I don't know this Captain Macro but I think I have seen someone pose as "Lieutenant Commander Macro" in Timelines before.
The CaptainMacro, who was referenced in my original posts, is a fictional name invented by me in order to make referring to this real individual easier without actually using their concrete in game name, which is something that goes against forum policy.
The Guardians of Tomorrow Protecting the Galaxy's Future from Itself
Fleet Admiral
during skirmish i'm mostly top 100 due to hard work, but i am feeling a difference this event. less hard work to keep a rank. I do think db has done something.
btw, identifying mlacro uses could be quite easy. I saw a youttube video where a user recorder his mouse movements and then played that back all over again. Which means every click is on the exact same spot every time. This alone could be used to identify repeated actions.
during skirmish i'm mostly top 100 due to hard work, but i am feeling a difference this event. less hard work to keep a rank. I do think db has done something.
btw, identifying mlacro uses could be quite easy. I saw a youttube video where a user recorder his mouse movements and then played that back all over again. Which means every click is on the exact same spot every time. This alone could be used to identify repeated actions.
I was just about to post the same thing. Suddenly, I can actually see movement on the leaderboards for me this event. Last skirmish event I would play and play and play and would only see my rank chilling around 3000, with movement after completion almost negligible. This event, I'm trying far less, yet rank in the top 2000. I may actually decide to rank in the top 1000 this event like I used to do with all the events.
I don't know this Captain Macro but I think I have seen someone pose as "Lieutenant Commander Macro" in Timelines before.
The user who won the last skirmish wasn't called Captain Macro. I will not name the specific user here but I can say that that user is still an active captain.
I'm kinda all for removing macros. Then again, the game is boring as is so I can think of many reasons for people to macro things. Some of which would produce revenue.
So I'll just list the downsides:
My favourite event, expeditions (yes, since it requires some heavy thinking to find the optimal path), ended up with me getting a medical condition which still hasn't resolved. Basically lime in my shoulder from excessive clicking. That took just TWO expedition events. When it comes to quitting the game, using a macro or NOT being able to raise your arm above your head... well. I don't play any other mobile games so the culprit was clear...
Notified DB there is a risk they could get sued. No effect. Well, less expeditions several months after that so maybe I wasn't the only one telling them it was a BAD way to do things .
Outsourced the easy normal phase of expeditions to my 5 year old. He could handle it for two events then got bored. My other kid got interested and spent all my Dilithium on Dabo. NOT so good, took me a while to figure out why I got all these great ships so early in the game. Not even a 5 star crew before running out of (a lot of) Dilithium (read = all I got from VIP bying). Figures.
When we got the first macro kill attempt... since I keep the game open in my mobile all the time, the extra clicking just made me mad. No, I haven't been playing for 2h59min, why do you tell me I'm playing too much?
Reason enough to never to support the game with another 10e buy again. I usually do that when the game has me playing for more than a month. DB got more than any other mobile game. Never been doing 100e buys though.
Once the videos got added everywhere, sure, I'll click, it will give DB some revenue and maybe add to the game experience later.
Been supporting two fleets over the years, figuring out strategies, keeping a forum and such.
I'm kinda guessing some of the people that enjoy figuring out the best way to do things, will leave if they cannot optimize to the hilt. That means a lot of knowledge disappears. Not so much video clicking .
Maybe there will be a lot of new players paying happily through their nose? Doubt it. Maybe one new whale is worth it.
Or maybe DB is trying anything just because revenue has slumped? Eventually every mobile game dies, no matter how good. Maybe STT has less than a year left?
There would be dozens of ways to improve events. No top cost for participating has been mentioned elsewhere. Not much use of macros then.
For me, personally... Having all crew up to 3 stars done and all but 10 of the 4 star immortalized or in progress... avoiding 5 star new crew like the plague... I'd probably enjoy designing the world's best macro . Heck, I could even get booted and have proof the medical condition can be used to sue . Just kidding, I don't live in the US and have little aspiration to be an xxxhole.
As it is now, providing a service to other players is fun, but only if I bother to play.
Considering how active I was one the previous forum and how much I gave strategy advice, maybe it was about time after 12 or 18 months since the new forum (?) to write once. Not sure I want to pop in again. I'll probably just get slammed for disagreeing.
