droeblek9

I finally spoke to a GM ,Curinar, about what constitutes a violation of the TOU for WOW. He had to "speak with a senior GM" and the first answer he gave me was (actually, the first answer was to refer me to the TOU, he came back with this one when i requested to be referred to someone who could answer my questions):

"Anything outside of the game that provides a significant advantage can be considered an exploit."

Well, ok, that's sort of a non-answer. I wanted to specifically know where Blilzzard stood about recording keystrokes directly to the Gkeys. So i rephrased my question and asked:

"If recording keystrokes directly to a G key exactly reproduces the effects of a macro, is that a violation?"

His response:

"As that seems to be recreating intended design elements, that would be allowable."

Bingo, the money answer! Ok, so what does this all mean? Per a Blizzard GM, using the record feature of the G15 is ok as long as it is an exact duplicate of what you could do in game using a macro (Blizzard's definition of a macro extends to lua scripting).

For example: a couple of my toons use combat pets (Hunter and Warlock). There are times when i want to execute multiple commands to these pets: Pet Stay+Passive and Pet Follow+Defensive. I can accomplish this in game in a couple of different ways: I can mouse over the pet toolbar and make two clicks on the respective icons, i can use two sets of keystrokes to accomplish these actions, or I can write a macro that accomplishes these actions with the press of a single button. What i did with the G15 is record keystrokes to two G keys that execute these commands. Since the end result is that i get exactly the same results as making and using a macro in game, this is not a violation of the TOU (yay me).

However, there are strictures on exactly what can be done with macros in game. For instance, it should be possible for me to program the G15 to chain multiple attacks (i haven't tried this, and don't plan to). I can't accomplish this with an in game macro, so that would be a violation of the TOU and a banable offense.

The bottom line is that if you have a G15 and play WoW, you should be okay programming functions directly to the Gkeys as long as the outcome is a direct reproduction of what you could do in game (be it a keybind or a macro). To be on the safe side, i don't plan on using the Gkeys for anything other that basic keybinds or macros. After all, i'm not after exploits and/or botting, I just want to keep from cluttering my toolbars with a bunch of macro buttons, and i also want to avoid having to ditch some of the default UI keybinds in order to place my own keybinds close to the movement keys (even with addons that allow for the custom configuration of toolbars, space is at a premium). The alternative to this/what i will do in the case that i want to utilize a more complex set of instructions: i'll make a macro in game.

__________________

Foe

That seems to be good news droblek, but I just don't see how using a keyboard combination can be considered a cheat or even a banable offense. Guess you have to play the game to understnad that part of it.

droeblek9

It would be possible for me to program the keyboard to do things in game that are not possible/intended to be done normally (and expressly forbidden by Blizzard). For instance, you can't string a chain of attacks into a macro in game; i should be able to it with the keyboard (by recording keystrokes and inserting pauses). Mind you, i'm not going to test this .

So, pretty much what it boils down to is that if a piece of hardware allows user A to do things that user B can't do, then it will probably be considered a violation of the TOU. It sounds pretty draconian, but i'm pretty sure they're not talking about using a gaming mouse as opposed to a track ball mouse. Take the scenario i listed above, for example. If i am correct in my assumption about programming the G15 to chain attacks, an example of a TOU violation might look something like this:

User A (G15) programs an 8 action attack chain onto a G key.
User B (non-G15) utilizes a lua script macro, but even still can't duplicate what user A has done.
User A has an advantage over User B (whether it's PvE or PvP).

With one press of a button, User A can accomplish a series of actions that User B can't duplicate without either multiple keystrokes or multiple macros = violation of the TOU. Depending on how complex a series of actions can be programmed onto the G keys, it might actually be able to come close to botting.

Again, this is something that i don't have any interest in testing...i just wanted a happy medium between a gamepad and a keyboard so i could keybind functions close to my movement keys without sacrificing the default keybinds on some games (trust me, there's only so much binding that you can realistically do to the extra buttons on a gaming mouse before the whole affair turns into a time sink instead of a time saver , and i hate trying to mash the upper F keys or number keys ).

In and of itself, WoW is incredibly versatile. Blizzard made the game so that it's entirely possible for users to completely customize a lot of things in game (hence the popularity of addons). I'm pretty sure that's why addons generally don't fall under the auspices of TOU violation: Bllizzard made the game very adaptable, and as such some folks will utilize that and some folks won't. Although it's not quite the same thing, it's similar to one user utilizing the built in ability to create macros and manipulate keybinds as opposed to someone who doesn't. The person who does it most likely has an advantage over the person who doesn't. However, the advantage comes from tweaking and customizing parameters within the game that were put there by Blizzard for just such a use. So when it comes down to TOU violations, it really looks like you have to do something either really spectacular that others can't do and is a violation or unintended use of the game and/or you have to do something that allows you to play the game unattended (or nearly).

__________________