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

Jazper
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Jazper »

Nyx,

Thanks for the clarification and link.
Nunja
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Nunja »

I completely agree that it is better to put efforts into Fun positive things than trying to improve the AFK check system

Doing AFK check rounds every now and then should be enough to catch routine offenders.
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Agony
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Agony »

My honest opinion about this, as many may have already stated-
AFK scriptors are going to afk script. Even if you take away their weapons, it's not that bad because they did not work for them in the first place. They'll just buy another with the gold & ED's they got from selling the weapons they did manage to level. If the anti afk script is implemented to check everything, people who do not care about the rules will simply counter script as they always have. The only people to suffer will be the ones constantly answering to the checks.

Instead of making it annoyingly difficult for all honest players, just get more staff. I mean really. Take in three people who's sole purpose is to catch afk players. They'll become very sharp at it very quickly I'm sure, and the rest of the shard can play in peace. As Nelapsi stated- No amount of scripting will ever make up for lack of staff. Actually, not to sway from the subject at hand, but this shard was ten times better two years ago when it had a larger staff, they were active and we had a lot of really fun events.

I just do not see how implementing this system would make an overall positive impact on this situation.
Legendaries
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Legendaries »

I don't mean to bring up an old topic, (not sure what this shard deems as old) but I am a somewhat new player to this shard and would like to voice my opinion. I started playing last summer and have loved it because this shard has been something of a stress reliever unlike other games. I have played many games where you always had to be worried about AFK checks while doing anything (Runescape, parts of World of Warcraft, and even Guildwars). I have gotten to the point where I am so scared of being check while leveling a skill, even if it's allowed to be afked, that I feel like I cannot be away from the computer while I play.
While AFK checks are a great idea to scare and detract people who are willing to break the rules, they also put a big burden on the ones who are not going to break the rules. I have always been a fan of games that are tailored to making games fun and keeping new content coming instead of being so worried about getting rid of the "cheaters" because let's face it, if you get rid of one cheater, another will always come and there will always be cheaters no matter what you do.
The best way we can combat this is to possibly have a report feature that people can use like adults. I'm not saying people use it when they think someone is cheating but when they have proof and are sure of it. If they see someone leveling a spot and try and talk to them but do not get a response when someone is doing a non-afk allowable activity. Maybe we have a report feature but it might be easier to let the community do some of the staffs work by updating the report feature.
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Modvlator
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Modvlator »

Please don't change the whole game play for AFK prevention.
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Xavian
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Xavian »

Make checks for any form of recalling, similar to the use checks for axes and mining. That would mean that occasionally you would get the AFK check while recalling whether it is during leveling, or simply just to your house. Would still allow you to recall to safety, or wherever you are going and provide minimal interruptions.

Additionally a check could be added if you are stationary for an extended period of time. While yes, it is semi-legit for you to stand in one spot, people are doing that to AFK level weapons as well. Technically, it is against the Codex for you to be AFK during a power save or whatever when gold/tokens are given. Perhaps the solution would be to pop AFK checks at the same time. For those of you wondering what I'm talking about with the Codex:

4c. When performing the following activities, you must not be away from keyboard: killing spawn (regular or champions), leveling weapons, fishing, gathering ore/wood/leather/wool/plants, or anything else that gains profit.

These two types of AFK checks should help to eliminate some of the AFK problems. Neither of which should be too hard, as the base code for AFK checks is already there, just needs added to the appropriate places.
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Agony
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Agony »

[quote="Xavian"] Make checks for any form of recalling, similar to the use checks for axes and mining. That would mean that occasionally you would get the AFK check while recalling whether it is during leveling, or simply just to your house. Would still allow you to recall to safety, or wherever you are going and provide minimal interruptions.

Additionally a check could be added if you are stationary for an extended period of time. While yes, it is semi-legit for you to stand in one spot, people are doing that to AFK level weapons as well. Technically, it is against the Codex for you to be AFK during a power save or whatever when gold/tokens are given. [/quote]


That sounds like a good idea.. Only issue though with the afk check for being stationary would be that I, and many others leave their characters logged into the game while away at work and sleeping, etc 24&7. It's not semi legit; it's fully legal. No rules are broken by doing this, and it would get innocent people jailed and after multiple times banned.