BTW, the forum login/signup is totally flawed. I had to facebook in as a guest and cannot change my username even as instructed. My old forum account (from the previous forum) apparently makes things impossible. No forgot password or reactivate fixes things.
Tried a few times to get in after the forum change, never made it. And I work with IT so... it has to be pretty messed up for me to say sod it.
btw, identifying mlacro uses could be quite easy. I saw a youttube video where a user recorder his mouse movements and then played that back all over again. Which means every click is on the exact same spot every time. This alone could be used to identify repeated actions.
after three years they are "unable" to make an in-game fleet leaderboard for events....
The faith in DB's technical abilities for detection is interestingly placed.
The onus should be on DB to make the event more engaging instead of a straight time sink, and things like variability of battles and needed strategy to make macroing unrealistic. They can disable the event type until such time these changes can be made (been done before), and the community hypocritically witch hunting removing the burden of correction from DB is further destructive to a game experiencing wide spread burn out issues.
I'm kinda all for removing macros. Then again, the game is boring as is so I can think of many reasons for people to macro things. Some of which would produce revenue.
So I'll just list the downsides:
My favourite event, expeditions (yes, since it requires some heavy thinking to find the optimal path), ended up with me getting a medical condition which still hasn't resolved. Basically lime in my shoulder from excessive clicking. That took just TWO expedition events. When it comes to quitting the game, using a macro or NOT being able to raise your arm above your head... well. I don't play any other mobile games so the culprit was clear...
Notified DB there is a risk they could get sued. No effect. Well, less expeditions several months after that so maybe I wasn't the only one telling them it was a BAD way to do things .
Outsourced the easy normal phase of expeditions to my 5 year old. He could handle it for two events then got bored. My other kid got interested and spent all my Dilithium on Dabo. NOT so good, took me a while to figure out why I got all these great ships so early in the game. Not even a 5 star crew before running out of (a lot of) Dilithium (read = all I got from VIP bying). Figures.
When we got the first macro kill attempt... since I keep the game open in my mobile all the time, the extra clicking just made me mad. No, I haven't been playing for 2h59min, why do you tell me I'm playing too much?
Reason enough to never to support the game with another 10e buy again. I usually do that when the game has me playing for more than a month. DB got more than any other mobile game. Never been doing 100e buys though.
Once the videos got added everywhere, sure, I'll click, it will give DB some revenue and maybe add to the game experience later.
Been supporting two fleets over the years, figuring out strategies, keeping a forum and such.
I'm kinda guessing some of the people that enjoy figuring out the best way to do things, will leave if they cannot optimize to the hilt. That means a lot of knowledge disappears. Not so much video clicking .
Maybe there will be a lot of new players paying happily through their nose? Doubt it. Maybe one new whale is worth it.
Or maybe DB is trying anything just because revenue has slumped? Eventually every mobile game dies, no matter how good. Maybe STT has less than a year left?
There would be dozens of ways to improve events. No top cost for participating has been mentioned elsewhere. Not much use of macros then.
For me, personally... Having all crew up to 3 stars done and all but 10 of the 4 star immortalized or in progress... avoiding 5 star new crew like the plague... I'd probably enjoy designing the world's best macro . Heck, I could even get booted and have proof the medical condition can be used to sue . Just kidding, I don't live in the US and have little aspiration to be an xxxhole.
As it is now, providing a service to other players is fun, but only if I bother to play.
Considering how active I was one the previous forum and how much I gave strategy advice, maybe it was about time after 12 or 18 months since the new forum (?) to write once. Not sure I want to pop in again. I'll probably just get slammed for disagreeing.
BTW, the forum login/signup is totally flawed. I had to facebook in as a guest and cannot change my username even as instructed. My old forum account (from the previous forum) apparently makes things impossible. No forgot password or reactivate fixes things.
Tried a few times to get in after the forum change, never made it. And I work with IT so... it has to be pretty messed up for me to say sod it.
Let's see if I missed anything: you mention twice that you are considering filing a lawsuit because you played a video game too much, you called Americans "xxxholes", you insulted new players, and admitted publicly that you have your kids play the game for you...
