EVE Online has one of, if not the largest Sandbox for MMOs. It's a single universe with 5,000+ solar systems and an untold number of planets/moons for its players to build their empire upon. Unlike most MMOs, there is no Power-Leveling for skills. Each skill is learned in real time and has five ranks. 1st level rank 1 skills you learn rather quickly 20 minutes less. Over time as you gain more skills they begin to take more time. Some skills take over 30 days to learn. The only method to speed up skill training comes from the use of implants that can raise a specific attribute from 1 to 5 points, which in turn, increases the training speed of a particular set of skills. All of which are needed in order to survive the depths of space.
When first starting EVE, it can be rather daunting, to say the least. There are many avenues to riches. But, with each road, there are inherent costs. Many players will train a pilot to be a miner. A miner does just that. They mine. However, a well trained miner can produce enough ISK (the in-game currency.) to support a PVP pilot. (PVP= player -vs- player.) This being said, a well trained miner can take as long as 400+ days to train, including all the core skills. But, after you have 2 to 3 miners fully trained, the ISK that they produce, can easily support 1 PVP pilot, as well as multiple accounts
As with all MMOs, there are ways to cheat. There are websites that sell ISK, but if you get caught, your account can be debited, leaving you in the red, which prevents your ability to function until you have a positive balance. Worst case, is getting your account perma-banned.
The most popular form of cheating, is in the use of programs that automat several tedious tasks. The most tedious task being that of a miner. Mining bots for EVE-Online vary in price and functionality.
A good EVE Online Bot should be completely user adjustable/editable. Most EVE Online mining bots require the user to utilize their program with the windows in EVE, setup the way that the programmer defines them. This fact allows very little flexibility and can actually break the macro miners' ability to function. When the programmer gives the user little or no access to other key features like the OCR mask, when CCP updates the EVE Universe, their users can often find that their macro mining program is useless until the programmer releases an update.
Since June of 07, one program has stayed ahead of the pack of EVE Online bots by releasing an updated version before the rest. GhostSuite. GhostSuite has also released new builds on a regular base. While most of their new releases have been due to a new up-date to the EVE Universe, they have consistently strived to improve the functionality of their program.
Several features that they were the first to introduce to macro mining have cropped up in their competitors programs shortly thereafter. Their longest standing competitor, Tiny Miner, has reportedly even copied articles from GhostSuites old website and posted on his own with minor changes, in an attempt to try and make it sound original.
The program itself has seen multiple major changes through the years that it has been sold. It initially started as a basic mining macro that could operate a single account. It was the first macro not to launch drones once it reached the belt. Their forum was open from the very start to public registration, not requiring the perspective buyer to purchase the program before gaining access to the entire website.
When Ghostsuite first entered the market through eBay in May 07, they were and still are the only EVE online bot to have live voice support.
One of the most important facts that I have discovered, is in the fact that during the 'ban hammers' which seem to take effect just before CCP hosts their big Fan Fest every year, the users of GhostSuite seem to suffer the smallest numbers of users getting banned for using a mining macro.
The few users that have gotten banned, have posted on the forum the circumstances surround the event. Things like how they were using the macro to mine. In all, pretty much all of the pilots that were banned, admitted to running the program in excess of 14 hrs a day. Those that run it less, reported that they were only looked at as a macro by GMs, when someone reported them as a macro miner.
This, in itself is one of the reasons I have followed GhostSuites development. Their program varies in how it runs. While some key aspects are timer driven, they are not driven in such a manner that it shouts "I'm a macro miner". It actually does the opposite. Because of the fact that you cannot set your watch to specific actions performed by this macro miner and the fact that they do not inject code, they have developed a macro mining program that seems to mimic an actual player in such a way that they have had the fewest banned accounts of all program available. They even have a video section to help you set it up.
While CCP may state that it's against the rules to use a mining bot, the process of mining tends to promote the use of macro mining programs. Players scream about their use as well, but none thinks about how it would really affect the game if they weren't being used....
There are a lot of macro mining bots available. Some are free and the prices of the others vary greatly.
But, one should be careful in how they select the one they use because you really do get what you pay for.
I've tested several of the EVE Online bots that are available and have found that only GhostSuite offers the best options. They have live voice support 5 days a week and an open forum for asking questions. You can only buy the program directly from them. Any place that offers a free version isn't to be trusted, as the hackers have been known to insert code to capture account info.