Fair Play Policy

Commanders,

Over the course of this last year, we’ve been working hard to take on your feedback to improve the very core of the game. One of the foremost concerns on your minds has been fair play and how it is often disturbed with modifications or any other unauthorized third-party software that provide those using them with unfair advantage in combat. These mods spoil the fun for the many of you who play the game fairly.

While we have quietly taken actions to defeat certain cheat mods over the past several months, we also realize that we haven’t set you straight on the list of modifications we view as cheats and the reasoning behind it. Nor have we been as consistent as we should in addressing instances of cheating.

So, today, we’re here to get things right:

We’ll continue to expand our work on anti-cheating technology solutions. We are being realistic about the problem: we can’t promise that the game will be 100% cheat free one day. Cheaters are clever and tackling them will go on forever. What we can promise you is that we will keep up the fight to keep competition as clean as possible, reduce the incidences of cheating, and take action against those who don't play fair.
We’ve outlined a clear list of illegal mods that we will share with you here and now. Moving forward, we’ll be keeping an eye on new mods and update the list accordingly.
We’re also establishing a clear penalty system. It is uniform across all regions and applies to everyone found to be using prohibited software.

Players who are caught using forbidden mods for the first time, instead of earning their way in fair combat, will receive a warning and a suspension of 7 days. Should they get flagged again, they will be permanently banned. Before punishing a player, our team will review the case to ensure the discipline is merited. We’re asking you to trust in their decisions. They are under no obligation to provide the player evidence or explain which mod type the player was found to be using, and will not do so even if requested.

Which Modifications Will Be Penalized?

We know there are lots of mods out there, and we have already implemented a number of useful community mods into the game. However, some mods and software work against the community’s best interests. To be clear on what makes our naughty and nice list when we review third-party software, we divide them into three different categories:

Mods that do not provide a gameplay advantage, but merely allow information customization for the viewer. They are “pure” mods in the traditional sense, and we like them.
Mods that do provide a gameplay advantage, but one that we believe contributes to the game in a positive way. In the short term, we’ll treat these as good mods, and we will look to implement them into the vanilla client in the future.
Mods that do provide a gameplay advantage, one that we think is bad overall for the game. These are classified as a cheat and are illegal going forward.

Listed below are modifications that fall into this third category. Players that are found using them will receive a penalty.

Mods that reveal the position of enemies in a way not included in the vanilla client, by 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 SPGs with tracers and marking them, as well as those that keep spotted vehicles displayed, even when you aren’t aiming at them.
Software that makes it easier to block an enemy’s shell by indicating their exact aiming point, for example, with a laser beam.
Modifications that alert you when spotted vehicles are reloading or show enemy vehicles’ reloading timers.
Auto-aim or so-called “aimbots” that provide more functionality than the “aim lock” in the vanilla client, specifically including those that aim at the enemy's weak spots and/or lead the aim automatically so that a cheater can focus on maneuvering their tank.
Software that enables the automatic use of non-Premium consumables.
Mods that aid in finding enemies by letting you adjust the transparency of objects on the map.
Software that leaves “ghosts” of enemy vehicles on the battlefield, placed where they were last detected.
Mods that actually alter the physical properties, performance characteristics, or effects of any vehicle or object in the game, or subvert the game rules.

One final category: in-match armor viewer

We believe that this functionality provides a significant advantage. Since we didn’t treat it as a cheat in the past, we are not adding it to the Forbidden Mods List for now. Instead, we are working on our own version of an in-match viewer that will feature a functionality beneficial to the game. Once introduced, mods that offer additional in-match armor critical zone viewing will be added to the List.

Please also note that this applies to in-match viewers only. The mods that some of you have, which only work in the Garage (not during the match itself) are great. To us, they’re not cheating. In fact, we think in-Garage viewers are a really helpful tool that help newer players up their knowledge, and learn to fight better with or against different tanks. It’s only the ones that provide extra information in-match that we don’t think are fair and will be affected by our 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.

Let’s take the game seriously and play fair!