...I know how I want this sentence to end in my head, but I don't want to get smashed with the ban hammer so I'll just let this go.
With regard to this skirmish event and macros, this event has been a hoot! I will echo the sentiments of others by reporting that for the first time in many skirmishes, real honest effort seems to be rewarded; I've been holding steady in the 1.6K area since Friday, and while I've been steadily skirmishing and acquiring Intel, I've never felt like it was hopeless to keep going like I usually do. I dare say this movement has really had a tremendously positive impact on the game, and I thank GoTGabe for spearheading this thread and DB for listening.
This has been an issue for some time, it gets brought up and quietly buried, much like the investigation to mutiny aboard the USS Pegasus.
DB needs to act harshly and swiftly to ban macro users and let us know that it happened. Cheating HAS taken place and event rankings have been tainted by it. How many hard working players doing it the right way have been knocked out of the top 1K because of macro use or cheating?
There’s larger issues at play here, like the core mechanics behind the pay-to-win model. I certainly participate in that model and realize its importance in the evolution of gaming. Doesn’t mean I agree with it. I digress and would like to see more notifcations of punishment for cheating.
I play a lot of Rainbow Six Siege and recently UbiSoft took some hard stances on boosting and cheating. It gave ne some confidence in the integrity of the game and I felt like something was being done. Was it everything that should be done? No, but it was a least something.
I’m confused here what are you asking? Do you want to appeal directly to those using macros or want DB to do something about it?
1. Either DB can’t track an account using macros (if it’s the case it’s a free for all)
2. DB know about who’s using macros but are reluctant given the vip level on accounts
3. They don’t care
Every other mobile game if you use exploits or macros your perma banned now let’s look at DB’s handling of exploits like the Free DYS offer how many were perma/Temp banned?
It’s a well put together thread op sadly the time invested in it will lead nowhere.
I’m confused here what are you asking? Do you want to appeal directly to those using macros or want DB to do something about it?
1. Either DB can’t track an account using macros (if it’s the case it’s a free for all)
2. DB know about who’s using macros but are reluctant given the vip level on accounts
3. They don’t care
Every other mobile game if you use exploits or macros your perma banned now let’s look at DB’s handling of exploits like the Free DYS offer how many were perma/Temp banned?
It’s a well put together thread op sadly the time invested in it will lead nowhere.
The free DYS while it could have been deliberate could also have been accidental. Macros are never accidental.
I’m confused here what are you asking? Do you want to appeal directly to those using macros or want DB to do something about it?
1. Either DB can’t track an account using macros (if it’s the case it’s a free for all)
2. DB know about who’s using macros but are reluctant given the vip level on accounts
3. They don’t care
Every other mobile game if you use exploits or macros your perma banned now let’s look at DB’s handling of exploits like the Free DYS offer how many were perma/Temp banned?
It’s a well put together thread op sadly the time invested in it will lead nowhere.
The free DYS while it could have been deliberate could also have been accidental. Macros are never accidental.
"Free DYS" is a bit of a misnomer. "Deeply Discounted DYS" is more accurate.
Just wanted to update the community on a major development which I have been made aware of and that impacts this campaign.
On October 24th , one day prior to the Skirmish Event, DB released this statement, both in game and on the forum:
Greetings, Captains,
We wanted to give you an update on how things are progressing regarding our efforts to curb macro usage in STAR TREK TIMELINES.
We have created new iterations and adjustments to the pop up system that you are already familiar with. These will require more active input from players. These changes are expected to go live mid-November with the release of our new client.
We are also implementing various monitoring tools that will allow us to identify players with suspicious play patterns during events.
We are taking this opportunity to remind everyone that automating game actions in any way is not allowed under our Terms of Service. Starting this week, players identified as using such methods to play the game will be banned.
The STAR TREK TIMELINES Team
Although this message was a significant gesture on DB's part, many people, myself included, believed it was perhaps just an idle threat to simply deter players from using macros in the Event while they continued to work on concrete measures to resolve and/or mitigate macro use. It would seem we were wrong about that.
