Why is "inattentive" farming allowed?

I came across 3 players that appeared to be afk farming. 2 necros including their pets and an engie with his turrets. Mobs kept spawning and the pets and turrets kept killing them. I typed "akf?" A moment later someone replied with this:

"AFK farming isn't okay, because it tends to lead people to stop playing (both the AFKers and those who see them); it has an economic impact, too, but not as severe. Inattentive farming is okay. For example, you can watch a movie while moving your character occasionally." (I did find this original post in the forums although the movie reference was not included in the original post)

I understand the difference but they're not playing actively playing the game. They can be playing CS:GO, or watching a movie like they said, or cleaning the house. The point is they are not actively playing the game. They are doing activities outside the game while having their characters logged in and gaining items in the game while they are not actively playing. People will probably argue this is fine since they check their computer occasionally but in the end they are not actively playing the game. It does give the appearance of them having an unfair advantage.

Better than sitting afk in a town and doing nothing

@Blocki.4931 said:Better than sitting afk in a town and doing nothing

Then one shouldn't remain logged in to a game if they're unable to play.

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:Who cares? It doesn't impact you.

What unfair advantage are they getting? It's exactly the same as if they were camping there while sitting at their computers staring at the game.

I'm not seeing what unfair advantage they're getting. You may not like it, but they're not breaking rules. Heck, if they're breaking rules, then I guess I am, too, since I almost always have a movie/tv show/youtube videos running while I'm playing games.

You just said they weren't afk, just inattentive

@CamoBadger.8531 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:Who cares? It doesn't impact you.

If they are staring at the game then chances are they wouldn't be "inattentive farming"; they would actually be playing the game like farming SW or running fractals , etc. They are gaining experience and materials when they're not actively playing. People who are not logged in playing the game are not getting the same rewards.

@OrbitalButt.5708 said:You just said they weren't afk, just inattentive

According to them they are inattentive.

I don't know what you expect Anet to do about it. They are playing the game, placing turrets and moving their characters on occasion. No afk/inactivity routines will detect them. Even the fact that they responded shows they are not truly afk.

If you ever come across a character you believe is afk, just report it (or ignore it if you can't be bothered to report) and move on. It's Anet's job to sort that stuff out.

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:Who cares? It doesn't impact you.

So what? Oh no, someone got a little bit of XP and a few items while they did the dishes. Why do you care how people choose to play the game when it has literally no impact your game or experience?

@CamoBadger.8531 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:Who cares? It doesn't impact you.

Can the same be said about afk farmers or botters? In the end they are not actively playing the game. I'm not talking about stepping away for a few minutes but for long periods of time and occasionally checking GW2. It is an unfair advantage.

@DeanBB.4268 said:I don't know what you expect Anet to do about it. They are playing the game, placing turrets and moving their characters on occasion. No afk/inactivity routines will detect them. Even the fact that they responded shows they are not truly afk.

If you ever come across a character you believe is afk, just report it (or ignore it if you can't be bothered to report) and move on. It's Anet's job to sort that stuff out.

Maybe you're right. There is no way to detect them since they occasionally check back in to the game.

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:Who cares? It doesn't impact you.

But it isn't an advantage over anything. You're calling it an advantage because they're choosing to keep their game running to kill a small mob or group of mobs for such a small amount of XP it's hilarious. It's not like they can take down champions with a necro minion and a turret.

It doesn't give them any advantage over you in the game if you're actually playing while they're watching Star Wars. You can easily get 10x the XP they can in the same amount of time by running a meta or Fractal, and get better items out of it to. It's just giving them a little bit more than they would have had, and they can't even go anywhere because they have to keep the game active by shaking that booty on occasion.

So seriously, why do you care? Just play your game and let them enjoy their movie.

@CamoBadger.8531 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:Who cares? It doesn't impact you.

Based on your logic afk farmers and botters are okay then.

@"iczek.9628" said:I came across 3 players that appeared to be afk farming. 2 necros including their pets and an engie with his turrets. Mobs kept spawning and the pets and turrets kept killing them. I typed "akf?" A moment later someone replied with this:

"AFK farming isn't okay, because it tends to lead people to stop playing (both the AFKers and those who see them); it has an economic impact, too, but not as severe. Inattentive farming is okay. For example, you can watch a movie while moving your character occasionally." (I did find this original post in the forums although the movie reference was not included in the original post)

I understand the difference but they're not playing actively playing the game. They can be playing CS:GO, or watching a movie like they said, or cleaning the house. The point is they are not actively playing the game. They are doing activities outside the game while having their characters logged in and gaining items in the game while they are not actively playing. People will probably argue this is fine since they check their computer occasionally but in the end they are not actively playing the game. It does give the appearance of them having an unfair advantage.

Use the in-game report function and move on. Posting on the forums about " afk farming" or "botting" or "inattentive farming"... will not do anything.

And maybe somebody is not truly "afk" or "botting", but that's not up for you, I or us to determine.

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@CamoBadger.8531 said:Who cares? It doesn't impact you.

To me it absolutely is, because again; it has no impact on me or my game whatsoever.

@Swagger.1459 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:I came across 3 players that appeared to be afk farming. 2 necros including their pets and an engie with his turrets. Mobs kept spawning and the pets and turrets kept killing them. I typed "akf?" A moment later someone replied with this:

"AFK farming isn't okay, because it tends to lead people to stop playing (both the AFKers and those who see them); it has an economic impact, too, but not as severe. Inattentive farming is okay. For example, you can watch a movie while moving your character occasionally." (I did find this original post in the forums although the movie reference was not included in the original post)

I understand the difference but they're not playing actively playing the game. They can be playing CS:GO, or watching a movie like they said, or cleaning the house. The point is they are not actively playing the game. They are doing activities outside the game while having their characters logged in and gaining items in the game while they are not actively playing. People will probably argue this is fine since they check their computer occasionally but in the end they are not actively playing the game. It does give the appearance of them having an unfair advantage.

