Musician Archive

Thread: Thunderhearts response on a top 10 entertainer issue

Imcus
Fri Feb 06, 2004 11:32 pm
#1

Thunderheart wrote:


7. Do you feel that it is acceptable that the role of entertainers is being completely filled by people impersonating NPCs, leaving those who play the class with nothing to do? Do you plan to do anything about this, such as an auto-logout or making healing a more active process?


We understand the nature of this issue. In essence, we can’t prevent AFK people from playing, but one thing we are doing is looking at different ways we can encourage at-the-keyboard play.


(And I know this will come up again, so here is why we can’t prevent people from AFK. Given that this is an online game, there are people out there who are very smart and will learn how to play AFK no matter what we do. It is just the nature of the beast. So instead of keep it so that only high-end computer savvy people can AFK, we make it fair so everyone can do it instead of just an elite few.)

________________________________________________________________________________________


I am sorry that this is the response that the devs have given us. It seems like they really do not care about what we as entertainers feel is a GAME BREAKING problem, not only for our profession but for many other professions also.


Thunderheart says AFKing can't be prevented, but it could be stopped if they truly wished for it to be. It seems like they have their reasons for not trying to very hard to stop it, and this is the most disheartening part of the situation. The lack of concern for the good of the game and the compliance with the whiners, (such as the removal of Jedi permadeath... but that is another rant), seems in my opinion, to be one, not of interest in creating a great game, but in the quest for the almighty dollar. To steal a quote... "If you build it (a great game), they will come".


I understand a little bit about programming and have spoken with several friends who are major players in programming. We have discussed the process and have arrived a solution which would not be hard to impliment. This could be used to essentially stop the AFK problem in a matter of a few hours.


It is a very simple process created in two parts. The first is to remove the checkbox in the options screen which allows a person to enable/disable the AFK flag. A player would still be able to select an amount of time from 1 minute to 30 minutes before they become AFK, but once that time is reached if there has been no direct input a person would be flagged as AFK.


The second part is to adjust the code with a simple check to see if a person is flagged as AFK. If they are AFK they will be unable to gain any XP. This would stop the majority of people who go AFK as they would recieve no benefit from it.


Even if this is unsuccessful another step could be added where a pop up box shows up at a pre-determined set of of time. If you do not respond to this box in a set amount of time you would be logged off. For those who say someone could set an outside program to mimic a keystroke in a set location on the screen (which is a very obvious breach of the EULA) the pop up box could be programmed to pop up in a random place on the screen so that a "set" keystroke would be unable to click it.


Of course there will be those who hate this idea. I will hear the usual lamer cries of "let us play the way we want to". In response to that I say, play how you want to, but AFKing is not playing. There will also be the cries of it does not hurt anyone. I am sorry to tell you, but it does hurt the "real" entertainers. We have watched our tips, our client base and our respect fall to such low levels that I know quite a few players who are considering dropping this game. Many people will not agree with this statement, but AFKers can be considered a form of griefing, which SOE says is not allowed, so it should be dealt with.


I am losing hope in the devs on this subject, a shame since I love the majority of this game. It is a great game with so much potential. I can only hope that they hear our concerns and will choose to make adjustments.


Peace and blessings



Imcus
¯¯¯¯ Elder Master Musician ¯¯¯¯
Mayor of Symphonia, Naboo -3275, 755
Rebel Alliance Colonel -- Vortex Squadron Pilot
Founding Member of DEF -- the Dedicated Entertainment Foundation
"You know and I know my clone sleeps alone..." -- Pat Benatar

JohnMarble
Sat Feb 07, 2004 2:09 am
#2

Point taken. They need to make it so doctors and medics can be bots as well, because I want the other healing and the med centers are always empty.Afterall, that'sonly one ham bar you're fixing, not two.Also, sometimes I can't get a good group. They need to make combat professions completely automated, so I can just grab some people in town, go hunting with them while they're afk, then drop 'em back off when I'm done. They may as well go full bore with it, and make EVERY profession like this.


It would be so much fun!