DB has yet to provide any general feedback to the community on what actions were taken in the last Skirmish Event as I had suggested in this thread:
My only question about today's macro announcement is: will the community get any feedback on what actions were taken from the previous Event?
I know releasing the names of the players who were banned is not possible due to privacy issues but it would be beneficial if we could see the statistics for these measures. For example, what percentage of players were banned or how many in the top 100 were using a macro compared to the top 1000 or 5000. I believe this would go a long way to showing the community that actions are indeed being taken.
It is still my belief that disclosing this general statistical information would be helpful, at least for the first few Events, otherwise the community is left wondering if anything was truly done.
Fortunately, I have come into possession of a screenshot that proves DB did in fact take action against macro users in the last Skirmish Event.
Before I post it, I wanted to thank the individual who provided me this picture. They could have simply kept it to themselves but instead not only chose to give it to me but also permit me to share it with the community. I am very grateful to this person and, for obvious reasons, will not be divulging their name, nor that of the actual macro user, nor the Fleet they belong to.
From what I was told, this message was sent to the player during the Event so that 8 hour ban affected their final ranking.
Granted, 8 hours is simply a slap on the wrist. In my opinion, a ban for the entirety of the Event would have been more appropriate for a first offense. This message nevertheless demonstrates that DB was in fact monitoring the Event, was able to detect macro use and took swift action to penalize the offender. A fact that most definitely should not be overlooked and without doubt deserves praise. Very impressive DB.
Some of the more skeptical members of this community may be wondering if DB actually got it right and temporarily banned a player who was indeed using a macro. I can affirm this to be true since the screenshot came from said player who confirmed to their Fleet that they had been using a macro. The player in question has since stopped playing the game.
Based on this evidence that DB is genuinely doing what they can to impede, or at the very least mitigate, macro use, I am calling an end to the #STOPMACROS campaign.
I don't know how much, if any, affect this simple campaign had on DB's actions but, if nothing else, we have proven to DB and, more importantly, to ourselves, that this community can coalesce civilly and amicably when fighting for a just cause. Very Trek like if you ask me. Despite this being a simple game, I would like to believe that Gene Rodenberry would be pleased to see Trek values and ideals still being maintained in the 21st Century.
Thank you to all those who publicly showed their support for this campaign. Not only with your kind words posted in this thread, but by also carrying the #STOPMACROS tag. Your cooperation in this matter was tremendous and, to be completely honest, most humbling. I am truly grateful to all of you.
Thank you as well to those who contacted me privately to show their approval or those who helped out behind the scenes sort of speak. It was very much appreciated.
I'd also like to publicly thank the members of my Fleet. I am extremely fortunate to be a part of such an extraordinary group. Without them this game wouldn't be half as fun.
Finally, I am grateful to DB for taking the necessary measures to help resolve this macro issue. It may not be possible to completely eliminate macro use from the game but it is good to know that DB is doing what they can do provide a fair and even playing field for their players. Thank you DB.
Thanks again for standing together, speaking together and acting together .... the Star Trek way.
The Guardians of Tomorrow Protecting the Galaxy's Future from Itself
Fleet Admiral
Thanks so much Gabe and everyone who's put effort! It might be "just" a game but sets an example towards making the world a more fair place.
While responsibility lies with DB making a macroable game and then dealing with it after (thanks DB for taking action!), I don't think there are ever grounds to cheat one another.
The focus on fairness and cultural evolution are the main draws for me in Trek. That hasn't always been obvious here but it's around. I expected to be called a cheater but didn't expect to be told I should have cheated. People will people wherever we are, but a thread & effort like this restores confidence in Trek community.
Ok. It looks like a scary message but it's nothing more. 8 hour ban is a joke. It's a long night sleep. Sure, it was the first offense but let's not forget that the user did cheat with intention, you don't accidentally script and run a macro in an event even after you have been warned with an in game message that the company will start banning users who are caught cheating in the events, in this case the skirmish event. Guys, even backwards forums slap you with a harsher punishment than 8 hour bans for minor offenses like swearing or something like that.
It's a slap on the wrist, but it also shows DB can detect it. So that user likely was not going to use a macro again for the event. The question is, will an 8 hour ban be enough to deter other people from attempting to beat the macro detector.
