Update Hacks/Cheats and Piracy Tags

[dicedpixels]

Hopefully this is should leave no ambiguity and because people just don't read. Bring on the tomatoes.

[chloe-arkwright]

🍅

[apple502j]

Changes to piracy tag is approved. I personally object to hacks tag changes, because Minecraft is somewhat atypical in this area.

In most video games, cheating involves what the law refers to "circumvention" - bypassing copy-guards and other protection mechanisms. This is a form of copyright infringement. As far as I am aware however, Minecraft: Java Edition does not have any mechanisms that count as anticircumvention measures under law. The linked Discord FAQ page isn't helping, either - it is directed at video games where you are not supposed to be modding in the first place.

Rather than handling this with tags, I propose a rule revision clarifying the hacks/cheats situation. I am a firm believer that (outside of "I exploited a private bug") we cannot be the judges on what counts as cheating, because it is a sandbox game that can be played in any playstyle.

[sylv256]

we cannot be the judges on what counts as cheating, because it is a sandbox game that can be played in any playstyle.

Discord won't be happy about that. Let's just leave it at something that gives you a significant unfair advantage without explicit, opt-in approval from the server.

[dicedpixels]

Changes to piracy tag is approved. I personally object to hacks tag changes, because Minecraft is somewhat atypical in this area.

In most video games, cheating involves what the law refers to "circumvention" - bypassing copy-guards and other protection mechanisms. This is a form of copyright infringement. As far as I am aware however, Minecraft: Java Edition does not have any mechanisms that count as anticircumvention measures under law. The linked Discord FAQ page isn't helping, either - it is directed at video games where you are not supposed to be modding in the first place.

Rather than handling this with tags, I propose a rule revision clarifying the hacks/cheats situation. I am a firm believer that (outside of "I exploited a private bug") we cannot be the judges on what counts as cheating, because it is a sandbox game that can be played in any playstyle.

Till a rule change is implemented, how about rewording the hacks tag to be something like:

We do not support hacked clients, cheats, or modifications intended to provide an unfair advantage. Community members providing support reserve the right to refuse assistance for any request they deem to involve hacks, cheats, or unauthorized modifications.

Without citing any Discord rules/guidelines.

[sylv256]

we cannot be the judges on what counts as cheating, because it is a sandbox game that can be played in any playstyle.

Discord won't be happy about that. Let's just leave it at something that gives you a significant unfair advantage without explicit, opt-in approval from the server.

This, by the way, includes mods for 'anarchy' servers that don't send/receive packets to check if it's been enabled. That is, checking the server IP address or domain name isn't enough. That's Discord's problem, not my moral judgment.

[dicedpixels]

I've reworded the hacks tag to have a bit of more info and removed the part where it links to the Discord terms. Based on what Apple said, I see no reason to keep it.

[sylv256]

LGTM now

[chloe-arkwright]

Just to clarify is xray a cheat regardless of if your using it in single player or multiplayer?

https://discord.com/channels/507304429255393322/789950127774105602/1484966803875692676

I guess I disagree with the moderation action without the situation being properly investigated. Like the hermits use freecam on their own server and if I were to stream similar behavior in FabricMC can I expect to be warned?

[apple502j]

@chloe-arkwright This is exactly what I was saying in the review comment. You don't get unfair advantage over yourself, so there's that.