marly cortez
Mercurialis Inc.
RAZOR Alliance
9
   |
Posted - 2012.10.03 09:28:00 -
[1] - Quote
During a recent fleet fight we again saw the use of what has been termed the multi convo exploit among members and it gave rise to the thought to enquire as to whether this was an actual exploit or just clever use of game mechanics to gain an advantage.
After a number of text's were passed back and forth regarding the matter it would appear that CCP are aware of this matter....are not prepared to discuss it in detail with anyone.....pointing at the EULA's contents,.....are not prepared to allow those directly involved in the discussion to mention who it is they are in discussion with what this discussion contained or what the final decision handed down from the petition was.
Instead I was directed to post here so here I am and here is my take on the situation as it now stands.
An Exploit in EVE terms IMO, has always come down to a few simple facts, that a player or players can by misuse of game mechanics gain an unfair advantage over other players in game, be that in combat or market, lets stick to the terms PvP or PvE.
Historically CCP has always acted quickly to resolve these issues and close any loop-hole of this nature firmly, those involved have at times been severely dealt with while at others they have not.
In this particular instance one fleets members targeted another fleets members by sending multiple convo requests, in my own case over 100 were received, so disturbing my clients operation that it became unresponsive leading to the loss of the ship and pod, something I had no knowledge of until my clients operation returned to normal.
This tactic was not confined to one member of the fleet as in turn 18 carriers were first crashed out then destroyed resulting in the loss of the CSAA being defended.
Prior to this unexpected tactic being employed the carriers involved were not only holding there own but were indeed managing to rep the CSAA, the convo thing turned the tables quickly and within a few minutes almost all the fleet had been destroyed.
My question is and remains unanswered to my own satisfaction, is this tactic of using an unrelated section of EVE in such a manner as to render a players client unresponsive or to crash it out and Exploit under the terms of the EULA.
CCP say no, use of the convo mechanics is a normal operation of EVE so not an exploit, however I point you all to the following web page. http://community.eveonline.com/pnp/terms.asp
And in particular to the following clause included in that web page
You may not do anything that interferes with the ability of other EVE Online subscribers to enjoy the game or web site in accordance with its rules. This includes, but is not limited to, making inappropriate use of any public channels within the game and/or intentionally creating excessive latency (lag) by dumping cargo containers, corpses or other items in the game world.
I would say that dumping multiple convo requests on a player could be construed to be covered under these terms of service.
Solution: to included in the convo mechanics timer/counters that auto reject at sever level more than 5 per minute, doing this at client level will still leave that IP address being placed under sever loading even though the reject option has been invoked on that client.
|