I second the recall check idea. It's at a time when a player is most likely not going to be swamped in spawn and wouldn't be terribly inconvenient. A very large number of scripts used in illegal afk activities use recall, so it would actually target a large portion of people who exploit scripting.
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Xavian
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Xavian »

I'm hit and miss on the standing still thing. The only reason I say that it is not 100% legit is because on a power save you are making a profit, AFK, no matter how small. So yes, it is technically against codex. I understand there are benefits other than that 1k tokens or 5k gold, such as beefing up the numbers of people online at any given time. However, being jailed for failing a save AFK check does not have to go against your account. It will not stop people from going AFK and standing in Doom leveling. It could be as simple as moving your character to jail on a brief (1-3 minute) stay. Makes it harder for someone to AFK in one spot. Can I write a script to counter that? Yes. Can others? Yes. Will it still be helpful overall? Yes. I'm just looking at less intrusive ways of beefing up the Anti-AFK system.

edit: It won't fix the problem, but it will definately be helpful. If someone is too lazy or don't know enough to write a script to recall level, they more than likely won't write one to circumvent the movement to jail. They may still get a couple hours of AFK exp, but it will be helpful overall. Just my opinion
Pierre
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Pierre »

What about when waiting for a GM response to a help request? Some requests require that you be online when the GM comes to help. In these cases, I just stay logged in standing around. If there were afk checks just for standing around doing nothing, then people might get moved to jail who need to be standing in a specific spot for when the help request is processed.

I think the afk-check on recalling is genius, but am firmly opposed to an afk check for just standing still. After all, if you can't stand still while afk, then what can you do? Log out each time you leave the keyboard? I think not.
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Xavian
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Xavian »

Fact is, if you are AFK at the time of a power save, you are in violation of the rules. I believe you have 5 minutes or so to answer an AFK check (other than while leveling), and if you are just running to the bathroom or whatever and miss it, a short stay in jail won't kill you. If AFK checks were added to recalling, the number of people who stand still and AFK leveling is going to rise. When that happens, how do you propose to fix it? Offer solutions people, not just criticizisms
Pierre
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Pierre »

Maybe one of GMs can weigh in on this? Is banksitting a violation of the Codex due to the collection of powersave checks? I would be very interested in an official opinion. If it is, then our server population may drop precipitously...
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+Nyx
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by +Nyx »

Okay, Vlad, let me make an obvious point here:

The power saves are essentially a gift to anyone online at that time, from the staff. It's like saying anybody who's AFK at the time I send out a food deco is in violation of the rules since they could profit from it. We send them out as a courtesy, to be nice and give a little <3 to the players. It isn't a 'profit', which implies it is driven by the player (such as crafting or leveling). It is a present from us to all of you.

So, no, it's not even "technically" against the rules. Can we move away from this argument now?
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Xavian
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by Xavian »

Sure, we can move away from the topic. It would be bad form for me to needlessly throw out your player name, so I'll refrain from doing so. I was meerly suggesting something that would help ease the number of AFK levelers out there. You do the checks, so you know the routine. People either recall around, or stand in one spot. The recallers can be easily checked by adding a script. What ideas do you, meaning anyone, have for catching them? Aside from staff checks which can't be done 24/7. You could have a kill based AFK check, but then there would be a significant number of checks which would detract from overall game play. Since the saves are not considered "profit" the only other way I can figure would be to add a check once XX number of kills are made in the same spot. Which again, could be easily scripted or incorporated into a razor macro to circumvent.
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+Nyx
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by +Nyx »

Xavian wrote:It would be bad form for me to needlessly throw out your player name, so I'll refrain from doing so.
*golf clap*

When has being purposefully rude and threatening to the staff ever gotten anyone anywhere? Not to mention for no apparent reason. The debate about power saves keeps being brought up over and over, I was setting it to rest. Your aggression is not only out of the blue, it's stupid. Thinking that you have any leverage over any of us because you may or may not have the right guess regarding our player characters is naive. We keep our player characters under wraps because Colibri asks it of us, not because we have anything to hide. He feels it's best for the shard, and it's his shard, so we do what he wants. He checks up on us pretty frequently to ensure we are not doing anything we shouldn't be doing, which he has stated himself: http://www.uoex.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=35515#p35515. So, other than making yourself look like a jerk, and really ticking off everyone on staff, your little threat does absolutely nothing.
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+Veritas
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Re: Anti-AFK system upgrade

Post by +Veritas »

"Sure, we can move away from the topic. It would be bad form for me to needlessly throw out your player name, so I'll refrain from doing so."

I can't speak for +Nyx, but allow me to share my current view of the whole staff anonymity thing...I don't care. I really don't care anymore. However, the best perk about this perceived upper hand that your class of player likes to "exploit", is that it gives me reason to punish you. I don't set out to correct anyone, I would rather put on events and make content. However, in cases like this...it's a real pleasure.

Since you have received about 4 slaps on the wrist (read: "talking to"), and now this, I am banning you from your account for 10 days. I won't even give you the satisfaction of looking at your character standing in a jail cell that being jailed provides.

Don't poke at us. As you can see from history, it never ends well for the one poking.

+V
-{Excelsior Shard Administrator, and Death Event Extraordinaire}-

May the BODs be ever in your favor!
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