Imcus
Sat Feb 07, 2004 2:27 am
#3

I remember the first night I saw a group of 'fighter types' crying that there were a group of AFKers camping a well known spawn spot. The whined on and on about how it was not right that someone should just stand there and kill all the spawns and not let anyone else have a chance at them. They even cried because the AFKer was not looting the corpses (supposedly) and that all the loot was going to waste, which was the reason they were there... to collect loot. This was the most pathetic group I had (and still have) ever seen. They were screaming, cursing, threatening to /report... saying how this was so wrong, how going AFK like this was so bad... blah blah, blah...


I tried to explain that entertainers had been going through this for months and they tried every argument. Well these people are doing it for XP, they are just trying to level up... etc... I had to (repeatedly) explain that this was the same problem we had been facing, and they just did not understand how this was the same. I finally walked away laughing to myself... Karma had finally started to strike back.





Imcus
¯¯¯¯ Elder Master Musician ¯¯¯¯
Mayor of Symphonia, Naboo -3275, 755
Rebel Alliance Colonel -- Vortex Squadron Pilot
Founding Member of DEF -- the Dedicated Entertainment Foundation
"You know and I know my clone sleeps alone..." -- Pat Benatar

JohnMarble
Sat Feb 07, 2004 3:29 am
#4

Yeah, there's threads in the Jedi forum where they use their main char's to afk kill/loot to gather crystals.


One can only hope it becomes more common, and more fighter types like you saw complain about it, because that's who the dev's listen to.


Ackehece
Sat Feb 07, 2004 9:10 am
#5






JohnMarble wrote:

Point taken. They need to make it so doctors and medics can be bots as well, because I want the other healing and the med centers are always empty.Afterall, that'sonly one ham bar you're fixing, not two.Also, sometimes I can't get a good group. They need to make combat professions completely automated, so I can just grab some people in town, go hunting with them while they're afk, then drop 'em back off when I'm done. They may as well go full bore with it, and make EVERY profession like this.


It would be so much fun!







nice sarcasm there but we don't need doc's to heal


med centres heal when you are in them wether docs are there or not - it just is much much slower


maybe that could be your solution - if you are mark afk cut your healing power by factor by 7/8 if you are afk you only heal 1/8 as much as a live person. * i like this idea* (or remove their heal ability and let the cantina act as a med centre for the mind )


as for combat professions - people use macros to play them but unlike dancers they actually take a risk if they go afk - some big nasty could spawn and kill them *poof* insta clone trip... when was the last time an entertainer was killed afk macroing?





"And these blast points, too accurate for Sandpeople. Only
Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise"
Rifleman Correspondent | Galactic Senator from Naboo
Ackehece - Eclipse | Tife - TestCenter




[--Riflewoman are all about sex drugs and rock and roll --]
Encoded as per Garva




Ackehece
Sat Feb 07, 2004 9:20 am
#6

forgot one point


also afk'macro holotainers (whatever you call them) can not give buffs. it makes it worthwhile to be live and in charge - i say remind the viewers that you as musicians and dancers can give buffs if you focus on them. the afker's cannot - even a novice gives a better buff then an afk master ^_^




"And these blast points, too accurate for Sandpeople. Only
Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise"
Rifleman Correspondent | Galactic Senator from Naboo
Ackehece - Eclipse | Tife - TestCenter




[--Riflewoman are all about sex drugs and rock and roll --]
Encoded as per Garva




JohnMarble
Sat Feb 07, 2004 10:49 am
#7

First, cantinas work like med centers. You can sit in them and slowly heal the exact same way. Second, there are people who give free entertainment buffs while away from the keyboard, have macros specifically designed to do so, look in this forum for the thread talking about it.Thanks, guys, for making the player base expect meto give my buffs for free now. Why do I have allthese skillpoints devoted to this profession, when I can't even buff myself, and I must compete with bots?Also, the combat afk'ers are hardily taking risks! They're killing mobs too far below them in level, and not taking any damage (OR they use stairs exploits along with their legal macro exploits).It's just a cheap way to gain exp over many many hours, or to harvest loot. Legal or not, it's still cheating.


I was running the Jabba themepark one time, and some noob gave me a tell from Wayfar asking me to come heal him. I did, then helped him take out the sandperson leader that had given him his deathblow. He didn't know better, like everybody else around here, that you shouldn't actually try and search for a liveperson to give you the mind healing, but instead return to the Bestine and watch the afk'ers.


