Anti-AFK system upgrade

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Anti-AFK system to include everything?

Yes, make it include everything, with some exceptions
22
29%
No
55
71%
 
Total votes: 77

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Sethra La'vode
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Sethra La'vode »

Skeptical...Stubborn...PRESUMPTUOUS I think is the word.

Or GREASE.....depends on your style!
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Tacityl
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Tacityl »

Grease is the word ... is the word ... is the word ... !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH2a30LTeWw
lestatzero
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by lestatzero »

I don't think this would give you the results you are looking to get.

This would end up causing more headach than good to have "everything" minus a few things checked for afk status.

There is so much that would have to go into this consideration... " the amount of time between each action that is checked" and so on and so forth... If i am going and killing mobs I go through the same motions over and over ... and to have to stop ( possabily in the middle of killing a mob ) every 5 minutes to type in a Chapta to the afk check system would just make me not bother to go out hunting ...

You need more staff on on a regular basis to watch over things... I have always found that the more involved management is in a company the less people try to break the rules ... I find this to work perfeclty in real life as a Supervisor ... if people know that they are being watched regularly (and not just some of the time ) ... then they are less likley to do things that are not allowed ... And sticking to punishment s that are declaired in shared rules should be a regular thing ... no matter who the person is ... those who want to "cheat" or not fallow the rules set forth to play on this shard should not be here ... that s that ... implementing a computerized check to monitor every last thing would just be overkill and would i think tax the system and discourage people from doing things...

you would just be better off implementing a NO script rule on the shard ( ie no razor no easyuo etc ) to prevent macroing than to do this ... keeping the thing the way you have is nice just get some more staff to help police things ... and on the end of the flax issue if it was declaired from the start that bulk crafting of any items afk is against shard rules ... you would not have had the isssue there that you did ... the only thing that was ever deemed to be a violation of the rules was gathering the flax afk ... spinning the thread and then weaving the bolts was never against shard rules that s why people did it ... harvest flax while your online and available and macro your thread and weaving when you were not = instant millions ... if you want to implement a system there ... then make this change ... make all vendors only sell non craftable items or make every item craftable and get rid of vendors ... make people have to buya nd sell more on exex and between each other instead ... you can already buy bulk regs in trin ... the mage shops don't need to sell regs as well you can craft bottles .. with the use of sand gathering and glass blowing ... so you dont need to sell empty bottles

making it to where you cant buy those things on vendors would make the value of the made items go up more and make others want to make them etc ... and then just make all crafting of any sort non afkable ... ... killing of mobs ... like balrons etc .. make all dongeons non recallable .. to get in .. ( only out ) ( doom for example ) . )( that wld stop virtually all afk weapon leveling ) ... and then having staff online regularly to watch what s going on will aid in people being more aware of what it is they are doing and then ... you wont have issues ...

You can't expect this shard to just run it s self with out regular staff involvement that will make those who abide by the rules already set in place feel a little bit more comfortable knowing that their wont be those that have been brekaing the rules doing so...

ok ... rant off ... time for bed

Lestat Zero
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Ilsanor
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Ilsanor »

Oh I am so against the idea of banning all scripts and macros. The resource market would be dead before you can say "Oh, shoot!". The purpose of scripts is to make the tedious moments last as short as it is possible and be the least boring. I for one would not touch my pickaxe without at least some sort of automation - I've spend 2 weeks of my newbiehood mining by hand and I'd consider leaving the game altogether if I was forced to do it again. And killing the resource market would kill the crafting market as well since material prices would make the items simply not economic to create (thus too expensive to buy), compared to arties, GoC's and whatnot. Congratz, you got rid of cheaters AND a portion of the shard population, but what the heck, mission accomplished. I mean, there are no cheaters (potential or otherwise) on an empty shard, right?
Not to mention the insta-heal would be unavailable which would radically change the way the game is played. Meleeing a "lowly" balron would be a significant challenge, seeing that you'd have to break off combat to heal every 1-2 hits.

