Dancer Archive
Thread: POLL: AFK Play
1. Do you leave the keyboard while your avatar is dancing?
Very, very rarely. Never for longer than it takes to quick run to the bathroom or grab a cup of tea. I.e., not for more than 1-2 minutes at a time.
2. What do you think is an acceptable amount of time to leave an avatar unattended while dancing?
I'd say, 10 minutes at a time is reasonable, give or take. Maybe I spilled a cup of coffee while I was getting it, and have to take a few minutes to clean it up. I actually wouldn't object if my avatar stopped dancing during this time (if I've spilled coffee I have more important things to worry about), but I see no reason why the game would need to be quite that draconian about it. Also sometimes I sit and think for several minutes during RP, before responding. Meanwhile I'll let the dance macro run -- again I see no resaon to stop the avatar dead during that time period.
3. Would you be willing to give up any degree of unattended play beyond the 15 minutes for the AFK flag to appear above your head.
Not sure I 100% understand this but I assume you are asking, "Is it OK with you if unattended play of more than 15 minutes was taken out of the game?" My answer is, yes, sure, no problem. I don't think I have ever tried to engage an unattended macro for this long.
Check that. I know I haven't. My longest macro is my mind buff macro and that lasts 8 minutes (because that's how long a /setperf buff used to take). I just invoked it twice to give one to a group. Besides that, the longest serious dance or music number I have on a macro is about 7 minutes long, and is a song with flourishes and lyrics. NOT ONCE have I ever made a looping macro.
(Actually, I don't use macros; I use aliases. But they function essentially the same exact way.)
So, sure. Yes. Absolutely. Take unattended play for longer than 15 minutes out of the game. It would not bother me a bit.
C
Just curious to see where we stand on this topic.
1. Do you leave the keyboard while your avatar is dancing?
2. What do you think is an acceptable amount of time to leave an avatar unattended while dancing?
3. Would you be willing to give up any degree of unattended play beyond the 15 minutes for theAFK flag to appear above your head.
2. 10 minutes outside but try to keep it under 3.
3. I would have no trouble with being auto-logged off after 15 minutes.
#2 Acceptable time to skill animate while not ATK 10-15 minutes.(people at door, kids, phone upstairs, there are plenty of acceptable normal things that some times just happen and people need to go right then.)
#3
Yes. I wouldn't even mind if they hard wired AFK to the 30 minute max for the flag and then another 30 before it logged you.(Although I think an hour of just sitting there is an insane amount of time to be AFK)
Esharra wrote:
Just curious to see where we stand on this topic.
1. Do you leave the keyboard while your avatar is dancing?
Sometimes. If I need to for some reason. I frequently need to check on children, use the lil dancer's room and other such distraction.
2. What do you think is an acceptable amount of time to leave an avatar unattended while dancing?
It's all very personal. SOme people with ADD may need to leave frrquently, but return often, others only have a Dancer so they can recieve buffs and such for their other charavters. Personally, I don't think we, as players, have ant right to decide for others what is and isn't acceptable to do with their characters.
3. Would you be willing to give up any degree of unattended play beyond the 15 minutes for theAFK flag to appear above your head.
I would, but unless some mechanic is implemented, it is my opinion that doing so will make he game more difficult for everyone. IE, even back before the first great exodus, when the game was still extremely well populated and before AFK play was really known about, it got difficult to locae an entertainer at certain times of the day. FOr night owls like myself and people in other parts of the world rhis becoms a very serious problem.
Please feel free to explain your answers. Thanks!
Esharra wrote:
Just curious to see where we stand on this topic.
1. Do you leave the keyboard while your avatar is dancing?
I've done so for various reasons, some honorable, some not-so-honorable.
- Gaining healing xp on tc. With the low population, afk-ing is accepted as a necessary evil, and it was with permission of the cantina owner in the designated area.
- Levelingan entertainer profession after the first 3-4 times (on a different server, or due to a skill point reallocation). What can I say - it's like that with any profession. If you've done it once and learned how to do it, you look for shortcuts the next time around. Once again, tucked in a corner, in a designated area.
