Poll

Keep this program or not?

Make it open source or announce it if you use it
Unfair Remove it
Keep it as is
http://forum.meleegaming.com/strategus-general-discussion/cheating-or-no/msg670358/#msg670358

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Offline Cosmos_Shielder

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #105 on: December 07, 2012, 01:38:59 am »
0
Open Source

so feel free to browse the source code, client and server side code included. A Layout of the database will be included in a few minutes.
No one will bother reading the source and they will just keep saying you are a cheater using a non open source tool. Anyway , you should leave Crpg it will be better for you

To Conclude to and to show you that most of the player fogot they were playing a beta : How much people here did post a bug report at the mantis bug tracker? And by a bug report i'm not talking about asking dev to buff your class style or your weapon ?
I did post something like 10 bug report here. Does the average Crpg player do the same? I don't think so...
« Last Edit: December 07, 2012, 01:59:32 am by Cosmos_Shielder »

Offline Niemand

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #106 on: December 07, 2012, 05:37:50 am »
-1
Regarding this thread:
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Can we remove Niemand from this community already?
You'd love to, huh? ;)
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Offline Nessaj

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #107 on: December 07, 2012, 07:15:31 am »
+9
Burned through 2 cups of morning coffee writing all this crap up :P


the Nords using this as a exit as well.
When we all know this is due to there trade is STOPED in strat with our (Hre Peace Mercs Deserters) 17000 men troops walking into occiatan and bashi territory's.

Oh Ginger, ever so colourful fantasies you spin in that fiery head of yours.

We decided long ago to quit Strategus not due to any of the reasons debated here, neither the unfair treatment (in our eyes at least) of a small part of the people who got banned, nor the hypocrisy of a lot of players using unfair advantages that is per definition cheating.

We decided to quit ages ago (and have been cursing that we joined up this round) because we don't want to put in the enormous effort it takes to run a fairly sized effective clan when the gain is non-existent due to:

Fleshed out reasoning:
(click to show/hide)


My gut feeling is that this is very advanced, but at this point, is not against the rules, and I like it that people actually put so much effort into client side customisations. So in my opinion, it's ok (although I WILL nerf the view range on mountains)

However, if the community as a whole decides that they don't want this to be allowed, I will accept this and outlaw usage of the data like this.

PS: this is no final decision yet, either way

chadz, I seriously cannot believe you don't see why something such as this is deeply game-breaking when not standardized by the game it self;

Click the spoiler for the full post:
(click to show/hide)
Quote
cheating -- present participle of cheat (Verb)

    Act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage, esp. in a game or examination: "she cheats at cards".

How it is not unfair, how it is NOT an advantage to have such tools available in private, while everyone else is running around playing the games by the book...

If I knew something such as this were allowed I would have had tools made in Strategus v1 instead of wasting countless hours doing it to the letter of the rules, who wouldn't, but I've never for a second considered it because it is clear as crystal to me that this is a huge unfair advantages over other players.

You either have to put it into the mod so it is standardized or make it free for all to read about, use and download RIGHT AWAY -- OR -- disallow any use of hidden third party tools that automates or speeds up any of the processes on the Strategus page.

The rules can obviously allow for a Buy-Script, but it would need to be stated and available for download for everyone, otherwise it should be illegal.

If this tool was intended to be open and available to the public, it would (should) have been announced at its birth, with beta versions full of bugs and annoyances being available for all to download. It not being public and being available in lesser versions prior to the current one for a hidden cabal (:|) is unfair and wrong on all level.
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Offline Vibe

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #108 on: December 07, 2012, 07:40:14 am »
+3
^ Basically how I feel. I'm not against third party stuff that reduces micromanagement, but it NEEDS to be open to everyone (except of course for the really really early version that should be for the creator's eyes only). If it's not handled like that, it could just come down to which side has the best scripts / programs to reduce the time with micromanagement.

Offline Tears of Destiny

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #109 on: December 07, 2012, 08:01:21 am »
+4
Did... Did Nessaj just say that most of NA does not participate in Slander and propaganda etc at the same levels that EU does? I know that was not the main focus of your post, but... I'm pretty surprised, and I most sincerely disagree.


