Market Discussions

If somebody afk mines, that means they have something better to do. They are just making a bit of ISK while not being active in-game.

For example: I have to WORK. I start afk mining (takes me like 2 minutes to warp to the belt and start mining) then I know that for quite a lot of time I won't have to check on my miner, thus doing work stuff.

Sure it's cheap, but my other choices are the following
1. don't afk mine, do something else instead (L4s, active mine ore, trade, etc) = a lot more isk gained, got fired
2. don't afk mine, don't do anything else instead either = 0 isk gained, did not get fired

Now Mr Economy graduate...tell me what I should do.

thread originator prefers the company of gentlemen.

Wanted to add some variations to the mining types I've experienced in other games.
Also what I eventually did to make it suck less.

UO -
The Mechanic: You hit the dirt or a mountainside with a pickaxe or a shovel.
Travel - Areas depleted quickly so you had to move around.
Solution: Eventually scripted with EasyUO, fully automated recalling (teleporting), mining, smelting and storing.

User input required. Medium to high.
Script complexity - Medium to high.


SWG - (Pre CU/NGE)
The Mechanic: Resources were extracted via machines that needed to be tended once a week or so. The extractors required fuel and cash to run.
Travel - Non existant other than planet swapping, or heading out to your field. Again once a week or so to empty them out and refill with fuel.
Solution: Slot trade and blanket large areas with heavy extractors on every planet. No macroing or scripting needed.

User input required. Harvesting - Low, Manufacture - High
Script complexity - Not used.

Quality of resources changed, so having small farms on single planets generally didn't work too well. There was a limit on the number of harvester machines that one could have per character. Harvester slot trading was done with other players on different servers. It was not uncommon to have harvester fields numbering in the 100's

*** It should be noted that SWG crafting system was far and away the best crafting system ever made in any game at any time. Every item was unique, with unique stats. The skill (and luck) of the crafter, and material quality played an enormous role in the final product.


WoW -
The Mechanic: Run around (later on fly around) and pick things up off the ground, or hit them with a pickaxe.
Travel - It was very possible to set yourself a path or circuit and just mine/herb all day in one area or until you went insane.
Solution - Botted. WoWGlider (MMOGlider) create your own paths and the bot would do it for you. Lootfilter for junk and wake up to bags full of herbs/ore.

User input required - Medium.
Script complexity - Medium to high.
Fishing was also trivial to script...just FYI.


EVE -
The Mechanic: Move to a location and sit there until your bags are full. Empty and repeat.
Travel - Non-existant.
Solution- Bot it.

User input required. Low
Script complexity - Trivial.


I'm a rabid crafter in every game I've ever played...except EVE.
Why? It's too dull, even for me. I mean so dull that I can't even be bothered to script it.

I collect cans while walking the dog. I am already walking. I already have bags for collecting things. I don't go walking to collect cans, but I come home with the dog, a bag full of cans and a bag full of doggy doo.

There is no opportunity cost in collecting cans while walking the dog. There is an opportunity lost when I walk the dog and do not collect cans.

You are correct from a certain point of view but you miss on big piece of the puzzle.

AFK miners do not mine when they could be doing something else. It is an activity that is done when the account would otherwise not even be logged in.

There are players who will play on one account and have other accounts set up to AFK mine while they are busy on there main account. Other will have there accounts AFK mining while they ARE AT WORK AND CAN NOT PLAY. Others still use bot programs to run the mining ops for hours with zero interaction.(this is illegal but hard to prove or get caught at.)

There is no scenario where these afk accounts could be making more money, as the player can not be ATK for any other activity on that account. It is AFK mine for a little isk or make no isk at all off that account. Any amount of isk not matter how small is a positive. it cost the player nothing unless they are ganked.

The argument about this activity getting to a point where returns are so low they can not even cover the cost of a PLEX is irrelevant. Most of these accounts are subbed for other purposes and only used to afk mine when not being used for there intended purpose. Again any income from AFK mining is a bonus as the alternative is making zero isk not doing other more profitable activities.

AFK mining is really only done for mining ice. normal mining can not be left to run on its own for more than a couple minutes without a bot program.

So what impact does this really have on the game? Well ice mining is pointless to do ATK as the income is so low, but it is also the most boring activity in the game, so no loss there. It also keeps ice prices down. This directly results in fuel costs of running POSes and capital ships being kept down. A positive effect as far as I am concerned. Considering that most AFK ice miners are research or production alts that often work out of POSes this activity keeping ICE value down has far less impact than simply making less off the ice they sell. They also receive the benefit of their POSes costing less to run. So this isk they lose from low sell prices of the ice is made back from reduced cost to run their POSes.

There really is no major negative impact on the game from AFK mining. A lot of players hate it, but it does keep prices down. When I mine it is never ATK, but generally semi-AFK. If I have the time to devote to the game then I spend it doing far higher isk/hr activities than mining. But when I am busy doing other things I often have my miners working away in the back ground, I am technically at the key board but engaged in activities outside of EVE. I mine enough ice, and bring in enough PI materials to not only keep my POS running, but have extra blocks to sell off. It takes me two weeks to generate two months of fuel.

My fuel blocks manufacturing I consider a semi-AFK passive income. It takes very little time and effort to accomplish, and can be done at times when I can not devote enough attention to the game to conduct any higher isk/hr activities.

Please no. That blog suggests moving roids to grav sites. Scan Players already have far too game content to play with - wormholes, complexes, hacking/archaology sites, and combat probe PVP for example. So why make mining yet another goody that only Scan Players can access? A lot of people hate moving circles around on a star map while flying blind with a cloaked ship that is utterly useless at anything else other than scanning, why should they be forced into exploration? If you dont like mining, incursions, factional warfare, epic arcs, 0.0 warfare, POS building, trading, lowsec - you can avoid them and still have plenty of content in the game to play with. Moving more and more stuff under the horror blanket of exploration so you miss out on half the game if you are not a Scan Player is detrimental. Also it will screw new players - with a maxed out T2 exploration frigate, SOE probe launcher, and SOE probes, you can easily spend 20-30 minutes scanning several systems before coming across a grav site, then another 3-4 mins to actually scan it down to warpable. A new player who wants to mine, with naff all exploration skills in an unbonused ship with bog standard probes will spend well over an hour before even finding a roid!