- When I forget that I'm even online. "Omg did the cat just vomit?" I scurry downstairs to clean, at which point I start thinking that I should start dinner, and then after dinner I do some other stuff and... oh, am I still logged in? Oops. (This happens to me a LOT)
- To get a coke or whatnot. Whatnot being margaritas.
2. What do you think is an acceptable amount of time to leave an avatar unattended while dancing?
I would say that 10-15 mins is enough time for a bio break and whatever else you gotta do. Otherwise you should be logged out.
3. Would you be willing to give up any degree of unattended play beyond the 15 minutes for theAFK flag to appear above your head.
I would love it if the powers that be logged me out when I wander away from the keyboard and forget what I'm doing. Because, really, it happens to me when I'm not dancing. I could be loading a vendor, and I step away, and next thing I know it's two hours later. When I'm not dancing, I get logged off, which is only proper. When I am dancing, I don't get logged off, but it's embarrassing, because I truly didn't mean to stay on, I just got distracted by RL.
Here is my caveat - unattended play happens because leveling is unnecessarily slow and boring (I'm not dealing with buffbots for now, because I wouldn't afk for that purpose). I think AFK'ing needs to leave, but at the same time, gaining experience needs to be a lot quicker and a lot more fun.
Please feel free to explain your answers. Thanks!
1. Do you leave the keyboard while your avatar is dancing?
No. But I once had to run off during combat because mysecurity systemalarm went off. Had I been dancing I don't think I would have stopped before leaving the keyboard. But other than that type of situation I always stop dancing before leaving the keyboard. If I am rushed for some reason I just stand where I stopped. If I am not rushed, I move to the side and sit down.
2. What do you think is an acceptable amount of time to leave an avatar unattended while dancing?
0 - 10 minutes at a time. But I also think this shouldn't be a frequent need. It's not as though stopping in order to answer the phone or the door, or even get something to eat or drink is going to prevent you from mastering the profession. It takes mere seconds to stop. If you aren't running for an emergency then a delay of a few seconds shouldn't be that difficult
3. Would you be willing to give up any degree of unattended play beyond the 15 minutes for theAFK flag to appear above your head.
I'm not certain I understand this question but I'm completely brain dead so forgive me here. I think you are directing this question to people who do go AFK. Is that correct? If so, then my response is N/A
Message Edited by Ikewe on 04-10-2005 10:25 AM
1. Do you leave the keyboard while your avatar is dancing? Only everin a private house and only while leveling. I don't even like doing that, but I feel like I have to if I want to level in any decent amount of time. I can't stand to do the whole highest dance/flos 1-8/8 sec pauses in the cantinas when I'm actually playing so I'm a very inefficient slow leveler. I like to actually pick my flos and base dance by what I think is pretty or fun to watch.
If the XP requirements were lowered and/or I could do something active like the theater quests or a group mission to speed up the leveling process, I would much rather do that. As it stands, I usually just take forever and a day to get all my dance XP, lol.
2. What do you think is an acceptable amount of time to leave an avatar unattended while dancing? I don't really care if others do it as long as they don't get in my way of playing the game. For me personally, I don't really have any real need to AFK animate at all. I guess for people who have an alt just for buffing or whatever though, like 15 mins should be fine. That's enough time to get your buffer up and apply the buffs/heals to your main and all your buddies. If this needs to be a 24/7 always-on option for power gamers, I'd rather it not be tied to chars at all and just be a passive on the Cantina Structures. The dancing itself is just to look pretty and you have to be ATK to get anything from that.
3. Would you be willing to give up any degree of unattended play beyond the 15 minutes for theAFK flag to appear above your head. Yup (I don't think the Devs are going to do this though or they would have the first gazillion times we asked for it, heh).
NJ62 wrote:
- To get a coke or whatnot. Whatnot being margaritas.
Margaritas are prerequisite.
