Suggestion: A crew voted AFK mode

  • What I had in mind is a new "AFK" yes/no toggle line in the crewmenu, just like brigging a crewmember. If the majority voted yes the player turn ark and is not able to move anymore, but at the same time cannot be disconnected for inactivity (They are still part of the crew and get the same rewards).

    I really wish this was a thing because: I usually play with friends and we have run into the same problem over and over: someone has to leave for a bit to eat dinner or to go for a walk with their dog and have been disconnected after coming back. The rest of the crew then waits for them to reconnect before they complete a quest or turn in loot.

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  • As much as I can understand the occasion, I find the idea so unhelpful. Don't you think you could abuse that by hiring on a friend's sloop, switching AFK without even intending to play? You then go to work in peace, your friend plays for so long and collects successes for you. That's how you share the effort and double the success.

  • @goedecke-michel true that. Hmm. It could just increase the timer before one disconnects or have some other requirement for the one going AFK (reduced coin and commendation rewards, or make the ship slightly slower?). I'm going to think about it for some time and see if I can come up with something that makes sense.
    If a random crewmember get's disconnected due to inactivity that's great and shouldn't change.
    But if I know my crewmate and he has to go for about 10 to 20 minutes it creates problems on both ends. He's in a hurry and I have to hide loot or avoid enemys.

  • @rifdos Maybe flag a player AFK after X minutes and disconnect him after Y*X minutes, but give the crew the option to vote to kick him for being afk once he is flagged?

    Edit: AFK players will be ignored for any action that requires the crew to vote. So crew of 4 with 2 people AFK means it takes only 2 votes to kick one of them. Duo sloop with 1 player AFK means one vote is enough to start/abort quests.

  • @crimsonraziel That's an interessting idea, so he can't move until the given time has passed? The vote kick feature is a nice addition and would prevent strangers from abusing your kindness. I just realised that the player himself has to vote himself AFK in my suggestion too, otherwise people would abuse the system to get rid of players.

    Edit: right, I actually didn't think of that, removing 1 voterequirement would be essential.

  • @rifdos No forced stasis for the AFK player. Instead of disconnecting the player right away like it is now, the game just flags him AFK and grants him additional time but also gives the crew the chance to cut that short. The player can't stay AFK indefinitely but much longer then it is currently possible as long as the crew is cool with it .

    Just for example let's say you get flagged AFK after 5 or 10 mins of inactivity. At this point the crew gains the option to vote you out. If they don't do that, the game kicks you after 1 hour of inactivity. The AFK flag is automatically removed as soon as you do something that counts as active (e.g. browsing through your commendations may not count for that). Numbers are just for illustration.

  • Have you tried rubberbanding a controller? works in other games at least (fixing you camera stick so its constantly spinning or getting locked in the brig and using the move stick instead so you can't fall off the ship).

  • @crimsonraziel I see. I agree all of these things, although I'd say you get disconnected after being flagged for about 5 to 10 minutes. Imagine one guy goes AFK and he didn't help when he was active or it's clear he's AFK to farm free gold. Now you vote to kick him but one or two other crewmembers don't do anything because they don't speak the same language or some other reason. This way people will start to abuse that 1 hour.
    (I get that the 1h was an estimate number, but I wanted to point it out ^^)

    The rest makes total sense and I completely agree.

  • @konkydonk This did work and was a strategy some used to afk farm gold without the crew being able to do anything about it.
    People would die, emote on the ferry of the damned and rubberband to make their camera spin.
    I don't know if there still is a way to do something similar, but they fixed this issue, along with some other things people abused to let the crew farm for them, a while ago (I think it was a little less than half a year ago).

  • @rifdos didn't know about that but might read into it because it's a mecanic that's very hard to get rid of. Walking in circles in the brig might still work if they limited it to not moving or staying at the ferry of the damned(so there's still the danger of getting killed or so) idk hinestly

  • They coul vote which extends the afk timer to 30 mins, but anything turned in dosnt count for the afk player. This way crews would have to hold any loot if they wanted afker to get any credit, while also being down a player. Only let players do this every 4-6 hours.

    Would be useful and fair this way imo.

  • @a-cranky-eskimo said in Suggestion: A crew voted AFK mode:

    They coul vote which extends the afk timer to 30 mins, but anything turned in dosnt count for the afk player. This way crews would have to hold any loot if they wanted afker to get any credit, while also being down a player. Only let players do this every 4-6 hours.

    Would be useful and fair this way imo.

    1. I proposed a vote kick option after the player had been flagged for inactivity.
      This doesn't force the crew to take immediate action and allows them to change their mind. What is the benefit of your idea?

    2. Why restrict this to only once every 6 hours?

    3. Why deny the player the reward?
      Especially because he is afk with the consent of his crew.

    4. Why do you think this is a solution to the OP's issue?
      Ok, that's actually not a question. I wanted to point out that your solution does one thing not: Address the OP's issue.
      It looks more like there is some hidden agenda, at least to me.

  • @crimsonraziel ????? Your questions confuse me lol... My post is pretty self explanatory and similar to your idea. If theres a hidden agenda its you trying to argue lol... People said it would be abused, hence my points, to even allow crews to let players afk for more than the 10 mins we have already and get credit shouldnt happen, my idea allows the extension but at the added disadvantage of having to hoard loot if they want credit for not playing for their friend. Players who decide to do that hoarding loot that can be stolen isnt a hidden agenda. Its a good balance to an extended afk update, that also adds to/influences player behaviors

  • @a-cranky-eskimo said in Suggestion: A crew voted AFK mode:

    @crimsonraziel ????? Your questions confuse me lol... My post is pretty self explanatory and similar to your idea. If theres a hidden agenda its you trying to argue lol... People said it would be abused, hence my points, to even allow crews to let players afk for more than the 10 mins we have already and get credit shouldnt happen, my idea allows the extension but at the added disadvantage of having to hoard loot if they want credit for not playing for their friend. Players who decide to do that hoarding loot that can be stolen isnt a hidden agenda. Its a good balance to an extended afk update, that also adds to/influences player behaviors

    What's the abuse if my crew member goes afk with my consent?

  • @crimsonraziel you could effectively lvl afk players at will without fear of loss by turning in often and while running away, which is bad game design. Im happy to see friends helping and otherwise charitable behavior, not account boosting and poorly designed mechanics driving already unwanted player behavior, and yes i know its allowed but both chaser and runner complain about this situation lasting to long or happening to often

  • @a-cranky-eskimo Account boosting … in SoT … I've never played an online game where this is more irrelevant.

  • @a-cranky-eskimo This counters the original problem, this would only take away the need to rejoin. That isn't the issue though.

  • @crimsonraziel indeed

  • @crimsonraziel yea your right progression in this game is meaningless, why even try, i said "account boosting" because thats what its called lol... Gj making it seem unimportant because the game already sucks so bad it dosnt matter i guess? Have fun being the only one playing earning your crews gold if this ever happens

  • @a-cranky-eskimo said in Suggestion: A crew voted AFK mode:

    @crimsonraziel yea your right progression in this game is meaningless, why even try, i said "account boosting" because thats what its called lol... Gj making it seem unimportant because the game already sucks so bad it dosnt matter i guess? Have fun being the only one playing earning your crews gold if this ever happens

    Did you need almost a month to come up with these strawman arguments?

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