In the mobile version of the TOS on the forums, on the bottom it says, “Playing Kingdoms at War through the use of any automated means, be it digital, physical, or other is not permitted and accounts found to be doing so are subject to having action taken against them at A Thinking Ape’s discretion which can include removal of game access for that account.” I wanted to get some clarification on this rule. 1. Does “Playing Kingdoms At War” solely entail actions done within the game, or does it include things outside the game such as: - a. timers that notify you when troops are full, and automatically resets itself after you unload - b. on receipt of certain notifications from KaW (such as any newsfeed item that KaW sends to phone), does additional actions to include pushing the notification to an external communication app? As in, would the above be authorized? 2. There’s external software already advertised on the forums to assist in tracking during EE wars, which seemed to be authorized. Would a version that (while running in the background) reads/inputs the data automatically that is normally manually typed, be authorized? I assume no on this one, since to get the info quickly it would still have to automatically (but quickly) jump to everyone’s profiles in game. 3. Also, does the prohibition include local modification of the game files, such as: - a. changing the appearance of the UI / Buildings, and similar cosmetic changes - b. adding/using text overlays to display each action to take in each stage of an EB next to each bar, etc. ? If we can clarify what is actually authorized, we could see some really cool innovations by the community without any fears about operating illicitly, and this may lead to increased interest in the game from outside players who love to “enhance” or “customize” their gameplay to their style. ————— EDIT1: To clarify, if some of this (mainly 3) was authorized, this would allow for a potentially vibrant modding community, and devs could save dollars by freely seeing what players actually want and would use in the game (use mods at your own risk, of course). Community made overlays have smoothed out gameplay in a number of mmos and online action rpgs, and could find use here if allowed. Likewise, we could see people creating fan art for the game, and see Valentine’s art switches for people to have Cupid T2 tentacle monster, Santa T1 war beasts, etc. (I didn’t say I had imagination, but someone out there does!). We could also see cross-promotion as someone offers furniture swaps with PiMD’s stuff, etc. It could be silly good fun.
I would say that it is mostly in-game that they’re worried about. I say this because: 1.) They’ve had no problem with EE tracker threads, even making a guy who made one a Valiant Knight (i believe? Atropos i think). 2.) They can’t necessarily regulate out of game things such AS the EE tracker stuff, notifications, timers, etc.