Battles and the War
This Splinterlands season has started off hard, but I am hoping that with the release of the latest Terms of Service (ToS) it might get a bit easier. Currently, there are a lot of bot or battle helper supported accounts at the top of Modern Campion League, but the new ToS should affect this, if they adhere to the conditions.
So, what are the Terms and Conditions?
I don't speak legalese. But a funny story
I was once proofreading a contract for a client who didn't want to pay for a proper legal proofer and found a potential error in the wording, which could have meant that the buyer could have possibly been able to get out of paying under certain conditions. The contract was for €400,000,000.
Hire a professional.
But, let's have a look at the Splinterlands terms and conditions that were updated during the scheduled maintenance and required acceptance to log back into the game. These are excerpts of the restriction clauses I am interested in, but the entire thing can be found at the prior link.
Restrictions mean "not allowed" - for those unsure.
(xiii) use any automated-player, spider, algorithmic card selection/suggestion services, site search/retrieval application, or other device to retrieve or index any portion of the App or the content posted on the App, or to collect information about its users and gameplay for any unauthorized purpose;
Does this mean that for example, the Battle Helper services aren't allowed to collect and use the data? Does this mean that they might be able to have their service running, but can't add new data automatically? Or does "collect" mean manual collection also?
(xvi) utilize automated-players within the following contexts: A. Modern format ranked matches. B. Any Brawl matches. C. Tournament matches. For the purposes of this provision, an "automated-player" is defined as any software, script, or automated program that performs gameplay actions, including making card selections and submitting battles through the API, without the direct and immediate input or control of a human user.
Now, this is the one that should effectively end bots and battle helpers in Modern Ranked, Brawls and Tournaments, but I have a question. Does this actually ban battle helpers, or does it allow for battle helpers, as long as they don't automate the card selection? In my opinion, whether that process is automated or not, "card selection" is a gameplay action, as it is a compulsory act before submission (unless surrendering), so it should ban them. But I am unsure.
Having read through a few times now, I think it covers the banning of battle helpers too.
Which means, henceforth (sounds legal-y) anyone who uses a battle helper or any automated service in Modern Format, all Brawls and all Tournaments are in violation, so everyone playing in these formats right now, should be adhering to the updated rules, otherwise, there may be consequences:
Violation of these anti-automated-player provisions may result in consequences determined by the App's administrators, including but not limited to temporary or permanent suspension of user accounts, removal of game progress, or other appropriate measures. By continuing to use the App and participating in Modern format ranked matches, tournaments, or brawls, you explicitly acknowledge and agree to abide by these anti-automated-player provisions."
Back to fun?
I think I got about a season of returned enjoyment when there was a period without the battle helpers and bots. When they returned, it was more painful having had that short period of respite. However, now that the ToS are updates, I am hoping that from now on, it will become fun again and more humans will interact.
With the release of Land, perhaps those who don't want to play will have a place to put their cards, which will mx up the formats again, as there will be more "holes" in decks as people look to maximize their rewards on Land. This should affect the rental market also, which is good and bad, as I have to rent to be able to compete.
Rules or Not
While I do think that many people will adhere to the terms once they realize they have been updated, I know that when value is on offer, there are always going to be people who are going to try and intentionally break them for personal gain. Unfortunately, we don't live in a world of "good" people, we live in a world driven by incentive. And when incentive to break rules is greater than the risk or moral costs, people will break them. Because of this, there will have to be some kind of punishments delivered, otherwise it just festers, as we have seen many times before.
The ToS are not hardcoded into the game, but they are a legal code that people agree to and therefore, if they break the rules, they expose themselves to penalty. I would prefer people enjoy playing the game, rather than risk penalty for short gains, but I doubt I am going to get my preferences. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and, who is taking score and keeping records.
A New Phase
Splinterlands is entering into a new stage of its evolution with the release of Land, but it shouldn't be forgotten that it is a game too, not just an investment farm. In order for all of this to have long term value, the game has to be solid and that requires having it be fair for players, where player ability is the determining factor the majority of the time, not versions of bots. This means the game designers have to be bold and not only look to keep a handful of investors happy. However, while a small battle might have ended here, I feel that this is a war that will never be completely won.
Let's Play.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Kudos to Splintеrlands for taking a bold stеp with thеsе nеw Tеrms of Sеrvicе updatеs! It's a gamе-changеr and a stеp toward crеating a fairеr, morе еnjoyablе gaming еnvironmеnt. Lеt's lеavе thе bots bеhind and look forward to a sеason fillеd with еxciting gamеplay.😃
Do you play?
To bе honеst, I havеn't had thе chancе to try Splintеrlands yеt, but I'vе hеard somе intеrеsting things about it. What do you еnjoy most about thе gamе?
It is a bit useless commenting like this on content you know nothing about.
hahah comment farming for votes. Fucking perfect.
Yeah. It is dishonest
"Let's"
Would be able the new ToS of keeping Cribr and Cheatography at bay?
Yeah, it is more than clear that I know nothing about Splinterlands. LoL
Great development this one. Battles have been nothing but frustrating lately. It’s amazing how people are after gains over fun.
I was convinced Splinterlands is an investment and not a game based on how other where willing to go an extra mile to win at all costs.
Finally managed to get a win streak, those have been rear of late.
It makes climbing incredibly hard! Can't get streaks, but a loss will cost 36 points...
