The rules haven't really changed, we just clarrified it more. And this comes up quite a lot.

We commonly have players want to AFK overnight or all day or whatever at their farms and smelters because they see all their favorite Minecraft YouTubers do it and they want to have a bunch of double chests of all the things too.

There's 2 things to consider:

No one really needs that much stuff. Those people on YouTube go overboard and try to make the best stuff because that's entertaining. They want their viewers to be amazed but really, nobody needs all the resources they farm.

Secondly, even the YouTubers on big servers don't AFK while others on the server are doing stuff. Even the people on Hermitcraft are always mindful about how their farms and their AFKing will affect the other players.

Here, we have a lot more players doing a lot more across 15+ worlds. Each person who AFKs at a farm is using up CPU and RAM and other resources that may impact the game play of people who are actually at their computer just wanting to fight a zombie that doesn't stutter.

We're updating our rules just to make things a little more clear as there have been a lot of questions lately about what it means to be AFK, or when it's okay to use auto-clickers, flying machines, and more.

Our general rule of thumb is that we want you on the server, and if you can't be actively playing, to sign off and free up server resources for the other players who are actively playing. This means no AFKing at farms. Also, no abusing glitches, no using unapproved mods... and anything else that gives an unfair, or cheaty advantage.

I'm posting the updated portion to our rules below but you can review them and all of our rules at https://www.autcraft.com/wiki/rules/ any time.

The updated rules:

• Abusing glitches – duplication glitches, economy or plugin glitches, etc. are not allowed on Autcraft. All glitches or server glitches should be reported immediately.
• AFK - While the literal definition of AFK means "Away from Keyboard," that is not how we use it on Autcraft. Being AFK means you are not actively playing on the server. This includes being tabbed out in other programs, working on other monitors or devices, or any activity where the primary focus is not on Autcraft. You can certainly do other things while playing on the server, however Autcraft must be the main activity. Loading a farm on the server while you are working or focused on any other activity is considered being AFK. Preventing yourself from being kicked in any way (including tapping your mouse or trackpad) will be considered "bypassing the AFK timer" and is against server rules.
• Flying Machines - Any machine or build that moves a player must have a definite start and stop point and must be turned off when not in use. Using any machine to bypass the AFK timer is not allowed. Flying machines (including vertical elevators) must be within your own protection and must travel relatively short distances. If a staff members asks you to make changes to your machine, you are expected to do so as soon as possible.
• Unapproved Mods – No unapproved mods may be used on Autcraft. Please review the approved mods list for a list of mods that are allowed. At the bottom of the list will be the allowed mods for third party clients.

We know, some "glitches" are "in the game" or a part of the game and sometimes an argument can be made for allowing them, like "bud switches" were back in the day.

These rules are constantly in flux because there's no black and white clear answer as people's cases can vary, such as players who need special mods or hardware for accessibility reasons.

We're always open to talk and figure things out but in general, for the majority of players, we expect these rules to be followed as closely as possible to ensure a fair, equal, and safe game experience for all.

Another new update!

Now, there's a way to choose different particles besides the hearts, or you can even choose "none" to show no particles at all.

The command is: /hugparticle

You can choose the particle you want in the command, for example: /hugparticle note

But you can also just type in the command without anything after it and you'll get a dialog prompt in your chat that you can just use with your mouse. Click on the particle you want! Or "none" for no particles.

Starting today, when one player hugs another, both players will see hearts appear over their heads for approximately 5 seconds. This helps to give a visual indicator so that you can more easily find each other but also to help reaffirm the action. Only the 2 players involved in the hug will see the hearts, all other players do not.

We've also made it so that you can now hug your pets, or virtually anything else of yours too.

Now you can do /hug cow, and the closest cow to you, within range, will display hearts above it. This works with pig, chicken, wolf, cat... even creeper, zombie... just make sure you spell the name of the entity correctly, for example: /hug armor_stand

Now players can show their pets some love by giving them a hug and their pets will return that love!