Automation in Mafia Wars: Keeping it Considerate?

Tools and scripts have been around in Mafia Wars for as long as I can remember. Within the MW community, I feel they have, by and large, become an accepted part of the game. They are discussed more openly than ever, and even Zynga, in differing ways, are portraying the message that there are "good and bad scripts". I would actually go as far as to say that, apart from 'cloning' and 'injecting' scripts, there is no such thing as a bad script. Just considerate and inconsiderate users.

Whilst nothing contained from here on in is intended as a personal attack on any users of tools or scripts, I'm sure it will offend some. Quite frankly, I am beyond caring. Whilst I openly admit to using many scripts (even writing notes on them and helping people get to grips with them), I do not to do so the detriment of my gaming friends, and by extension, their friends.

"I love (bookmarklets) as much as the next person but folks have got to realize that using a "game aid" is alot different than just popping on a massive auto player and then walking away for 8+ hours and letting it just run. What's the point of doing that? You can't experience playing the game that way and you can be potentially ruinous to other players" - SZ

At the same time, I recognise that without many of the basic scripts that exist, people would require a LOT more time to play the game, and therefore more people would decide to put the game down and quit rather than commit more time to what has become a much more time consuming experience than many of us first got into. Should enough people do this, there won't be a game left to play.

However, people (I have discussed this with numerous people recently, it's their quotes you are seeing in this note, so it's not just me having a whinge) are becoming more and more frustrated by what is perceived to be "over-use" of automation in Mafia Wars. If you use MWAP, Scrubber, or something similar, please take the time to read on and consider the impact of your actions and settings.

It's probably fair to say that any script that provides information only is okay to use. This would cover those such as Family Ferret, Item Analyzers, right down to 'Cracked da Safe?'. They aren't performing an in-game function and are simply providing information related to your profile or your Mafia, which can already be seen.

Anything related to doing jobs, or fights, is largely okay in my opinion. By repeating that NY job 2000 times you are not gaining an unfair advantage over any other player are you? Your own job mastery affects no one else. People who appear on the fight list are going to be attacked anyway, and whilst running Brawler does reduce click fatigue, fighting can actually be performed quicker by repeatedly clicking the power attack button manually. That's a big thumbs-up to your 'Brawler' and 'RepeatJob' type scripts.

If you do however choose to fight manually, I'd suggest starting at the bottom of the fight list ;)

Everybody is limited to 25 job assists per city per day, so even with automation, you're probably going to hit your limit sooner rather than later. It's also pretty easy to hit these limits manually, as jobs appear on the "Your Mafia Activity" tab, and in your player updates. So, no big issue there in my opinion.

Tools used to simulate robbing aren't doing anything that wouldn't be happening to properties that appear on the robbing boards anyway. Again, it can be quicker to do manually than use a tool. In my view, the tools used for jobs, fights and robbing have an absolutely minimal impact on other players.

However, things start to get a little messy when you get to the subject of wars and operations.

With the recent expansion of the war feature, and the new loot that goes with it, getting into a war seems next to impossible for many players at present. Any live 'feed reader' which allows you to join every war posted should be used responsibly. Having 50k+ war assists does not necessarily make you a valuable Mafia member.

Your wall may be littered with people thanking you for the war help, but how many would feel the same if they realised that people like you are the reason THEY struggle to get war assists in? Furthermore, to the friends of your friends, it makes you a greedy bot. Yeah, we know the loot is nice, but why should you get in on 500 wars per day (I had one person in my Mafia with 3 accounts each averaging this) with your autoplayer, whilst you're sleeping or at work? Let's not even mention those who seem to be playing without a limit on the amount of War loot they can acrue each day.

"What set me off was seeing the number of Warlord Achievements yet to be played out - I'm up to the third level. The gulf between regular players and those sucking up the good loot is going to be massive by the end of it." - KK

Likewise, Operations are highly sought after, and there is nothing quite so annoying than jumping into an Op, getting your job done, coming back in a few hours and wondering why they didn't do anything. A few hours later, still nothing is done, so you "switch" on their MW profile and see on their wall that they said "night" or "off to work" before they joined the Op. All it needs is 10 people doing this in Ops you're involved in and that's it, you're at a standstill and unable to join any more.

So what have I been doing about it? Aside from the occasional rant on my wall, I have been removing people I believe to be "abusive botters" from my Mafia for the last few weeks. It began by me first moving them to a friend list where I believed I could omit them from any war/op/bonus posts I made. After realising recently that they could in fact not see my wall at all, I decided to simply remove them from my friend list and Mafia.

It's enough that I have to run Family Ferret every 2 weeks to remove inactive players and try and ascertain who may be using automation in what I deem to be an inconsiderate manner, why should I keep players who do so any longer?

"Although I completely understand that there are times where I may be out-clicked by people who are manually refreshing and attempting to get in on wars to get their achievements, just as I am, I cannot however, help but wonder exactly how many times I have been out-clicked by somebody who is abusively botting. I too am trying to get my achievements and I feel that it is just plain asinine to hog in on every single war that there is with an automated program." - RR

Moving forward, I will be providing information to help others to try and identify such people in their own Mafia, if they so choose. I think it would be healthier all round though if people who use autoplayer scripts and 'scrubbers' 24/7 to review their settings and show more consideration for other players.

And yes, the thought did cross my mind after being "outclicked" in wars by people with 50k+ assists to go and download MWAP and leave it running 24/7 for a few days as to not be left behind. But that would be wrong of me and unfair on the friends of my friends. Please don't give in to the temptation, but by all means carry on, or start, using automation and scripts in a responsible and considerate manner.

Related reading

Mafia Wars: How to identify potential autoplayers & war hoggers

Mafia Wars: Operation [Common Sense]

Mafia Wars: How to post a 'Manual' War