... there was a quote somewhere, about gnats and nukes...
lestatzero
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by lestatzero »

[quote="Ilsanor"]Oh I am so against the idea of banning all scripts and macros. The resource market would be dead before you can say "Oh, shoot!". The purpose of scripts is to make the tedious moments last as short as it is possible and be the least boring. I for one would not touch my pickaxe without at least some sort of automation - I've spend 2 weeks of my newbiehood mining by hand and I'd consider leaving the game altogether if I was forced to do it again. And killing the resource market would kill the crafting market as well since material prices would make the items simply not economic to create (thus too expensive to buy), compared to arties, GoC's and whatnot. Congratz, you got rid of cheaters AND a portion of the shard population, but what the heck, mission accomplished. I mean, there are no cheaters (potential or otherwise) on an empty shard, right?
Not to mention the insta-heal would be unavailable which would radically change the way the game is played. Meleeing a "lowly" balron would be a significant challenge, seeing that you'd have to break off combat to heal every 1-2 hits.

... there was a quote somewhere, about gnats and nukes...[/quote]


What i was refering to when i said
[quote="lestatzero"]you would just be better off implementing a NO script rule on the shard ( ie no razor no easyuo etc ) to prevent macroing than to do this ... [/quote] follows along the same lines... If an afk check were put in for every action ... Every action would be checked ... Healing and such ... which would raise the number of afk checks you got ... Esp if you were out killing balrons or something of the sort ... this is why i support the way that it is now and push to have a few more staff members introduced to assist in making sure others follow the rules setforth ... As +Nyx has said herself ... she isn't on all the time and things have become a huge issue because people take advantage of no staff being around to do things they should not ... Having staff on regularly will negate most of the problems they have with "AFK" scripting because it will result in a much greater chance of #1 You getting cought and #2 you being punished for doing so ... And having more staff on will also result in request s being handled quicker and making the stress lvl of being a staff member go down and more enjoyable for all ...

Lestat
lestatzero
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by lestatzero »

+Nyx wrote:Just wanted to clarify that even with frequent automated AFK checks, I would still do AFK rounds when I had time. Rounds could stay a "please do this when you can" thing for the staff, and the automated checks would just add another layer of help in catching more AFKers, especially when the staff aren't currently on or able to do rounds.

Edit:
Nel, I get what you are saying, and agree that treating all players across the board like criminals is not an acceptable solution to the problem. Believe me, just because we are staff does not mean we are not subjected to just as many if not more issues of that nature than the players. After all, any time I punish a player for any rule violation of any kind, I have to be prepared to essentially go to war to defend it because of the inevitable "I'm emailing Colibri", which is also inevitably followed by a big ol' rigamarole.
+Nyx
I am not a big fan of the All Mighty ..." I will just email Colibri " Line ... if you are being trusted to be a member of staff then what you say should go....and your decisions should be final as long as it follows the letter of the rules set forth... Rules are rules simple as that ... I would say we're all adults here .. .but i know that not to be true so i understand people will cry when they get caught ... ( i would look at this as no different than a child getting upset when they get punished ... let em cry all they want ... if you show them that your not going to cave and give in to there tantrum and stick to the punishment then they will eventually give up ... ) ( and if they continue to just be a bratt then i just assume they don't fit in the community we have established and dont want to follow the rules ... you can't follow the rules then ... well you cant play ) ... ( my opinion )

And on another note .. you had stated That it would take time to train new staff ... for the code that would be implemented for afk checking that would take no less time i think than it would to train additional staff members ... (coding is no different you have to debug it and remove what doesnt work etc) ... and as far as afk checking only being a request of staff ... I do think that ... If more staff were available that it should be a bit more than just a request... I volunteer for many things on a regular basis and in doing so i have "required" duties that i must do as part of my job that i have volunteered for ... why would you need volunteers Otherwise. It has been prooven that AFK checking is one of those things that Needs to be done...


