Microdia wrote:I've come across afk macros for all types of things now. Some for afk skillups by spamming spells, tradeskills etc. I dont see the harm in the skillup one, but what about tradeskill ones to do those tedious 2000 combines etc? What is and isnt allowed in that situation?
FWIW, as I'm not in a position of authority...
I too at first over-analyzed this, not being familiar with MQ what-so-ever, as during the time it began getting popular (2001ish I believe?) I was a Senior Guide, hardly someone in a position to even consider "fiddling" with it. From there it carried such a taboo with nothing less than a negative reputation amongst the fair-players (as we'll call them -- as I'm not looking to spark a debate simply stating my story so-to-speak) that time went on and I never ever thought of bothering with it. THF was my first and is my only EQEmu (aside from the server I have setup to "fiddle" with EQEmu, I'm a curious fellow, if you cannot tell). When I signed up, MQ2 wasn't allowed, nor was I interested due to my avoidance in the past. Until of course the announcement went that THF would allow it.
Not knowing anything about MQ2 (and still not really, aside from the /stick command and even that I have thus far only 'heard' about -- I've yet to have time to compile MQ2 and get my hands dirty, figure of speech) I asked Vaion this very question. Though I also asked my guildmates. The answer truly was as simple as the term given to it.
If you are Away From Keyboard, and it's doing something for you, that is an AFK macro, because again, you are AFK, hence the AFK macroing, because you're Away From Keyboard, see?

:p
I suppose there are some other obviously cheating 'features' of MQ2, such as warping (not knowing the details, but I presume by it's term, you could literally 'warp' from one side of the zone to the next -- there is an EASY method to detect this requiring not many lines of code, when compared to the EQEmu source as it sits, to say the least, those doing this WILL get caught and rightfully so -- you wanna go "fast"?, contribute to the server and get the donor boots) and I guess a few other exploits/glitches, I couldn't tell you as again, I've only just downloaded the zipped source thus far, though if I could tell you, I likely wouldn't anyway.
Detection of those using MQ2 is simple as well, or in theory it should be, given the fact that we use only one of three clients, or is it four, I dunno I use what I use that's all I really bother knowing immediately. SoD, SoF, UF and Titanium, ok, four. These are constants which sucks in the way of versatility of the EQEmu 'initiative' but, I imagine it would make for an easy way to detect MQ2, a little bit of packet tampering on the server side -should- in theory throw MQ2 for a loop since it injects itself into the client, therefore crashing it. That's just one method I would try, though, the guys here have their stuff together and know the EQEmu code like the back of their hand, as well as familiarity with the clients used, far more than me. When they say there are improved logging and detection methods implemented (checks, detection, server side packet tampering, etc.) one can bet their bottom dollar that there are.
Anyway, back on point. If it seems like "grey area" or even the slightest bit questionable, it's likely not ethically acceptable, much less allowed. Again, just a FWIW type of post.
