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Afk / Macro miners ... do you hate them?


Jamosite

  

38 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you hate AFK miners?

    • Yes... off with their heads.
      33
    • No, it should be Ok to mine while not at your keyboard
      5


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Today I noticed Afk miners in Glenn and New Edinsburg. They do this because the ore is relitively high level and there are no guardians. I see the

smallest starter toons there mining away. they do not respond to tells and when a GM decides to spawn a mob on them, they are dead for quite a while.

this to me eats up server resources and is a waste.

Was wondering if you could add some combat mobs to guard the fields, at least in zones outside of Glenn ( because Glenn is supposed to be a safe zone)

or, add some non mineable items in the area to mess up there mining. a person at there screen would easily scroll over the item and continue.

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Yep. I wouldn't have such a problem with it if the riff-raff didn't prevent legitimate explorers from getting the field-clear bonus, as was the case the numerous times Jam and I visited the fields in question. To those of you who do this, I would like to recommend a game much better suited to your tastes: http://progressquest.com/

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This problem seems to come up whenever there is an influx of new players. I'd like to think our veteran players know better <_< It isn't fair to monopolize any resource by use of an unattended macro. By this I mean roids, hulks, and mobs like Chavez for faction. Perhaps it's time for a reminder here on the website and on the launcher as well as in-game (message of the day) reguarding policy. Guilty players should face some penalty. Perhaps a warning then suspension then expulsion. Also names of guilty toons should be posted prominently on the website. The risk of public humiliation may prevent others from taking the chance and the rest of the player-base will be watching for offending toons.

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Was wondering if you could add some combat mobs to guard the fields, at least in zones outside of Glenn ( because Glenn is supposed to be a safe zone)

I have mixed feelings about this. I like the idea of having an aggro mob on a field to clear out any macro miners, but most non-max level miners are usually mining way above their current CL. So while the mob that is protecting the field is keeping the macro miner away, it is also keeping me (non macro miner) away because I'm mining 6,7 fields but my 2 lvl 3 beams would not be anywhere near enough to take down the 30+ mob that would probalby be used to protect it.

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I have seen it myself a few times, although that was while I was just along for the ride as I cannot mine that lvl stuff yet.

My suggestions:

- Put a list of GM names(or anyone who has the ability to help) on the forums as a sticky. Only add the Player names of those charaters that are willing to help out while on that character. Not asking for a list of every single toon that each GM has, just their "GM / Dev" toons. This way folks can add them all to their friends list and when a problem comes up they dont have to ask if a gm is on, they can just look.

- If the GM believes this person is macro mining(not hard to figure out); 1st offense log that character out, I suggest 1 day - 1 week suspension on that account with an email stating "you been caught, dont do it again". 2nd offense delete the entire account or at least the character that was caught a 2nd time. A 1 week suspension for being caught will not deter some folks, but deleting their account/char will most likely stop the majority of it.

Taking a death from a mob spawned on you for macro mining is not a deterent if that is currently the only thing being done.

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Whatever you do, the macro can evolve and adapt.

Add guardian mobs -- macro evolves to fight the mobs. Add roid pop-mobs -- see last comment. Add mysterious bad stuff inside roids that cannot be mined -- macros can learn to recognize them. A super smart macro could probably even learn to talk to GMs and be pretty convincing at it too.

GMs spawning mobs isn't really the answer either although satisfying.

The only answer is an escalating series or warnings ending in a permanent ban.

In EVE Online macros got so out of hand that at one stage CCP mass banned 1000's of accounts in one sweep. The average CPU usage per user dropped dramatically as a result.

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I should have added that if someone is at their keyboard using a mining macro it doesn't bother me. Will of course bother some, but I don't think there is anything wrong with that. Some people might rather chat with friends/guild or the community while the macro mines for them. That would be the one exception IMO.

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simple macros, like press A, wait 5 sec, press B (or click somewhere on screen) can easily be written by nearly everyone, the nostromo game pad basically works by doing this. A properly working macro ofcoarse should also only be affecting the client computer, as all it should be doing is controling the mouse and keyboard of the client.

