AFK/ACTIVE IDEA

So I don't know about the rest of you but whenever I log in or come back from being afk. I am curious who else is afk and who is playing. Sure you can send a tell to every single person but that would get tedious and annoying to everyone.

Here's my idea: We develop some sort of system to flag people either active or afk. This could either be scripted so it is automatic and maybe detects player movement or it could be an item that you flag yourself active or afk which also has a "Who is playing?" function.

Does anyone else have any ideas to help players get an idea of if anyone is out there playing or not?

I'm not sure if it was this server, but back in the day Anphillia's used to have something called a "Rod of Afk" where you would use it on yourself and tiny butterflies would fly around your player thus alerting fellow players that you are in fact AFK

That would only be a visual representation and would only really work if you could SEE that person... and if you could SEE that person you could tell if they were AFK or not.

The BIGGEST problem with something like this is the ability to metagame in PVP and assault situations. Checking to see if the other team is awake or not and such before a run at the relic.

HOWEVER, perhaps there could be a neutral, OOC, AFK area accessible via an item (could potentially just use one of the squares in "A Dream", except for the fact that while in the Dream you get no AFK experience...) where one could go when AFK. This area could have portals back into Nadie's/Mary's just as if you were first logging in to the game. We could then potentially implement a conversation script via the crafting menu to return names of players online but not in the dream. I am not sure if that's even possible, but you could also pop into said area via your own item and see who is there and who isn't. A problem with THAT is exploiting it in PvP for a quick, obviously exploitative escape, or a safe resting area. (disallow resting?) Perhaps you use the item and it takes 5 RL minutes before you actually go there? But then doing that to check for who is/isn't AFK takes just as long as sending a bunch of tells. I don't know, just shooting from the hip here.

Right now its not exceedingly hard to just send a few tells to your fort mates to see who is active. If the server was extremely large than maybe.

OFF TOPIC

Anything that isn't sycophantic must be trolling then..

Here is a troll post Rann

You are a terrible admin and host. The state of the server proves it.

So delete this post too so people cannot hear facts.

Do the responsible thing and let Raven have host again or just stop hosting since you clearly are inept and amateur

-terenee- wrote:Anything that isn't sycophantic must be trolling then..

Here is a troll post Rann

You are a terrible admin and host. The state of the server proves it.

So delete this post too so people cannot hear facts.

I disagree with this train of logic, state of server always = to quality of host.
If the server's population fluctuated and died out while Felix was hosting why should it be a direct correlation to how good/bad of a host he was like you now judge Rann by such standards.

Hopefully you were just giving an example of what a troll post would sound like... and you don't really think these things.

And sometimes when we think Facts are facts they are actually opinions.
An honest opinion or view point is not always a fact.
While some players don't play because they can't play (lack of free time/lag/other games/too difficult)... some players don't play because there is not enough ___________.(players, rp, pvp, etc)

-terenee- wrote:Do the responsible thing and let Raven have host again or just stop hosting since you clearly are inept and amateur

Don't know why your post was removed...
the only thing I recall about it is that I resisted the urge to correct you on the fact that Felix, Raven, and Rann have all played while hosting...
I'd imagine you'd know about Felix at least, but I understand why you might consider the other two have not played since you weren't around to witness it.

You've also been missing Raven's rpdming, which is a shame since you've been so adamant about us getting an RP-dm.

OmegaChaos wrote: Sure you can send a tell to every single person but that would get tedious and annoying to everyone.

This has the same gaurentee of getting a reply or finding out about activity... but if you want to avoid sending more than 1 tell you could try sending out a message to all your fellow fort mates through the communications office in Cleaven.
It costs 250gp though... but it's fun to use, provokes roleplay.

Maybe there is a way to add onto this script a means of detecting active members of your own fort... like.. who the last character to pass through the fort gate was.. and how long ago... seems in character enough.
Secluding it to being told solely about allies would avoid exploiting any potential metagamish enemy faction situations.

Simpliest method is to just send out tells, or spend the 250 and wait for replies...

/allclear command ftw.

The post Rann deleted was not trolling.
It simply defied the status quo of those in power.

To sum it up I said that new players leave because death exp is set as if we still got new players to the server and times have changed

The trolliest thing I said is that this post was pointless since I have been saying it since 2011.

This server is a faux democracy that is controlled by Moth and unless we kiss ass we are labeled seditious.

The funniest thing is to see new players criticize things then lick boots to the admins, usually in the same post that they happen to mention their extensive experience DMing and/or hosting as if filing some resume.

I have lots of time and have always been willing to offer much to help the server including paying for a stable host but instead I am turned down and the same issues still plague us.