To be more on topic:
"What is keeping someone from making a Third Party Tool which for example allows leaders to give out way-points on a "screenshot" either just an actual image or something more complex."
I really want to point out that chadz in your quote of his did not automatically condone ALL plug-ins, and specifically mentioned that this exact one did not break any rules. I'm really not sure then why you went into a massive (though well put) argument that was entirely based on another program entirely and not the one in question. If he was condoning any and all plug-ins then yes you have a wonderful point, but he is not and did not say that at all. The whole chunk of that spoiler just seems like a tangent that is a considerable misdirection to the subject at hand.



The rest of your post though raises noteworthy points, thank you for the interesting read. I would though like to point out that instantly starting a beta from the very start for your entire audience is disastrous, even the Devs did it by initially having the WSE2 Beta tester ONLY (And the WSE2 does offer considerable advantages  like the ability to (at least with my machine and graphical settings to make it even more painfully obvious) make it impossible for the enemy to hide by not only toggling on their banners but ALSO give them bright neon red outlines that even make it crystal clear in the fog where they are. By your very words and associated standards every BetaTester is a cheater. The devs started small though and released it in an initially small group though so they were not overwhelmed.


Examples of why it can be disastrous to start big and why it is often better to start small (from my personal practical experience, not "armchair experting"):
  • When starting a new project that you are not familiar with, it is often important to start small-scale so you can sift through the bugs at a normal pace until you get used to it, larger sizes at first may overwhelm you due to you not being familiar (one problem at a time).
  • You may not have the resources to process 2000 error reports a week, and need to start small-scale for much less error reports and feedback until the platform is stable enough to not kick out constant "user feedback."
  • Your test platform may literally be incapable of handling large amounts of users, as sometimes it is easier/practical to start small and build larger either from a hardware or software perspective for development.
  • Starting small until it is semi-stable and then making it larger later makes it much easier to troubleshoot.
  • Public Relations can drastically backlash if you release a product and it does not work, and OPEN BETA is just that, a released product. Perfect example would be the multitude of games that chose to release a closed beta into an open beta and suffered heavy PR due to users expecting everything to "work" and only be missing a few features and not suffer from any glitches or resets or other things, even closed betas (like DUST514) suffered from this PR backlash once it had a lot of closed betatesters of a thousand instead of a few dozen.
You can not reasonably ask any programmer to release incomplete code to the general audience.


Edited for clarity
« Last Edit: December 07, 2012, 08:43:35 am by Tears of Destiny »
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Offline SoA_Sir_ODHarry

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #110 on: December 07, 2012, 08:52:40 am »
0
I will just post one Reply on this hole matter too state my Point of View.

SoA was registrated in the Strat V a Month ago or so and we not had a singel Moment in Strat where we gained any Advantage because of it..!!!
I registrated because Kinngrim asked me too do it after he explained too me ,what the purpose of this Thingy is and that its confirmed by Harald and chadz.
He explained me that we joining too testing it and when i said him that they should make it public the Answer was that they gonna do it when its ready.

As we and Wolves have the most Members registrated there i can say its not an Gamebreaking Advantge in its current State and not was used in what ever matter u guys imagine nor was it planned too be kept secretly.
Guika and Kingrimm already said it was created too make Strat a better expirence for ALL who particpating.
Why else they would show it too his foes on the Map? :rolleyes:
I cant say much bout hardfeelings between the Clans since this is my first Strat Round ,but from what i can say the certain Clans of UIF that was kept out of this Project till now
just earned what they sowed..
Because they showed that Tool just too peopel they thought that would be trustworthy in matter of exploiting and cheating....
It may appear that their Intention with this Thingy was too gain an Advantage over their Foes but thats simply wrong.
I think its quite said that this Guys now gettin harrased or used as an excuse for whatever  just becasue they actually want too help improving Strategus.And i just can repeat this Tool is NOT Gamebreaking nor any usefull at all atm^^.
Sure there is Potential in it too save here and there some time Screenshot wise and maybe let u react a tiny bit faster.Was it used like that?Nope
U just can get Mapupdates by Peopel in ur Faction at the Sratviewer and who are online anyway.So if u really want too spy on ur Enemys u would take in Peopel that not in ur Stratfaction too cover it...
But thats not the Case so dont make a Drama out of it ,better join in now so next Strat gonna be better for all or u actually know about what u do an Drama LOL.

greetz OD


« Last Edit: December 07, 2012, 08:59:02 am by SoA_Sir_ODHarry »
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Offline Noctivagant

