EVE General Discussion

Is AFK mining against the EULA?

There is a passage under section 6 titled "Conduct" subsection 3.

"You may not use your own or any third-party software, macros or other stored rapid keystrokes or other patterns of play that facilitate acquisition of items, currency, objects, character attributes, rank or status at an accelerated rate when compared with ordinary Game play. You may not rewrite or modify the user interface or otherwise manipulate data in any way to acquire items, currency, objects, character attributes or beneficial actions not actually acquired or achieved in the Game."

The underlined portion pertains directly to AFK mining. ~Other patterns of play~ which would be AFK mining or the act of opening a client, activating a mining device then doing something else and not even tangentially playing EVE. This action is done to ~facilitate acquisition of items, currency or objects... at an accelerated rate when compared with ordinary Game play.~ When a character is away from the keyboard they cannot do anything or interact with the world because they have no control of their character. Without control of their character they would not be able to gain any of these resources and are gathering them at an accelerated rate when compared to ATK mining. Therefore I make the argument that AFK miners are using other patterns of play to accumulate items/currency at an accelerated rate when compared with ordinary game play. This is similar to botting mining because a botter is also AFK and also gaining minerals/gas/ice at an accelerated rate. We all know botting is illegal and amoral but why is AFK mining currently in a gray area? The case seems hermetically sealed against AFK mining but, myself and others would greatly appreciate a CCP ruling on AFK mining.

The problem is, how do you enforce this? It is incredibly hard to detect who is AFK mining and who had to go get a beer, go to the bathroom or do some other task. The simple solution would be, like the "New Order of Highsec" requires, having all miners dock up if they wish to do these tasks. I have a better solution, remove auto repeat from all fitted mining devices. This is a great solution, it greatly reduces the ability to AFK mine and makes it easier to identify bots. It also adds another decision to mining, whether to use combat drones or mining drones as mining drones will be the only mining device remaining that has a type of auto repeat. Finally it is an indirect buff to drones which we all know need love.

No.

…or rather, it would, if being AFK somehow made you acquire stuff at an accelerated rate, which it doesn't.

It does allow you to acquire stuff at an accelerated rate. You are acquiring things as if you were present at the keyboard when you are not. This means the AFK miner will acquire things quicker than the ATK miner.

"other patterns of play that facilitate acquisition of items, currency, objects, character attributes, rank or status at an accelerated rate when compared with ordinary Game play."

Ordinary game play has not been defined by CCP hence the gray area and this thread.

Player A: Works a 9-5 job, comes home and mines for 2-4 hours each evening to plex his account

Player B: Opens his client at work, sets a mackinaw mining then minimizes the client checking on it periodically and emptying the hold, etc. Has no qualms about 'being afk'

Clearly Player B is aquiring items, ore, isk at a different rate than Player A, the rate is not 'accelerated' but is a grey area in terms of the spirit of the game, functions are almost bot-like in that his client only requires casual monitoring like once per hour.

How does not being at the keyboard allow you to get things faster than being at the keyboard?

Does AFK make your mining go faster, relative to someone sitting there?

It could be argued that being at the keyboard allows you to maximise your yield, whereas setting up lasers, then disappearing for 20 mins or w/e means you are not optimising your cycles.

also let's not kid ourselves, if npc rats were worth 10x as much because they took 10x as long to kill (so they keep the same isk/time as they do now) ratters would all fly amarr ships and go afk too.

path of least resistance and all.

besides, the effort of afk mining is totally justified by it's isk/hour.

so wrong it's painful.

a shame, you usually post well thought out things. or, at least more thought out than this thread.

The person who mines AFK can do so when other people are occupied by real life, like jobs, school, overnight, etc. Therefore they are obtaining an inherent advantage over people who do not have a computer at work or school.

So they are aquiring these 'things' over an extended period of time unavailable to normal players who adhere to the spirit of the game.

having a computer at work/school/etc is the advantage, not mining.

take your laptop to the bathroom, problem solved.

i mean, what do you think i'm doing right now?