@maudlin27 In fairness, that list of bannable exploits is really scary to a new player!
There are a few thing mentioned there that seem TOTALLY normal, and when I was starting out a few weeks back, I was terrified of getting banned for, for example:
"Making units regenerate life/shields without a mechanic i.e natural health regen or veterancy" - So I can get banned for regenerating my commander's HP using the nano repair mod, because I'm not using a mechanic to help regen?!?
(I was aware that 'mechanic' might not refer to an ingame engineer, but rather a mechanic of the game engine - but in that case NOTHING can regen hitpoints if it's not a mechanic build into the engine!). Still, this is a relatively straightforward ambiguity, unlike:
"Using unit interactions to abuse pathfinding e.g moving a unit up or down a cliff, similar to terraforming" - ignoring the VERY specific example mentioned... I can get banned for telling units to block the enemy commander's escape path? After all, they are 'unit interactions to abuse pathfinding'...
"Blocking OR causing the game to slowdown or lag on purpose" - I'm not slowing the game down or lagging it on purpose, obviously.... but I AM blocking sometimes, and this is an 'OR' statement... So what, blocking enemy units is bannable? Be it blocking MEX points, or retreat paths? The actual definition of 'or' is SO important here.
"Using any modifications to see through the fog of war" - so If I upgrade my commander with a radar modification I get banned?
"Anything else that is breaking the game in some fashion" - SO ambiguous! I've seen forum topics claiming that everything from Mercies to LABs to frigates, are 'broken' in one sense or another!
"Using any script to alter information shown to the lobby/client or game" - so if I write down a note on paper, such as 'BadassXX2099 upgrades all their MEXes early" - my script is showing me more info, yes?
"Using ctrl+K to avoid taking damage on the unit wreck" - so I can't self-destruct a factory that is currently getting captured, since ultimately my ctrl+k action will change the damage the wreck received, yes? I can't ctrl+k any unit that might have hit a wreck if I didn't destroy it?!?! (FWIW - ctrl+k having a 10 or more second delay would totally be great by me!)
"Using any method to prevent opponents from building or producing without physically blocking the area with units" - So destroying their factories (ie. to prevent opponents from building or producing without physically blocking the area), destroying their MEXes, and destroying their power are ALL bannable offenses?!?
Obviously, after reading them and understanding FaF a little better, I quickly realised that this list is just really badly written, and there's a TON of interpretation necessary here... I just wanted to highlight how bad these 'bannable offenses' are.
If one were to use this list, every player I've ever met would get banned for something! (exception - players that quit immediately on game start -maybe? Since their surrender did prevent me from building or producing without physically blocking the area.)
Basically, I think this list needs re-wording. I can totally understand that there might be an impetus to not go into too much detail, lest the list reveal methods behind exploits, but if this is the case, I feel the list needs a caveat to clarify that new players aren't going to get banned for playing 'as intended' (with perhaps the most obvious bannable offense being blocking transports...)
- To clarify - I'm not trying to be pedantic - I now understand that this interpretation is not 'right' - I just think it's important to recognise that this list of 'bannable offenses' is terribly worded.