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #111 on: December 07, 2012, 09:31:15 am »
-3
(click to show/hide)
Maybe you shouldn't join the ganking train at the first place. you are talking about "tools" you knew about account sharing complaints, you knew about duped gold complaints and its right there I'm not making these things out of my ass, its not my imagination. You still chose to join them, so spare me from your self righteous -Oh we've been fair, its all propaganda! you chose to join the gangbang train when there were no game breaking alliances or any sort of bugs on our side.
What happened with the tool, happened now! the people you allied with, were doing this stuff for two damn years now and the list is long its not just account sharing or gold stuff. Its teleporting armies, walking on the sea goes on and on. I fought HRE just the last Strategus. There weren't any mega alliances, nobody were screwing up the game but your allies. Stop playing the victim will you?
Plus, All of the Anti UIF tried to speak to you guys, no you chose to change your word in every conversation. Oh spare me from your honesty...you are writing a drama there and its all unnecessary. Likes of us? like the people you were playing were the most awesome examples of this community for two years. I hate the day they joined this community. Oh but when I complained about it you told me -Nocti you are taking this game too serious. So do you?

Karma...

You speak of unfair advantages, enormous impacts :

I never saw you complaining about Bashi having %40 of the entire gold of Calradia, you kept playing with them, you were quiet then and you called some of us names for complaining about it. You are speaking of playing fair, but do you tell people who you got help of account sharing Union sending trades caravans to you to fix your S&D? no you said back then it was S&D terrorism. Which was a system in the game. So when something works against you its simply "wrong"

Long story short, you never tell when you benefit from unfairness. We been dwelling in the depths of unfair longer than a year now. You are just discovering it recently, welcome to the club.

You are so self righteous Cooties, you never say anything about what your allies were doing and I got an impression that you are almost saying -What happened to banned members wasn't right and it sickens me.

As you said yourself earlier

Quote
Nothing else can end this conflict.

Please keep it as brief as possible.
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Offline Gingerpussy

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #112 on: December 07, 2012, 09:36:01 am »
-4
Stupid to vote over something that the public really don't know what is.

1. Mercs tested it for like 3 days. Found it useful but security issues (possible to hack)
2. DaveUKR quited the game for some time and dint use this tool (hes the 1 on mountain)
3. this tool can be used to automatic shit but as it is now is just like a screen shot, but easier to see it because u see it on the strat map.

test it then come back and make ur vote.
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Offline chadz

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #113 on: December 07, 2012, 09:52:35 am »
+8
First of all, I reduced view from mountains from 200% to 140% and Hills from 140% to 120%.

Second, it seems that clan relationships are deciding stances in this discussion. This is really not helpful at all. I know it's hard to do, but try to judge it from an objective point of view.

@Nessaj, I see your point, but I am just having a different opinion. I mean there are people sitting down and writing tools, extensions, for a game that many like to play, but has a crude UI, to make it easier to use. This is, in my opinion, awesome. I really love that. I maybe should have stated more clearly from the beginning that I like it when people do that, and I want to encourage it, not prevent it.

It's probably from the games background I'm coming from. I think (old) Counterstrike was very scriptable clientside, with buy scripts and stuff. That was pretty cool back then.
Then there was tribes. Not sure if many still know, but tribes 1 didn't have skiing. It was a pretty generic game with a few vehicles and jetpacks. Until a bug was figured out that when you keep hitting jump rapidly, you could gain ridiculous speeds. Soon, scripts appeared that did that automated, leading to a game where you can fly with 1000 kph over landscapes. If it wouldn't have been for this, it would have never produced that unique franchise. Also, you could modify nearly everything clientside. Most of the scripts were open source, some not, no one cared. If one of the scripts went too far, the providing of data was limited.
Haven&Hearth, (I'm looking at you Vibe), don't tell me you didn't use one of the extended clients. Even the devs themselves used those. And rightfully so, because they were simply better.

What I'm saying is, extending a game can be beautiful, and can really enrich the game as a whole. I always considered strat a community project, believe it or not, and I'm always happy when people do stuff that I didn't have the time to do (shared view wasn't done because of server capacity).

