For almost the last month there has been a lot of discussion around this situation involving a select group of players from The Next Level ("TNL") and a new-to-the-game coder, Kingfisher ("KF"; previously known as "aquagloop"), from Monarch ("M"). At first glance, and based on the faction tags of the people coming out to bat for the people involved, it seems like a matter of issue between TNL and M.
But this is not the case. It should not be seen at the level of faction vs. faction, as at the crux of it: a handful of players and a coder got together to create and then use a mug bot that was supported by websockets in a way that—while intended to be within Torn's rules—was determined to no longer be.
Following the release of "The WebSocket Files" by Andrew_616, this post and the document linked with it aims to provide additional context and full transparency from as much of an objective stance as we felt possible.
Some things to understand before jumping into this long read + collection of screenshots:
- This is not a reflection of either faction or family; only a handful of people were involved from TNL and only one person involved was from M.
- I am not saying Kingfisher is entirely innocent, nor am I arguing for his punishment to be lessened, and this post is not intended to incite a witch hunt against any of the individuals involved. Personally, I respect staff's decisions on this matter, and have only taken so long to release this as to not impede their investigation.
- This is all being shared because I feel the community deserves the closest to the full truth of the situation as we are capable of providing. I hope those who see this as a black and white situation are open to seeing some of the grey by taking the time to read some of the document linked below.
Without further ado...
