Polices Part 7: Botting

Help Policies7

You are expected to be at-the-keyboard while actively playing Aardwolf.
Any method which provides your character with meaningful gains, without any 
direct interaction from you, is illegal.  This is true even if you're at
the keyboard and sitting in another window as your character is busy,
whether solo or part of a group (leader or follower).

The most common instances of this are complex scripts which can find and
automatically kill mobs, complete quests, or the like.  This is the most
common reference for 'botting'.  However, here are some other examples.

* Automatically 'get <item/gold>'/'kill <enemy>' on area repop.
* Kill monster, automatically find next monster on death & attack.
* Heal when HP drops to given percent/value and let aggressive mobs attack.
* Buy item, use enchant spells, identify, keep/sell good items, drop bad.
* Create or enchant items repeatedly for high-stat rewards.
* Read quest, gquest, and/or campaign information to automatically go to
  areas, find and kill mob, and quest complete (for quests).
* Automatically invite people into your/spouse's manor.
* Provide a method of remote control (door to groupie on gtell, cast a
  spellup spell, reunion to spouse, invite into manor on say, etc.).

If you are unsure of whether or not triggers you have made would be
considered botting, ask yourself, "If I suddenly had to leave the screen in
an emergency, would the triggers that I have running leave me gaining
something and unable to respond?"  If the answer to that question is yes,
you should turn them off. 

Another good guideline is the ability to respond to tells promptly.  If you
have to wait for a series of triggers to finish, or you would not respond
to a tell because you don't see it or are afk, it would be considered
botting.  If you're still unsure, feel free to ask an Imm.

Nobody has a problem with triggers that just help you play the game,
re-wield after a disarm, report your tracked stats, or the like.  These
will all stop once your current fight has stopped, and you will not gain
experience.  If, on the other hand, you automatically cast heal when you
are at 25% of max hp and suddenly go AFK in a room where aggressive mobs
attack you, you are botting.

The view on practicing skills/spells has changed and does not constitute
botting to simply practice these to 100%.  However, the following rules
must also be followed regarding this practice:

* You cannot be casting the spells on anyone but yourself.
* Do not spam a room or the MUD (via says, dying due to casting combat
  spells on self, or using a public non-silentspell room).
* You may not profit from or retain items made/enhanced via enchantment or
  creation spells (e.g., selling/using hallowed lights or spiritual armor).
* Do not prevent others from playing the game (fighting an immune mob which
  is a quest/campaign/gquest mob for another player).

You will be punished accordingly if found breaking these rules.  Once
again, you cannot "accidentally" create a bot. It requires talent and work,
or at least a conscious effort to go download one.  Bots are being removed
on sight and being high level is no excuse.  You do not need to freak out
about whether your borderline trigger will get you nuked.  If a trigger is
borderline inappropriate, you will be told first with no other
consequences- unless it clearly IS a deliberate bot.

Feel free to note 'imm' on personal with any other questions.

Thanks,
Lasher.