AFK and Game Feedback

I thought this would have come up before, but I wasn’t able to find a thread on it. Apologies if I’m repeating an old conversation.

Seems to me that if a player is AFK, there’s no reason for that player to get IC feedback from the game.

To clarify, if I go AFK, then I’m no longer in the game. I shouldn’t know who just walked through the room, or what they said. I shouldn’t know what the clan is talking about or what just came in over the comlink. It is the flip side to the added protection I get from the players who are still in the game. They can’t kill me, they can’t peek at my inventory, they can’t steal from me… and they shouldn’t be able to, of course. Something came up in the real world that I need to address, so I went AFK.

I don’t know code from monkey poo, but I wonder if, in addition to not being able to enter a command until I leave AFK mode, it could also be that I don’t get IC output from the game until I leave AFK mode.

AFK is used to excuse one’s self from the game when one needs to deal with the real world. It seems to also be a fantastic method of in-game recon and a solid approach to ambush attacking. Perhaps it should not be quite so useful for the second two items.

I agree completely with this. No more AFK protection. Not to point any fingers, everyone literally does it. Maybe make a timer for AFK too.

Good post, LED. I think we’ve discussed this on OOC a few times, but there’s never been a post on it, I don’t think. That said, I totally agree with this. AFK is a great feature to use, in terms of if you have to leave the computer for a time, but signing on, tapping into a mic or whatever they case may be, gives AFK an unwanted boost to having that option available for people. Either remove AFK from the game and make people sign out when they have to step away, or blackout any info that may come an AFK person’s way. That said, people camping an AFK person for whatever reason is kinda shitty, as well, and should be illegal. If someone is AFK, and you park a gank squad next to them to just wait it out, that’s no better than someone using AFK as a shield to absorb IC info. Just my 4 and a half cents.

I will confess that I don’t spend much time with the ooc channel active.. so again, apologies for the retread.

I hesitate to advocate the removal of the AFK flag entirely.. sometimes the real world simply won’t wait, and it is useful to be able to push the pause button. A timer might be useful in some way, but that can be a quagmire.. I think the simplest approach might be best; merely eliminate the feedback.

As to ganging up on AFK players, I suspect that if AFK were no longer useful as a combat/support tactic, there would be a lot less time spent AFK in combat zones. Of course, no system is perfect.. but I’ll trust the RPC folks to work out the ‘bad’ perms.

I am absolutely on board for this. Once upon a time it was possible for players to use ‘look’ while AFK and I hated it. We eventually changed it so you couldn’t look, even though I was advocating a complete gag on IC channels/events while AFK.

i like the idea of your ‘datapad was recording’ for channels for you while you are AFK. That being said seeing people in and out of the room or their actions while they are in the room with you should be gagged

I like what Veric said about comms still being recorded by your datapad but if everything was gagged I don’t think it would be the end of the world. It’s kinda nice being able to come back from AFK if you are a higher up in a clan having scrolled up a bit to see what took place during the day.

Well in that case, if you are clanned, you can see clan chat, and that’s it. That way, you are some what up to date, but not MR/MRS OMNIPOTENT! That would solve the “in the know” with the clan stuff, but still gag other information that one should be around to collect.

I don’t mind stuff happening in front of you being gagged, but not everything. Comm channels are pretty necessary for keeping up on what is going on. No sense overly punishing people who can’t be un-AFK all day every day. Need to strike a balance here. Overarching gag all reflex is not a balance.

I suppose one option, in terms of keeping up with what is going on in the game, would be to talk to other players when we come out of AFK. Also, when important things occur that we think an AFK player might need to know, we could use message boards or the mail system.

Sort of, pass along IC things in an IC fashion, I suppose.

Well there is also this thing where you are in a meeting with someone and you need to go afk for a minute or two to take care of something. What sense does it make to ICly say “What did I miss” when you’ve really been standing there the whole time? Like I said, there needs to be a balance. Gagging actions, movement, looks, etc. I can grudgingly agree with. Gagging communication, be it IC or OOC, I cannot.

Fair point… though as I understand it, AFK is a giant magic pause button. It isn’t supposed to ‘make sense’ IC.

To the specific example in the above post by Kirash, I’d ask why did the player go AFK in the first place? The player could just decide to be quiet for a reason, but still pay attention to the conversation. Or, they could push the big magic pause button, so that they won’t suffer any violence, but that comes with a tradeoff. Or, perhaps, it _should_ come with a tradeoff.

I’m not suggesting that every little break should require catching up… but I am suggesting that every use of AFK should.

It really isn’t a big magic pause button though. It is a necessity. Requiring someone to not have the AFK flag on in order to keep up on a conversation when they need to step away will just leave them open to abuse from other people. When the blasters get fired, the blades come slashing, the pikes come bashing, and the lightsabers come humming, at the end of the day, the only thing that will be said is “Should have had your AFK flag on.” It’s not a fair tradeoff in my opinion.

I agree there needs to be an AFK flag, no doubt. It is a critical mechanism in a game that rolls on even when the wife/boss/kid/dog comes calling.

I think where we disagree is the amount of flexibility a player should have to be partly in, partly out of the game. I suggest it should be all-or-none, so that a player is either playing the game or they aren’t.

I think you, Kirash, propose there is room for some middle ground, where a player is playing the game, but needs to step back a beat while still maintaining a connection to what is occurring in-game with their character.

If I have that correct, then I don’t disagree with you. And if AFK were used in that fashion most of the time, then I’d not have bothered to post here in the first place. There are many players who use AFK just as you suggest… and I also think there are many who use it as a combat tactic. That second group ruins it for all, I believe. So with disappointment – and respect to your position – I think it should be heavily changed.

I always think there is room for middle ground. I understand why some people think an all or nothing step toward being in game or out would be beneficial, but it would really only be beneficial to those who can always be all in or all out. People like me and some other people lead busy lives and enjoy the freedom of middle grounds. I agree that some matters are straight black and white and can be solved that way. I don’t think this is one of them personally. Too much gray.

Using AFK as a combat mechanic, a mechanic to avoid combat, and/or a mechanic to avoid RP is already against the rules and a hellable offense. I don’t feel like there is a need to limit it further by going all out on the gags. Like I said, I’ll accept gagging actions and such, but not communication.