Personally, doing anything that qualifies as "grinding" should be able to be done with ATTENDED macros (you have to press a key each time you want the macro to run, and can't be away from the computer)....better yet, if "grinding" is removed from the game then thier would be little or no incentive to macro

My suggestions: (and I don't know if any of these are even remotly possible)

1) if I want to go from point A to point B (e.g. Mars to Dahin) by flying (not wormhole) I should be able to set a destination and my ship will fly thier (assuming I know the needed nav points/gates)...Eve has system to system autopilot....it drops you 15km from gates and free flies in from there, but its full system to system autopilot

2) when mining or looting I should be able to target the object and press a key on the keyboard to either a) loot the first item in its list, or :) loot everything in its list

3) faction/XP grinding should NOT have something like above, but should be realativly quick....no one enjoys siting in one place doing the same thing over and over, the faster these things go by the better...but XP atleast seems right on target ATM...don't know about faction grinding yet cause I haven't started that

4) missions...there need to be more missions, and at every job terminal and for every level range, combat should be in the same system or right next door...next door ones being a little easier, note: because of 1 above autopilot should NOT be nav to nav but system to system...otherwise explore missions would be TOO easy

5) finding MOBs...without the rest of the player base or the database this would be near impossible as is...I suggest having a tag on Nav text to let players know what lvl of mob might be present there and if it is a faction mob or a non faction (like most critters), this should only show once the nav is explored

6) im not sure, but it seems to me that warping is a little slow...free warp seems the right speed but I think targeted warping should be 2-3x faster...its not fun taking half an hour to get somewhere...and even worse if you happen to have a bad moment and die along the way

7) drop only items...I like the idea for some items, but others not so much, maybe an NPC with faction requirements to purchase them, and ALL ammo should be purchaseable...pretty much anything that can be player made should be purchaseable "somewhere"

I guess my answer is no I don't hate macro miners (or any other macroer) because I understand why they are doing it (if we are talking "chinese gold miners", nothing against chinese, then I REALLY don't like them, those types ruin game economy)

However that doesn't mean I think they should be doing it if it is having a deterimental effect on the game play experience of others.

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if you are going to use a macro go play another game, do not waste the games resources and leave it for the people actually at there PC.

that being said, based on a statement above, its not about bots that evolve to kill a mob,

=its about the extremely low level players mining high level ore in areas were there are no guardians.

they do this with a macro. this is what I've been seeing.

or.

=there mostly or totally maxed using a macro in a perfectly safe area that the resources are below them.

Lastly.

=A group of people who are very low and one maxed miner, who is not at the keyboard using a macro.

(I guess this is the new version of power leveling)

Plenty can be done to stop this,

-Put guardians is most ore fields especially high level ones.

-Put non minable items in the field so a script can not be perfected ( @ Kass )

these are just my thoughts. Ban the people? hmm I don't know but it should be frowned on by everyone.

I see this is being close to exploiting.

that's just me

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Here is a thought. How about a challenge and response question/answer turret or mob that is protecting macro-able areas. If you come into an area you will see a mob with a random graphic message over or under the turret/mob. Three attempts to get it correct or poof you are one towing macro.

Captcha comes to EnB.

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As Lot mentioned above, it is near impossible to completely curtail macro use. If someone wants to use one they will find a way to do so.

I have never understood the reason for using one, I play a game to play the game. I don't play a game to be able to go do laundry, watch tv, or whatever. If I want to do those things, I turn off the pc and go do them.

If macro use consumes server resources and game resources, then it should be forbidden, period. Part of the problem is administering those rules once laid out. We have a small team on the project that work for free donating their time so we can enjoy the game we all loved back in live. Adding more rules adds more work to the team which cuts into their gametime even more.

As much as I dislike macro use, I'd say if you run across them, beat them at their own game, outgun, outmine, whatever. If you leave their macro with nothing to do they will get no gain.

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To me, it's not worth it to go through the hassle of programming in some crazy next-gen CAPTCHA. Macroing is only a real problem if the macro-er is getting in the way of good, honest players. (:P) If that's the case, report the offender to a GM or on the forums and emulator staff will handle it. To be honest, macroing is really just an annoyance; it's not like people who macro are breaking anything.

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To me, it's not worth it to go through the hassle of programming in some crazy next-gen CAPTCHA. Macroing is only a real problem if the macro-er is getting in the way of good, honest players. (:P) If that's the case, report the offender to a GM or on the forums and emulator staff will handle it. To be honest, macroing is really just an annoyance; it's not like people who macro are breaking anything.

That works for me as well, sort of not worth the effort to me to report the macro-er. Unless I can sit there and watch them get smacked. So, me being me and annoyance is my middle name....anyone have any good macro suggestions? :P

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I find mining relaxing and on a good day i can outmine just about anyone, the problem is I have carpal tunnel syndrome and those good days

are becoming rarer as time for surgery becomes a reality.

The solution for me has come in the form of a simple macro I made using an old program that I'm sure most of you know about.

