What is the official SP policy about using auto-clicker - absolutely NO, use it all you want, use it in some cases but not all? Clearly, feeding 1.2B food in a 24-hour span is not manually done. Also, in the last runelords event, scores started moving REALLY A LOT after SP added run craft discounts.

What is auto clicker? If it is something outside of what they deliver in the game then yes that is an absolute no and will get you banned.

@gronk23 Its not something thats promoted to be used so yes it can be used. now as far as i know but im not a expert it can only be used with an emulator, an emulator is not supported so if something goes wrong with your game even if its not related to the use of the emulator your sort of on your own

Auto-clicker is an app that emulates and automates real clicks. Auto-clicker is very useful for quick tasks like buying lvl 1 runes, crafting lvl 2 and lvl 3 runes during rune craft discounts, extracting cells from pandakens, etc. A more elaborate auto-clicker configuration can emulate breeding, hatching, feeding, selling cycle.

Per forum rules, live links removed.

@marianne-van-es said in auto clicker use policy:

@gronk23 Its not something thats promoted to be used so yes it can be used. now as far as i know but im not a expert it can only be used with an emulator, an emulator is not supported so if something goes wrong with your game even if its not related to the use of the emulator your sort of on your own

Sorry but what would make these acceptable, this would still give unfair advantages and personally I do not think they should be allowed or acceptable. @Fox any insight on this?

Now I’m really confused - 2 moderators of the official forums saying 2 different things.

An auto clicker will get you banned, vs you can use at your own risk of losing game support?

For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure its use is against the games terms of service rules.

Otherwise, I’m all in!! Automating the incredibly tedious task of breeding terra + terra hundreds of times over in Dragon City while I do something else is very appealing!!

Yeah, I’m sure its use in any way could and would get you banned sooner or later.

Which all brings up a question I’ve wondered about for some months...

As moderators of SP official forums, to what degree do you represent SP? If answers provided to a question are ultimately incorrect, what does that mean?

@amanda-wallace we dont say different things

@nynaevelan said in auto clicker use policy:

Sorry but what would make these acceptable, this would still give unfair advantages and personally I do not think they should be allowed or acceptable. @Fox any insight on this?

I dont think it technically can be forbidden because it doesnt make a change in gameplay like a hack does, do i like this? no, does SP like it? no but in theory we all could get it so there are no unfair advantages.
Do i think its fair play? no not really but lots of things that happen like teams starting over is also not fair play.

@marianne-van-es

Ok, so you DIDN'T say different things. I’m very sorry if I misspoke. And I am truly not trying to cause a problem here. I am merely seeking an answer to a question that hasn’t been answered yet...

If I make decisions based on information I see in these forums, how "valid" are questions answered by the moderators?

Ex. If I use an auto-click app on my iPad (no emulator needed) that will complete a game task for me, based on the info here, I would assume I could not get banned. Except you stated you don’t "think" it can be banned.

So as I now understand the replies to this topic;

if something important to anyone such as their whole account is in question, really you must contact SP officially for their response.

Copied from sp's "ban measures, official statement"

"Use of any third-party programs or tools.
What are third-party programs? They are tools that influence the normal gameplay, by systematically or automatically controlling the game or individual game functions (for example, they will automate the collecting of Food, Gold, and event items, or automate fights in Arenas and Leagues without requiring a real manual interaction from the player)."

I think perhaps the key words are ‘requiring a real manual interaction'... ie NOT an "auto clicker".

@marianne-van-es true but teams starting over are using mechanisms within the game.k think using anything outside the game whether it changes anything or not is still an unfair advantage and using that same logic we could all get hacking tools do how is that different?

@amanda-wallace said in auto clicker use policy:

Now I’m really confused - 2 moderators of the official forums saying 2 different things.

An auto clicker will get you banned, vs you can use at your own risk of losing game support?

For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure its use is against the games terms of service rules.

Otherwise, I’m all in!! Automating the incredibly tedious task of breeding terra + terra hundreds of times over in Dragon City while I do something else is very appealing!!

