Hello, everyone; I have two questions regarding the intention of the Rules of Conduct with respect to third-party tools. I have no idea whether this is the correct sub-forum for either of them, but after checking the list, this one seems like the closest match to me.
First question: There routinely are exchanges like so in the game:
Alice: anything up?
Bob: champ something-or-other is up [Whatever Waypoint]
What if Bob, after checking some list of active events (based on the A’Net server API), copy-and-pasted a pre-made message (i.e. the “champ something-or-other is up [&weird-base64]” part) into the chat? Rule 20 states that “You may not use any third-party program […] in order to automate gameplay functions, including […] chatting”, but manually alt+tabbing over to the list, ctrl+c’ing the message, alt-tabbing back to the game and enter-ctrl+v-enter’ing the message is hardly full automation, is it?
- I know they say “one button, one action”, but what counts as an action here? Is inserting a single character into the text field really an action in itsself? The very fact that ctrl+v is even supported in the chat seems to indicate otherwise…
- You’re not supposed to gain any advantage; in particular, nothing allowing you to do things “faster or better” than anyone not using the program in question. I suppose one could argue that pasting the message is faster than typing it, but the “program in question”, here really is Windows itsself (allowing the copying of text) and everyone is using that, right?
- I suspect the “no automating chatting” rule is intended to prevent spam/scam bots from littering the chat with unsolicited/malicious messages, but something like the above is neither unsolicited nor malicious, is it? I realize making exceptions to the rules cannot possibly be expected, but due investigation is required before dispensing punishment anyway (right?), so it’s really merely a matter of not banning people when it is obvious that no harm or unfairness was intended…
In summary: Is someone copy-and-pasting such a message liable to get banned or not? IMHO, all reason would suggest that they are not.
Second question: Rule 19 states that “you will not post or distribute any utilities, […] or other software tools related to Guild Wars 2 without the express written permission of ArenaNet or NCsoft.” Looking at the “List of apps/websites using the API” thread in the “API development” subforum reveals a huge list of people that do distribute their own tools, which clearly “relate to GW2”. Am I to understand that all of these authors are in possession of a physical piece of paper proving that A’Net allows them to do so? Somehow, I seriously doubt that. As such, am I correct to assume that rule 19 is intended as a “no endorsement” kind of thing to prevent people from trying to make money off of A’Net/NCsoft trademarks? That is, if I were to write a utility for use with GW2, would I really need to apply for such a slip of paper just to make it available for public download? That would seem extremely counter-productive, if you don’t mind me saying.
Kind regards,
UncleSniper