It's a slap on the wrist, but it also shows DB can detect it. So that user likely was not going to use a macro again for the event. The question is, will an 8 hour ban be enough to deter other people from attempting to beat the macro detector.
I'm thinking they may have made the ban only 8 hours just in case there was an error in their detection process and the player in question wasn't actually macroing. For a 2nd offense, it's a little harder to claim a mistake was made, so I expect the penalties get more severe — probably with a 3rd strike being a perma-ban.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing. ~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
It's a slap on the wrist, but it also shows DB can detect it. So that user likely was not going to use a macro again for the event. The question is, will an 8 hour ban be enough to deter other people from attempting to beat the macro detector.
I'm thinking they may have made the ban only 8 hours just in case there was an error in their detection process and the player in question wasn't actually macroing. For a 2nd offense, it's a little harder to claim a mistake was made, so I expect the penalties get more severe — probably with a 3rd strike being a perma-ban.
I agree. People are very focused on the ban part and seem to have missed the "first offence" part. I assure that would certainly get my attention!
It does say "first offense" so it's possible subsequent bans are of a longer duration, perhaps even permanent. It let's players using macros know that they aren't as sneaky as they thought and gives them a chance to change their behavior before being banned permanently. I think it's mostly fair. At the very least, it's a huge improvement over no actions taken at all.
TL:DR same whining about DB to do some magical macro stopping button instead of fixing the inherently faulty event type... Let's be honest that everyone likes it being broken due to the massive payout that you get from an event like this. But this shity event type is to much of a drain on time for anyone willing to get below 1k , which is not the case with any other event , not even expeditions or Galaxy events. No one is forcing you to run only 3h shuttles and wake up at night you can place well in factions even with those. Skirmishes are to repetitive and boring , there is a reason many people don't play more then 5 arena games a day, increasing both cost and payout of skirmish missions by at least a factor of 10 should be a good start. You will never get people to stop automating boring crap, or choosing the easier way out. If you could then humanity whould still be in the trees and not using tools.
Comments
The CaptainMacro, who was referenced in my original posts, is a fictional name invented by me in order to make referring to this real individual easier without actually using their concrete in game name, which is something that goes against forum policy.
Protecting the Galaxy's Future from Itself
Fleet Admiral
For more info on us, check our wiki page:
https://sttwiki.org/wiki/Fleet_Guardians_of_Tomorrow
GoT Bot server: https://discord.gg/R8QzpjW
All are welcome to join and use the Bot.
btw, identifying mlacro uses could be quite easy. I saw a youttube video where a user recorder his mouse movements and then played that back all over again. Which means every click is on the exact same spot every time. This alone could be used to identify repeated actions.
I was just about to post the same thing. Suddenly, I can actually see movement on the leaderboards for me this event. Last skirmish event I would play and play and play and would only see my rank chilling around 3000, with movement after completion almost negligible. This event, I'm trying far less, yet rank in the top 2000. I may actually decide to rank in the top 1000 this event like I used to do with all the events.
The user who won the last skirmish wasn't called Captain Macro. I will not name the specific user here but I can say that that user is still an active captain.
I'm kinda all for removing macros. Then again, the game is boring as is so I can think of many reasons for people to macro things. Some of which would produce revenue.
So I'll just list the downsides:
My favourite event, expeditions (yes, since it requires some heavy thinking to find the optimal path), ended up with me getting a medical condition which still hasn't resolved. Basically lime in my shoulder from excessive clicking. That took just TWO expedition events. When it comes to quitting the game, using a macro or NOT being able to raise your arm above your head... well. I don't play any other mobile games so the culprit was clear...
Notified DB there is a risk they could get sued. No effect. Well, less expeditions several months after that so maybe I wasn't the only one telling them it was a BAD way to do things
Outsourced the easy normal phase of expeditions to my 5 year old. He could handle it for two events then got bored. My other kid got interested and spent all my Dilithium on Dabo. NOT so good, took me a while to figure out why I got all these great ships so early in the game. Not even a 5 star crew before running out of (a lot of) Dilithium (read = all I got from VIP bying). Figures.
