AFK KICK TIMER POLL
- Thread starter mad30
- Start date
Future~Sight
Youngster
To me, 10 minutes is just about enough. 15 minutes is fine as well.
The thing is, no one can be Against an extension of the current time. So whatever updated time period can be decided, should be implemented asap.
The thing is, no one can be Against an extension of the current time. So whatever updated time period can be decided, should be implemented asap.
Krysi
Local Scapegoat
The better question to be asked here is...how big of an issue would people going AFK in game for longer periods of time actually be now? If it's not an issue at all, I'd suggest 30 minutes. 30 minutes is enough time to do pretty much any natural bodily functions from having lunch to getting a shower, maybe even a combination of things. I feel like anything longer than 30 minutes would be pretty much unnecessary though.
(30 minutes is also good for if people lose track of time watching a episode of anime. >>)
(30 minutes is also good for if people lose track of time watching a episode of anime. >>)
There seems to be two primary reasons against it.Krysi said:
1) Uses it to to get kicked from server when needed and desired.
2) Potentially going to use in game time for future quests/content and this will lead to further abuse of the system by being afk in game for no reason other than to meet those requirements.
Here is a previous discussion about this issue from May.
http://forum.pokemon-world-online.net/showthread.php?tid=36354
Krysi
Local Scapegoat
mad30 said:
Hm...to tackle these problems, I'd say keep the old time limit for the auto AFK kick and make use of the manual "/AFK" command. Make the command last 30 mins and not add to play time during the command's activation period. Also add a hour long cooldown after the command's cancellation so it cannot be used (or abused) back to back. This will encourage playing the game more actively and only using /AFK when necessary.
Krysi
Local Scapegoat
mad30 said:
That quadruple negative lost me for a while there...but if all else failed after many trials and errors, I'd probably say to just do something like meet somewhere in the middle with a 10~15 minute AFK time, but only if my previous suggestion was absolutely 100% impossible.
Future~Sight
Youngster
I think the whole process should be kept as simple as possible.
I'd support:
After 5 minutes of inactivity, players are Marked AFK
After 15 minutes, player is kicked.
The command will do the same thing.
( /AFK marks a player AFK immediately
after 15 minutes, player is kicked. )
Once at least this much is added to the game, we can see if what Krysi suggested would be required or not.
Either way, I like the suggestion. Except the cooldown thing which i feel isn't required.
@DomT, The server is rarely full. And even if it does someday fill up, i think it won't be hard to increase the cap. PWO Server ain't that bad.
I'd support:
After 5 minutes of inactivity, players are Marked AFK
After 15 minutes, player is kicked.
The command will do the same thing.
( /AFK marks a player AFK immediately
after 15 minutes, player is kicked. )
Once at least this much is added to the game, we can see if what Krysi suggested would be required or not.
Either way, I like the suggestion. Except the cooldown thing which i feel isn't required.
@DomT, The server is rarely full. And even if it does someday fill up, i think it won't be hard to increase the cap. PWO Server ain't that bad.
(Edited from original post)
I've been looking into some of the ideas being suggested here, which appear to range from simple increases of the kick timer, to actual changes to the AFK mechanic - and I've discussed these ideas with some of the suggesters as well.
It seems that an idea that is gaining favour with the players - but not so much the Staff - is the idea of an "Extended AFK". This would work like the current AFK command; but would allow players to AFK for a longer period of time while still remaining in game, for example when they want to make a Forum Post that they think will take some time to prepare, but are still engaging with PWO. I would be concerned with people abusing this feature to simply stay in game indefinitely because it's easy to simply move one step every half-hour or so.
What makes me interested is the suggestion of a "cool-down", so that after an Extended AFK has been used, the player can't use it again for some time, which is longer than the AFK itself. This way a player becomes unable to abuse long AFK times, but still has the option to use one if they have to attend to other matters without wanting to lose their slot in-game, a feature that might come in useful should PWO reclaim enough popularity to have full servers.
There is a small problem here. My current understanding (and other staff may correct me if I am incorrect) is that the server code does not currently make it possible to have different AFK "modes" with different lengths before a kick. At the moment, AFK kicks occur after a certain period in which a player has held the AFK status - and this status is the same regardless of how AFK was applied. That is not to say it couldn't be changed in the future, but that's the work of a Developer to both decide whether it's worth doing and to do it. Regardless, I actually think this is an idea worthy of consideration; and I hope I am not the only Staff willing to take an interest.
I've been looking into some of the ideas being suggested here, which appear to range from simple increases of the kick timer, to actual changes to the AFK mechanic - and I've discussed these ideas with some of the suggesters as well.
It seems that an idea that is gaining favour with the players - but not so much the Staff - is the idea of an "Extended AFK". This would work like the current AFK command; but would allow players to AFK for a longer period of time while still remaining in game, for example when they want to make a Forum Post that they think will take some time to prepare, but are still engaging with PWO. I would be concerned with people abusing this feature to simply stay in game indefinitely because it's easy to simply move one step every half-hour or so.
What makes me interested is the suggestion of a "cool-down", so that after an Extended AFK has been used, the player can't use it again for some time, which is longer than the AFK itself. This way a player becomes unable to abuse long AFK times, but still has the option to use one if they have to attend to other matters without wanting to lose their slot in-game, a feature that might come in useful should PWO reclaim enough popularity to have full servers.
There is a small problem here. My current understanding (and other staff may correct me if I am incorrect) is that the server code does not currently make it possible to have different AFK "modes" with different lengths before a kick. At the moment, AFK kicks occur after a certain period in which a player has held the AFK status - and this status is the same regardless of how AFK was applied. That is not to say it couldn't be changed in the future, but that's the work of a Developer to both decide whether it's worth doing and to do it. Regardless, I actually think this is an idea worthy of consideration; and I hope I am not the only Staff willing to take an interest.
Krysi said:
i'm sure commas, and soberness would have probably helped formed a better sentence.
If the ideas you had are not possible, specifically pwo is unable to prevent afk to count towards game time (it has to count towards game time due to code limitations) OR pwo is unable to differentiate between more than 2 types of afk modes (which Jinji has already spoken to) then what is your opinion?
Krysi
Local Scapegoat
mad30 said:
Goof, you quoted my answer then asked the same question again. Just without the pile of negatives.
Short and sweet though, I'd stick to the original timer for now and just lengthen it to 10 ~ 15 minutes.
Also thank you Jinji for the clarification of my suggestion. I figured there would be some issues with my suggestion, but when isn't there issues though right? xD
You rock!
Any word on the staffs opinions of changing the time? I don't think anyways is advocating for a major change, we can try a little increase and see how that goes and increase it further latter if that is deemed desirable by a fair amount of players.
Any word on the staffs opinions of changing the time? I don't think anyways is advocating for a major change, we can try a little increase and see how that goes and increase it further latter if that is deemed desirable by a fair amount of players.
BoiledEggs
New Member
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I would increase it because we don't have many players currently. If we get more players that will prevent others from logging in, then I would decrease it. Increasing it won't hurt. We often multitask plus it's not being counted as a playtime anymore.