Running FFXI off of USB/External HDD at work

[Hookah]

I knew a guy who played FFXI from work at a hotel desk. To his credit, he was the graveyard shift where absolutely no one would ever come in to check in/out. He had literally nothing to do and there was almost no one around to care all of the time.

You wouldn't be talking about me would you? Because I do exactly this.

[Mayareira]

If we were in early 19th century and if I caught a worker playing a video game at work I'd directly send him to guillotine.

[Zansho]

This is actually a true story.

A friend of mine works for an accounting firm, and that accounting firm has contracts with the state. There are a lot of sensitive documents on HIS computer, but she installed FFXI on it anyway - there are times during the accounting season that are dead slow and quite frankly, nothing to do.

Well, long story made short - she got hacked, her account stolen, AND sensitive company documents compromised - she was fired - ON THE SPOT.

Do what you will - but if you get canned or busted while playing FFXI while at work, (and don't give me that I'm the supervisor card, because there is always someone higher than you, unless you run your own business), don't cry on BG.

Now, to the OP - what I would do is get a high speed broadband connection of your own - Clear Communications is one company that offers wireless aircard broadband, and install FFXI on your OWN PERSONAL laptop and play the game whilst on break or something.

[dantaro]

If we were in early 19th century and if I caught a worker playing a video game at work I'd directly send him to guillotine.

To be fair, if you were in the 19th century and you caught a worker playing a video game you would accuse him of being a witch after seeing his moving pictures, get the church involve, burn him at the stake, then go on a 6 month witch hunting spree which would end killing hundreds more.

You know, just saying.

[Nauq]

Many of you sound like jealous basement-dwellers to me.

[Purrloin]

I believe the OP. Same scenario here. I'm a "big wig" who has countless free time because I sit on the phone advising others in large corporate meetings, unable to get real work done. Up to 3-4 hours a day...

Laptop/Sprint PPC phone tethered as a modem = FFXI anywhere. On something mindless like campaign, I was able to get a merit a day for months. Then I got promoted.

[Tagus]

I wish I lived in a basement, was a bigwig, and could play ffxi at work. It's not really much of a moral thing, though. He asked for insight, and I think it's generally an insightful thought to come to that if you have a reason to hide something, you have a reason not to do it. Right or wrong don't really come into play, it's just common sense.

[Gethsemane]

Just doing my part +1ing in the most fucking stupid thread I have ever read on BG. And just to clarify I think that if there is a written rule against this kind of activity at your work then do what you got to do. I don't see how you people are up judging the person that plays from work, if they are allowed to play from work who cares. Otherwise it is a personal decision to risk losing your job. The choice is in your hands and no one else's. I would definitely play the game from work if I were allowed to. Hell, go into college nowadays. An auditorium filled with hundreds of students and their laptops. Want to guess how many are logged onto World of Warcraft? Let the guy do what he wants.

[Purrloin]

I've read enough BG to know that the 1% that can accomplish something that the other 99% cannot do so because they are better people.

But seriously, no basements involved. This is a feature of corporate America. FFXI has been around long enough that most of us have finished college, gotten through a few starting jobs, and some of us are now leading. Fortunately, FFXI is so old it runs on even the most pathetic laptops and slowest networks. I will need an upgrade if I ever move to FFXIV.

[dannyl]

You don't have to listen to me obviously, but I would suggest not running ffxi at work if you value your job. I've known alot of players that were very successful at playing while at work, and the increase in time available to them made for some pretty awesome advances on their characters that I was quite jealous of, but yeah... the easiest way to leave as little info as possible is to not play the game at work to begin with. It's not worth it dude.

what he said.

All depends on your job and your dependence on your paycheck. I used to be a student working near full time at a place where I did install Eve Online to update skills and play the market, and I was able to cause I basically was the IT department. However, if I were to do that here, well, I'd get fired on day 1.

Do you NOT read the terms and conditions when you click on "PLAY" during login? It clearly reminds you to keep in mind of your family, friends, and WORK... lol

Anyway, GL to you

[Hoshiku]

An auditorium filled with hundreds of students and their laptops. Want to guess how many are logged onto World of Warcraft? Let the guy do what he wants.

So true! I TAed an upper level genetics class last spring and the entire 5 back rows of the class were playing games on their laptops. Didn't see anyone playing XI though, just WoW and Bejeweled.

[Tankjr]

I've had great results using remote desktop and remote web workplace through terminal services. I am using server 2003 and a cheap DNS host. With this setup I can get to my desktop through a web browser. The only thing required on the client side is the Terminal Services ActiveX plugin for your browser. The performance will really depend on your setup though.

I'm not sure if it's a setup error on my part or a limit to the solution but I keep my desktop resolution but my color depth has been limited to 16bit. I'm sure there are better and more cost effective solutions than this but I thought I'd share my experience.

[GeneJackit]

The obvious answer is the safest, bring your own laptop to work and use that...

[nitsuj]

Spoiler: show

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/compiling.png

You win my internets today, sir! :D

[psubond]

i'm not going to comment on the ethics part of it but couldn't you just hook up the usb HDD and install it to that location then delete the shortcuts created just leaving the registry files already pointing to your HDD then hook up when you want to play?

[Tankjr]

i'm not going to comment on the ethics part of it but couldn't you just hook up the usb HDD and install it to that location then delete the shortcuts created just leaving the registry files already pointing to your HDD then hook up when you want to play?

Or delete the registry keys and re-import them every time

[vagus]

I just brought my laptop and played on that mainly because i didn't have to worry as much about some IT guy or co-worker snitching. If you can install FFXI on a work computer and play safely, then more power to you. Everyone has there poison at an office job (facebook, sudoku, solitaire, gossiping at the water cooler) and at the end of the day, it's all about how productive you are at work.

[Dmitry]

If the OP is anything like my job, there is little to nothing to do during 3rd shift, so I can understand wanting something to do.

Also to the Ceedo suggestion, I have that from an external drive I bought, and it says it acts like another desktop, but I don't know what all it does to separate it from the physical PC.

[byte]

How many people posted here, telling him not to play games at work, from their own work?

Best post in this thread.

[Snick]

I always do enjoy a healthy debate of morals on the internet.

There are a lot worse things to do while at work, when I was a wee younger my buddy and I would volunteer to work graveyard shifts, just to drink beer for 8 hours, bring a laptop in and watch a movie, whatever.

Although that's totally different, we didn't get our work done :D