Dancer Archive
Thread: AFK Dancer (& Musician) Acrimony
As a new member of the Entertainment Profession.....I have frequently left myself in the cantina AFK either playing music or dancing (........AS A COMMUNITY SERVICE......) and I come back to find that the players who were healed of Battle Fatiguebecause I was the only entertainer in the cantina were extremely happy about my AFK presence.
Maybe it was different before so many players, in order to have the available skill-points to join the elite professions, had to give up their invested time and points in MUSIC and DANCE. Now these players, who used to heal themselves, have available healing in the cantina....maybe not as fast as if I'm there to flourish away.....but on my server, in my city, in my cantina, the feedback has been: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS FOR US.
I really wish there was a way for me not to heal you SourPusses.....who just don't get it. You're probably the ones who don't leave tips and who take our services for granted, anddon't acknowledgewhat we do as valuable. For those Dancers who think we of the temporarily AFK are unfair competition, try thinking a little bit more about the community you are serving and be a bit less greedy.
Panacea,a fascinating first post, truly, I'd like to comment on some of your comments, if I may....
"For those Dancers who think we of the temporarily AFK are unfair competition, try thinking a little bit more about the community you are serving and be a bit less greedy."
So... what you are saying is that those of us dancerswho are at the keyboard, actively playing, talking to the customers, putting on a good show etc, and actually AWARE of the people who come to the cantinas in need of healingare actually sparing less thought to the SWG commmunity than those who log in, fire off a macro and go off to work, or sleep, go shopping etc.
How canAFK Dancersknow anythingabout the community they are serving, when they've never been there tosee 95% of their customers?
"I come back to find that the players who were healed of Battle Fatiguebecause I was the only entertainer in the cantina were extremely happy about my AFK presence."
Two points here:
1) Just imagine how grateful they would be if you were not only Present AFK, but AT THE KEYBOARD. Imagine the tips you would have got then, or the friends you may now have, people who could help you when you needed something in future, hunting partners, etc. I bet any money you get more of them by being there.
2) The REAL problem isn't a place you describe, it's those places where there are several entertainers, and half of them are Bots. I dance Anchorhead Every day, and so many time I find myself in a group of 6-10 performers, of which 2-5 of them are actually NOT AFK. Now, don't you think that's ridiculous? That people fire up their performers, fish for a group invite, then as soon as they get it walk away for hours on end, knowing they are getting MUCH Better XP from being in a group. Dont you think THEY are the ones that need to be "a bit lessgreedy" as you put it?
Some AFKers even START a group and do that, thinking that they cant get kicked from it - doesnt work I send a message to all in the group suggesting we disband and start a new one. I am talking long term AFK, not "Going to the loo" AFK, here
"I really wish there was a way for me not to heal you SourPusses.....who just don't get it"
WE just don't get it? We're there, we know what's going on in the game because we see it with our eyes. We ARE the one's that get it...
Also,
"I really wish there was a way for me not to heal you SourPusses"
There IS a way to not heal someone - It's called /denyservice
IF you'd been at your keyboard and ever spoke to another performer, you'd know that command exists.
Problem for you however, is you need to be at the keyboard to identify those "sour pusses" and to use the command....
/denyService only works for people within range (not sure of the exact distance) but if the person you want to deny isn't online, or very near... you can't deny them. I know, I've tried!
Panacea_Universalis wrote:
but on my server, in my city, in my cantina, the feedback has been: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS FOR US.
I really wish there was a way for me not to heal you SourPusses.....who just don't get it. You're probably the ones who don't leave tips and who take our services for granted, anddon't acknowledgewhat we do as valuable. For those Dancers who think we of the temporarily AFK are unfair competition, try thinking a little bit more about the community you are serving and be a bit less greedy.
I'm not surprised at that feedback. Since many players don't want to work for their rewards or heals, they are very grateful for anything that circumvents that work. Why hunt down an entertainer in a desolate spot? Just use a bot. What would be the reactions be to the following scenarios?
- An architect puts all his large houses for sale on the bazaar for 1 credit each.
- A medic creates a macro that asks people to invite him so he can heal the group leader over and over.
- A creature handler sells a bunch of klik queens for 1 credit each.
I'll tell you what the reaction would be: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS FOR US.
Just because some people enjoy circumventing the obstacles with ease doesn't mean that it's right. Instead of bots, we could just have a button that says, "Heal me now." That should take care of entertainers and medics in one swoop. Some surveyors won't have a place to sell some of his materials since there is no need for health packs. The scouts cannot sell their meats to medics. Oh, or chefs, either. Why would you need a buff if you can just heal whenever you want?
Since a lot of people see the AFKers, they don't feel that real entertainers are necessary. So, the real entertainers aren't motivated to go to the cantinas. This hurts the RPers. They want to enjoy the cantina atmosphere, but they cannot because the real entertainers who tend to RP have left since their tastes are not supported by those who take entertainers for granted.
You mention that the SourPusses are probably the ones who don't leave tips and who take our services for granted. Odd. It's the SourPusses who are pushing for real entertainers. The ones taking us for granted are the ones who happily walk into a cantina, watch a bot, and leave.
And temporarily AFK dancers are not competition. For one, if you're temporarily AFK, then you'll be back in 5 minutes. And two, it is either a sad dancer who cannot keep the attention of a patron over an AFKer, or it is a sad patron who chooses to watch the AFKer because he doesn't want to feel guilty for not tipping the real entertainer.
As you say, try thinking a little bit more about the community.
You're on the wrong board. This is the Dancer forum. We dancers can all heal ourselves. Every other dancer on my galaxy could /deny my character and it wouldn't make a hill of beans in terms of healing because she can heal her own BF while she dances (and her mind wounds). So you are kind of barking up the wrong tree here... you can't hurt dancers by refusing to heal their BF. They heal their own.