I don't need to remind anyone of the definition of insanity.

And I played under both Rann and Ravens host and never saw either online, not that that is a negative if they were indeed hosting.

Rann is amateur, his style is very American which puts me off due to utter hypocrisy.

I don't play here because many things but mostly I find the admins to childish, selfish and condescending, Raven excluded. Moth primarily.

I will not lick a dictators boot when it is lack of innovative progression that hinders growth. This forum, server and game is a dead horse, long over beaten.

I will never return to this forum or server again

I will however begin hosting my own anph with all the content I was given and when I am playing alone there I will smile knowing it is the exact same world I have always enjoyed.

Fare well those that I have played beside for years and I offer you my deep and sober condolences for your banality.

Deoraiocht

Darken Rahl wrote:/allclear command ftw.

Was always fun when that provoked a chain link of /allclears from a few other active axfells... no doubt though that some might not appreciate the "horn spam" ... if enough players were still around for it to be considered spam...

The post I removed had practically NOTHING to do with what we are discussing in this thread. This thread is SUPPOSED to be about a convenient way to find who is idle and who isn't. You jumped in with a comment about why people are afk and talking about death xp and how it is killing this server WHICH YOU ADMITTEDLY DON'T EVEN PLAY ON. That is in no way related to the topic of an easy way to check who is and isn't idle, and the bit you said about singing this song or whatever since 2011 was quite trollish. You were trying to start something, don't act like you weren't.

Now, I have respected you as a player for awhile. Our interactions have been pretty few, but from what I've seen you're a quality player and a great RPer. HOWEVER, your conduct on the forums doesn't match what you do in game. On the forums you are a self-centered troll who seems to have nothing better to do than make inflammatory comments about something in which you are no longer involved.

This server and the way it is run has NEVER been a democracy. It never will be. I may be American but I am not out to personally bring "democracy" to the world. Community votes happen for major changes so that the people who MAKE the decisions can get an idea for what the community wants and make it a part of the decision making process, not that the vote is set in stone. Moth is the builder. This is HIS world, and HIS vision. I know for a fact that he appreciates any and all criticisms and praises and ideas that are given to him, no matter how insane they are. But HE has final say into what makes it into the mod and how it works. I am not some admin that is going to put to vote every last action I take. I will drop the banhammer on those that deserve it without asking the population. I will remove illegal items from your inventory without polling the community. I will do WHATEVER I CAN to make your experience lag free and pleasant from a technical standpoint. I do not need a committee to run the technical side of this server. I also, appreciate feedback. I do not always KNOW about lag problems and disconnection issues. I have purposely NOT been playing OR AFKing the past few days to see if that doesn't work out some of the lag and disconnection issues.

I'll remind you ONE MORE TIME, that I have NOTHING to do with the content of the mod, how it is run, the death xp penalty, AFKing, etc etc. THAT IS NOT MY ROLE. I am an ADMIN and only that. I am not an RPDM. I will log in sometimes to spot check for cheating and to help with problems as a DM. I will provide, FREE OF CHARGE TO ANYONE, access to play this wonderful game that incites such passion in all of us. I will put up with the bullshit that happens on these forums and spills over into tells whenever I log in to provide this opportunity to you and anyone else that wants it.

In the future, defy the status quo all you want. I don't care. Flame me all you want, it doesn't matter. Troll these forums left and right. But make your own topic instead of hijacking one. It is not fair to the original poster's valid concern or idea to have to wade through page after page of drama and argument over things that are not related to what they started talking about. You want to talk about AFK happening due to death XP? MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN TOPIC. You want to talk about server leadership not listening? (Who added a RPDM at your request? Was it me? Oh yes, it was.) MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN TOPIC. Your post was only a LITTLE trollish, but it was 100% off topic.

But I suppose so is mine now. You've made me into the American hypocrite that you assume I am. If you're going to be the forum you and not the in game you, stay the hell out, and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way. If you want to be the sensible, competitive, great player I know you to have been in the past, you are more than welcome back. But until then, you won't be missed.

In case your unaware omega "/allclear" is a chat command that tells the rest of your faction there are no enemies in your area. I had forgotten about using it to do exactly what you need. Good call Darken Rahl!

So the only solution I could come up with for the AFK topic which is the easiest but most likely least pleasing, however, it could help and hurt in ways when it comes to the player base of the server.

