Active Machines // Retired Machines Which of the two
what reallife szenario ???
The difference is more in the access you have to the machines,the community rules around them and the point system attached to it:
You will only be able to access retired machines if you are VIP (as free user you can only access a few retired machines).
But you can only gain points to improve your rank by completing active machines. For this same reason it’s not allowed to make write ups or videos about additive machines.
If you are wondering about real life or not: if you click a machines, you will see a scoring diagram that will state (I believe this is by community scoring), whether a machines is ‘more real life’ or ‘more ctf’
Personally I like working on retired machines a lot: it’s quite peaceful, I can often study machines for days without traces or someone else. Active machines can be quite crowded. Then again, I’m not very driven by points. It all depends, what you are after I guess
Just to say: if you want to learn and study machines, I’m not affiliated to these guys, but I do think it’s worth the money.