The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: February 15, 2009

Official News page 1


SHARE-SUCKING MACRO IS DISRUPTIVE

by Hazed

As of now, the use of macros and triggers to buy shares in a new company as soon as it IPOs is considered disruption and is against the rules. This is because when it is used by one person who has a large number of Financier alts, it stops anybody else from having a chance to pick up shares in a company.

Our policy on macros and triggers is that we don't like them, we don't condone their use, and we don't give any help to people who use them - but we don't ban them outright because they can be used harmlessly, and because sometimes it is hard to tell whether someone is using a macro or just a fast typist.

The macros we really don't like are the ones that completely automate gameplay, so that the player can walk away from the computer and let the macro do the thinking. Alan designed Fed so that people can play it, not computers.

Where the use of a macro just gives a player an extra advantage - allows them to make money faster than those who play for real - it's annoying but not critical. But where the macro prevents other players from playing, it's a problem. An example that has been against the rules for a long time is using a macro to do hauling jobs, leaving no jobs on the board for anyone else.

There are only a few points in Fed2 gameplay where you directly compete against other players. Doing jobs is one. The other one is when Financiers buy shares in a company. There's a limited number of shares available, and whoever moves fastest, gets them. It simply isn't fair when the use of automated software lets a player grab shares so quickly that no mere mortal can compete.

Actually, this comes down to the issue of alts. If one Financier grabs shares using a macro it's not too much of a problem. If 20 Financiers, all running the same macro program, grab all the available shares, it's an issue. Usually that means the Fins are all alts - and that's when it becomes unfair.

So if you have a bunch of Financier alts, from now on, don't run macro programs to suck up shares. If you do, we will consider it game disruption.

Making this against the rules is a short-term solution. The long-term answer is to make some changes to the game so that this isn't a problem any more - and Alan does intend to do that, but it won't be a quick change. That's why for the time being, it's going to be against the rules.


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