     Here's the solution, while I'm online, I will boot those whom have been inactive for the past 15-20 minutes of me being online((I WILL send a tell prior to booting just to confirm the AFKness)), if you "noticeably" are away from keyboard(AFK) for longer than that, then you could rejoin when you return and are able to play. I say we leave the faction XP points for the players whom are online actively playing, and open up the option of booting those players whom have been AFK for as long as or longer then what I previously stated. I mean YES we are already low on players, and some might argue that this will make it worse, but, if you are only around and thrive off of that faction XP then your in the wrong already. Some may also argue that they are only AFK because there aren't any players around for them to actively play with, well then log out and come back later when there ARE other players actively playing.

ONE thing that will displease players from joining the server or wanting to come back and start a character is seeing nothing but players AFK when you log in and are looking forward to RPing. It even discourages me as RPDM to see it, especially when I see 7-10 players online and I get excited logging in to hopefully run an event of some sort and the barracks is filled up of AFK for each fort. New players and players in general want to see others playing when they log in. For a player whom has played on Anphillia servers before but is new to this one in general, it REALLY catches them off guard to see all these people standing around for hours on end. It's one of the first questions I got from majority the new players that have came around since I been RPDM, "Why is everyone standing around not playing?" "Why don't they just log out?" "And this is okay with the staff"((Those are honestly questions I have recieved)) It's displeasing to new players. If we want the server to grow then we have to sacrifice and start somewhere.

This is not saying you are UNABLE to AFK in any way, shape, or form. If you need to AFK feel free to do so, but if I am online and notice you being inactive for 15-20 minutes then I will go ahead and boot you and you're more then welcome to rejoin when you return. We are still going to have people AFKing, but atleast this way we are cutting down slightly or at least trying to.

RPDM Raven wrote:
but, if you are only around and thrive off of that faction XP then your in the wrong already. Some may also argue that they are only AFK because there aren't any players around for them to actively play with, well then log out and come back later when there ARE other players actively playing.

This outlook/point of view is startling and troublesome to me.
The reason this seems so troublesome to me is because it could leave players with only a few options and at a disadvantage due to circumstances out of their control. A sort of being punished for the lack of other players being around.

For example... The way the population is now... if this policy was activated and upheld... I'd imagine a player will either have to play solo to stay active, avoid being kicked and missing out on the easiest form of gaining xp... or return with a friend or a few friends to stay active.
(While that sounds like it might reel in more players... it probably won't since not everyone will have (a) friend(s) who is/are willing to return without improvements first).
So if players don't fancy being active solo... they'll either need to wait and by chance catch teammates online by periodicly checking in game, set up play dates on the forum (like what axfell did with meeting up 1 day a week for group outings.)... or join the other faction to be able to keep on playing with active teammates.

By these possible obsticles preventing a few players from being able to lvl up characters, Rann's initial idea of beginning as 1 faction sounds like a better and better idea.
(because it might end up with only 1 faction getting played.)

Edit;
I'd like to also add that I don't see how I should be considered in the wrong for relying on afking for easy xp...  for the time being while waiting for players to return.
I've two people who played here that I could and have contacted asking them to play.
One can't play due to the lag, the other can't play due to the lack of purpose to stay and play -They need the kind of purpose of having more than just me to roleplay with... and pvp with, a group experience. I'd like that too and hopefully when the opportunity for a group experience returns.. I'll have a few lvl 40 alts prepaired for the pvp assaults... and pve difficult areas.
Even though I can solo-play... doesn't mean I take enjoyment out of it all the time. I've considered for the past few days.. investing time to do solo condors trips to gather loots... but... I've been more drawn to other sources of entertainment while at the computer.
We'll see once the lag settles and at least one of the people I could play with.. returns and I'll have someone to be active with.

RPDM Raven wrote:
It even discourages me as RPDM to see it, especially when I see 7-10 players online and I get excited logging in to hopefully run an event of some sort and the barracks is filled up of AFK for each fort.

It was slightly discouraging how that one night when you ran the scheduled quest for Cleaven.. you had to cancel the one for Axfell due to the fact that I was the only one active at the time.
It's understandable... I only bring it up because it relates back to the whole notion of a player on the inactive side missing out on things because of a prerequisites which might be unfair to place on players due to them having to deal with obsticals beyond their control/influence.

RPDM Raven wrote:
This is not saying you are UNABLE to AFK in any way, shape, or form. If you need to AFK feel free to do so, but if I am online and notice you being inactive for 15-20 minutes then I will go ahead and boot you and you're more then welcome to rejoin when you return. We are still going to have people AFKing, but atleast this way we are cutting down slightly or at least trying to.

If this plan is followed I imagine there will be moments that you might end up kicking everyone that is on the server?
Or at least, emptying out 1 faction?
I don't know how active or inactive cleaven is lately..
I've noticed back when the server did the self cleansing thing while there were cleavens online it took them a while to relog... maybe their more actively lately..
--With a new player joining/returning and bringing a friend with them.. I'd imagine when they log in together they'd most likely have each other to play/ be active with, it's easier to be active when you're playing with an ooc friend actually willing to play. xD
As far as I know, I think axfell has 1 active-ish player...  

