So far, there are no rules that strictly or explicitly prohibit the use of auto-clickers. I think it's difficult to tell apart gameplay that uses an auto-clicker from regular gameplay that just so happened to do frame-perfect spam shots (which is a 2-frame input window (5 frames if you count hit registers) in this 60-ish-fps game based on my testing in the current nightly build of PCSX2). It would be somewhat dumb to invalidate runs just because of this simple probable coincidence. I don't really know how we should handle auto-clicker gameplay. Maybe we would start using hand cameras or input displays. @matthewreality , what do you think about this?
You'll have to give me more info on this as I'm not very familiar with Auto-clickers.
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Is this essentially 'turbo' for mouse clicks? Are there other advantages?
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What is the goal here? Is this accessibility-related? Or for ease of faster times?
My initial feeling is any runs compared against another should have the same or very similar variables affecting the end result so if an auto-clicker provides a clear advantage, it should be a separate category. I think in the case of TCII, it certainly does (less so with TC or TC3).
I was going to reply sooner, but was delayed by school responsibilities. Anyways, I'll answer your questions briefly, though this is only from my experience and I might get certain things wrong here.
1a. Auto-clickers are either software-based (like AutoHotkey and other related software, which is the most popular option) or hardware-based (built into the mouse or externally configured by other peripherals, but rarely implemented). Generally, they are like the 'turbo' for mouse clicks.
1b. Some mice have a 'free-scrolling' feature that allows the player to spin the scroll wheel extremely fast to make fast inputs (i.e. the Logitech G502 Hero mouse and the Razer Basilisk V3 mouse, neither of which I own), which somewhat acts like auto-clicking but done manually. If the feature is completely allowed, it effectively makes the speedrun pay-to-win.
2a. Auto-clickers make shot spamming trivial, overshadowing various traditional mouse spamming techniques in terms of consistency and comfort (significantly less muscle stress since you can just press a button to spam shots for you). I say it is both accessibility-friendly and for ease of faster times.
2b. Auto-clickers are especially useful in boss sections and tank sections where it is faster to spam than not. 1-3 makes low 1:0x times easier (as low as a 1:03), the 2-1 tank can save around 0.7s when using an auto-clicker compared to none, 2-3 Buff Bryant can make yellows route somewhat viable again, and in 3-3, it can make the satellite phase 2 2-spin cycle much more consistent (but it doesn't speed up like in wide ammo runs when it goes straight to laser spins instead of waiting for satellite movements, and I wasn't able to do a 2-laser phase 1 with it which is usually seen in special ammo runs compared to the typical 3-laser phase 1 in normal ammo). Normal shootouts won't be affected that much due to the emphasis on accuracy and reloads anyways.
I personally think that we should not only worry about runs that use auto-clickers, but also runs that use macros. What if an entire speedrun is done not by a human, but by a meticulously crafted input recording of a perfect run (or a TAS)? Would we even notice it based on gameplay alone? Unless you have a few moderation tricks up your figurative sleeve, macros would make the entire speedrun extremely unfair and even create so much doubt in every run and player we encounter, innocent or not. That mere possibility is getting closer and closer as the days go by.
I obviously come off as pessimistic here, so I'll stop ranting here. Either way, I like to see new runs being submitted and players joining in mostly because there is not much active competition in the entire Time Crisis series nowadays. I suggest that any more discussions regarding this be moved to the TC discord server, as I don't check speedrun.com that often.
