Post: #8

Autoloot, Target assistant, and AFK harvesting are essentially the same situation: The human user normally interfaces with their client hardware (using their eyes on the screen and their hands on the keyboard/mouse) to control their software... but software programs like injection can be written to use those same visual cues and input devices to automate the activity. There is no way to prevent this except to have the server try and analyze the activity and heuristically decide if it is a human or a computer that is at the controls... Perhaps by measuring the speed at which the actions take place.

Too "fast"? assume its a computer... too "perfect", assume its a computer...

Of course the injection programmer simply has to add some delays, randomness, and imperfections to their algorithm and now their program looks a lot more human.

What if a player is handicapped (arthritis in their hands, or cerebral palsy makes them shake too much, etc) and therefore they need computer assisted help to play your game. Do you want to exclude those people because you want your game to only be played by specimens of humanity with a particular level of hand-eye coordination? I am curious to hear how you think that makes your game better.

Light Level is something else entirely... the server can advise the client as to the light it should use, but the client can decide (or not) to use that advice. This is because a player might be using a crummy monitor with poor gamma control etc. Do you want to prevent players from enjoying your game when their equipment is not up to your standard?

Personally I think the quality of an MMO game experience hinges on the quality of the players in the game more than the I/O limits you impose on their interface to the game.

:-)