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I recall back when the server was full we had a DM logging in to randomly kick "afk" players to give room for others to log in. I recall having my character kicked from this... I wasn't afk, just idle... not actively roleplaying.. no one was around to rp with... or crafting.. or adventuring. Luckily I managed to relog back in without getting shut out. -And they at least apologised...

But this was back when we had afking players and active players, kicked the afk to make room for the active... I don't really see the need to make room for active players... there has been 25-30 empty slots open and waiting for active players to join in at any time.

-It didn't stop afking and in the end.. the afker's won the battle and were there to stay! xD


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I'm curious, what braught this stance of yours on suddenly?
Why no anti-afk plans where voiced back when you were hosting or any time before today?

Are you planning to do this to try to accommodate to the needs of the newiest players that joined because they've remained active... and if so..
have you considered they're at an advantage of being active due to playing the game with an ooc/irl friend...
The reason I consider it an advantage is because there might not be a need to resort to afking due to not being able to or having to solo areas to gain lvls, which Omega and Shortstack have both struggled with... Omega resorting to becoming an afker.. and Shortstack quiting.
(both instances indirectly relating to the afking of others... more so directly related to the lag and/or xp penalty/gain being to much and to little.)

I think this idea is going to be very split. Personally you all know I am a proponent for a server wipe and starting at one faction. Raven I think if we are going to try and enact no afk policies it would be beneficial to combine forts.

TheeVals Cleaven has recently gained 4 new players which has caused myself and Octavia to be more active and take up tradeskills. The fort is beginning to remind me of the old days where whenever you log in you immediately get a party invite and people are out and about. Nice chats around the campfire and sharing of loot from adventures. Very positive attitudes and willingness to risk lives to help each other out. Since shortstack left, Axfell doesn't have any fresh new blood out to invigorate the players. I really think if we combined forts all of the old players will take more interest and we can get a nice community going. I'm sure with a political system in place eventually the fort would be split and we would rp a separation again.

Anyway I like everyone's enthusiasm save for the troll. We have a wave of new attitudes and ideas, maybe we need to do something about them before it's too late

Btw I mentioned that theres an ongoing party in the Cleaven fort. This is kind of my solution to the afk problem as it makes it rather easy to tell who is afk. And I think getting party invites as soon as you log in or periodically is very inviting and promotes activity.

Thanks for the status update on the Cleaven side.

Axfell used to do the party inviteing to during Rann's first hosting phase and Raven's temp replaceing.

In this case then Raven's solution might favor the group of players in 1 faction over the other... which might be a bad idea?

Maybe the best solutions left would be;

1-faction restart..
(we'll lose players that are waiting for lag to stop and to find time to play... It's not fun to return to a server to find accomplishments deleted)

Afk-xp is turned off..
(This will remove the possibility of unfair advantage/disadvantages.-Assaulting/relic stealing can be replaced with a different reward system... to keep that pvp encouragment.)

Reward instead of punish..
(Pass out a bit of rewards to the active players.. for being active.. instead of preventing non-active players from being accepted/permitted to remain online recieving the same free xp opportunities as any other character that's online. Keep in mind not to have these rewards unfairly put those that afk at a massive disadvantage -the active players already tecniquely have the advantage of being able to gain more xp/gp/rp/fun moments due to their activity.. it's self rewarding but encouragment to keep active dispite the afker's might help.)

What would it take to combine forts without a wipe? I mean I'm all for one but I know everyone else isn't and I think it might be possible to accomplish what we all want.

Theevals, you thought way too much into my solution with the AFKing. Also, if the server was built for players to live off of the AFK exp then so be it, the solution I mentioned will never work then.

I wasn't able to read your entire post word for word because of the length of it and time I have at the moment, but one thing that caught my eye was the word punish, nobody is being punished with my solution, its simple even, if you are clearly AFK for longer than 20 minutes((And again I will send a TELL to confirm it)) then I don't see that being a problem. It's more of a way to keep the server free from AFK'ers scattered throughout it.

The message that goes along with the faction XP is something along the lines of "You have been rewarded for something like "helping out your fort"((even though that isn't whats said, but you get my drift)) how are you doing anything to deserve that 200 xp which turns out to be 400 xp each time you get it since it happens twice when it is rewarded? All your doing is standing still. I'm not sure what the initial intention of the faction exp was for, but I could be almost certain it wasn't meant for players to make it there "easiest method of getting exp". Each fort has several bosses nearby it, so if your out of level range for the creatures that surround the forts then you could easily go out and gank some bosses and get more xp then the faction exp would give you. From levels 1-40 there's no way that the faction xp is the easiest form of EXP.


