OUR POLICY ON MACROS
by Hazed
This week I received two separate emails from players wanting to know our policy on macros. Funny how, just like buses, these things come at the same time.
Both players had written their own macro program to automate some aspects of their gameplay. One of them also wanted to be helpful and give the program to other players so they could automate their gameplay as well.
They wanted to know whether we would allow them to use and/or distribute their macros.
This question hasn’t come up for a while, but it used to be an issue that got raised regularly when Fed had a lot more players than it does now.
Our policy is that we do not approve of macros and we would prefer it if nobody used them. However, we have no way to stop people from using them, and since it’s stupid to have a rule that cannot be enforced, we grumpily tell people that although we don’t like them we can’t do anything about it should they choose to use them.
There are several reasons why we don’t like macros. Before I get into them, let me explain exactly what I mean when I use the word “macro”. I am talking about something that makes decisions. FedTerm lets you put a string of commands onto an f-key but you make the decision when to press the button to issue those commands. Macros are more like computer programs – they analyse the text coming from the game and decide what command to send back. Their sophistication varies depending on the cleverness of the programmer.
Now, I accept that a lot of the things you have to do to advance in the game can seem like drudgery. Doing all those jobs, deliver the AK packages, endless trading, keeping your planet’s stockpiles up… yes, it’s a lot of work. So I do see why people would look for ways to automate it. In addition, the challenge of figuring out how to program a macro that will make the decisions without bankrupting you or killing you must be great fun, and the satisfaction when you succeed immense.
That doesn’t apply if you use a macro written by somebody else, of course. Then you’re just turning over the job of playing Fed to a bit of software. Plus, if you didn’t write the macro yourself, how do you know what it’s going to do? Do you trust it not to mess up your planet, or walk you into a dead end and keep trying to move until you starve to death?
The problem is that macros unbalance the game. Once you’ve cracked the problem of writing the macro and you’ve got it working right, you can just set it off every game session while you go and watch TV, do the ironing, drink beer or whatever. The macro will keep on going relentlessly, unlike a player who is doing the typing themselves and who will have to stop and think, to stretch or to make a cup of tea.
We’ve put a few measures into the game to reduce that advantage a bit; for example the game pauses between processing commands. But we can’t level the playing field entirely.
When you use a macro to play Fed, really you are just setting your computer to play our computer. I know Fed doesn’t have the lively social atmosphere that it used to be, but if everyone spent all their time using macros there would be absolutely no social interaction at all.
And where would the fun be then?
So, go ahead. Use macros if you want to. But don’t expect us to like it. Instead, we’ll scowl and grumble about it.