Panthu wrote:
3. Would you be willing to give up any degree of unattended play beyond the 15 minutes for theAFK flag to appear above your head. Yup (I don't think the Devs are going to do this though or they would have the first gazillion times we asked for it, heh).
I don't think so either, but I'm looking for opinions/statistics here.
Panthu wrote:
1. Do you leave the keyboard while your avatar is dancing? Only everin a private house and only while leveling. I don't even like doing that, but I feel like I have to if I want to level in any decent amount of time. I can't stand to do the whole highest dance/flos 1-8/8 sec pauses in the cantinas when I'm actually playing so I'm a very inefficient slow leveler. I like to actually pick my flos and base dance by what I think is pretty or fun to watch.
If the XP requirements were lowered and/or I could do something active like the theater quests or a group mission to speed up the leveling process, I would much rather do that. As it stands, I usually just take forever and a day to get all my dance XP, lol.
2. What do you think is an acceptable amount of time to leave an avatar unattended while dancing? I don't really care if others do it as long as they don't get in my way of playing the game. For me personally, I don't really have any real need to AFK animate at all. I guess for people who have an alt just for buffing or whatever though, like 15 mins should be fine. That's enough time to get your buffer up and apply the buffs/heals to your main and all your buddies. If this needs to be a 24/7 always-on option for power gamers, I'd rather it not be tied to chars at all and just be a passive on the Cantina Structures. The dancing itself is just to look pretty and you have to be ATK to get anything from that.
3. Would you be willing to give up any degree of unattended play beyond the 15 minutes for theAFK flag to appear above your head. Yup (I don't think the Devs are going to do this though or they would have the first gazillion times we asked for it, heh).
Esharra wrote:
Tralmek replied:
Just curious to see where we stand on this topic.
1. Do you leave the keyboard while your avatar is dancing?
Yes.
I leave to answer a phone, answer the door, etc. Normally I'll sit before doing one of these, but if I think it'll be nice and fast, I'll keep dancing.
2. What do you think is an acceptable amount of time to leave an avatar unattended while dancing?
10-15 minutes is acceptable.
People need time to do things. Puppies might need to be rushed out the door in a hurry, dinner may be burning, the phone/door conversation might become more involved than originally intended. All of these things should be allowable, but shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to resolve. If it takes longer, I'd consider it a favor that the game logged me out.
3. Would you be willing to give up any degree of unattended play beyond the 15 minutes for theAFK flag to appear above your head.
I would happily give up all AFK "play."
No one needs to be subjected to my avatars flailing about, mining, crafting,standing, sitting, fighting, playing an instrument, dancing, whatever. No oneshould have to deal with my avatar in the game worldwhen there is not a personality behind it.
Please feel free to explain your answers. Thanks!
1. Do you leave the keyboard while your avatar is dancing?
Not very often. I might jump up to run to the fridge for a drink or snack, but as that doesn't really constitute an emergency or a serious situation, I usually stop animating. Besides,I can't seem to stay logged in for very long as AFK, anyway. At one point I foolishlythought it was okay toAFK dance in orderto help fellowresidents get rid of BF and mind woundsat night (I was a brand new Master and didn't know any better). However I would get bumped to the character screen constantly so I tried it during the day once and found out that after 30 minutes either my pc, the SWG system, my own stupidity or a combination caused the bump.
Oh, one exception - during Cantina Crawls I usually continue animating if I am running one of my bandflo macros. However, I let my groupmates know I am stepping away for a few seconds. Usually I try to wait until we are in a downtime situation to take my little breaks, though (yes, that does mean sometimes waiting 30 minutes longer to visit the little girl's room).
2. What do you think is an acceptable amount of time to leave an avatar unattended while dancing?
Good question. No less than 5 and no more than 30, I'd say. The reasons being that sometimes RL gets in your face unexpectedly and I believe we need to allow for that. But at the same time, if RL gets in your face for more than 30 minutes the last thing you need to be concerned about is being logged onto a game.
3. Would you be willing to give up any degree of unattended play beyond the 15 minutes for theAFK flag to appear above your head.
I have no problem with that at all.