Thanks for your reply but the post was about why is "inattentive farming" acceptable. If Anet and it sounds like the community are completely fine with this this then okay. I could remain logged in to the game on my minion necro farming mobs while mowing the yard and cleaning the house. This was just a topic to be discussed.

@"iczek.9628" said:

@Swagger.1459 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:I came across 3 players that appeared to be afk farming. 2 necros including their pets and an engie with his turrets. Mobs kept spawning and the pets and turrets kept killing them. I typed "akf?" A moment later someone replied with this:

"AFK farming isn't okay, because it tends to lead people to stop playing (both the AFKers and those who see them); it has an economic impact, too, but not as severe. Inattentive farming is okay. For example, you can watch a movie while moving your character occasionally." (I did find this original post in the forums although the movie reference was not included in the original post)

I understand the difference but they're not playing actively playing the game. They can be playing CS:GO, or watching a movie like they said, or cleaning the house. The point is they are not actively playing the game. They are doing activities outside the game while having their characters logged in and gaining items in the game while they are not actively playing. People will probably argue this is fine since they check their computer occasionally but in the end they are not actively playing the game. It does give the appearance of them having an unfair advantage.

I edited my post just now. Report if you have a concern and move on.

@Swagger.1459 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@Swagger.1459 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:I came across 3 players that appeared to be afk farming. 2 necros including their pets and an engie with his turrets. Mobs kept spawning and the pets and turrets kept killing them. I typed "akf?" A moment later someone replied with this:

"AFK farming isn't okay, because it tends to lead people to stop playing (both the AFKers and those who see them); it has an economic impact, too, but not as severe. Inattentive farming is okay. For example, you can watch a movie while moving your character occasionally." (I did find this original post in the forums although the movie reference was not included in the original post)

I understand the difference but they're not playing actively playing the game. They can be playing CS:GO, or watching a movie like they said, or cleaning the house. The point is they are not actively playing the game. They are doing activities outside the game while having their characters logged in and gaining items in the game while they are not actively playing. People will probably argue this is fine since they check their computer occasionally but in the end they are not actively playing the game. It does give the appearance of them having an unfair advantage.

Thanks. I wanted to get a better understanding of why this is acceptable.

@"iczek.9628" said:

@Swagger.1459 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@Swagger.1459 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:I came across 3 players that appeared to be afk farming. 2 necros including their pets and an engie with his turrets. Mobs kept spawning and the pets and turrets kept killing them. I typed "akf?" A moment later someone replied with this:

"AFK farming isn't okay, because it tends to lead people to stop playing (both the AFKers and those who see them); it has an economic impact, too, but not as severe. Inattentive farming is okay. For example, you can watch a movie while moving your character occasionally." (I did find this original post in the forums although the movie reference was not included in the original post)

I understand the difference but they're not playing actively playing the game. They can be playing CS:GO, or watching a movie like they said, or cleaning the house. The point is they are not actively playing the game. They are doing activities outside the game while having their characters logged in and gaining items in the game while they are not actively playing. People will probably argue this is fine since they check their computer occasionally but in the end they are not actively playing the game. It does give the appearance of them having an unfair advantage.

Anyone but ANet would be guessing, but here goes. The answer to any, "Why?" question about a business usually breaks down to money. Therefore, the following seems like a reasonable possibility. ANet has probably adopted a fairly generous stance which allows for "inattentive" farming because they don't want either the bad PR or increased GM time needed to stop those who are less actively controlling their characters. Both bad PR and increased GM workload can cost money.

@"iczek.9628" said:

@Blocki.4931 said:Better than sitting afk in a town and doing nothing

Why? Who are you to tell me what I should or shouldn't do?! If I'm unable to play I'm totally free to stay afk in a town or wherever I want!

@Zaraki.5784 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@Blocki.4931 said:Better than sitting afk in a town and doing nothing

It's called logic.

@"iczek.9628" said:

@Zaraki.5784 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@"Blocki.4931" said:Better than sitting afk in a town and doing nothing

It's called "I'm free to do illogical things".

@Zaraki.5784 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@Zaraki.5784 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@"Blocki.4931" said:Better than sitting afk in a town and doing nothing

You're absolutely right.

@IndigoSundown.5419 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@Swagger.1459 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:

@Swagger.1459 said:

@"iczek.9628" said:I came across 3 players that appeared to be afk farming. 2 necros including their pets and an engie with his turrets. Mobs kept spawning and the pets and turrets kept killing them. I typed "akf?" A moment later someone replied with this:

"AFK farming isn't okay, because it tends to lead people to stop playing (both the AFKers and those who see them); it has an economic impact, too, but not as severe. Inattentive farming is okay. For example, you can watch a movie while moving your character occasionally." (I did find this original post in the forums although the movie reference was not included in the original post)

I understand the difference but they're not playing actively playing the game. They can be playing CS:GO, or watching a movie like they said, or cleaning the house. The point is they are not actively playing the game. They are doing activities outside the game while having their characters logged in and gaining items in the game while they are not actively playing. People will probably argue this is fine since they check their computer occasionally but in the end they are not actively playing the game. It does give the appearance of them having an unfair advantage.

That very well could be it. Thank you.