about the ToS and parsing

[BARDS_ARROW]

I've read and re-read the ToS but for the life of me, I can't see anything about it :/ So can someone point me in the direction of the section where it mentions third party addons/parsing in the ToS?

I'm only asking because it's causing drama in my FC. Some say it's allowed to use them, some say it's against ToS and a banning offence.

[dementiondrive]

it is a bannable offence to greif people with. Yoshida though said. don't ask, don't tell.

so people use them and they will not be banned. the 2nd they start greifing them on how they are doing in damage is the banable offence. it is a very thin line for this type.

[Fenral]

Since your DPS can be extrapolated purely from the time-stamps on events in the Battle Log, parsing that isn't against the ToS, strictly speaking. The game even flushes your chat log to disk for use by third-party programs.

Use of parsing programs that hook into memory to read information that isn't made available elsewhere in the UI is what constitutes a ToS violation and is a bannable offense. Technically. It's only really a problem if your raid strategies are relying on information that you shouldn't have.

Edit: also, parse-shaming is a big no. It's not the data itself that causes problems, just how you use it.

[Zojha]

I'd wager it falls under
2.5 Data Mining. You may not intercept, mine or otherwise collect information from the Game using unauthorized third party software.

http://support.na.square-enix.com/ru...2&tag=users_en

A parser is a third party program that collects information from the battle log (game), compiles it, then sends it back to you. As such, it's technically forbidden. However SE is willing to turn a blind on this offense if you do not use the compiled information in a way that negatively affects other players.

[TessaJalloh]

under the letter of the TOS they're bannable due to parders being third party applications.

However, as they're mostly benign and practically undetectable, the general spirit of the law is 'don't abuse others with them', and 'don't ask, don't tell'. Personally, i don't find parsers as useful as people like to make out, they're hard numbers sure, but you don't need those hard numbers if you know your team well enough. Help everyone improve together, instead of singling out those who didn't do quite as well and telling them exactly how bad they performed.

[AsteriaStarfall]

Technically. It's only really a problem if your raid strategies are relying on information that you shouldn't have.

Technically. It's only really a problem if your raid DPS is to low for these tight dps check fights and you need to find out who is not pulling their weight.

Fixed that for you

[Fenral]

Technically. It's only really a problem if your raid DPS is to low for these tight dps check fights and you need to find out who is not pulling their weight.

Fixed that for you

No, it was a problem when people were reading the "real" HP values of bosses in the days before the percentage was displayed in-game. As the information wasn't provided by the UI, it was never meant to be a major component of raid strategies. This was also back in the Second Coil days, when things besides DPS still mattered.

As I said before, reading DPS on it's own isn't the issue. But feel free to get defensive about why you parse, and even why you need to be sure where to point fingers when the group fails. That's A+ teamwork right there.

[Kerii]

If you want a more human readable list of things you can be banned for try here.
http://support.na.square-enix.com/fa...6&id=5382&la=1
Under the section talking about third party programs note the lines that say,
"•Modifying, analyzing, integrating and reverse engineering game data
•Utility creation and distribution"

[AsteriaStarfall]

No, it was a problem when people were reading the "real" HP values of bosses in the days before the percentage was displayed in-game. As the information wasn't provided by the UI, it was never meant to be a major component of raid strategies. This was also back in the Second Coil days, when things besides DPS still mattered.

As I said before, reading DPS on it's own isn't the issue. But feel free to get defensive about why you parse, and even why you need to be sure where to point fingers when the group fails. That's A+ teamwork right there.

You either completely miss my point or want to label me as someone that likes to point fingers.

GM and raid leader for 4 years in WoW. Used recount, and skada on every end game raid fight that we kept wiping to. Because of that, i was able to help the raid team members out (especially when we got new ones) and helped to tweak their reforges and gems accordingly. Then we went into the same fight and tried it again and compared the dps.

DPS meter =/= Pointing fingers

What it CAN be used for is a tool to HELP your team members. It is just a tool, it is what people use it for that can either be helpful or hurtful.

[Niwashi]

Technically. It's only really a problem if your raid DPS is to low for these tight dps check fights and you need to find out who is not pulling their weight.

Fixed that for you

No. You never need to find out who's pulling their weight, because that's completely irrelevant. Neither winning nor losing a fight are ever a problem. You're allowed to lose fights. You're not allowed to use third party programs to access information you're not supposed to have. Not being good enough to win legitimately doesn't give you the right to cheat.