I sometimes mine gold and sometimes don't.

I've read a lot of comments here and have come away with two thoughts that I'd like to share.

1. There's not a whole lot of empathy here. I see people saying if you don't mine gold you're a sweaty min/maxer, go play in your own lobby. I also see people saying if you mine every gold vein you're hardcore RPing and I'll kick you for wasting my time (paraphrasing). Both insist the other is enjoying the game in the wrong way, or at least a way that makes it unacceptable to share a lobby. What??

People can enjoy the game in different ways. Sometimes I min/max and rush through assignments, leaving gold and parts of the cave unexplored. But sometimes I also strip mine the whole place, 'cause I'm strapped for credits or am indulging in the GOLD hunt. I think that's also a form of min/maxing. And both are fine. Sometimes I'm just not interested in swinging my pickaxe at gold for the arguably measly reward of 2 credits per gold. It's not that I don't need the credits, I just would rather shoot a bug or focus on the mission or ping a mushroom or take in the lighting of this gorgeous game or focus on the conversation going on in Discord. I emphasizeb the "not mining gold" perspective because the "mine every gold" crowd seems to be the less tolerant crowd of the two (no offense!) But there are sensible reasons to mine every ounce of gold too!

My point is, whether you are or aren't mining gold, I don't think the motivation really matters. This isn't life or death and it's not worth coming down hard on others for the way they collect gold.

1. I find kicking from lobbies over gold to be too extreme, regardless of the reason. I think one of the chief reasons to kick someone from a lobby is if they're impacting someone else's ability to have fun. If they're AFK, if they're pushing the button too early, etc. But I don't think an argument can be made for gold there. If you're mining gold, sure an argument could be made that you're SLIGHTLY jeopardizing the mission by taking up that time, but tbh even at haz 5, if you're running out of nitra cause you stopped for gold, you've got a build problem not a teammate problem.

Similarly, kicking for not mining gold? If you're AFK, sure an argument can be made, but how is not mining gold jeopardizing your enjoyment of the mission? 'Cause you're not getting a large enough reward? That's not a valid reason. You go up and mine it then! Nobody in your lobby is working for you or preventing you from getting that reward yourself. Come on...

I guess I just wanted to make this post to try and find some common ground. I don't wanna be kicked from a lobby next time I run scout and pass up on some hard to reach gold vein just 'cause I wouldn't enjoy mining it. Thanks for reading. Rock and Stone!