Are afk farmers legal?

[Sobx.1758]

1 hour ago, Bear.9568 said:

When a player uses the term "illegal" in a video game...... Do you really think police or the federal government give a kitten about going AFK in a video game? THEY DON'T 

"Illegal" doesn't only mean "against the law", but also "against the rules" and this is how it's being used here.

[ywhl.8592]

repo

Edited October 19, 2022 by ywhl.8592
removed

[Shikigami.4013]

It's been years and in every thread the same wrong things are being said, and it will stay like this until eternity.

 

People will cry wolf about "sick children", "phonecalls", "doorbells" and a plethora of other things that might happen and cause you to be "afk" and it's all pointless talk because you will be given plenty of time to respond to a gm check. And yes, they do happen, I have witnessed them at least twice and it was not as simple as a GM messaging you "Hey are you there" and then banning you if you dont answer right away. I have been checked by a GM on my necro, doing autoattack with greatsword and farming without pressing a button - and I was there and I was looking at the screen and noticed what was going on the same minute. And of course nothing happened to me. But also of course, everyone passing by thought I was afk, because it LOOKS LIKE THAT. Some even passed by making derogatory remarks or simply saying "reported" while passing. As if those who ACTUALLY are afk would care about what someone says, they don't see it.

 

This doesn't change the fact that there are indeed people who do this who ARE afk. I have seen them being ported away by the GM who checked me, and they kept standing in the water where no mobs spawned for 2 hours while still doing their autoattack. Yes, these cheaters exist. And they will get actioned, but ANet is way too forgiving to go and ban them. I would very much appreciate if they DID, and I reported many of them myself. But unlike other people who just go "oh he's been standing there for an hour autocasting and he won't reply to me, he must be afk" I actually made sure they were afk. I also have gotten many of them killed by pulling additional strong mobs into their area once a few of them had disconnected and the remaining ones became somewhat vulnerable because of overall decreased power of the "blob".

 

 

[kharmin.7683]

If this really affected Anet's profit and / or bottom line, then they would more strenuously address it.  Apparently, it's not a big enough deal. 

[arukAdo.2047]

On 8/7/2021 at 1:05 AM, Shikigami.4013 said:

I have witnessed them at least twice and it was not as simple as a GM messaging you "Hey are you there" and then banning you if you dont answer right away.

I have seen them being ported away by the GM who checked me, and they kept standing in the water where no mobs spawned for 2 hours while still doing their autoattack. 

 

So when you say its not as simple, you just meant that they can teleport you, right?

Because it seems its as simple as answering them, unless you didnt mention something.

Im really curious because, if its a chat based querry and you are in combat and your setting make the chat off in combat then... you cant even see it?

Or is it like I dunno, a squad broadcast that you cannot miss?

[Shikigami.4013]

1 hour ago, arukAdo.2047 said:

So when you say its not as simple, you just meant that they can teleport you, right?

Because it seems its as simple as answering them, unless you didnt mention something.

I said it isn't as simple as them messaging you and then banning you if you don't answer them. That does not mean that they won't ever send you a message, and it also does not say that "answering them" is the only way that they will know if you are there or not.

As far as I remember in all of their statements they have carefully avoided talking about details, and it is always about "getting your attention" or "getting a reaction" - not about "getting you to give them an answer".

 

So, yes teleporting is one way that is used, but I am not saying that it is the only way, nor do i want to go into detail as clearly THEY don't want to and I fully understand why. When it happened to me I was fully aware that I was being checked for afk and I just wrote in normal chat something like "Heya, I'm here" - so they did not even have any reason to message me. If you are ported and react like a human being and not like a bot, that's probably proof enough to make any written inquiry obsolete.

 

Either way, I think after running the game for 8 years they know pretty well that sending a simple chat message is not enough and can be missed. If you are not afk, you will not miss the GM.

[T G.7496]

Pretty sure that if it bothered Anet at all they would have done something meaningful to address it.

 

And, if it bothers you that much, then you should really ask yourself, "In what earthly way does this behaviour affect me or my ability to play the game?"

[arukAdo.2047]

Yeah im fine with not having the specifics, they can keep it hided if that helps, basicly your saying it doesnt matter if I dont catch the message because it was hidden (temporally while in combat) or something similar, its all fair.

Teleporting me is really something I would indeed... notice ... lol

Edited August 9, 2021 by arukAdo.2047