All in all... The less you allow a "give in " to punishment and consiquences of your actions the less friquent they will eventually happen... I do not forsee any instant results option ... any course of action that is taken will take time to be fully implemented and for the results to become noticably visable to staff as well as other players on the shard ...
Jazper
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Jazper »

Is there anywhere that explains what the AFK checks are and all the triggers? I was jailed yesterday for not responding to a rainbow colored lich that showed up while i was fighting in a dungeon. As I was a little occupied with the other monsters and not aware of the different forms of "AFK checking", I thought it was a custom monster and just started attacking it until it caught up to me and *poof*, I'm in jail. Just a bit of clarification would be nice..... not sure how I even got flagged as AFK, but if this is the norm then I'm not so sure its worth my time or $500 US i dumped into this shard in the last 30 days. I will say that I love pretty much everything on this shard.....this not being one of them.
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Xavian
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Xavian »

There are two types that I know of, one automatic and one "staff directed". The automatic check is a captcha. Three random letters you have to enter in the gump that pops up. The "staff directed" isn't exactly staff directed, but it is actaully staff making their rounds. This check varies as to what it is. I've seen statues, walls, doors and now the lich. Whatever it is, it will be a brightly colored object so the player can not say "Oh I didn't see it." When the object pops up it will ask a common knowledge question. Answer the question, the object goes away and you're good to go. If your answer has absolutely nothing to do with the question or you don't answer at all, you will likely end up in jail. I don't ever remember a time in my UO career that a rainbow lich popped up and asked me who the President of the United States is, then killed me.
Alex
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Alex »

The brightly-colored lich that makes it rounds asking a common knowledge question as pointed out (my last afk check had me really having to think though lol). However, I am not sure if it repeats the question within the 30-60? seconds allowed to answer before being sent off to jail. Does anyone know if your auto attacker starts attacking it, it continues to look grey or remains in its yellow/rainbow color? either way, the question asked by check is visible even if you are attacking it.
Jazper
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Jazper »

It did allow me to attack it while just spamming my attack key, may be better that it cant be attacked to avoid confusion... I'm not really looking at the junk its saying when I am attacking this new cool monster and I'm not putting a dent in it.....I'm looking for how many pets I have on me and How I'm going to survive! Is this common here that you are interrupted from gameplay even when you are in full control and at keyboard??
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Ilsanor
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Ilsanor »

If you had read the topic you're writing in you'd know there was a crackdown on AFK as of late (or a few months back actually) due to it being a plague (as we're told) on this shard. So yeah, various colorful 'thingies' asking random questions is part of that crackdown. If you have a problem with that you can take it up with +Colibri, the shard owner, but since it's an idea endorsed by him I doubt you'll achieve anything. His house, his rules. Abide or leave. Oh, and throwing around how much you donate will not get you anything more. Donations are optional and donators are not treated in any way different than people who don't donate.

And to the topic - we have a first (vocal*) victim of the AFK checking. But oh well, I guess that's acceptable collateral damage and all. ;)

*I assume there are/were other, they just didn't bother writing about it.
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+Nyx
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by +Nyx »

Jazper: You were not "jailed". You were moved to jail with a very short sentence applied in order to see if you noticed within the allotted time, per the codex. You were given a warning, and I explained the AFK checks to you.

