I think most of us do. I sat in my tree farm for a very long time farming sap. It’s a simple process, and it’s both boring and stressful on the arm. Then things got a little more competitive, lots of undercutting. I started asking around and came across something very similar to what’s in that pic. Later after some discussion, also that one - there were others. Mostly just people using AutoHotKey locally.
Some things you still have to dedicate the time of your computer to. AutoHotKey can send keystrokes to an idle window, I’m pretty sure. This means that you can have your character running without even having focus on the boundless window while you use it to browse the web or do your other work. I was pretty flabbergasted. I mean, not that such tools exist - I used them professionally for years. But that people had turned them on something as simple as Boundless.
After james’ statement I worked with a couple of macros. The above tool and another were still available to me via discord and I had some other automation software living on my machine. I’ve actually never worked with AutoHotKey but it looks like a great tool and the one I had was very old.
I got a new PC this year and right now there’s not a tool on it, but next time I play with one, it will be AHK.
Anyways, as it does, after a while it took the fun from the game. And use of the compiled executables I tried still meant devoting the PC to boundless in the foreground so macro use meant I had to forego using the PC for anything else except maybe playing a movie. This kind of play is restrictive and boring.
But of course it’s not just about playing or AFKing.
These tools provide a solid percentage improvement to output via consistency as well. And most importantly, it’s about the sheer physicality of playing the game. The massive volume of materials required for even a middle-sized build with low to mid-level blocks can be tremendous.
James’ statements on this were nonexistent and vague, always. I’ve never seen anyone directly banned, and I know at least one player who could load several alts and farm blocks for up to 90 minutes straight AFK was still active long after several players reported them. I continue to find that super frustrating. But also - as many here note, it’s nearly unstoppable.
Anyways the poll results here - with a great turnout - show a very balanced response. Comments overall indicate that most players are not knee-jerking to the existence of such a thing. And many players indicate that if guidance was clear, they would be interested in these kind of tools.
Since I started this thread I’ve been asked for the software in the pic. Which is a several years old win10 executable. I would like to share it, but without clear guidance, I won’t. The place I got it from is long gone - mostly because the core of the group got bored of the game. But other people probably have copies.
I haven’t even played boundless enough since I got this PC to need it, though when I was pulling a million gleam blocks I started wanting it. Again, the physicality. It took me a week to do that and I know that with software assist I can sustain output nearer to 140k blocks/hour. Manually it’s hard to stay near 100k and I’m not a full time player any more.
Ignoring hunting, easily 50% of boundless gameplay can be reduced to arranging things properly, and alternating two button/mouse clicks. For hours. And hours. For some players that is the large majority of it, and that’s the literal recipe for RSI.
There are lines, obviously a thread about advertising a way to AFK grind free premium currency is not the best foot to put forward as “advertisement” for the game. It’s game-breaking and will primarily attract players with a regressive attitude about supporting the game and the groups of people that keep it going for us. The people that will swear forever to never spend a penny buying something if there’s a way they can take it for free. Ridiculing those who pay, etc…
Much like my feeling on PVP “but only in certain places”, though more extreme. More extreme because the kind of people that run around trying to get people mad and bait them into PVP are a passing nuisance. The social and economic effects of a hidden bot economy are more subtle and potentially harmful in several ways.
I feel the very best scenario is wide open honesty and sharing. If people aren’t afraid (or just nervous or whatever) to approach the topic in the first place then things stay on a much more even keel, and for the most part the players have a level playing field where they can decided for themselves what tools they do and don’t want to use.
Also such an open environment means that things which do concern the community are going to come to the surface sooner, and get addressed more directly. Again with people who want to come cry about how “macros and bots are cheating” then convince themselves that mechanical devices are somehow not.
I mean I honestly have enough pieces within 35 - 40 feet of me right now to clamp an actual robot arm to my desk and let it farm blocks 
To me, that’s not fundamentally or morally different at all from a program that sends the two necessary keystrokes, or a rock on the spacebar. You can take a hammer in your hand, and hit something. If you hit a nail it’s a wonderful tool. If you hit your neighbor it’s a deadly weapon. It’s all about the actions you choose to take with the tools you have available.
Overall thanks I’m pleased with the balanced response to the poll, and the level tone of the majority of responses. There’s some additional dynamic here with the PS4 cross-play but in the end an open environment regarding this kind of thing does result in some overall improvements to the general economy and the social environment in the game.
It will be great if in time we can get some clear guidance on this. Enough words to satisfy the armchair lawyers and comfort those who wonder, legitimately, where the lines are. This is a silly metaphor but it would be good if you could loan your hammer to your neighbor because they have to drive some nails - instead of hiding it in your closet and denying you have one, because it’s possible you could kill someone with it.
Anyways there’s another book from me. Now primarily we wait, I guess.
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