(18 Jan 13, 04:54PM)jamz Wrote:(17 Jan 13, 03:46AM)Jg99 Wrote: Your server could be banned...This is exactly the reason, Unschool. I asked you to remove the gameplay-affecting mods and you didn't. PM me when you've removed !jump, !reset, and the no-damage mod, and I'll remove the ban.
In case anyone thinks I do this from spite, I had multiple complaints about the server.
I sent you a PM. I believe it is not done without spite, though you do not do it from your own spite. It is the spite of the people issuing "multiple complaints." If they know who you (jamz) are, then they probably play enough AC to know what GEMA is. I am assuming the complaints were primarily about the damage negation mod. Since these complainants must know what GEMA is, and since they sought to make it easier to violate the rules of GEMA, I conjecture that these individuals issued these complaints out of spite and out of spite only; any references to server rules made by these individuals I would label as rationalizations for their unsavory troll behavior. It is not unlike a player issuing complaints regarding a reduction of the kick threshold shortly after he made multiple attempts to go on a team killing spree. The server owner, of course, reduced the threshold precisely for the reason why the player in question wants the server banned: because the player wants to kill his teammates. Furthermore, unlike in regular game modes where friendly fire is an essential part of the gameplay that fuels the challenge, there is no reason for interpersonal damage in GEMA.
That being said, is there a definitive criteria for illegal mods? I fail to see any distinctions made by the phrase "gameplay-affecting mods" when the whole point of a mod is to affect gameplay, yet not all mods are illegal. Relatively invisible mods that are supposed to boost the performance of the server or things like hit reg fix are "gameplay-affecting mods"; if they were not, no one would bother installing them. What further blurs the distinction for me is my CubeScript scripting. Those who know me in-game know about my automatic micromanagement scripts, which I sometimes jokingly called "portable lua." After having developed these complicated scripts that enforce GEMA rules or knife-only rules to user-specified degrees of enforcement, I realized that there is simply no rational reason why the actions my scripts are designed to prevent by punitive measures should not be made impossible altogether as to give perfect enforcement. This perfect enforcement is of course in a completely different ballpark from, say, Zombie Mod; whereas perfect enforcement simply does a better job of accomplishing the same goal as my CubeScript scripts, Zombie Mod achieves a goal which cannot even be begun without mods. There is no other way to "enforce" ten thousand shotgun ammo or several hundred hit points other than to use server modifications. I cannot vote to increase maximum hit points and it would make no sense to vote-kick people for "failure to have a bajillion shotgun ammo." I read one of your posts that said "gameplay-affecting mods" are not allowed, and you gave only one example: !reset. This is an odd example to use, considering it does not do anything impossible; it does not change damage, ammo, health, or other variables to impossible values at impossible instances in-game and it is not even a "step-up" of CubeScript script. It is merely a server-sided translation of the spectator trick, which is typically done client-sided and aided by CubeScript. This trick may negatively affect gameplay if it was not explicitly allowed. But in the case of GEMA, it is explicitly allowed. Why not make it fair? Why not level the playing field by making this trick available to those who don't know CubeScript? !reset should be a good example of server modding saving the day to the delight of all. With servers like HsOs Serveur Gema consistently appearing towards the top of the server list and the extent to which such servers are modded, it is clear that not only do many people appreciate both passive and interactive utilitarian server mods, but these mods must also be legal (especially to have stayed on the server list relatively unchanged for so long, compared to my server which took between one to two weeks after modification to be blocked).
So what's the deal? After exhausting the vague and apparently inconsistent nature of the "gameplay-affecting mods" criteria, it is about time I climb out of my noobdom and finally see the more straightforward and thorough criteria you guys seem to be hiding.