this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
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It feels like wasted power. You could at least be earning something off it. The creator can either take a cut if it's free or lump sum for paid.

I've seen a few idle games take up a lot CPU resources, not necessarily GPU so it had me wondering. Why not make it mine?

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[–] slazer2au 13 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Because it would be inefficient and people don't like it when you use their computing power for your own gain. I should mention that there are known instances of this happening. A site being compromised and a JavaScript mining applet has been added to the site.

Also, Firefox blocks cryptominers by default.

[–] zeppo 7 points 6 months ago

I assume you mean for the computer owner, not the game developer? Assuming it goes to the owner of the hardware, not really that useful. CPU mining is incredibly slow and GPU mining would not even necessarily break even on electricity costs. If someone wants to mine, they should just run a dedicated mining program. Wasting electricity to do pointless calculations for tokens is an outdated idea anyway.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Contrary to popular belief, electric power usage is not wasted if the PC is idle. PC draws more power when it is working at 100% vs. When it is idle.

It's like people switch off kettles or ovens that are not running... but if a kettle/oven is not running then it is not pulling power.

[–] blanketswithsmallpox 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Right... Hence why idle games draw significantly more power than when a computer isn't running it.

This is about idle games. Not a PC at idle.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If the idle game is running at 100% there is no power left to also crypto mine. If the idle game runs at 10% you could use 90% for mining but then you would pay for 100% energy usage instead of 10%. You'd probably end up paying more than you'd mine.

[–] blanketswithsmallpox 1 points 6 months ago

Yeah I was mostly thinking of it as some clever way to mine. Somehow linking the mining engine into the gameplay itself. That's a proper point though when just looking at the efficiency side of things.