Fair Play Policy

Over this last year, the World of Tanks team has worked hard to improve the very core of the game with the help of your continued feedback. One of the biggest concerns on players' minds is fair play, and how modifications (mods) or other unauthorized third-party software can give unfair advantages in combat.

We've taken some action to defeat certain "cheat mods" over the past several months, but realized we haven’t set you straight on what mods we do view as cheats and the reasons why, nor were we consistent in addressing instances of cheating.

Today we're moving to change that with the following actions:

Continuing to expand our work on anti-cheating technology solutions, while staying realistic — we can’t promise World of Tanks will be 100% cheat-free someday. Cheaters are clever, and this battle will go on forever. What we can promise is keeping up the fight for clean competition by reducing cheating and taking action against those who don't play fair.
We’ve outlined a clear list of illegal mod types, found below. Moving forward, we’ll be keeping an eye on new mods and update the list accordingly.
We’re also establishing a clear penalty system. This system is standard across all regions and applies to anyone found to be using prohibited software.

In short, the penalty system affects players who get caught using forbidden mods for the first time — they will receive a warning and a seven-day suspension. Should they be flagged again, they will be permanently banned. Before punishing a player, our team will review the case to ensure it's warranted. We’re asking you to trust their decisions. They are under no obligation to provide evidence or explain which type of mod the player was found to be using, and will not do so even if requested.

Which Modifications Will Be Penalized?

We know there are many mods out there, and we've integrated features from some of the best. However, some mods or apps work against the community’s best interests. To be clear on what makes our "naughty and nice" list when we review third-party software, here's how we divide them up:

Mods that don't provide a gameplay advantage, merely information customization for the viewer. They are “pure” mods, and we like them.
Mods that provide a gameplay advantage in what we believe to be a positive way. These will be considered "good" for the time being, and may even inspire official game features.
Mods that provide a gameplay advantage in what we believe to be a negative way. These are classified as cheats, and are illegal going forward.

Here's some examples of negative gameplay advantages from the third category. Players found using them will be penalized:

Revealing the positions of enemies in a way not included in the vanilla client. Marking objects destroyed on the map and minimap in real-time by altering the display of shell flight tracers or calculating the position of enemy artillery with tracers and marking them, as well as those that keep spotted vehicles displayed, even when not aiming at them
Making it easier to block an enemy’s shell by indicating their exact aiming point (for example, with a laser beam)
Alerting you when spotted vehicles are reloading, including displaying an enemy's reloading timer
Auto-aim, or “aimbots” that provide more functionality than the “aim lock” in the vanilla client, specifically those that aim at the enemy's weak spots or automatically lead the aim so the offending player can focus on maneuvering their tank
Enabling automatic use of non-Premium consumables
Aiding in finding enemies by letting you adjust the transparency of objects on the map
Leaving “ghosts” of enemy vehicles on the battlefield where they were last detected
Any direct alteration of the physical properties, performance characteristics, or effects of any vehicle or object in the game, or otherwise subverting the game rules

One More Category: In-Battle Armor Viewers

We believe this functionality (which shows the critical armor zones of a vehicle during battle) provides a significant advantage. Since we didn’t treat it as a cheat in the past, we are not adding it to the "forbidden" list for now. Instead, we're working on our own version of an in-battle armor viewer with genuinely beneficial functions. Once that debuts, the mods that offer this will be added to the list and be banned.

To be perfectly clear, this only applies to in-battle viewers. Similar mods that work only in the Garage are great; we don't consider them cheating. In fact, we think in-Garage viewers help newer players learn to fight better. It’s only the ones that provide extra information during actual gameplay that we think are unfair, and will be punished under the Fair Play policy.

We’ve set out to build a healthier environment, and will continue to monitor the game and evolve this system to ensure a fair experience for all players in the future. We rely on your support in this journey and are eager to hear your feedback.