time to time there will arise a bad application that ruins the game experience of others or exploits the game in some undesirable fashion, but the majority of you believe that 3rd-party applications have added to the overall enjoyment of the game.

We will remain vigilant in monitoring these applications and may at any point block the use of those 3rd-party applications deemed inappropriate. We will also continue to ban players for destructive behavior. We do not make a big show of such bans, since we do not want to reward those players with more attention, but please be aware that we have banned and will continue to ban players for behavior that is truly bad for the game.

XP Chains

The use of the Allegiance system in Asheron's Call 1 to form “XP chains” has long been a subject of much discussion. “XP chains” are specially crafted Allegiances in which upper members rapidly gain levels without earning much if any XP on their own. The results of the poll showed a very even split between those who do not like this practice and those who do.

We have been giving a lot of thought to the subject at well. For Asheron's Call 1, we plan no changes made to the way XP passes up through Allegiances. (However, as the benefits of combat macros are reduced, we predict that the benefits of XP chains will also diminish.) For Asheron's Call 2, XP benefits will remain a fundamental part of Allegiances, but some major changes will be made to prevent runaway XP chains and to allow Allegiances to be more socially enjoyable. You can read about it here.

We would again like to thank all of you for taking the time to complete the survey. We value your opinions and look forward to continually improving Asheron's Call for you.

--The AC Team