MrClyd Wyx asks:

I know this has been a topic discussed and has already had answers towards it but I and I'm sure everyone else is somewhat confused still. I have read some posts that have somewhat contradicted themselves as answers to if the petters are legal to use or not. More so I think that the "tampering" phrase is in question.

From what I know all the petters technically tamper with the Huds. Some yes are blatant tampering where you have to go into the Hud and make changes, I see this of course as illegal use as most probably understand. At the same time if I am not wrong, most all petters scripts tamper with the Hud to work.

Example: Message Center: Warning! The HUD function has been Deactivated, Auto Petting is Enabled!

Is this considered tampering being the script of the petter has made changes to the Hud or..?

ANSWER: I can clarify for you, MrClyde!

Originally, someone created an autopetter that used our scripts. The creator removed the scripts (Which constitutes tampering) and input these into his own product to achieve the autopetter feature. This violated our terms on service on multiple levels.

We asked him to discontinue selling it because of the ramifications it had on our game (It changed how people interacted, how they leveled, how fast they leveled, and created a huge gap between players who used it and players who didn't.) Initially he agreed. Then changed his mind.

At that point we had to DMCA the products to have them removed from the marketplace. During this time we were still trying how to determine how to react to those individuals who purchased and were actively using this device. We did not feel it was fair to punish them, and we felt they had been victimized by this person who exploited their lack of knowledge. They didn't realize they were doing anything wrong.

Our DMCA's were effective and forced the removal of content. The individual then put them back up once again but changed the way it works. This time, he didn't include the scripts from our HUD, but provided instructions for the purchaser to make their own autopetter requiring them to take apart the HUD themselves.

Suddenly, hundreds... literally hundreds of people were making their own autopetters by taking apart the HUD and creating their own autopetter after purchasing his instructional. They were, despite our liberal efforts to manage it, willfully broke terms of service in order to advance.

We implemented an update that notified a player by literally spamming them when there is an autopetter present and prevent some of these to stop working. So people were ultimately triggering the new security implementation because they were thinking their petter was broken and tried to make another by taking apart their HUD again and manipulating the scripts. So there were tons of autobans and tons of tickets as a result.

To answer more simply, yes, autopetters are illegal. We are not punishing those who haven't tampered with the HUD in order to create their own. They purchased it in it's original incarnation where opening the hud wasn't necessary.

That said, we are not supporting their use and are working to prevent ALL autopetters from working. They are simply causing too much damage to our game design. We will soon be making a very clear announcement on their usage (They are all going to be banned) and anyone caught using one to auto-acquire regard will have risk being banned. We came to this decision because our initial attempts to discourage people from using it but not outright banning the usage resulted in people going out and using it in mass.

So yes, they are illegal. They are not supported. They are a violation of our terms of service which will soon be released in an update, and the consequences will be clearly drawn out for violators.