« Last Edit: December 07, 2012, 09:55:38 am by chadz »

Offline Noctivagant

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #114 on: December 07, 2012, 09:56:33 am »
+2
I don't think scripts are that much of a big deal, the deal is : only one side is using it. Please tell your beta testers to keep it for themselves OR pick beta testers from each active strat clan to test it. So people won't get weird ideas.
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Offline Gingerpussy

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #115 on: December 07, 2012, 10:47:31 am »
-8
I agree with chadz, this discussion is clan related, not on the actual facts or the program itself.

But people seem to forget 1 thing, especial the Nords have come with a lot of accusations and made this tool a problem when its really not.
but have you thought about what it means for a clan to have Devs inside your clan ? I remember what we  got to know when cmpx was a merc.
This is more a problem then this tool. Why ?

because just now the Devs are making new stuff for Strat, i hear talk about balista and some other things that i dont know what are.
This situation might benefit a clan likeNords who got many contacts and members inside Devs admins and the followers of chadz himself.
the info they get in a early stage can be use for example to save up points so they get the new stuff +3 before anybody else. or taking decisions inside strat because of the info they got.

I think this is more of a advantage then seeing a screen every 10 min from a online clan member.

On the other side this is a necessity evil to have this game move forward.

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Offline Vovka

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #116 on: December 07, 2012, 10:53:20 am »
+6
(click to show/hide)
true so true
Uif's entire economy was built on the basis of information obtained by the Nords personally from chadz, during a casual conversation in a Finnish sauna.
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Offline Gingerpussy

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #117 on: December 07, 2012, 11:04:31 am »
-4
Why try and joke away everything i say because i am a Merc vovka ? We have to be able to set aside UIF/Anti UIF discussion when it comes down to how strat should be and why.

Inside information from Devs might be useful for any clan. And might have a impact on everything in strat.
And a lot more useful to know details about strat then a screen shot from a member.
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Offline Vovka

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #118 on: December 07, 2012, 11:14:07 am »
+3
One wise statement:

"inside information from the dev is a greater advantage than the script".

Overgrown by shit and accusations

Shitpost:
I agree with chadz, this discussion is clan related, not on the actual facts or the program itself.
But people seem to forget 1 thing, especial the Nords have come with a lot of accusations and made this tool a problem when its really not.
but have you thought about what it means for a clan to have Devs inside your clan ? I remember what we  got to know when cmpx was a merc.
This is more a problem then this tool. Why ?
because just now the Devs are making new stuff for Strat, i hear talk about balista and some other things that i dont know what are.
This situation might benefit a clan likeNords who got many contacts and members inside Devs admins and the followers of chadz himself.
the info they get in a early stage can be use for example to save up points so they get the new stuff +3 before anybody else. or taking decisions inside strat because of the info they got.
I think this is more of a advantage then seeing a screen every 10 min from a online clan member.
On the other side this is a necessity evil to have this game move forward.

and so in every second post on this forum)
At each word on a subject, ppls scribble 100 words accusations of cheating, abuse, etc. )

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Re: Cheating or No?
« Reply #119 on: December 07, 2012, 11:17:22 am »
+5
@Tears, in regards to the North American stuff, as I mentioned, I didn't want to comment further upon it other than the fringe comedical elements of the NA community had an healthy impact upon the EU community, not that NA didn't have the same type of BS as Europe does. It isn't like I don't read the forum :P

Regarding the armchair experience note; I have more than a decade of working experience with software both offline and online, not as an actual programmer though I can program and understand code on an average level depending on language of course, but as a project manager, leader and CEO. Everything I said in regards to creating and managing a script/addon holds 100% water.

You also cannot compare WSE2 to what this tool does. They're hugely different things. It isn't like anyone is gaining an unfair advantage using the beta client, we were talking graphical enhancements, fps improvements, all those are easily achievable without WSE2, simple install of a folder mostly. No one could attack faster, see better, hear enemies louder, and what not you can think of with WSE2, nothing at all that would provide an unfair advantage over other players. (Granted I haven't seen the newest current version yet though so dunno if cmp did something silly, but in the beta there was nothing that I would consider an unfair advantage over other players).



@Nocti, doing the right thing is not being self righteous. Nor would I ever claim to be. I do mistakes obviously, so does Nords of course (plenty of fools from us blabbering nonsense), most of this whole predicament between our clans is simply due to misunderstandings, failure to communicate (or articulate) that blew out of proportions because both of our sides were too quick to jump at conclusions instead of talking to each other properly. Everyone feels cheated, lied to, mistreated. If everyone feels like that, obviously mistakes were made.

