Inability to alt+tab in FFXI

[Cara Zeltina]

Seriously, despite how annoying it is to some, it does stop hacking.. to an extent.
Not hugely, but it DOES stop some. There are hackers, and then there are people who think they are hackers.
A programmer or what have you can easily get around this.. But a half-wit "hacker" cannot.
In all my years, i've seen many people use alt-tab as an exploit to hacking..
When it is in the way, only the intelligent actually get anywhere..

Long story short..
Slight security is better than no security.
It's not perfect, FAR from it, but it does stop a fair bit of idiots from screwing with the game.
Why not prevent the simple things as well the the more complex things when it comes to "hacking"?

Personally, I don't see what the big deal is..
It's not like it takes that long to log back in. You spare what? A few seconds at most?
Blech..

I also imagine, though as many complaints about it as there are now..
There would be twice if not three times as many complaints from the paranoid if it were not like that\removed.

[Foamingpanda]

No company deserves the right to control the functionality of your computer. You consider your computer to be your own peice of property, do you not? How would you respond if someone tried to limit the functions and versitility of your computer? How would you feel if you felt severed from web pages you enjoy viewing, talking to friends on AIM, or checking your email adress for important messages?

Nothing gives SquareEnix the right to restrict your rights and liberties. It doesn't matter at what time, on what game, or for whatever reason; SquareEnix does NOT have the right to control YOUR pc. Your PC is designed to actively que programs, so that you can an expeiance an entertaining and exciting experiance.


Note: News Flash: It's very easy to get a third party program that allows you to "control the active X template" for all windows applications. Any player who could locate game-damaging third party programs, and get them to function could secure a operate a windowing program with little problems. Hell, even I know where to obtain the windows program =P.

[Hitman601]

Actually, that little Acceptance Usage Agreement gives them the right to do whatever the hell they want to, considering you said "yes" to it before installing the game. THAT is what gives them the right.

[Zaptruder]

Well, technically they can, but if they demand anything too extravagant, there would be public outcry leading to lawsuits and what not.

The reality tho, it's probably not in their best interest nor in their customers best interest to disable the ability to alt+tab.

It just makes FFXI that much more draining to play when you have to tediously log in and out to get to it. Bit sad really. Kinda like them not using simple color/skin swaps for their mobs (well the mobs that we fight for the most part. That it actually exists (as well as model scaling) is most perplexing as to why they don't make it more standard...

[obsidian]

Originally posted by Cara Zeltina
Seriously, despite how annoying it is to some, it does stop hacking.. to an extent.
Not hugely, but it DOES stop some. There are hackers, and then there are people who think they are hackers.
A programmer or what have you can easily get around this.. But a half-wit "hacker" cannot.
In all my years, i've seen many people use alt-tab as an exploit to hacking..
When it is in the way, only the intelligent actually get anywhere..

Long story short..
Slight security is better than no security.
It's not perfect, FAR from it, but it does stop a fair bit of idiots from screwing with the game.
Why not prevent the simple things as well the the more complex things when it comes to "hacking"?

Personally, I don't see what the big deal is..
It's not like it takes that long to log back in. You spare what? A few seconds at most?
Blech..

I also imagine, though as many complaints about it as there are now..
There would be twice if not three times as many complaints from the paranoid if it were not like that\removed.

That's just crap. I doubt it stops any. Why? Because the developer of the hack just makes it with this in mind. Same number of hacks as with alt+tab, just used different, not any less. MANY people are irritated by this. For those that would be paranoid if they added alt+tab or minimize capability, I would suggest staying away from online multiplayer games altogether. Oh, and that 40 seconds to log off and another 20-30 to get back on isn't possible when you are in the process of traveling long distances.

[Tukka]

Seriously, despite how annoying it is to some, it does stop hacking.. to an extent.
Not hugely, but it DOES stop some. There are hackers, and then there are people who think they are hackers.

Please explain why you think this is the case. Consider in your argument the fact that people can already alt-tab in FF11 with commonly available utilties. The "half-wit" hackers out there who can't figure out how to hack a program that doesn't have an alt-tab feature aren't a problem. What are a serious problem are the more numerous "script kiddies" who will employ tools that more advanced hackers/coders have created.

The truth is, contrary to improving the security and integrity of the game, by intentionally crippling the client and requiring people to turn to 3rd party applications to get back the benign alt-tabbing functionality, they are giving a "shot in the arm" to hackers who wish to develop more egregious and possibly harmful hacking tools. People who would otherwise be uninterested in 3rd party tools to hack the client (like myself) start looking at them to see if they can get back basic Windows functionality.

I'll give an example. In EverQuest, there was a program that was developed relatively early in the game's lifespan called EQMacros (I think). One of EQMacros' advertised features was to enable EverQuest to run in windowed mode. It also had other features like a "vision hack" that would allow characters with poor night vision to see a bit better in the dark, and I presume, as the name implies, extended macroing/botting capability.

Another thing about EQMacros: it wasn't free. Somebody was making money off this tool. I probably never would heard of EQMacros had I not been looking for a tool to let me get around the alt-tabbing problem EQ had at the time. To sum it up: since Sony was providing people with an incentive to look into 3rd party applications by introducing a fundamental instability in the client, they were indirectly generating interest in an program that was being developed to undermine the integrity of their game. The end result is that EQMacros probably received more "funding" than it otherwise would have received, and more people were probably using this cheat tool than would have been the case had the game user interface/client had some basic features and functionality that wouldn't have affected gameplay or game integrity in any way harmful manner.

If you treat your customers like criminals, a good portion of them are going to start acting like criminals. If you treat your customers like hackers, some of them are going to start acting like hackers.

Slight security isn't better than no security when you consider all of this. You can't measure these things in terms of "slight" or "heavy" security, you can only measure them in terms of effectiveness or ineffectiveness, and by measuring effectiveness against the other problems (security and non-security related) the security solution may create. Disabling alt-tabbing creates more serious problems than it solves and it's a pretty ineffective measure to begin with.

Personally, I don't see what the big deal is..
It's not like it takes that long to log back in. You spare what? A few seconds at most?
Blech..

More like "a couple minutes at the least". But it's not so much the fact that you can't enter and exit the game every once in a while that bothers me, but as I've already explained, it's the fact that I cannot casually check my instant messages or e-mail, or perform any other routine computing task without interupting my gameplay session for a minute or two, or more. If I have to close FF11 to do a "one time" chore like close my anti-virus program that is running a scheduled scan, that's an inconvenience, but no big deal. However, essentially totally removing my ability to passively receive communications from friends, family, and others on my PC is a big deal. Maybe you don't use your PC to the same extent and in the same way that I do and it's not a big deal to you... but to some of us like to have our PCs available as tools for communication and not lock them in to "toy mode" for stretches of hours at a time.