The difference is that one type of knowledge is about the game in general and the theories behind things. The other type of knowledge is about the specific hidden details of a specific item.
I'll give some examples. Note that not all of the cheating examples may actually be possible at present.
- Learning how the ilvl is calculated is fair. Using a program to find out the ilvl of an item you already have isn't.
- Learning the rules of map generation in order to better predict where the stairs will be is fair. Using a program to reveal the map for you isn't.
- Learning the ilvl and base item for valk equipment at different slvls is fair. Using a program to find out what your specific valkyrie is wearing at the moment isn't.
- Knowing what items are possible to gamble at a certain clvl is fair. Using a program to find out what the specific items in your gamble screen are isn't.
- Knowing what your opponent in PvP is likely to wear and recognizing visible equipment is fair. Using a program to find out exactly what all his equipment is isn't.
And so on. I don't think I'm being too inconsistent in my standards.
With my technical knowledge and experience with testing mods, I think I could make a client-side mod that imparts some forbidden knowledge. It's trivial to make hidden attributes like pierce percentages, cold duration, etc. show on items in a SP environment. It's also possible to recolour affixes so they're more recognizable. Note that I've never actually tried to use such a mod on the realms, and I won't. Doing anything of the sort would make me an evil hacker. When I make mods, it's only for testing and for gaining knowledge and understanding, never to get an advantage while actually playing. Once I'm in the game, I see only what the game tells me.
And in regards to the specific ilvl issue... If there was a program that let you input the exact stats of an item and then calculated the potential ilvl range, I'd see nothing wrong with it. It would be a lot of work to make the program and would probably not be too useful, in part because of the imprecision, but I wouldn't see its use as unethical. OTOH, a program that looks at the actual hidden stats of an item and gives the ilvl with more precision than could be done by hand, would be cheating.
ATMA is SP-only. However, it does make an effort to be legit. You can't dupe things, edit items or edit characters with it. You're just supposed to use it to move around items (let's not argue about how legit muling is). However, the forbidden knowledge (both the ilvl and the complete stats of unidentified items) mean that it can be used for non-legit things as well. And the use thereof means you're no longer playing D2. You're playing D2 with ATMA. And if you ever bring your character to a MP game or boast about your SP accomplishments, you'd have to mention the ATMA.
I'll give some examples. Note that not all of the cheating examples may actually be possible at present.
- Learning how the ilvl is calculated is fair. Using a program to find out the ilvl of an item you already have isn't.
- Learning the rules of map generation in order to better predict where the stairs will be is fair. Using a program to reveal the map for you isn't.
- Learning the ilvl and base item for valk equipment at different slvls is fair. Using a program to find out what your specific valkyrie is wearing at the moment isn't.
- Knowing what items are possible to gamble at a certain clvl is fair. Using a program to find out what the specific items in your gamble screen are isn't.
- Knowing what your opponent in PvP is likely to wear and recognizing visible equipment is fair. Using a program to find out exactly what all his equipment is isn't.
And so on. I don't think I'm being too inconsistent in my standards.
With my technical knowledge and experience with testing mods, I think I could make a client-side mod that imparts some forbidden knowledge. It's trivial to make hidden attributes like pierce percentages, cold duration, etc. show on items in a SP environment. It's also possible to recolour affixes so they're more recognizable. Note that I've never actually tried to use such a mod on the realms, and I won't. Doing anything of the sort would make me an evil hacker. When I make mods, it's only for testing and for gaining knowledge and understanding, never to get an advantage while actually playing. Once I'm in the game, I see only what the game tells me.
And in regards to the specific ilvl issue... If there was a program that let you input the exact stats of an item and then calculated the potential ilvl range, I'd see nothing wrong with it. It would be a lot of work to make the program and would probably not be too useful, in part because of the imprecision, but I wouldn't see its use as unethical. OTOH, a program that looks at the actual hidden stats of an item and gives the ilvl with more precision than could be done by hand, would be cheating.
ATMA is SP-only. However, it does make an effort to be legit. You can't dupe things, edit items or edit characters with it. You're just supposed to use it to move around items (let's not argue about how legit muling is). However, the forbidden knowledge (both the ilvl and the complete stats of unidentified items) mean that it can be used for non-legit things as well. And the use thereof means you're no longer playing D2. You're playing D2 with ATMA. And if you ever bring your character to a MP game or boast about your SP accomplishments, you'd have to mention the ATMA.