I've plenty written blame in regards to what our "allies" have done and always said tons of times that anyone who cheats should be banned -- as they have been -- I've advocated check-ups and investigations to cheating no matter who or which clan was in question. The only problem to me, as written many times as well, is that only some have been punished where-as others went home free even though what they did was just as bad. You forget I've been on all the sides in Strategus. The only reason we stand with UIF this round is because we could trust them from the last round, where-as all our experiences previously with other alliances had been bad. Other than that we're not exactly best buddies of 99. If we're going by your standards I should just do as I do now, comment on any sort of cheating no matter what clan, because I've pretty much worked with every single one in some regard in the Strategus rounds. First it was UIF being the big bad, then bad again, then bad and later friends, and lastly friends again. Both sides utter a ton of crap about each other, there's no difference, both sides have elements that's cheated in serious manners.

All sides are sullied in Strategus, there is no good or bad, basically that's it -- queue: thank you and good night everyone!

That's why I don't bother any more, I'm done, I have been done for months after your stunts with the night time. That was the last straw, I'll give you that dopamine rush for free. Enjoy.

Also, the being serious remark, it is meant to show that someone is doing something that one only would do if it was a threat to ones livelihood, e.g. if someone took their time to go around on a chat relay, such as IRC, or sending PMs on a forum, for hours, days, trying to convince people via lies to hate others in order to receive enhanced powers in Strategus. That is being serious.

If I'm serious because I spent 20 minutes writing a couple of forum posts, errrm, suure...

I was just trying to play a game, along the rules that was set forth, but it is impossible since everyone is life or death about winning at something that doesn't even have any importance at all.



@chadz, yes you should be much more open. You might become a real boy instead of this autonomous wooden creature :P
I would have enhanced Strategus for you over a year ago had you been vocal about something such as this. We should actually be :mad: at you for not being vocal about it, so many Strat management hours that could have been put to better use!
Anyway, I come from Counter-Strike too in terms of FPS, beta 5.2 and onward. Scripts in those are hugely different than what's going on with Strategus IMO. It isn't like there's weeks/months of work involved in Counter-Strike in any way, everything is straight on, in terms of joining a server, playing, gaining something. Buy scripts for FPS games are in general accepted everywhere, for almost any game where it has been available, with good reason too.

However, in time when people started learning about scripting and what it could do, plenty of Anti-Cheat/Script initiatives sprung out, which quickly became standard for any tournament and pretty much every serious game servers that were. Protection which disabled scripts or kicked/banned people who used unauthorized scripting, such as crouch-jumping scripts, network tweaking in order to make your character harder to hit and what else of cheating people thought of at the time.

There were plenty of cases too, most notably the Finnish clan Astralis which became known as the first ones to use scripts to gain unfair advantages in the more serious parts of the community. All those were eventually squashed, and rules were put in place that kept scripting in check, made sure that there were no unfair advantages given via scripting.

If you were to regulate all that too, sure, let the creativity flow, but it would be quite the operation and time consuming task. I don't see that being an reality here?
.
IMO, either there has to be regulation or it should be disallowed.

At the very least if someone wants to make something, post about the idea so all would know and be able to read about it, tell chadz of course, and then we would have no issues at all; BUT if people don't know, and there's no informal post on the forum and a add-on/tool is discovered to be providing unfair advantages to select players, those involve should definitely be permanently banned, no exceptions. Anything else makes it a shady untrustworthy operation.



@Ginger

but have you thought about what it means for a clan to have Devs inside your clan ? I remember what we  got to know when cmpx was a merc.

People can believe whatever they want it doesn't make it true.

cmp might have provided Mercs with unfair advantages and information when he were with you, I'm sure you asked and lobbied all you could, but with the Nords we have never asked nor lobbied him to do anything that would give us an unfair advantage nor has he ever offered anything. Likewise with chadz - or anyone who have developed something for Strategus. Never one time any help, tools, scripts, any beforehand information, not even a damn warning for downtime. We've always had a 100% exact same playing field as everyone who never cheated or exploited the game mechanics.
Things don't exist simply because you believe in them, thus sayeth the almighty creature in the sky!