The Case for Macros

by Gabriel Putnam

Over the past month or so, as I've gotten back into the flow of MMORPG play with Star Wars Galaxies (SWG), one of the main points of contention that I've seen popping up on discussion boards and in game is the use of macros. For those who have never heard of or used them, macros are tools, usually in the form of a written program, which perform certain sets of actions within the game environment to speed up, or simplify tasks. Now basically there are only two sides to this argument. On one hand, there are those who feel that the use of macros is an unfair advantage for players, which allows them to powerlevel at an unbalanced rate and outstrip their fellow players. On the other side, there is the camp which I fall into, and which takes advantage of macros, as they feel that the benefit supplied by macros is both needed and fair, since they are a publically available tool for anyone. Now, both of these camps have some solid points, as from a certain view, macros can be an unbalancing factor in the design of an MMORPG. However, to flesh out this piece, I will instead attempt to cover some of the reasoning behind why I support macro use and feel that it is almost a necessary evil during online play.

Probably one of the first, and most solid, reasons for use of macros in MMORPGs, is the very design of the games themselves. By and large, online RPGs are created with a system that favors endless repetition of a series of tasks, so that a player may advance in skill. Unfortunately, in an effort to retain game balance, this process is usually taken to an extreme and players will find themselves facing an almost insurmountable wall of experience needed to attain their next skill. For example, in Star Wars Galaxies, there are a number of skills which require on the order of 80000 exp to attain. With average experience gain, using the most easily practiced parts, a player can gain approximately 100-150 exp per part they create. Now, assuming our theoretical person has trained their hand eye coordination to the point where they can zip through the process at around 20 seconds a part, barring failures, this means that to achieve the exp needed for this skill, they will have to spend close to four hours doing nothing but crafting parts. And this is only for one skill out a possible 16 for each class. That means that in general, players will be forced to spend literally days of their lives doing nothing but the same, utterly repetetive task over and over. To make matters worse, this calculation doesn't even take into account all the other time wasters they will face, such as the need to gather minerals to practice with, the requests from other players for help or items, and general instability which can lag up the process or even destroy a day's work. Now, if macro use is entered into the process, a number of benefits are suddenly realized. Rather than spending upwards of 20 seconds on each part they create, a super efficient piece of code can crank them out in 10 seconds or even less with a great connection. In addition, it can be set to perform all the mindless steps in between the choice to create and the finish product, which can save a player countless brain cells which would be lost otherwise to atrophy. Finally, by freeing up all of this time in the crafting process, the use of a macro will also allow this theoretical player far more time to actually interact with the community and be a valuable member rather than a silent practicer.

The second reason why I support the use of macros in an MMORPG setting, is that they really hurt no one except possibly the creator's bottom line. One of the most common complaints that I will hear on boards or chats about the use of macros is that they are an unfair advantage for those players who use them. However, any clever person can see the inherent flaw with that argument, which is that there is little stopping others from using these "unfair" tools for their own gaming. In most cases they are publically available for download on the web, and in some games, such as SWG, they have even implemented as in-game macro code for use by the players. In addition, MMORPGs are by their very nature an organic economy, which, if designed correctly, can accomodate numerous balance issues that their designers never anticipated and keep on functioning perfectly well. For example, lets assume that in a hypothetical server there is a huge rush of people who pursue an armorsmith class, and a large majority of these people use macros to obtain a master level of skill in that class. Now, assuming that they are all equally efficient in applying or writing their macros, they will each offer products which are of roughly the same skill level. By the nature of their offers, other players will then have a wide variety of vendors to choose their wares from. This will naturally deflate the prices which these creators can offer, and over time, the speed with which they attained master will lose importance, as they will have had a slight jump on the competition, but the overall fallout will be that skill of sales and marketing ingenuity will play a much larger role. This argument is even more valid with a monsterous game like SWG, which has so large a player base that there is a market not only for high level products, but low as well. This means that those players who feel they shouldn't use macros will still have a steady consumer base and may actually face less competition for their low level wares, as high level smiths might not be willing to venture into those markets with the temptation of high level goods.

The final nail for me in the use of macros is the simple fact that they are gaining more support with the developers of games themselves. Admittedly, this wasn't always the case, since some games like Everquest went to exteme lengths to try and stop their player base from using macros to advance. However, as a prime example of this shift, the folks at SWG have gone so far as to implement a macro code into the very fabric of the game itself. This code is actually far more versatile than a number of external macro offerings on the market and allows players to use commands which get at the core of the game's user interface, rather than just depending on sensory evidence to function. More importantly though, they show a willingness by the game design community to allow macro use by their players as they have probably realized that a number of the tasks they are asking them to accomplish actually detract from the fun of the game, rather than promoting it. Naturally, they are still opposed to macro code which allows characters to function completely independantly of a human presence. However, this is still only a small caveat, as the bulk of useless tasks can be done away with and still allow a player to operate within the guidelines that they have set for macro use.

From these various points, I'm hoping that the vast benefit which macros represent to the MMORPG community should now be clear. In fact, if developers were clever, more of them would begin to implement their own versions of in-game macro code, as it is a nice fig leaf gesture to the community saying that they do actually want us to have fun, and they would like the process of achieving that point where we can have fun to be as painless as possible. The growth process should still take work of course, and always will, since those tasks which can be overcome with the use of a macro are in general only the most mundane of stat growth activies, whereas there are a number of logistical problems which must be overcome to even allow for these activities. In essence, by allowing macros, developers are simply shifting the focus of MMORPG gaming from mindless repetition to what it should have been in the first place, a thinking man's game, which rewards creative interaction and dealing among players rather than droning perserverance.