The Game Can Tell When Someone Is Afk Already. Why Not Expand On It?

[AuroraSonicBoom]

So in light of the latest DC shenanigans I felt the need to make this post and ask the following: If the game already has a built in afk function detecting opportunistic AFK players, wouldn't it be the most elegant way of dealing with them be to deny them the rewards of whatever these players go afk for?

 

That's the motivating factor behind most of the afk issue - have other people carry you through the mission to get the reward. For invasions its the battle pay progress, for boss runs or void missions its the item at the end of a run, for survivals or defense its the reward at every 5-wave/minute mark, and for alerts its the alert specific reward. Vault missions are generally less prone to afking unless my experience has been atypical.

I agree that coming up with rules to fairly determine whether someone is eligible for rewards again after being marked afk by the game would be tricky for survivals and defense missions. Maybe someone can come up with a simple, yet effective rule to deter players in these mission types.

What it comes down to is this: The system doesn't need to be perfect in order to discourage afk player behaviour as most of these player types only engage in it because it's so easy to pull off. We don't need elaborate, developer sanctioned host kicking(for now) to stop the vast majority of opportunists, and for the dedicated ones that use scripts or other 3rd party software to cheat the system we have a report button.

 

I think that adding the no-rewards/progress consequence for afk players for most mission types would be a very effective way to go about the issue while spending only a minimum in developing resources.

 

Thanks.

[VKhaun]

You don't want bugs in that sort of thing, and if you do have bugs you want to find them as people bump into lesser penalties rather than greater ones.

 

Baby steps.

 

Baby steps in the right direciton...

 

But baby steps.

[Harbingie]

Correct me,if i'm wrong,but there is already something against AFKers,which is a bit of a pain for non-AFKers,as well.You get absolutely no credits if you don't get to extraction in time.I have also thought,since the player is AFK,he's not moving,he doesn't get anything that drops along the way (although they still get the main reward).This is just a tad complicated,what if i had to urgently stand up and walk away from my game,yet i've been playing before that and told my friedns/teammates,that i must go AFK...If someone comes up with a genius and at the same time simple way to deal with sinful AFKers,then way to go,but i myself haven't been able to think of something,that wouldn't hurt other players in the process.

[(PSN)vivan000]

yet i've been playing before that and told my friedns/teammates

...

something,that wouldn't hurt other players in the process

Punishing AFKers only in Online mode.

[Trouvo]

Personally I dont really care if someone afk's, I can solo most everything anyways, if its something I cant solo I will get my friends who wont be afk to join.  Someone being afk doesnt hurt, me at least, maybe if you have a hard time doing missions without their help I can understand, but otherwise I just dont get it the gripe?

 

Because you are putting in the work for someone else's gain?  Werent you gonna do it anyways...

Because they didnt earn it? So let them ruin the game for themselves, earning it is part of the fun

Because you are gonna fail? Well they wont get anything either

because you need the help? Join a guild or try again

 

Bottomline I guess, dont waste your effort or emotion on someone who doesnt care

[AuroraSonicBoom]

Bottomline I guess, dont waste your effort or emotion on someone who doesnt care

 

This is now about whether afk is something that needs to be discouraged or not. It does, period. If you want to discuss that subject, please make your own thread.

 

 

Correct me,if i'm wrong,but there is already something against AFKers,which is a bit of a pain for non-AFKers,as well.

 

Well, it was never stated whether the no-credits thing is an anti-afk measure or just a general punishment for players not being fast enough. I agree that this mechanic doesn't not help anyone as afker's generally don't leech void missions for the credits but the item reward at the end. So yeah. That system also doesn't have anything to do with the afk detection code itself, it's something entirely different.

 

As far as consensually carrying friends who afk - I don't think that's a feature worth keeping. Don't get me wrong, I've carried clanmates through invasions more than once, and got carried myself a few times, but just like with zorencoptering: The fact that I use sometimes to keep up with the other copterers doesn't make me a hypocrit for wanting to see it die.

 

The afk-code is solid and simple enough to weed out the majority of opportunists, so I think it can be used for any mission type that doesn't have incremental rewards without drawbacks for normal players.

[Soundchaos]

If the game already has a built in afk function detecting opportunistic AFK players, wouldn't it be the most elegant way of dealing with them be to deny them the rewards of whatever these players go afk for?

 

If the AFK detection functioned in a way that didn't flag contributing players as AFK, I would agree.  Being flagged as AFK is entirely based on how much a player moves, not how much they're contributing.  It would end up screwing contributing players out of rewards on Defense and Interception maps in particular unless a more elegant afk detection is implemented first.