Is this a hack?

[Xadoran]

I agree with Kunlock idea and here\'s an easy solution about how it could be done:

I think mining should be something similar to crystal hunting. So many people were enjoying it... So why did devs remove it?

People that want to dig would have to run around the dungeons or other areas where there are ores to dig and sometime find little pieces of ore getting out of walls and floors. That would mean there is one or more ore HERE. Then you click on it and try to dig it with your pike.

That way, bots would be much harder to build and could only help to dig everything on one spot. I currently get something every digging, even the most valuable ores and I only have 1 in the mining skill...  So it should also be harder to mine something.

As mining would take much more time, of course the value of ores should be increased.

As the crystals spawn functions are already built and they work well, it would probably be a not-2-hard task to use it for ores and it would add some fun to dig. I also agree to the idea of monsters protecting ores, so the most precious ores would only be availlables to stronger players or, of course, miners that run the dungeons with some guards hired.

[Feran]

I wrote a long blurb explaining a whole slew of things, but I have decided to just put the main points down here for simplicity:

*) Mining is and was not broken. It\'s only more annoying now. What is missing are alternative forms of income. People have no choice but be miners if they care to develop their character.

*) Implement a richer economy where complex tasks make more money than mining (e.g. once crafting items work, or killing special quest mobs loot for sensible treasures, ...), and the bot problem will be greatly reduced (without the need of unnatural restrictions).

*) Make a game that\'s good and fun for players :)as opposed to trying to make a game that is bad for bots . If you don\'t want people to stupid mine, give them fun alternatives as opposed to preventing them from trying to not waste their precious RL time. If bots are a problem then something else is wrong, namely there is nothing better to do and mindless repetition has too much reward in the game and interesting and diverse activities have too little.

Just my 2 tia,

-F

[Scallawag]

It would be great if there was an RPG that allowed you to program your character to do things so he could play when you were not available.  Role Playing is great but doing it in an online game is very time consuming and burdeonsome to someone who has a family, etc. - it would be nice if there were parts of the game that accomidated this, ie mercenaries for hire, you put your char in a certain mode that makes him avail to AI fight to assist others who need a particular quest done, or some healing power, whatever.

Out of the context of Planshift, think about it.  You come back to take control of the character and someone sends you a tell who used your char to fight an epic battle earlier, they thank you for the effort.   Maybe a new catagory of game, AI-RPG.  RPG meets virtual pet??

[lyistra]

<  rant >

One minor problem.  Server load.  I see no reason that characters who \'can\'t be bothered\' to play all the time should slow down the server for others. *chuckles* Not to put too fine a point on it.

AI generally uses a large amount of processor/memory overhead, as well as disk space.  And I feel this place is for RP,not for players who \'can\'t be bothered\' to play.  If it\'s time consuming and burdensome, then perhaps it\'s not the right game for you.  In addition, the disclaimer that the game is pre-alpha is in there in the login.  These people are devoting time (and time *is* money) server space, and bandwidth to the problem.  ANd not even getting paid for it.   In my opinion, not wishing to attack you in particular, having someone botting (even server side) is an insult to the art of both programming and graphical work that they put into it.

Now, that being said,  if you have more important RL things, deal with those.  Planeshift will be here when those things don\'t interfere.    I sincerely *DOUBT* that planeshift will ever implement player botting, seeing as it\'s against the rules.

Yes, it\'s an interesting idea.  No, it\'s not an RPG.  As RPG implies human interaction behind the characters themselves, and some kind of emotional connection.

<  /rant  >

edit:  Decided I might ahve been a bit harsh. *chuckles*

More or less, wanted to just say, that if you think it\'s worth the time and emotion to RP, then by all means, do so.  Otherwise, if RP is cumbersome to you, and you\'d rather hack and slash or bot your way through, it\'s just not the right game.  I love this place, some of the folks are like family already.  So I apologize if I was too brutal with this, and very little of it was actually aimed at you, just was one of those things where frustration hit. *chuckles*

[Ikarsik]

so wait its ok to use a bot aslong as you are at comp? i mean using a bot could save you from getting arthritis in hands 20 years on

[leji]

< kidding>
IMO the devs found the best way to prevent boting :
linkdead !
You need to restart your client (and therefor bot) every ten minutes, isnt that the best way to prevent boting ? B)
< /kidding>

1) Tetris-like mining skill this is a RP game, supposed to look like reality, and even if I\'m no miner IRL I really dont think it looks like that...
2) If you turn your chat off when you mine then dont complain that mining is boring.... To me it would be like turning chat off in MB, the fun of this game is that it makes a great environment for RP, so guess what : just role play, you can talk while mining, chat with other miners... and with our dearest GMs, < flattering>they are sooooooo nice why wouldnt you want to talk to them ? < /flattering>

[Menghus]

This might not be a really good excuse but when you mine... you mine. You are in a hole in the ground and dig for minerals etc.
You are not a bartender who makes friends while working. You just... mine.
But that\'s why chat exists at PS, at least you can participate in a good conversation while digging.

[Darakus]

what no mining songs then ?

I\'ve worked in mines my whole life through

Dig

Got notting but Coal when searching for gold

Dig

Brought what I had to a smith nearby

Dig

Gave me some trias to buy some beer

Dig


It\'s no poetry but do this with enough people and you actually can have fun digging.


Then there\'s the dig square dance where everybody sets in columns and starts :

Dig and two step to the right, and dig and two steps to the left and dig and two steps backward and dig and two steps forward and ....


There are tons of ways for digging to be fun, just use your imagination.

[Seytra]

Nice song!

Originally posted by Darakus
Then there\'s the dig square dance where everybody sets in columns and starts :

Dig and two step to the right, and dig and two steps to the left and dig and two steps backward and dig and two steps forward and ....

That\'s what the bots do to circumvent the movement requirement. An army of botted miners, doing this exactly sychronised... must look interesting. Maybe add the song to the bots so the choir fills the talking range with literally deafening chant?