![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thistlechaserNote: This is only my opinion. I am telling no one what to do, and at the very most I make one suggestion at the end of this post. It's your life, it's your computer, it's your game. Play it as you will. This, however, is my opinion on things.
I don't like Windower programs, and I'm glad S-E is making an effort to shut them down. I don't use one, and I don't intend to (the "hypocritical" part of the subject line is because I do use a third party screenshot tool).
"But this is my game! My computer! I can use a windower if I like! I own the game! I should be able to decide!" Wrong. When you signed up for the game, you agreed to follow the ToS. You didn't agree to follow just the parts of the ToS that you liked. Don't like that? Then stop playing the game. No one tricked you, they didn't lure you in, get hooked on the game, then sprung the ToS on you -- you were supposed to read it before you signed on for the first time. (I know, I know: Who reads those things? But that's not the point. You agreed to follow the rules, no matter if you read them or not. No matter if you like them or not.)
Posted elsewhere on LJ was a link to screenshots of a GM banning someone for using the Windower. My first reaction? "Good!"
People say "But why aren't they going after X, Y, or Z? Why are they going after the windower?", but how do you know they aren't? Unless you work for S-E, you don't know what efforts they're making against whatever other problems are going on. Just because you saw one X or Y or Z happening, does not mean that nothing is being done to try to stop that, too.
And here's the one suggestion I offer to everyone reading this: STOP TALKING ABOUT THE WINDOWER ON-GAME! I mean sheesh, every single thing you input into the game is logged. The logs are saved. I've seen them. If you say "Oh boy, I'm using a windower and it's great!" you have admitted that you are breaking the ToS, which your account can be terminated for. It just utterly boggles me how openly people are talking about this.
You all are my friends, and it would make me very sad to see you vanish for something that's so preventable. "Oh, S-E won't ban people for this! There are too many people doing it!" Again: You do not (cannot!) know that. You cannot be certain. If you insist upon cheating (which it is, no matter how much you want to say otherwise), then at least please do not admit to it on-game.
I'm strongly tempted to turn comments off on this post, because I know the majority (or all) of my FFXI-playing friends list will strongly disagree with it, but instead I'll leave them on. Go ahead and flame/argue/mock me if you like.
Edit for non-players: I'm sorry, usually I try to define game-slang for you all, but I see by the replies that this time I dropped the ball. Quoting my explanation from comments, this is what a Windower is:
When FFXI runs, it demands full-screen. If you alt-tab to switch between windows, the whole game crashes. This is highly annoying and rude, especially for those of us who only have one PC online. The Windower counters that -- it lets the game run in a window. This permits you do to harmless things (like looking up info), but the problem is it also makes it way too easy for people to cheat (run scripts or bots in the background, hack stuff, etc).
With the scripts currently out there, the Windower now has the potential to ruin the game for all honest players (no exaggeration there).
Honest people can use the Windower in an honest way (sort of, it would still break the ToS, even if they don't cheat with it), but there are way too many dishonest people out there who will use it for bad things.
Edit2: I'm leaving work now, so any replies will be answered tomorrow. Please don't spam me too badly, A and D. :P
I don't like Windower programs, and I'm glad S-E is making an effort to shut them down. I don't use one, and I don't intend to (the "hypocritical" part of the subject line is because I do use a third party screenshot tool).
"But this is my game! My computer! I can use a windower if I like! I own the game! I should be able to decide!" Wrong. When you signed up for the game, you agreed to follow the ToS. You didn't agree to follow just the parts of the ToS that you liked. Don't like that? Then stop playing the game. No one tricked you, they didn't lure you in, get hooked on the game, then sprung the ToS on you -- you were supposed to read it before you signed on for the first time. (I know, I know: Who reads those things? But that's not the point. You agreed to follow the rules, no matter if you read them or not. No matter if you like them or not.)
Posted elsewhere on LJ was a link to screenshots of a GM banning someone for using the Windower. My first reaction? "Good!"
People say "But why aren't they going after X, Y, or Z? Why are they going after the windower?", but how do you know they aren't? Unless you work for S-E, you don't know what efforts they're making against whatever other problems are going on. Just because you saw one X or Y or Z happening, does not mean that nothing is being done to try to stop that, too.
And here's the one suggestion I offer to everyone reading this: STOP TALKING ABOUT THE WINDOWER ON-GAME! I mean sheesh, every single thing you input into the game is logged. The logs are saved. I've seen them. If you say "Oh boy, I'm using a windower and it's great!" you have admitted that you are breaking the ToS, which your account can be terminated for. It just utterly boggles me how openly people are talking about this.
You all are my friends, and it would make me very sad to see you vanish for something that's so preventable. "Oh, S-E won't ban people for this! There are too many people doing it!" Again: You do not (cannot!) know that. You cannot be certain. If you insist upon cheating (which it is, no matter how much you want to say otherwise), then at least please do not admit to it on-game.
I'm strongly tempted to turn comments off on this post, because I know the majority (or all) of my FFXI-playing friends list will strongly disagree with it, but instead I'll leave them on. Go ahead and flame/argue/mock me if you like.
Edit for non-players: I'm sorry, usually I try to define game-slang for you all, but I see by the replies that this time I dropped the ball. Quoting my explanation from comments, this is what a Windower is:
When FFXI runs, it demands full-screen. If you alt-tab to switch between windows, the whole game crashes. This is highly annoying and rude, especially for those of us who only have one PC online. The Windower counters that -- it lets the game run in a window. This permits you do to harmless things (like looking up info), but the problem is it also makes it way too easy for people to cheat (run scripts or bots in the background, hack stuff, etc).
With the scripts currently out there, the Windower now has the potential to ruin the game for all honest players (no exaggeration there).
Honest people can use the Windower in an honest way (sort of, it would still break the ToS, even if they don't cheat with it), but there are way too many dishonest people out there who will use it for bad things.
Edit2: I'm leaving work now, so any replies will be answered tomorrow. Please don't spam me too badly, A and D. :P
