The point is that ZeroEmpires is not an expert and has not consulted any experts, he just pulled a statement from his imagination and claimed it was fact, then in the next post admitted he doesn't know what he's talking about. IF he HAD consulted an expert, he would simply reference where his information came from so we could check and validate it ourselves, as people normally do.
The reason automatic updates are frowned upon is because intelligent/conscious users (generally including security professionals) like to be in control of their computers and given a choice if and when to perform updates on software. We do not like rogue software downloading and executing files without our knowledge and permission. We cannot necessarily trust AoFE or AoFE's update server. ZeroEmpires has already shown a negligence for security as his server got hacked yesterday and now imagine if the AoFE update mechanism was hosted on the same server: The attacker could very easily distribute malware to all players whose games would update and run whatever files he wanted. The malware installer only has to put a working AoFE executable back in its place and the users won't notice anything suspicious. They are now infected without their knowledge and furthermore have no way to know that AoFE was the source of the infection. It's also always possible for someone with AoFE access to go rogue. These may seem like unlikely scenarios but it's always a possibility and it's better to be safe than sorry. Updates should always come with release notes, especially any updates involving balance changes. Most users will never notice the difference but it's those occasional users who profile their software and notice strange things that inevitably catch such problems when they do happen in the real world and then alert everyone else about them. I don't really trust AoFE to run automatic updates as I trust Microsoft or Mozilla, sorry.
The real world use for automatic updates:
1. Malware that automatically updates itself to bypass new detection schemes and gain new features
2. Security software that automatically updates itself to protect users from critical security threats (and is usually enabled by the user by their choice)
None of these apply to AoFE. It's completely unnecessary. What I really think the developers wanted was that they can release software full of bugs and then perform a ton of shitty silent patches behind the scenes without bothering the users. But the responsible way to do things is to simply test your software thoroughly to minimize the amount of patches required and then release well-tested patches when necessary.
The reason automatic updates are frowned upon is because intelligent/conscious users (generally including security professionals) like to be in control of their computers and given a choice if and when to perform updates on software. We do not like rogue software downloading and executing files without our knowledge and permission. We cannot necessarily trust AoFE or AoFE's update server. ZeroEmpires has already shown a negligence for security as his server got hacked yesterday and now imagine if the AoFE update mechanism was hosted on the same server: The attacker could very easily distribute malware to all players whose games would update and run whatever files he wanted. The malware installer only has to put a working AoFE executable back in its place and the users won't notice anything suspicious. They are now infected without their knowledge and furthermore have no way to know that AoFE was the source of the infection. It's also always possible for someone with AoFE access to go rogue. These may seem like unlikely scenarios but it's always a possibility and it's better to be safe than sorry. Updates should always come with release notes, especially any updates involving balance changes. Most users will never notice the difference but it's those occasional users who profile their software and notice strange things that inevitably catch such problems when they do happen in the real world and then alert everyone else about them. I don't really trust AoFE to run automatic updates as I trust Microsoft or Mozilla, sorry.
The real world use for automatic updates:
1. Malware that automatically updates itself to bypass new detection schemes and gain new features
2. Security software that automatically updates itself to protect users from critical security threats (and is usually enabled by the user by their choice)
None of these apply to AoFE. It's completely unnecessary. What I really think the developers wanted was that they can release software full of bugs and then perform a ton of shitty silent patches behind the scenes without bothering the users. But the responsible way to do things is to simply test your software thoroughly to minimize the amount of patches required and then release well-tested patches when necessary.