If you have donated that amount, that is very generous of you and it is appreciated. However, if I had a nickel for every time some player touted the amount they've donated and/or threatened to stop doing so, thinking it would somehow give them some special treatment on the shard or make me feel that I owe them; I'd be a very rich woman. Everyone on staff appreciates that players donate, because donations keep the shard we love to volunteer for running. However donations are not sales that buy a player some 'freebies' with rulebreaking or weight to throw around with the staff. They go directly to Colibri; we staff are unpaid volunteers and we do not see or handle anything to do with the donations. Reminding us of one's donations doesn't really do anything at all, except irritate us. Not only do we have no idea whether that's even true, we are aware that any one player deciding to stop donating because they're ticked off about this or that would have basically no affect on the shard as a whole. So please, if you've donated because you felt it would gain you some sway or buy you some 'get out of jail free' cards as it were, feel free not to donate again because this is absolutely not the case. However, if you have donated because you love the shard regardless of whether or not you occasionally get a slap on the wrist for a rule violation, accept our sincerest thanks for your generosity for past and potential future donations.

Alex: The question is asked at least 3 times within the 30-second time frame, approximately once per 10 seconds. The lich will turn grey once a player begins to attack it, however I always spawn it several tiles away from the player at first so that there is an additional 10 second or more window before any aggro is gained, for the bright color to be seen. The question stays above the mob's head regardless of aggro status. The reason we do not spawn mobs that cannot attack/be attacked is that it is an easily searched-for property, and I know at least a dozen players off the top of my head who run leveling scripts advanced enough to detect and alert the player of that type of mob being in the area - effectively making sure they can cheat by being AFK while leveling, but still rush back to the desk when they get AFK checked.

Ilsanor: Nobody is a 'victim' of an AFK check. Everyone gets checked if they're doing something that is against our codex to do AFK. Those who are paged on constantly for being AFK, or those who have numerous violations already may be checked more frequently, however nobody is "singled out". The checks are not difficult, the methods are posted on both the forums and the wiki. A first-time failure results in nothing but a warning, regardless of how much that player then decides to dramatize the situation for the sake of argument. If a player is genuinely following the rules, they might receive a warning but they're unlikely to ever fail the checks again and get jail time or have their weapon confiscated.

I attempt to do rounds once a day or so, sometimes I can't, sometimes I can. 'Rounds' means that I visit every single player logged into the shard at that time, and anyone who is leveling/killing and may be AFK inappropriately gets checked. I can tell you that I regularly catch 2+ players AFK, per set of rounds. Usually it's 4 or so. Not only that, the players who have never been caught AFK, or who only ever received a warning and then never had another violation - they don't fail. They have no problem passing the checks, and they don't really complain or get snotty with us for checking them (which is greatly appreciated, trust me!). It is really not difficult to pass the checks if one is genuinely not violating the rules. We occasionally get a newbie here who gets a warning and then does fine with them in the future (which will likely be the case for you, Jazper), but generally speaking even the newbs tend to realize that a brightly colored random object/mob asking a simple question isn't normal UO behavior, and answer it regardless of whether they realize it's an AFK check or not. After all, maybe that lich just wants to give out some free candy! :P

Both types of AFK checks are clearly explained on the wiki:
http://www.uoex.net/wiki/AFK

I hope all that info provided some clarification for you guys.
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Ilsanor
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Ilsanor »

My apologies. I didn't mean to imply that there is any "singling out" or "picking" of any sort. I mean victim as a person who was at the keyboard and paying attention, but for some reason did not answer the check. But I'm happy with your answer and the fact that you keep an eye on how it all exactly works out. :) Kinda amazed at the number of caught AFK'ers too.

ps. Only now did I notice the Penalties page got updated to reflect a bit more strict punishments. Or was it always like that?
Alex
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Alex »

Thank you +Nyx for the info.

i'm glad i paid attention in geography class since that last afk check was tricky. lol
Jazper
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Jazper »

Honestly, I'm not here to make enemies or stir the pot...it's quite the opposite. I am in no way asking or expecting special treatment and made no threats, just pointing out that the afk check caused an active new player game interruption...it was confusing and annoying. I came to this shard, found it was awesome and nothing like the rest of the free shards that are so lacking. I made the donations because I believe in what yall are doing and nothing more. I have never asked for ANYTHING free in RL or in game and find that comment insulting.
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