It was just my solution for the AFK topic, and I believe in the long run when players got the drift of it, and logged in while they were able to play the game whether it be alone or with others and not just to stand still for hours on end to live off the faction exp that it might work. If every single person logged in ONLY when they were ACTIVELY playing and then logged OUT the minute they were no longer doing so then the server would only be full of people who were actively playing at that time.


I don't know of a server out their, or one that I have ever played at, where the intention was to stay in game, AFK, for hours upon end. If you don't wanna play the game ALONE, then log out, check back later to see if players are around, don't ruin the game/ ROLE PLAY for other characters who are trying to play it.

If a wipe means certain players definitly won't come back.. I'm not so thrilled about the idea...   otherwise.. if there was no major loss of their great company/rp I'd be game to give it a try...

definitly might take a long while to produce this 1-faction module of exparamentation...
unless it's kept as simple and ghetto as using a copy of the current module and blocking off cleaven or axfell gate areas ... and ingame.. ignoring the alarms getting triggered... or removing them all together... carefully removing certain dialogue text.. or ingame ignoring it... or.. changing 1 of the factions into a quest of sorts... the other faction can still exist for Raven to use for fun quests... I don't know..

Doesn't seem likely that it could be ready within a week or less?

TheeVals wrote:Thanks for the status update on the Cleaven side.

Axfell used to do the party inviteing to during Rann's first hosting phase and Raven's temp replaceing.

In this case then Raven's solution might favor the group of players in 1 faction over the other... which might be a bad idea?

Maybe the best solutions left would be;

1-faction restart..
(we'll lose players that are waiting for lag to stop and to find time to play... It's not fun to return to a server to find accomplishments deleted)

Afk-xp is turned off..
(This will remove the possibility of unfair advantage/disadvantages.-Assaulting/relic stealing can be replaced with a different reward system... to keep that pvp encouragment.)

Reward instead of punish..
(Pass out a bit of rewards to the active players.. for being active.. instead of preventing non-active players from being accepted/permitted to remain online recieving the same free xp opportunities as any other character that's online. Keep in mind not to have these rewards unfairly put those that afk at a massive disadvantage -the active players already tecniquely have the advantage of being able to gain more xp/gp/rp/fun moments due to their activity.. it's self rewarding but encouragment to keep active dispite the afker's might help.)

This has potential to be a good solution, definitely the turning off of the faction XP at the least.

TheeVals wrote:If a wipe means certain players definitly won't come back.. I'm not so thrilled about the idea...   otherwise.. if there was no major loss of their great company/rp I'd be game to give it a try...

definitly might take a long while to produce this 1-faction module of exparamentation...
unless it's kept as simple and ghetto as using a copy of the current module and blocking off cleaven or axfell gate areas ... and ingame.. ignoring the alarms getting triggered... or removing them all together... carefully removing certain dialogue text.. or ingame ignoring it... or.. changing 1 of the factions into a quest of sorts... the other faction can still exist for Raven to use for fun quests... I don't know..

Doesn't seem likely that it could be ready within a week or less?

Disabling the portals to Axfell/Cleaven and putting one in for Ranzington, making that the primary faction and we go from there.

I don't think we need to or should make it a 1 faction module. I think we should just "ghetto" block off one side and keep the two factions at war rp. One side will still be able to raid the other with no actual pc defense save from DM activity. This will just be temporary to help improve activity and maybe mend some hurt feeling between people. We can all work together for a while and develop a political system and just have fun again. Eventually with enough people characters will disagree on topics and maybe two leaders will emerge with a following and one side can rp a switch to axfell again.

OmegaChaos wrote:I don't think we need to or should make it a 1 faction module. I think we should just "ghetto" block off one side and keep the two factions at war rp. One side will still be able to raid the other with no actual pc defense save from DM activity. This will just be temporary to help improve activity and maybe mend some hurt feeling between people. We can all work together for a while and develop a political system and just have fun again. Eventually with enough people characters will disagree on topics and maybe two leaders will emerge with a following and one side can rp a switch to axfell again.

I don't think that would work. Not in a role play matter atleast.. We would need to do a server wipe, and put everyone together in ranzington, then at some point in time((When the population goes up/steady/etc)) we could have some sort of dramatizing thing happen that will split the two into Axfell and Cleaven. We could leave access right up to the INNER gates of each fort, and players could just ignore being in the lands of AXFELL/CLEAVEN.