We hope you enjoyed reading this last update from Team Security on your account safety in EVE Online. If you missed it then the blog can be found here.
As was mentioned in the blog, if you have any questions about account security or our you want a clarification on some of the rules then that would be the most appropriate question to put forth.They will do their best to give you an answer if they can.
Please note in some cases we are simply unable to provide answers on certain matters, notably if they regard individuals or our methods.
Regarding bot reporting, it mentions “but you know for a fact that you did not use any macros or third-party software”. Can you just confirm whether or not using software like EVE-O Preview that allows you to quickly switch or cycle between accounts is allowed? There’s been some discussion over this now that the pre-release version allows single buttons to be assigned to cycle backwards and forwards between EVE clients.
See, that’s the problem We can not confirm or white-list any program, the reason for that is because we have zero control of their development. Let’s say that today it provides one service and we in Team Sec say “sure, yeah, it’s totally allowed”. But then tomorrow the creators decide to add other features that either tamper with in-game files or simplify some in-game process. We have zero control over this, so that’s why we can’t whitelist anything. I hope it makes sense.
Yeah, absolutely, totally understand. But from the perspective of what it currently offers, is that a problem?
The new version basically allows a single button to cycle through accounts like Acct 1 → press button → Acct 2 → press button → Acct 3… etc. When paired up with UI elements consistently laid out this allows rapid input between accounts, so you can - for example - cycle between 20 accounts clicking the “jump through stargate” button to move a fleet between systems.
If you message me directly (as mere mortals can’t send private messages on the forum) I can give you some characters of mine that have done this recently so you can give them a look over. I’m just concerned that if and when the developer releases the pre-release version it could land people in hot water if it’s crossing the line.
I am sorry, but it will be the same stance all over Any third-party program is being used on the user’s own risk. We simply can not sanction it for the reasons mentioned above, and I don’t want to give any hasty promises or reassurances, as much as I wanted to.
Lets do it more direkt:
Eve-O Preview has been around for along time. It has been endorsed by CCP employees in the past. It has an open thread in the official forum.
Is the current forked version v5.1.2 within the rules as far as the team security knows at the current point in time?
Or if you cant answer that. Was there any official version in any point in time, that did break the rules, as far as Team Security knew about it?
Are there any cases, where the rule “one button click = one ingame action on a single account” was followed, but the user still broke the TOS regarding third party software? (Beside client dashboards etc)
The thing is it will come down to use cases rather than versions. My concern is that the new version opens up a use case that could get people flagged as it significantly increases client switching speed. This is why I’m open to them looking at my accounts as an example of those use cases.
I get them not being able to sign off software (though EVE Vision managed to get specific dev approval) but it feels a bit odd to have a blog post where they specifically point out where the line is for a bunch of infractions but then say “at your own risk” for utility software. In my opinion, questions like this are far more important in any security Q&A because it’s potentially so easy for someone who doesn’t think they are breaking any rules to get themselves flagged.
The old rule used to be “if it gives you an advantage, it’s not allowed” but then pretty much all third party software gives an advantage. EVE IPH allows people to find profitably industry builds much more quicky than the in-game UI allows for example.
The advertisement or sale of out of game goods and services not directly related to EVE Online is prohibited. The only out of game goods and services which can be advertised or sold for in-game currency or assets are the following: EVE forum signature creation, EVE related websites, EVE related artwork, third party voice communication server hosting, or EVE Time Codes.
You may not transfer, sell or auction, or buy or accept any offer to transfer, sell or auction (or offer to do any of the foregoing), any content appearing within the Game environment, including without limitation characters, character attributes, items, currency, and objects, other than via a permitted Character Transfer.
I totally agree, this is a very important question, legitimately thank you for asking it.
How about this - as long as you are able to fly many ships manually but using a hot-key to switch the clients and still issue a command manually - that is fine. The gameplay must be manual, that I can tell you for sure.
TS might have a looked at this program at some point, but it probably was before my time in this team, so I don’t know. Personally I have not looked at it, and it was not something that was actively discussed.
Long story short: if you are being reported by someone, but you know for a fact that you did not use any macros or third-party software, you have nothing to worry about.
This seems to directly contradict the workings of being mass reported for Macro use. There are multiple instances recently of players being banned for using Eve-o Preview to quickly cycle through screens.
Can this be confirmed or denied ?
The best way to report something is still a ticket. At this time, there is no email inbox being actively monitored by Team Security
Can this annoucment of the abandoment of the security@ccpgames.com account be echo’d across all instances of the multiple sites ?
At this moment in time it is still the stated method for contacting CCP in the case of responsible disclosiure, or if you need to report urgent / game breaking Exploits.
What guarantees do we have that these security Tickets will be looked at by somone from team security and not a base level GM that has no understanding of the issue being discussed ?
We can not confirm or white-list any program, the reason for that is because we have zero control of their development. Let’s say that today it provides one service and we in Team Sec say “sure, yeah, it’s totally allowed”. But then tomorrow the creators decide to add other features that either tamper with in-game files or simplify some in-game process. We have zero control over this, so that’s why we can’t whitelist anything. I hope it makes sense.