Hello there.
I don't usually post about Splinterlands updates, since there are already a lot of people that do that, and most of the updates are covered in the Town Hall summary. But I still do it from time to time, especially if the update is a big one that not only affects me greatly, but one which I think affects newer/weaker players, which my posts are mostly targeted to.
For this post, I will be talking about the recent change that the Splinterlands team has just implemented: Banning Bots and Battle Helpers [BH] in the Modern Ranked, Brawls, and Tournaments. What's interesting about this change is that it has been frequently requested by the community for a long time. The team/heads of SPL have mostly been neutral on this topic, on the premise of decentralization, and players being able to do anything they want with their assets.
A few months ago I posted about the banning of bots in just Modern Ranked. This update in the TOS increases the scope of that to not only include Battle Helpers, but also to apply these restrictions to both Brawls and Tournaments as well.
The image above is taken from the Splinterlands Release Notes. There are two proposal links included there. If you want to read them, these are the links: Prohibit bots in brawls and tournaments, and Prohibit battle helpers in Modern Ranked, Brawls, and Tournaments
Playing a lot of games, I know that battling bots is a long and difficult battle. Bot owners will continuously try to find ways to work around the checks, and the team will have to work to fix these. The good news is that a lot of services that offer these have said that they will honor the TOS and stop their availability once the TOS has been updated.
I believe Archmage, Xbot, Legendarytools, and Bubke [private bots] are some that have given their support. While these are great news and will significantly lessen the amount of bots and BH in Modern, Brawls, and Tournaments, there is still the risk of rogue bot owners using it there. Some people in discord have even said that accounts that reach leaderboard will be under constant scrutiny to make sure they are not bots or using BH.
The updates are in number 3.
The update has only been released for less than a day, so it is difficult to say how much different ranked battles have been. I play in modern bronze, so I'm guessing there aren't a lot of BH users unless they're in leaderboard. From the few battles I've had, I think I faced a lot less optimized teams than usual.
There were still a lot of Llama, Kron, and Kitty users, but I was able to beat a lot more of them than I used to. I was even able to win against P2E3RD who is the current Rank 1 bronze player [at the time I am writing this].
I was able to reach rank 25, before I lost and dropped down to 46. This change has reignited my drive to finally get a leaderboard position and get some DEC. I still don't have a fully leveled deck, but I hope I can just outplay the other players.
With regards to Brawls and Tournaments, I am hoping I can see a big improvement as well. I think a lot of Tournament players are better than average, since they tend to be more competitive, so I'm not going to get my hopes up too much there. For brawls, I have heard people use BH a lot there, so I hope I win more battles.
Overall, while I think enforcing this change is difficult, it is good for the game. It should return power to the players, and hopefully bring back the joy of playing to many. With this update, people shouldn't have any more excuse that their opponent was a bot or using a BH. If we lose, we just need to "get good".
That is it for my discussion of the TOS updates. Don't hesitate to let me know what you think, and if you have suggestions for improvement.
And as always, these are Not Financial Advice, and Do Your Own Research.
If you want to start playing Splinterlands, you can use my link:
Splinterlands Referral Link