I went fishing for comments some months ago - this thread honestly started as more of a personal rant.
Direct comment from the devs would probably give a few people pause. IDK how much it would stop though since games with explicit policies and investments into anti-botting still have constant problems with this.
It is interesting to note the change in tone (and volume) of the comments/responses though.
Might just be the more dramatic title 
Or people just bored and on the forums more.
Logging out people being idle isnāt the answer to thisā¦ I am surprised it keeps getting brought up.
In the end you can never stop people that want to cheat or lack the integrity to decide to choose to not cheat when something is hard or unfair or whatever. Instead we should just focus on removing things that give them the incentive. Make the game more fair, solves the higher objectives people are doing, and is fun enough that you donāt have to cheat.
I think removing regen bombs would cause even more issues then it would solve, personally.
i know i had sworn myself off of posting on the forums but just need to make a post here for my own sanity
the devs can and more then likely should ban the use of 3ed party porgrams that are used to make bots (IE autohotkey)
the devs cant and is impossible to ban the use of basic level macros to do this they would either have to
A. cut support for PC and just make boundless playstation only
or
B. ban every player that owns a logitech or razer keyboard or mouse has āmacroā functions are built into the fundamental software for those peripherals and even then you can save the functions in the keyboards onboard memory and run them without even needing the software running
sure if someone useās the basic macros to create a jankey afk bot then they can be manually banned but anti cheat cant detect it (for the reason i stated above) and depending on how the software works if the game thinks the user is hitting the keys and not the software then a afk timer would not work.
they tricking you guys into finding solution
Honestly, Iām a PS4 player and I donāt really mind if PC players use macros.
I am not promoting removing regen bombs. Iām promoting removing the loophole they offer that is being taken advantage and hurting the game, economy, and enable cheaters.
Could you be more specific about this loophole?
Even if itās not to offer an immediate solution, a response from @james or @SamF about their official stance towards this type of behavior would go a long way. If thereās nothing then Iām going to assume that theyāre tolerant of it and Iāll be happy enough to spend my time and energy on other games.
Putting them in a tight spot man. Do you really need to see them say that it would be extremely expensive to develop or subscribe to anti-macro software or whatever technical ā ā ā ā they would need, and that it would be even more extremely difficult to find macro users and prove they werenāt just obsessively gathering for one reason or another? Because if they said that then it would also kind of look like they donāt careā¦ so why would they respond?
Banning active players should be the lowest priority on the devsā list, below deleting aoe and regen and requiring a passcode to continue playing. All terrible ideas.
If you are referring to macro use, I think you might be hard pressed to find a online game that punishes its users for macro use. Unless you are going to enter the realm of eSports.
Thatās a pretty hard line but yeah, fair enough.
Theyāre actively supportive of software that violates the plain language of their and their distributorās ToS so thereās that. TBH itās a topic for another thread though. Thereās already people derailing he conversation regarding botting by constantly pointing the finger at the āmodsā they allow.
So far, for me, my pleasure from the game overall outweighs my worry about what other players are doing.
But as to how these things affect game balance, Weāre already at the point where things like a mass craft of ornate glass (50 panes) requires entire smart stacks of other base materials. When things reach the point where a casual player canāt possibly acquire or afford even midlevel materials without botting something the whole thing is likely to tank.
It seems there are plenty of people who donāt feel thatās an issue, though. Only time will tell.
Just to re-clarify for you again the topic of the thread isnāt limited to the strict definition of a macro in the technical sense, but more focused on where the line is crossed into botting, which scripts are being distributed and referred to in common parlance as āmacrosā.
Hence the quotation marks.
hence why I said
Because if he is indeed referring to boting, then it is quite clear already how the devs feel about it by their behavior of adding what they called āBot Protectionā that nerfs exp when repetitive actions are taken. Why would they take steps to try and nerf the behavior if they supported it?
Actions speak louder then words in my book, and the action of them trying to deal with the boting situation should be good enough for anyone, that the devs do not like boting.
Goes back to read op
^^ āSo farā.
Someone above noted that they had just made an assumption that I was botting in my sap farm.
Now, tbh even if thereās no value in it I do like a bit of acknowledgement, if not appreciation, for what I put my time and efforts into. If thatās metered in thanks, or virtual coins, or whatever, it is what it is. There are literally millions of blocks in builds around the game that Iāve either sold or given away.
When the baseline assumption is that thereās a bot involved, itās no longer something that Iām interested in.
Likewise when someone else can log in for 5 minutes, execute a script that someone else gave them, and go to work while their computer outproduces my hours of gameplay, itās no longer something that Iām interested in.
With that said, āso farā I donāt really thinks thatās the baseline. And Iām here discussing it, rather than just walking away.
Yea, someone did assume that, because someone canāt begin to fathom what could be fun about chopping a tree for hours while someone watches netflix. Thatās fine though because there are tons of ways to play the game so if someone had been doing that someone else would have understood why because sitting in one spot for a long period of time playing a video game and then having to find something to watch on netflix to get through it is pretty mind boggling.
My first post. The game, supposedly about building, is an excruciating grind. Thatās not fun to a lot of people (look at our population).
If we are talking about farming blocks and regen farm
I donāt think it would be that extreme. The players inv will get full, and the moment that happens, the script will fail to do anything of value. Therefore your hours of game play very well could outproduce their script which will fail after an undefined amount of time. and they will still be at work.
The player would have to create their own script that is tailored to their own situation to get around this. and the more complex it is the more chances there are something will fail
And before someone jumps off the deep end
I do not support or agree with boting,
That is not what my statement is trying to do.
to reply to @DutchOfSorissi, @Trundamere, and @Nightstar
I am not talking about mods. Just the scripts I believe @majorvex talked about including turning blocks to glass, highlighting specific materials (such as umbris), or giving specific coordinates for rare materials and anything that involves afk playing (botting).
And yes, Iād like an official stance on things even if they canāt easily implement restrictions or punishments just to know where the devs stand. Knowing their perspective on it tells me if theyāre a company I want to continue to support or if itās time to respect our differences and go down different paths.
Iāve always thought Boundless had immense potential which is why Iāve supported it for years. But things like forging and the coin machine thing have me scratching my head while things I would consider key like Titans and Wearables have been MIA even at a conversation level for literally years. So if the devs arenāt on the path I thought they were or donāt have the same values I have then itās fine. Iād just like to know.