Quote Originally Posted by ifireallymust View Post
I'm quite sure both my mouse and keyboard are capable of playing Xsyon for me while I sleep or am otherwise occupied.

I'm also quite sure I won't figure out how to get either of them to do so because it's against the ToS.

Since I'm following the rules, everyone who doesn't will either be punished for breaking the rules or will have an advantage over me and other rule followers in game. If the latter, I think a lot of people will stop playing, and I might be one of them.
Well if you want to be technical, every single activity you engage in while playing Xsyon can be construed as "against the ToS" because of open-ended interpretation-based clauses like "deemed offensive" without a definition of authority.

Using third party programs to aid in gameplay could also be something as simple as opening up Windows Calculator to measure distances for terraforming.

Personally, I just play video games. I don't get caught up in all the haughty ToS crap, the senseless pseudo-rules, the obnoxious "meta game." It's all unenforceable, and most of the time is written to give moderation practices a wide range of activities that they can take action against so they're more able to use their personal judgment. I don't like macroing, either. I just hate it less than mindlessly repeating actions that serve no gameplay purpose for me. I prefer a game where macroing is unnecessary, and therefore doesn't exist. Unfortunately, this is a game that needs macros to play... and macroing the game as it is right now is the only way anyone's going to put up with the monotony of its crafting, gathering, and skill grinding. So it's "against the ToS" huh? Big deal. I once hated macroers too, refused to use macros, and regarded it as something that "ruined games." That was back in UO though, and I've wised up a lot since then. I came to realize that you cannot ever kill macros with petty rules and regulations, you have to evolve the game beyond mechanics that necessitate their use. I also believe that UO proved that it's impossible to stop macroing, so we have to move past that childish mentality and start getting down to the fundamentals that are really the issue.

And, for now, that means getting the game to work. You can build on top of that stable plateau once you've built it.