Yeah, I’m sure its use in any way could and would get you banned sooner or later.

Which all brings up a question I’ve wondered about for some months...

As moderators of SP official forums, to what degree do you represent SP? If answers provided to a question are ultimately incorrect, what does that mean?

We are saying the same thing except Mari thinks they are ok to use. I think they aren't or they shouldn't be. And as you said they may be ok today but who is to say it will stay that way and can lead to bans in the future?

I've yet to see a mod give intentional incorrect answers, there may have been some misunderstandings but most answers are accurate based on experience snd/or info from a SP representative.

@amanda-wallace said in auto clicker use policy:

@marianne-van-es

Ok, so you DIDN'T say different things. I’m very sorry if I misspoke. And I am truly not trying to cause a problem here. I am merely seeking an answer to a question that hasn’t been answered yet...

If I make decisions based on information I see in these forums, how "valid" are questions answered by the moderators?

Ex. If I use an auto-click app on my iPad (no emulator needed) that will complete a game task for me, based on the info here, I would assume I could not get banned. Except you stated you don’t "think" it can be banned.

So as I now understand the replies to this topic;

if something important to anyone such as their whole account is in question, really you must contact SP officially for their response.

Copied from sp's "ban measures, official statement"

"Use of any third-party programs or tools.
What are third-party programs? They are tools that influence the normal gameplay, by systematically or automatically controlling the game or individual game functions (for example, they will automate the collecting of Food, Gold, and event items, or automate fights in Arenas and Leagues without requiring a real manual interaction from the player)."

I think perhaps the key words are ‘requiring a real manual interaction'... ie NOT an "auto clicker".

See now my interpretation of that includes all third party tools. And as such I would not advise anyone to use any. And if you do then as you said you are putting your entire game at risk. Is it worth it? Especially if you have invested a lot of time and/or money into it. I'm sorry but auto clicking influences normal gameplay. Not to mention since you have to use an emulator, which is essentially another third party program to play, that screams unfair advantage.

An example from ML, you use the auto clicker to craft runes quicker which puts you higher in the ranks on the rune challenge.....unfair advantage. the same if it is in marathons.

This is just a murky ethical discussion which ultimately comes down to USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Sp is not going to remove a ban because you said "" but a mod said it was ok on the forums."

@gronk23 said in auto clicker use policy:

What is the official SP policy about using auto-clicker - absolutely NO, use it all you want, use it in some cases but not all? Clearly, feeding 1.2B food in a 24-hour span is not manually done. Also, in the last runelords event, scores started moving REALLY A LOT after SP added run craft discounts.

Fyi it you want an official answer from SP, then I suggest you submit a ticket to support. It would be interesting to know what their answer will be.

It would be helpful to get an official statement from SP regarding specifically use of auto-clicking tools. And if those tools are banned, it would be nice to see that enforced. Again, feeding 1.2B food in a 24-hour span is just not possible to accomplish manually.
Personally, I think it should be allowed for use at your own risk for any accidental damage caused by it. It does not give you any advantage. You still need to build up resources. It just helps with tedious task, similar to collect all gold or non-stop feeding features that SP added themselves.

@nynaevelan

"We are saying the same thing except Mari thinks they are ok to use. I think they aren't or they shouldn't be."

Ummm... that’s basically the definition of saying different things. Though I do understand what you are trying to say in that it lies in two different interpretations of the rules. I NEVER meant to suggest any moderator would ever intentionally mislead or spread false information. I guess I was trying to gauge how close you guys are to sp. Perfect response "use at your own risk" and contact sp if needed for more info. I think THAT is what everyone needs to see.

To be clear, I’ve never used such a tool. As you said, I DO value my investment too much to risk it. When I’m seeking facts regarding something this important, I always try to go to the official source.

Personally I think it’s black and white in their official statement that if the tool requires no manual interaction from the player, then it’s against the rules. (Breeding terra + terra to get game event items for a solid hour while I take a nap).

But then, as was pointed out, what about crafting runes in ML? Same 3rd party tool - what’s the bottom line? Asking sp officially is really the only way to get clarification.