When we got the first macro kill attempt... since I keep the game open in my mobile all the time, the extra clicking just made me mad. No, I haven't been playing for 2h59min, why do you tell me I'm playing too much?
Reason enough to never to support the game with another 10e buy again. I usually do that when the game has me playing for more than a month. DB got more than any other mobile game. Never been doing 100e buys though.
Once the videos got added everywhere, sure, I'll click, it will give DB some revenue and maybe add to the game experience later.
Been supporting two fleets over the years, figuring out strategies, keeping a forum and such.
I'm kinda guessing some of the people that enjoy figuring out the best way to do things, will leave if they cannot optimize to the hilt. That means a lot of knowledge disappears. Not so much video clicking
Maybe there will be a lot of new players paying happily through their nose? Doubt it. Maybe one new whale is worth it.
Or maybe DB is trying anything just because revenue has slumped? Eventually every mobile game dies, no matter how good. Maybe STT has less than a year left?
There would be dozens of ways to improve events. No top cost for participating has been mentioned elsewhere. Not much use of macros then.
For me, personally... Having all crew up to 3 stars done and all but 10 of the 4 star immortalized or in progress... avoiding 5 star new crew like the plague... I'd probably enjoy designing the world's best macro
As it is now, providing a service to other players is fun, but only if I bother to play.
Considering how active I was one the previous forum and how much I gave strategy advice, maybe it was about time after 12 or 18 months since the new forum (?) to write once. Not sure I want to pop in again. I'll probably just get slammed for disagreeing.
BTW, the forum login/signup is totally flawed. I had to facebook in as a guest and cannot change my username even as instructed. My old forum account (from the previous forum) apparently makes things impossible. No forgot password or reactivate fixes things.
Tried a few times to get in after the forum change, never made it. And I work with IT so... it has to be pretty messed up for me to say sod it.
after three years they are "unable" to make an in-game fleet leaderboard for events....
The faith in DB's technical abilities for detection is interestingly placed.
The onus should be on DB to make the event more engaging instead of a straight time sink, and things like variability of battles and needed strategy to make macroing unrealistic. They can disable the event type until such time these changes can be made (been done before), and the community hypocritically witch hunting removing the burden of correction from DB is further destructive to a game experiencing wide spread burn out issues.
this was pulled around 12pm eastern US time
Second Star to the Right - Join Today!
So this is how it looks when there isn't a macro winning the event. Just a small difference...
Let's see if I missed anything: you mention twice that you are considering filing a lawsuit because you played a video game too much, you called Americans "xxxholes", you insulted new players, and admitted publicly that you have your kids play the game for you...
...I know how I want this sentence to end in my head, but I don't want to get smashed with the ban hammer so I'll just let this go.
With regard to this skirmish event and macros, this event has been a hoot! I will echo the sentiments of others by reporting that for the first time in many skirmishes, real honest effort seems to be rewarded; I've been holding steady in the 1.6K area since Friday, and while I've been steadily skirmishing and acquiring Intel, I've never felt like it was hopeless to keep going like I usually do. I dare say this movement has really had a tremendously positive impact on the game, and I thank GoTGabe for spearheading this thread and DB for listening.
DB needs to act harshly and swiftly to ban macro users and let us know that it happened. Cheating HAS taken place and event rankings have been tainted by it. How many hard working players doing it the right way have been knocked out of the top 1K because of macro use or cheating?
There’s larger issues at play here, like the core mechanics behind the pay-to-win model. I certainly participate in that model and realize its importance in the evolution of gaming. Doesn’t mean I agree with it. I digress and would like to see more notifcations of punishment for cheating.
I play a lot of Rainbow Six Siege and recently UbiSoft took some hard stances on boosting and cheating. It gave ne some confidence in the integrity of the game and I felt like something was being done. Was it everything that should be done? No, but it was a least something.
1. Either DB can’t track an account using macros (if it’s the case it’s a free for all)
2. DB know about who’s using macros but are reluctant given the vip level on accounts
3. They don’t care
Every other mobile game if you use exploits or macros your perma banned now let’s look at DB’s handling of exploits like the Free DYS offer how many were perma/Temp banned?
It’s a well put together thread op sadly the time invested in it will lead nowhere.
