TERA is striking down on players using third-party tools with permanent bans

There's quite a controversy stirring recently in En Masse Entertainment's TERA and it's one that is getting players to pick sides easily. As you probably know, most if not all games come with a TOS (Terms of Service) that no one – no one ever! – reads anymore. You just click accept and move on to the game. However, every player has the minimum sense to know that things such as the use of third-party programs are not allowed in nearly all of the cases. TERA is no exception and that is clearly explicit in its terms of service.

A few days ago, En Masse decided to begin hunting players who are openly hacking and exploiting TERA, and awarding them a permanent ban. The studio says this is valid for all programs, even the ones that you may deem harmless: “There won't be any exceptions. If you are thinking, “but what about XXXXX? Is it ok?” the answer is: “No. It's not.” and you should expect action to be taken.”

This, of course, led to a lot of discussion, with En Masse initially forbidding any arguing over this subject but later opening a forum topic for players to express their views about it.

After all this backlash, En Masse decided to make it clear that no third-party programs were allowed… at all:

“So why are “innocent” 3rd party programs suddenly not allowed? The answer is that… well… no 3rd party programs were allowed to begin with. Some people have been discretely using them and haven’t been banned, and now recent events have called the use of ALL 3rd party programs into question, throwing a spotlight on some of those people.”

“We can’t say DPS meters are allowed. They aren’t allowed. Attempting to interpret or amend the Terms of Service in a way that specifically allows the DPS meters or any other 3rd party program goes against the very nature of the agreement and why it’s in place to begin with – to protect TERA, En Masse, and honest players. There are malicious 3rd party programs out there – they aren’t licensed, they are in no way tested by our staff, and they can be purposefully or even accidentally harmful for both the TERA live environment as well as your PC. We can’t endorse them.”

And in case you still had any doubts:

“Are we actively hunting for players using 3rd party software in malicious ways? Yup! It’s the right thing to do to make sure malicious software doesn’t interfere with players who just want to play the game.

But this isn’t mass player eradication. We’re investigating those who are egregiously modding and tampering with the client. In some cases players are very clearly guilty of hacking and interfering with the live service of the game, and those players will be banned without warning. Again, like all players they've agreed to a legal document stating that they WILL NOT do this, so a ban isn’t exactly the worst possible punishment considering some of the real problems hackers cause. In some cases the TERA team has had to put a lot of effort and work hours towards stopping hacks and cheats that could have been put towards other things (further affecting TERA players).”

So, if you're playing TERA with some third-party tool to tamper with the gameplay, or even include some “quality of life improvements”, beware. You could be next in line.

In our honest opinion, En Masse is doing exactly the right thing. Cheaters and hackers ruin any game for honest players and can lead to the downfall of a studio. If you can't enjoy a game just as it is and the developer clearly states “no third-party programs”, then you're at fault, not them.

What is your take on this matter?