Let's Label Afk Mining what is really is.

@xgodkevin said in Let's Label Afk Mining what is really is.:

A simple kick timer could help with this. If you're brigged, then 10 or 15 min later, you get kicked. Hanging out in the ferry? Timer kicks you in 10 to 15 min. That is if they dont add a vote to kick.

I think this be the best solution. A Kick Crewman button be open to abuse an griefing. Don't tell me there are not 3 man crews out there that would get a laugh out of having a 4th random join and then kicking them as they go to turn in a huge haul... har-har... hilarious.

Now, timer on the brig could have the same issue. Put someone in the brig, wait 15 min for them to be removed, then make yer turn-in.

Timer on the ferry should be 5 - 10 min. With an on-screen clock at 60 seconds so people don't get caught unaware. Ye stay longer than that, ye be removed from the game. If a player tries to afk in the land o' the living ye can always brig them, sink the ship and force them to the ferry. 5 to 10 minutes later, the game removes them.

Private crews are half of the solution. The other half would be Vote kick option. Together these solve the afk issue completely. (Heck give several preset options when vote kicking that can be used as a stepping stone for looking at player data, etc.) Stuff that is in other games (Language, poor sportsman ship, cheating/exploiting, AFK. etc)

The vote to brig option was a poorly designed RP solution to this problem -imo- that resulted in abuse due to the lack of 1) private crews, and 2) no vote to kick option.

@kungfustu72 there were plenty of us asking about private crews from the first beta. I'm not trying to s**g on Rare like some people do but it does seem like they don't react to issues until a massive chunk of their player base is up in arms about it and/or they lose a bunch of players over it.
You're very right 8 weeks after launch is ridiculous

@coconut-monkey6 said in Let's Label Afk Mining what is really is.:

The Vote to Kick option will never be implemented. Period. It is the single stupidest idea. That opens the door to mass griefing that has already been pointed out above. If it ever was implemented, the very next day would see these forums flooded with threads about butthurt pirates who got booted right before cashing in their treasure. That option is just not worth it.

this is absolutely true. It would become the new main griefing method to kick someone just before item turn-in. hopefully vote to insta-kick won't ever happen although there are some interesting suggestions on Reddit about ways to implement a timed-kick where the other player has to respond (like simply press and hold a button) within a certain time like 120 or 240 seconds or THEN they would be kicked. I could get behind a solution like that...

@lizalaroo said in Let's Label Afk Mining what is really is.:

@furiousfuzz if you have a closed crew you will only have people in your crew that you want therefore there should be no afking ergo the problem will be solved. :D

This does not solve the problem at all. Private crews and AFK leechers are separate issues that need to be addressed separately.

What happens if I still want to have an open crew? The whole point of SoT's open crews was to make new friends and play with different people from around the world. But if AFK leechers are still a problem problem then what?

@furiousfuzz It takes very little effort to do what you are talking about, and unfortunately people would rather progress with no effort than actually play the game they bought. Isn't it strange to buy a game and then not play, but just leech off of other people? lol...

@etnwill @Coconut-Monkey6 I don't understand why you feel that its the stupidest idea ever. Many games have some sort of "vote kick/report" option built in. This game has neither.

Look at it this way:

On one hand you have our current issue, afk botters leeching gold/rep with out contributing. You have no way to get rid of them, you either play on with them or you leave and join another crew.

On the other hand is this option were implemented it would completely solve your AFK botter problem, yet open another set of issues (If implemented poorly -imo) that gives players another form of griefing.

I seriously believe that the vote to brig option was RARE's own spin on a vote to kick option, by making the game unplayable thus making the brigged player leave the match on his own. They failed to realize the potential for abuse, then the turn around of exploit by afk botters.

Another way to look at it is this:

Say someone joins your crew and starts throwing treasure off the boat, or being disruptive. What tools would you like to have at your disposal to stop THAT griefer? Do you really feel the vote to brig option solves that issue? Or would you like to have the ability to remove such toxic behavior with out rewarding them because they refuse to leave?

Regardless of how you look at it, its a two way door. It solves some problems but there could be a downside. I would like a bit of control when running my ship.

@coconut-monkey6 I under stand the scenario completely and see how there is potential for abuse -if they (rare) don't figure out a way to balance it out- I think you guys who are against the vote kick option are just assuming there wont be any checks/balances built into it to prevent griefing in this manner.

Like i said there are other games that allow you to report afk, (WOW PVP) when it was first introduced would flag that player and would kick them after x minutes (even if they had some movement macro running)

My issue with this scenario is I don't think it would be used like that very much (yes it could be abused) but I think many people would just use the Private group option more if they think there is potential to play with people on their friends list.

EDIT: I meant to say that yes it does halt their behavior (by confining their movements) but unless they leave the session, you are still rewarding them by finishing your voyages while you continue on.

@coconut-monkey6 I don't want to offend here, so please don't take it this way. But do you work for rare? I don't and don't feel that its my responsibility to figure out a way to get it working with out the negative potential side effects. That's their job. Just because you or I cannot think of a fool proof solution doesn't mean they can't. I would hope they came to this project with experience and the technical know how to get (something like this) working in a best case scenario.

I just seems like they had the best intentions and expected the community to be great and non-toxic. Well we seen how that worked out.

@coconut-monkey6 Yea especially with the apparent lack of foresight I have seen so far =/

Just seems like general lack of them looking to see how thing could go wrong and not doing or having any preventative measures in place. Then retroactively trying to fix it.

@furiousfuzz you don't need a modification of some sort, you can just take your controller if you have one and then put it upside down in a way so your character keeps spinning, that makes the game think you're active. I found this out by accident when i went to go eat and then i came back 45 min after just to see my character still on the server spinning around

@lady-aijou said in Let's Label Afk Mining what is really is.:

@TheMustaMissed Please refrain from personal attacks against other users, including our staff, and your fellow pirates. Posts of that nature are considered to be derogatory, and a violation of our Forum rules. Your posts have been edited or removed accordingly.

Funny how its ok for mods to be condescending and rude, but the rest of us better respect the mods. Bet just saying this will get me banned, again. They sure don't like when people speak their mind around here.

@xgodkevin Kick timer would be a great feature! A random joined my game and AFK'd while we were at a fort and stayed AFK in FoTD all the way until we turned in the fort loot. A kick timer would have been very much appreciated there.

Whats even worse is the next day it appeared he found me on his recent players list and joined in my game again for more trolling!