I think it is good that they are banning these things from brawls and tournaments. Those are hard enough as it is, let alone with all the bot players. I can't remember the last time I did a tournament because I sucked so bad at it.
Yeah, I haven't played in a while as I was tired of getting trounced in tournaments. And it is shameful that people have been using them in brawls anyway.
My problem with Tournaments was that they just took so long. Now that they have the anytime tournaments it is so much better, but I still don't do well in them.
I wonder how they can enforce that though is my only serious question. It sounds great and all but how will it work? Difficult to say the least.
I’m at least looking forward to eventually getting back into the game in the future. Hoping that almost 200k DEC can get me some good packs during the next release lol
Not sure. I think for a lot it will be up to the individual - however, the more invested players will likely adhere. This means that if someone/group is suspected of continuing usage, they will scrape the data and uncover it.
Hope that pack doesn't arrive too fast! Or - I hope it is released at the height of the bull market! :D
Damn man for all the gaming I have done and the vision I had for crypto/blockchain before cryptokitties were a thing, you would think I would be all over Hive games. I have either missed the bus on launch, or was confused out of it quickly like with @dcrops. Others, like https://hiveprojects.io/projects/p/crossworlds/ or Ragnarok caught my attention but either stalled or I haven't been following closely enough.
Great to see you sticking with it, probably making a great return, and seeing this towards balancing fun/skill/ROI which is not easy to do.
I was relatively late into Splinterlands considering I could have been amongst the first. It has been an interesting learning experience though and I have done it all post stroke - which was part of the reason I got into it.
I think at the moment, it is far more cost than return, but I am having a little bit of fun at least :)
There is also WOO (wrestling Organization Online) coming, and perhaps a few more things too :)
https://play.wrestlingorganizationonline.com/
Haha I was looking at WOO and wondering if it would be alright. I am a WWF fan (shows you how long ago) so I have an appreciation for it but that has been many years. I should poke my nose around and see if it is like an 8 bit atari game like so many of the other ones. ;)
I'm excited by this TOS update. I don't use BH or bots, but I have lost a fair amount of battle against them. I hope this makes ranked battles better, and more players to come back or join the game. I'm just hoping the team can monitor and check these well, so bots and BH stay out of modern. Battling against bots is usually a continuous process with the bot users constantly trying to work around the system.
I have improved my win ratio in the last 10 or 15 games since the update. Hope it continues.
That's great news. I think I've won a few more battles than usual as well.
I like the fact that they implemented the new terms. I hope the platforms that said they would stop providing the battle helpers will stop the services like they said before. The season started off extremely rough and I hope that things will be easier now that the battle helpers aren't tehre.
If they don't, they have to go underground, and that tells another story about them, doesn't it?
Yea it would but I wonder if there is a way for Splinterlands to track them down.
For a contract that high why the hell would you not hire someone that knew what they were doing x_x
We had pretty basic contracts when I was doing my thing but we were a tiny business taking pocket change in the grand scheme of things and also our client base at the time were all people that we knew so everyone made sure to do the right thing.
except for one I'm not counting because apparently we weren't the only one having issues and they mysteriously stopped being our contact and disappeared from the entire company after a few incidents
From the excerpts I read it sounds like they're trying to do what the chess site that J plays on does where they're trying to make it all about humans playing with other humans. From memory you're not allowed to use move helpers to analyse the moves and then manually input the result in. I don't know how they work out who's doing what but there have been people banned for doing it so I guess there's something at the back end somewhere that is able to analyse gameplay data and figure out who's doing what.
And yeh people can be minumentally stupid for I don't even know what reason. Like I remember middle child or sibling dearest (can't remember which now) telling me that there were people cheating at Duolingo by playing with bots. Like it's freaking Duolingo. It's gamified but still. Duolingo. What is the point XD
I ended up making them, as I didn't want to be liable. It is silly to save pennies, lose millions.
This got posted somewhere the other day - these are all draws in a row.
Isn't Duolingo a language learning app?
"I won! Can't speak a word of the language, but I won!"
That's quite an achievement.
LoL yes it is and yep pretty much, I think they were just trying to get to the top of the leaderboards.
Lately I been losing interest in splinterlands. The game is too hard for me. But if people will have to play without bots that might give a noob like me a chance to enjoy the game more.
What kinds of games do you enjoy the most?
RPG: the Witcher games and Dragon age Origins.
I read that they are trying to remove bots from Splinterlands but I read that still there are some, especially in high leagues. How can they track them down definitely and for good in your opinion?
They are trying - the first step is updating the ToS to make sure it is explicitly banned.
There are ways they can guess at it I think and then as data collects, be quite precise. Will see how it works.
I think the new updates on Splinterlands is good and it will even help to ginger players so they will be interested in playing more and more
Bots was an issue and I am glad that is in place. It is unfair that users have an unfair advantage. However, what is going to be an issue on how to track users who uses bots. It might be difficult.
Yeap definitely looking forward to the new phase with all the updates! 😊
More importantly the joy of competing in a fair environment, humans pitting against one another with their skills instead of allowing bots / battle helper to just mindlessly "mine" rewards for them in this game! 😤
This is a great change ~ I was tired of playing against optimized lineups. It's good to know now we are playing humans most likely and that even all the services have agreed to comply even bukbe. I might even start playing tournaments now which i didnt play at all before due to just bots/battle helpers dominating the top spots
A week late still, but I too am excited by the updated ToS and the new age of anti-bot measures in place to protect the vitality of the strategy between two human opponents.