As I now see I have unwittingly hijacked this topic, I will attempt to answer the OP from purely a players perspective based on many hours of reading in these forums.

@Gronk23 ... I occasionally see accounts or activities that are clearly the result of hacking or otherwise unapproved activities. Take a screenshot and submit a ticket to sp. Their systems can only detect so much, and they need that information from us players. That being said, one ticket is probably sufficient. If it takes time while you watch that player continue to play, take heart that it appears they will investigate and look over those "murky areas" before wielding the ban hammer. Policing all aspects of this game is extremely difficult and I’m sure they do the best they can.

Nynaevelan and @Marianne-van-Es ...

Thank you both for all you do here! I'm sure keeping these forums running smooth takes a lot of work. Your time and efforts are appreciated.

Stay safe everyone!!

No one has asked how you can have enough monsters to spend 1.2B food on?

@ibobs72 said in auto clicker use policy:

No one has asked how you can have enough monsters to spend 1.2B food on?

lol, I was thinking it. I was also thinking why or when would you spend 1.2 billion in one day. I'm curios, how many monsters would that be to use that much??

@nynaevelan 2 weeks ago someone fed 1.2B in the first 24 hours of the feeding event. Last week someone else fed 800m in the first 16 hours. Here is how I think this can be done: breed common fire and common nature. 50/50 chance to get either pandaken (1,206,220 food to level 75) or greenasaur (780,220 food to level 60). Let's say 993220 on average. Feed, sell and breed again. You will need to feed a little over 1200 monsters to reach 1.2B. 50 monsters every hour to get 1.2B in 24 hours. Also 50 monsters every hour to get 800M in 16 hours.
It is also fairly hard to get 1.2B food or 800M food, even with a pass.

I've had this exact same question before. There's nothing in the Fair Play Policy that would prohibit it. However, in reviewing the Terms of Service (you know the things we all always accept and never read?) there is a provision that I believe could apply. This is from the Code of Conduct section:

"(8) you will not cheat or utilize any unauthorized robot, spider, or other program in connection with the Online Services;"

Whether or not an auto-clicker could be considered a "robot" doesn't really matter when it also describes "any other program." However, I do believe there is ambiguity in this provision. After all, is Take Two/Social Point prohibiting the use of screen capture software when playing the game? After all, it's an unauthorized program used in connection with the game. Ambiguities are always resolved against the party who wrote the contract (ie, Take Two). So there is an argument to made about their use. Ultimately, though, that's up to Take Two/Social Point (no one is going to sue them if they wrongly enforce their Terms of Service).

In my personal opinion, auto-clickers should not be prohibited if they're not giving any sort of unfair advantage. If you're using it automate the purchase of runes (or crafting them) or something like that, it's just handling monotonous tasks for you. If, however, you're using it to essentially play the game for you (like having some computer set up with the game always running with the autoclicker constantly making all your collections for you every 4 hours) then that seems wrong to me.

If you're using an autoclicker to automate certain monotonous things, I wouldn't really expect SP to care. But if people abuse them, then I could see all autoclickers being prohibited. All it takes is one person to ruin it for everyone else.
But, like I said, it's totally up to SP/TT though. If they're going to take a clear stance, though, they're almost certainly going to prohibit them (due to risk of abuse).

@gronk23 @Nynaevelan @Amanda-Wallace @ibobs72 @sansot

I asked a dev from SP his answer:
"It's definitely against ToS to use autoclickers. We don't support their use whatsoever. If we detect people using these tools they can be banned. "

@marianne-van-es

Thanks for taking the time and clarifying!!!!

@marianne-van-es said in auto clicker use policy:

@gronk23 @Nynaevelan @Amanda-Wallace @ibobs72 @sansot

I asked a dev from SP his answer:
"It's definitely against ToS to use autoclickers. We don't support their use whatsoever. If we detect people using these tools they can be banned. "

Good to get clarification on the issue.

@amanda-wallace i was wrong, prob because a long time ago it was explained to me by someone using an autoclicker, dont worry he no longer plays