The free DYS while it could have been deliberate could also have been accidental. Macros are never accidental.
"Free DYS" is a bit of a misnomer. "Deeply Discounted DYS" is more accurate.
Just wanted to update the community on a major development which I have been made aware of and that impacts this campaign.
On October 24th , one day prior to the Skirmish Event, DB released this statement, both in game and on the forum:
Although this message was a significant gesture on DB's part, many people, myself included, believed it was perhaps just an idle threat to simply deter players from using macros in the Event while they continued to work on concrete measures to resolve and/or mitigate macro use. It would seem we were wrong about that.
DB has yet to provide any general feedback to the community on what actions were taken in the last Skirmish Event as I had suggested in this thread:
It is still my belief that disclosing this general statistical information would be helpful, at least for the first few Events, otherwise the community is left wondering if anything was truly done.
Fortunately, I have come into possession of a screenshot that proves DB did in fact take action against macro users in the last Skirmish Event.
Before I post it, I wanted to thank the individual who provided me this picture. They could have simply kept it to themselves but instead not only chose to give it to me but also permit me to share it with the community. I am very grateful to this person and, for obvious reasons, will not be divulging their name, nor that of the actual macro user, nor the Fleet they belong to.
From what I was told, this message was sent to the player during the Event so that 8 hour ban affected their final ranking.
Granted, 8 hours is simply a slap on the wrist. In my opinion, a ban for the entirety of the Event would have been more appropriate for a first offense. This message nevertheless demonstrates that DB was in fact monitoring the Event, was able to detect macro use and took swift action to penalize the offender. A fact that most definitely should not be overlooked and without doubt deserves praise. Very impressive DB.
Some of the more skeptical members of this community may be wondering if DB actually got it right and temporarily banned a player who was indeed using a macro. I can affirm this to be true since the screenshot came from said player who confirmed to their Fleet that they had been using a macro. The player in question has since stopped playing the game.
Based on this evidence that DB is genuinely doing what they can to impede, or at the very least mitigate, macro use, I am calling an end to the #STOPMACROS campaign.
I don't know how much, if any, affect this simple campaign had on DB's actions but, if nothing else, we have proven to DB and, more importantly, to ourselves, that this community can coalesce civilly and amicably when fighting for a just cause. Very Trek like if you ask me. Despite this being a simple game, I would like to believe that Gene Rodenberry would be pleased to see Trek values and ideals still being maintained in the 21st Century.
Thank you to all those who publicly showed their support for this campaign. Not only with your kind words posted in this thread, but by also carrying the #STOPMACROS tag. Your cooperation in this matter was tremendous and, to be completely honest, most humbling. I am truly grateful to all of you.
Thank you as well to those who contacted me privately to show their approval or those who helped out behind the scenes sort of speak. It was very much appreciated.
I'd also like to publicly thank the members of my Fleet. I am extremely fortunate to be a part of such an extraordinary group. Without them this game wouldn't be half as fun.
Finally, I am grateful to DB for taking the necessary measures to help resolve this macro issue. It may not be possible to completely eliminate macro use from the game but it is good to know that DB is doing what they can do provide a fair and even playing field for their players. Thank you DB.
Thanks again for standing together, speaking together and acting together .... the Star Trek way.
Protecting the Galaxy's Future from Itself
Fleet Admiral
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While responsibility lies with DB making a macroable game and then dealing with it after (thanks DB for taking action!), I don't think there are ever grounds to cheat one another.
The focus on fairness and cultural evolution are the main draws for me in Trek. That hasn't always been obvious here but it's around. I expected to be called a cheater but didn't expect to be told I should have cheated. People will people wherever we are, but a thread & effort like this restores confidence in Trek community.
~· Fly with the Subspace Eddies! ·~
I'm thinking they may have made the ban only 8 hours just in case there was an error in their detection process and the player in question wasn't actually macroing. For a 2nd offense, it's a little harder to claim a mistake was made, so I expect the penalties get more severe — probably with a 3rd strike being a perma-ban.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
I agree. People are very focused on the ban part and seem to have missed the "first offence" part. I assure that would certainly get my attention!
That message certainly scared me, I was varying my tapping and taking extra bathroom breaks to be like