As far as the rules are concerned, and to my knowledge, attended macroing is legal and until said rules are changed, I will continue to use them

as the need arises. The reality is that I can outmine the macro ten fold, and do not expect massive explore or ore from using it but helps me enjoy

the sounds and sights that got me hooked to this game from beta in live.

Now, do I feel guilty? no, have others made me feel guilty? yes, do we need to be more understanding? I think so.

My rules for good macro mining.

Do not macro 24/7 while you sleep, work, play with g/f,,,,,

Do not macro where there are other players that are trying to mine for the bonus.

Do not talk about how your macro is better than there macro.

Do not lock roid open when you think another player is macroing just to mess them up lol

Do report unattended macroing but first give them a few minutes to respond, bio runs, you know?

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I find mining relaxing and on a good day i can outmine just about anyone, the problem is I have carpal tunnel syndrome and those good days

are becoming rarer as time for surgery becomes a reality.

The solution for me has come in the form of a simple macro I made using an old program that I'm sure most of you know about.

As far as the rules are concerned, and to my knowledge, attended macroing is legal and until said rules are changed, I will continue to use them

as the need arises. The reality is that I can outmine the macro ten fold, and do not expect massive explore or ore from using it but helps me enjoy

the sounds and sights that got me hooked to this game from beta in live.

Now, do I feel guilty? no, have others made me feel guilty? yes, do we need to be more understanding? I think so.

My rules for good macro mining.

Do not macro 24/7 while you sleep, work, play with g/f,,,,,

Do not macro where there are other players that are trying to mine for the bonus.

Do not talk about how your macro is better than there macro.

Do not lock roid open when you think another player is macroing just to mess them up lol

Do report unattended macroing but first give them a few minutes to respond, bio runs, you know?

That raises a good point: attended macroing is allowed and I see no problem with it. Anything a macro can do, a human can typically do faster and better (excepting chat spamming of course). Your rules are good guidelines to follow for those who want to use macros; we certainly understand why you use a macro, given your carpal tunnel. I knew a guy who swore by vitamin B6 to relieve his carpal tunnel symptoms. Having never had a problem with carpal tunnel (knock on wood), I can't say that this actually works, and perhaps you've tried everything so far, but I figured it might be worth a shot.

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I like MJALowe's suggestion about the auto pilot. Feelings are strong on both sides of that arguement I am sure, but I am for it.

So the staff is going to police the macro's then to get them under control? I've heard a few GMs blasting macro's who do not respond when mining within a 1hr period which should long enough for to do your business in a restroom and come back. So more the likely seems to be a great way, although kinda sad to see having the enb emu-staff police & monitor macro's once again. I also agree with Rezwalkers rules or warnings for new and other macroers in the game.

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So the staff is going to police the macro's then to get them under control? I've heard a few GMs blasting macro's who do not respond when mining within a 1hr period which should long enough for to do your business in a restroom and come back. So more the likely seems to be a great way, although kinda sad to see having the enb emu-staff police & monitor macro's once again. I also agree with Rezwalkers rules or warnings for new and other macroers in the game.

Not really. We're not going to sit around in ore field and wait for suspicious activity. To be honest, that would be a huge waste of time that, as volunteers, we typically don't have. We will, however, respond to player reports of unattended macroing or macroing which disrupts gameplay for others.

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Not really. We're not going to sit around in ore field and wait for suspicious activity. To be honest, that would be a huge waste of time that, as volunteers, we typically don't have. We will, however, respond to player reports of unattended macroing or macroing which disrupts gameplay for others.

Shoot, make me a GM......i'll sit around online all day and take care of it........don't have much else to do being on disability at the moment.....lol

Tuk

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Botters in the universe

I like how you used a Paint airbrush to block out your group's names. :rolleyes:

Unfortunately, it's kinda hard to tell what's going on from a screenshot, lol.

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I like how you used a Paint airbrush to block out your group's names. :rolleyes:

Unfortunately, it's kinda hard to tell what's going on from a screenshot, lol.

There are several fields in one sector in particular that are quite large and dense, so one can mine effectively with very little movement. The macro user will park at a spot the field and just continually mine out asteroids as they respawn, thereby preventing anyone from getting the field-clear bonus (including the macro user himself, naturally).

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while I know the forums hate afk macro miners... there was one good part about them during live... cheap as hell ores :rolleyes: real miners always wanted top credits for their ores (rather they wanted to gouge the hell outta you)... while the macro people were just happy to unload it without having to vendor... would usually get a lot of free ores tossed in with the ones I bought ...

Edited by Avani
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