Yes, that's the theory, anyway. If we could tie a members-only game account to a forum account and people know who's actually who (in theory), then the stated rules of a game would matter more and those who agree to a certain style of game can expect to play in a certain style of game. Almost every game suffers from the possibility that people can spoil the fun by cheating (cheating here is defined as playing in a way that is contrary to the stated rules, not the defined gameplay restrictions), but most games have more accountability. A game like TW has to be on the rock bottom of the accountability scale. That's a serious negative on a game.

Some other points I'd add to the conversation... I think it's easy to look at other less played games like HVS MBBS and older door versions and say there must be some reason why these kinds of tactics can't be used. But I think those games benefit from TWGS supporting these kinds of tactics so well, because if TWGS wasn't around, script writers would just focus their efforts on those other games, and your haven away from aggressive scripters would disappear. Personally, I believe there's a POSSIBILITY that having some options that discourage scripting in some games would create havens away from aggressive scripting on TWGS because those who like those games already have a place to play. Is it worth the extra effort just to get into these games and club the seals? Maybe. It's hard to get into the dark mind of some of these players

I completely agree that scripters who want to will be able to overcome just about anything I do to stop them, though I'm still intrigued by the idea of the CAPTCHA question database. That seems to have some potential because I see how much wailing and gnashing of teeth there is every time I change a character of output. Again, I don't think it would be impossible to overcome such a feature, but it would be a pain in the arse, and would require constant effort to maintain. What would be the point? The vast majority of games would not employ that feature, so why go to so much effort to invade the few that do?

And my final point, these tactics are so powerful because the gameplay allows them to be. I see Botlink as a way to pit script against script and allow the community to strike the balance it finds most acceptable. I don't want to be involved in a years-long battle to protect one group of players from another.