Dancer Archive
Thread: Thoughts on AFK enterainers from a patrons point of view
I have two accounts, both of which have mastered dancer at some point (I dropped it on my first account, and still have it on my second, which I play most often). However, I still participate in combat on both accounts, and therefore have had topartake of the mind healing goodness that is the local cantina on more than one occasion. My opinion is this: I tip whoever I decide to watch, AFK or not. I fully believe that if someone provides me with a service, they should be compensated for that, whether they are there to thank me or not. That being said, I have full respect for people who only watch entertainers who are present; that's absolutely your prerogative. I can only hope that if you were to go somewhere where there are no entertainers who are present, you tip the AFK person you watch anyway. They are still healing you, whether they are there or not.
As for medics needing xp, frankly, a cantina is always going to be a veritable garden of medic xp. For one thing, the bigger cities will ALWAYS have entertainers thanks to the AFK macroers, so even if you're on at the wee hours of the morning, you can count on getting decent experience. Entertainers and healers have a symbiotic relationship. The dancer needs to be healed; the medic needs experience that comes from healing the dancer. Again, if you heal a dancer's action, you'll get experience whether the dancer is there or not, so why does it matter? Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
As I said, I have mastered dancer twice. I have used macros both times, and yes, I have done it AFK both times, and would do so again. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't seem to be a big deal. I have never asked for a tip OR a heal, I don't ever spam the room with AFK macro chatter, and frankly, grinding dancer drives me crazy. I enjoy being a dancer, but I enjoy it much more as a MASTER dancer. Now that I am a master, I don't ever dance AFK unless a medic asks me to leave my character on so he can get healing xp. And yes, I've had that happen.
I personally wish that SOE would give an official statement on this issue. I'm tired of seeing every other thread being about the AFK macro entertainers.
WhiteHindu wrote:
I AFK macro all the time, and let me say, I NEVER expect tips, even when I am at the keyboard. As a male dancer, the only tip I get is to put on some pants. Some people are just biased when it comes to in game gender.
My AFK message even says, "Don't tip me unless you find my AFK body irresistable."
when i see a chick, i assume its a guy usually..
Have you ever spent a decent portion of time at the keyboard? Probably not because it's dull. The reason it's so dull is because everyone else is AFK. I made it about halfway to master before the AFK craze swept. Guess what, I had FUN! It was a blast dancing with everyone else there while the band was jamming away. We'd get the musicians to all line up, and the dancers in front of them sync dancing. When was the last time you saw THAT in a regular cantina? Can't be done with the AFK people in the way. Fortunately I'd found a troupe to join before everyone went AFK so I could continue to enjoy being a dancer. If I hadn't, I probably wouldn't be a dancer anymore.
heh are you the wookie who tipped me 2k just for being at my keyboard yestarday (wednesday)?
gar'eth
Tiaga wrote:
"As I said, I have mastered dancer twice. I have used macros both times, and yes, I have done it AFK both times, and would do so again. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't seem to be a big deal."
Have you ever spent a decent portion of time at the keyboard? Probably not because it's dull. The reason it's so dull is because everyone else is AFK. I made it about halfway to master before the AFK craze swept. Guess what, I had FUN! It was a blast dancing with everyone else there while the band was jamming away. We'd get the musicians to all line up, and the dancers in front of them sync dancing. When was the last time you saw THAT in a regular cantina? Can't be done with the AFK people in the way. Fortunately I'd found a troupe to join before everyone went AFK so I could continue to enjoy being a dancer. If I hadn't, I probably wouldn't be a dancer anymore.
I've spent plenty of time at the keyboard, actually. I play this game a LOT, and I LOVE the socialaspect of dancer,but I do have to work, eat, sleep, etc. However, if I can continue to gain experience while I have to deal with real life, you can bet I'm going to do so. For those who don't choose to do that, more power to you.
I think it's rather admirable of you to tip that way to those who are actually at their keyboards. More power to you!!
I try my best to tip off my friends who also play this game on who is or isn't a AFK-er when they go into the cantinas (of course this is when I'm not playing my character). Guess what, it is possible to have fun dancing in a cantina, stay at your keyboard, and make Master Dancer within a months time. I know it's strange to hear.. but it's possible.
But really.. there is a way to deal with the AFK-bots. Many of them join the entertainer groups in a big cantina, say like Coronet. They stay at their keyboard a relatively short period of time then just become mindless automotons. Let's face it.. that's all they are. Guess what? Those mindless automotons are just taking up spaces in cantina groups right now.. and you don't have to let them. They won't make anywhere near the experience they would make if you just kicked them out of the group in favor of people at the keyboards. There are lots of people in Coronet these days wanting to be part of the Entertainer group. I'd rather have twelve newbie entertainers than twelve AFK-bots who just need 2 boxes until they Master. I don't care that the group exp will be siginificantly lower with the newbie entertainers. Why? Because those new people are at least attempting to enjoy the class. It's not a perfect system.. but you can control at least your group.
Sadly, too many people will just be... "Oh... well.. there's no one pressing to join.. so I'll leave them in and let them rape the good exp from the rest of us."
...oh yeah! One more thing.. you can be fair about the booting the AFK-bots. See, you can simply send all the people you believe are AFK-bots a tell... and wait for a response... if they resond.. hey.. they're actually around. If they don't.. send them another tell.. to make sure maybe they just didn't hear it.. Heck, send them three or four tells to see if they are there. When they never respond (and believe me a majority of them won't), you get to boot them from the group. If they have a problem with it, that's their fault. If they had stayed around, then they would have gotten to stay in the group.
Now if I were a malicious person.. I could join a group with a bunch of the AFK-bots.. and say if they were dancing.. I could figure out what dance they were doing.. and as a Master Dancer.. start dancing that dance. Then.. all it would take is for me to spam a bunch of /bandflourish to run down their action bar without them getting exp... then wait for their macro to start them dancing again.. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. But, as I said, that would be malicious...
Back on topic... tip the people who actually are there entertaining you!! YAY for those of you who do that! 
I know that I've actually explained to people the difference between how entertainers make money.. and how combat classes make money... and it's not like it's hard to part with your money when you can go run three or four higher level missions on a remote world to more than double what you paid in tips. 
First of all, let me say that from a dancers point of view:
Vladas is an awesome guy!!
He is the sweetheart of the Bestine Cantina and is one of the most generous of all of the patrons.
I know this is an old thread but I just had to say it.
Sheyanna Stargazer
Dancer, Bestine, Tatooine
monh0 wrote:
First of all, let me say that from a dancers point of view:
Vladas is an awesome guy!!
He is the sweetheart of the Bestine Cantina and is one of the most generous of all of the patrons.
I know this is an old thread but I just had to say it.
Sheyanna Stargazer
Dancer, Bestine, Tatooine
Thank you
i actually have an afk tag up when i am dancing usually
i run a doctor / tailor and architect vendor, aswell as running a city, when i dance its my time off and i dont like to be disturbed, so its my way of ignoring that which sometimes gets to me.
Altho i dont dance for tips, i do so just to relax, and i dance in my cities cantina anyway,so in that respect i dont suppose it matters
someone should be taking over the doctor vendor from me soon tho so i can surrender that proffession and actually master dancer (again)