Beyond that I basically agree 100% with everying Kuildeus just said.
C
- J
Alrighty then. Usually I just lurk about here on the boards however I really need to throw my opinion in the ring.
Miss Panacea, with all due respect, since you are a new member to the Entertainment Profession I highly doubt you are AFKing as a Community Service. You are doing it as an expedient way to the top. You are cheating the system & you are making the scenery a very ugly place for players who wish to actually play the game they pay $15 a month for. Want to try some real Community Service? Here is what I do. Once a week I spend an evening in a far off location dancing in a deserted cantina for that lone hunter to come in & get some heals & a little conversation. I've also got regular customers that pay my way & tip me superbly to take a trip with them to some way out location for missions. What you are doing is lame & your justification is a very old excuse we've all heard before. Let a Master Entertainer do it if s/he really wants to lend a hand to players that play during the off hours. (I don't see why they'd want to but at least they've got all the xp they need)
I wonder what type of let down you'll find when you make it to Master & you've had no real experience in entertainment.
AFKing - meh, the worst part of it is for me is how it takes away from the role playing aspect. The entire reason I play MMORPG is hmm surprise surprise for the role playing!
At least in the Bestine Cantina afking is looked down upon. We generally make as much fun of them as possible, (parking pet banthas on top of them etc.) won't group with them, won't train them, won't socialize with them those rare times they are actually at the keyboard. Because of this I've seen less & less of that annoying afk tag in there.
It isn't about greed at all. Its about enjoyment. Its a game. I just don't understand the logic behind afk entertaining at all. What fun is there in it? *poof* One day you're a master - big deal. I've had oodles of fun getting to know the regular customers, putting together dance routines, singing songs, telling jokes, assembling costumes & making friends.
You must be very lonely. /frown
Lyliw
Do we really have to have this same old flame war every single week? Is there anyone here who hasn't read the same old arguments time and again, on both sides?
No matter what players like Panacea may want to believe, the fact remains that SOE is working on solutions that will discourage AFK macroing or eliminate it completely. That will be theultimate determinant on this "style" of play, notthe arguments we have on this board. I'm going to be very interested to see how many of these "public servants" are still dancing AFK after they don't get any more XP for unattended gameplay -- maybe their worn-out argument will finally be retired to the dust bin of history where it belongs. And maybe real, live entertainers will finally start showing up in cantinas so SOE doesn't have to consider removing entertainers altogether and replacing us with much more efficient NPCs.
Meanwhile, what YandTracer said:
How canAFK Dancersknow anythingabout the community they are serving, when they've never been there tosee 95% of their customers?
I really wish there was a way for me not to heal you SourPusses
lol, that really demonstrates your community knowledge... please don't deny me your service, as an entertainer, I would be a helpless wreck suffering from all the BF and mind wounds I get from listening to people like you 
As a new user to these forums, and a recently returning player to SWG, I was disappointed to see the number of AFK performers. The character I started is a human dancer and I have been dancing regularly in the Theed Cantina on Sunrunner. Let me start by saying, while I may not be focused 100% on the screen every minute, I doNOT run AFK macros. I am always within a foot of my keyboard. I might be drawing or writing IRL while I am dancing, if buisness is slow, but I am in view of the screen.
It's not so much an issue when someone is gone for 5,10 or even 15 minutes...believe me, I'd prefer people take a few minutes to go to the bathroom, grab a snack, run out quick to grab a gallon of milkor see what the heck their kid is up to. It's when people AFK for half an hour or more that I get upset.
There is a character who AFKs regularly for HOURS in the Cantina...I don't consider it a 'service' as was brought up, because the Theed Cantina always has at least two non-afk performers there. The particular character who AFKs all the time (Of which she is not the only one) is a nice enough person when he/she is at the keyboard, but that seems to be very rarely. Her AFK macroing wouldn't bother me as much if she didn't constantly spout out phrases as part of her Macro, in a sense trying to "trick" folks into believing she is there, I assume. They are only every 10 minutes or so, but they loop every hour or so and as any dancer who spends a lot of time in the Cantina knows, it's anoying to hear them over and over again.
I'm not worried about AFK performers getting my tips, I do ok and most folks don't tip AFK dancers, even if they do choose to watch them anyways.
I guess, if you want to AFK perform, here's a few tips to follow:
Don't put speech in your Macro.
Dance/Play somewhere out of the way, not in the main area. (From an IC standpoint, I can sort-of condone AFK macroing as long as you are in the back somewhere. Real performers often practice without an audience. It's still not much of an excuse.)
Don't stay in a group, unless you are all AFK dancers.
I seem to get stuck as Groupleader frequently because of my long stretches of activity, which I don't have a problem with, but frequently, because of someone loosing connection or logging out and not realizing they were group leader, someone who is AFK is made GL, thus negating any chance of inviting other performers.
From now on, if I am GL, if someone in the group goes AFK for longer than half an hour, I'm removing them from the group. Not much of a solution, I'm afraid, but I guess it's the only measure at this point.
I haven't heard the official word, is AFK macroing discouraged?
Ok, you wonder why people get upset about you being AFK?? Stop and think about it for just a minute.
They come into the Cantina to get healed (because they were out working hard to earn skill in their chosen profession) and find that the only person capable of healing their wounds, is an AFK person running a Macro. Thats like slapping them in the face. While they run around killing things to gain experience, you sit there in the Cantina, earning experience for doing nothing. And to top it off, they are FORCED to help you gain more experience, because you are the only person there capable of healing their wounds.
Cuessane, Novice Rifleman