I'm tired of the ridiculous argument people give about the far farfar O so far remote places where they need these afk'ers. Bull.You have swoops, and any remote planet is only one hyperjump from a major cantina. Anyway, I'll always stop what I'm doing to come to a town and heal somebody if they send a /tell, and I don't even care about the tips. I'm sure more enetrtainers would be happy to do the same, those few that haven't already given the profession up to the bots.


Imcus
Sat Feb 07, 2004 12:45 pm
#8

One other point...


For those of you who say they like the AFK entertainers who heal in the far away places, well with the no XP while AFK idea if they are truly there to help and perform a servicethey would still be able to heal you (and you could still tip them for their service). Also as stated above, if there is no entertainer where you are, go find one. You have to find a doctor sometimes, or a slicer, weaponsmith... etc... They are not always available everywhere all the time, why should entertainers be? Get off your lazy butt and go find one...





Imcus
¯¯¯¯ Elder Master Musician ¯¯¯¯
Mayor of Symphonia, Naboo -3275, 755
Rebel Alliance Colonel -- Vortex Squadron Pilot
Founding Member of DEF -- the Dedicated Entertainment Foundation
"You know and I know my clone sleeps alone..." -- Pat Benatar

JasonK
Sat Feb 07, 2004 1:08 pm
#9






Imcus wrote:


Of course there will be those who hate this idea. I will hear the usual lamer cries of "let us play the way we want to". In response to that I say, play how you want to, but AFKing is not playing. There will also be the cries of it does not hurt anyone. I am sorry to tell you, but it does hurt the "real" entertainers. We have watched our tips, our client base and our respect fall to such low levels that I know quite a few players who are considering dropping this game. Many people will not agree with this statement, but AFKers can be considered a form of griefing, which SOE says is not allowed, so it should be dealt with.





I was just gonna ignore this post, but I just can't pass up this paragraph.


Lamer cries, that's a good one considering this whole post of yours is nothing but a big tear fest. The biggest lamer crybabies of all are you anti-AFK folks who have a breakdown every time somebody says AFK macro.


Nice fresh angle with the whole grief thing though. Don't think I've heard anybody else make that huge leap in logic before. Alas, it matters not.Someday you will come to accept the fact thatSOE and most of the players just don't give a crap about you or AFKing.





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Blah, blah, blah.
Imcus
Sat Feb 07, 2004 1:20 pm
#10

It may seem that we "cry" a lot about the AFKers, but I would be willing to bet all the people who do it would cry even harder if it was taken away from them. We are trying to save our profession from a total lack of respect and feeling of uselessness. Those who want AFKing to be allowed are just whiners who are to lazy to do anything for themselves. They wanted everything handed to them on a silver platter... actually it is quite sad...



Imcus
¯¯¯¯ Elder Master Musician ¯¯¯¯
Mayor of Symphonia, Naboo -3275, 755
Rebel Alliance Colonel -- Vortex Squadron Pilot
Founding Member of DEF -- the Dedicated Entertainment Foundation
"You know and I know my clone sleeps alone..." -- Pat Benatar

JasonK
Sat Feb 07, 2004 1:36 pm
#11

It doesn't "seem" like you cry, it's a fact.I wish I could give you a hankie.





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Blah, blah, blah.
JohnMarble
Sat Feb 07, 2004 1:49 pm
#12

Y'know, people make fun of this game on the forums for other mmorpgs.


Star Wars Galaxies: an Empire Away From the Keyboard.


In other games, this sort of thing would be considered cheating, exploiting the system. Cry? Claim people with sense here are crybabies. But elsewhere they're laughing at you, callingall of uslame. Other devs snicker at the thought "you just can't stop macro exploits."


Ackehece
Sat Feb 07, 2004 1:51 pm
#13

bigger problem i see is many times the only people in cantina's in far areas of the universe are the afk'rs... if they were not there many of us would never be mind healed unless we go on multi-shuttle journies to other planets... anyone ever think of that?



"And these blast points, too accurate for Sandpeople. Only
Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise"
Rifleman Correspondent | Galactic Senator from Naboo
Ackehece - Eclipse | Tife - TestCenter




[--Riflewoman are all about sex drugs and rock and roll --]
Encoded as per Garva




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