Musician Archive
Thread: From your Correspondent: inviting suggestions on AFK'ing
Do you all have any specific, constructive suggestions on how the devs might adjust gameplay to encourage Musicians to be at their keyboards? I don't want to provoke a flamewar on the merits of AFK-macroing; I'm simply interested in suggestions on how the devs might provide incentives for people to play a more active role in performing. If you've posted suggestions elsewhere, please don't just provide a link; summarize your idea here. I'm trying to develop constructive ideas for the devs, and I don't want them to have to wade through any more threads than necessary. Thanks!
I agree with Auraveda. The minute the server recognizes you are AFK, you no longer gain XP and your ability to heal others mind wounds and battle fatigue goes bye bye. I would also say that entertainers should go AFK quicker if they are skill animating and not doing any keystrokes--perhaps if you don't issue a keystroke for 1 minute you go AFK.
That would be at least a start on a solution.
30 min timer on afk. Once your afk for 15 or30 mins no exp no healing.
A pop up gratuity box would be great too.
This is a growing issue.
See, I should've refreshed the page. I put this into the gig mission thread (since you asked about interactivity there). Oh, and I do not take credit for this idea, I saw it somewhere on the boards a month or two ago.
One idea I really liked was that entertainers could get "special events" similar to the pop-ups that occur during sampling. These would be things like "a customer really wants to hear/see a flourish run of 1, 7, 3, 8" with "ok, do it" giving bonus xp (and maybe cash)and "I'm too tired" as selections. While the pop-up is displayed, the entertainer gets no music xp or healing xp (although they still heal listeners/watchers).These pop-ups could also include song requests, FX requests, and maybe instrument requests. Choosing to do them should give some small but tangible reward (probably cash and/or xp), and declining should give no penalty. And I think it's important that the healing ability be retained, so entertainers who really mean toact as heal-bots in out-of-the-way cantinas can do so.
Another option: remove the song title parameter from /startmusic and /startband. You can no longer do "/startmusic Jazz", you have to pick Jazz from the selection window. I suppose careful macroers could make sure they don't run out of action, but once they're stopped, there's no starting back up without someone at the keyboard.
- "Nod to the Crowd"...
Basically what it does is heal the targeted person faster. Maybe even heal stamina wounds as a plus(since you know,.if Britany Spears nodded to me in the crowd I'd feel like superman,.woo hoo). This way,..if, g0d forbid,.there are afkers, they still do thier thing, but Non-afk'ers can have a leg up so to speak and provide a perk that only attentive players can do.
- maybe reduce the amount of exp granted to macros( I'm sure the computer knows when you are running one or not)
- Only in a Cantina setting. Have tips need to be 'accepted' (like click yes/no). If you click yes, you get the tip. If you don't, either you don't at all or if that's too unfair,.you get it after a few minutes of inactivity but the 'House Cantina' takes a chunk of it,.hee hee evil afk tax.
- Just like when dancers fall down,.maybe we can screw up sometimes depending on skill,..this would stop any macro from running. and it would need to be reset. This would prolly stop the All-nighter afk'ers.
Ok,.back to real work,..is it Friday yet? Peace.
The AKF-Flag should not be optionally and kick in after 10 minutes.
No XP while AFK
No tips while AFK:
Make tips something you have to accept. This way you know who tipped you besides all the combat spam and AFKers will get no money.
No macros while AFK:
The Client should execute a /dump command for the player as soon as AFK is detected. Should be a no brainer implementation-wise. No more macroing AFK.
After30 minutesof AFK, the client should be disconnected. There is absolutly no reason to stay AFK for an extended period of time.
To be fair, a command like "Auto-Reply to /tell" should be implemented. I know many crafters who put on AFK with a message to email them, because they are in /tell-hell all the time. AFK has valid uses out there !
Well I had a brainstorm in the dancer forum.. Here's a link to the post. It's really about dancers AND musicians though.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=dancer&message.id=6633
However, I do see a few potential flaws that could allow people to macro to master even with this idea, so having a "backup plan" might not be a bad idea.
Whats to prevent someone from just having themself targetted and issuing the buff at regular intervals? No xp for self buff.. Fits in with no xp for self heals.
Okay then whats to prevent someone from doing above with a group member? Not sure on this one.. Maybe make mind buffs work off a series of windows that you have to actually click on something.
sciguyCO wrote:
See, I should've refreshed the page. I put this into the gig mission thread (since you asked about interactivity there). Oh, and I do not take credit for this idea, I saw it somewhere on the boards a month or two ago.
One idea I really liked was that entertainers could get "special events" similar to the pop-ups that occur during sampling. These would be things like "a customer really wants to hear/see a flourish run of 1, 7, 3, 8" with "ok, do it" giving bonus xp (and maybe cash)and "I'm too tired" as selections. While the pop-up is displayed, the entertainer gets no music xp or healing xp (although they still heal listeners/watchers).These pop-ups could also include song requests, FX requests, and maybe instrument requests. Choosing to do them should give some small but tangible reward (probably cash and/or xp), and declining should give no penalty. And I think it's important that the healing ability be retained, so entertainers who really mean toact as heal-bots in out-of-the-way cantinas can do so.
I like that!/\/\/\ I also like:
Not getting xp/healing. THAT would REALLY stop em, and the afk thing if they dont press a button in a certian period is a BIG nessicty if they have that.
Maybe if they have to accept tip, and dont in like 1 minute, it goes to all non afk people in the group, if they are alone, it goes back to that person. Then again, someone could make a /accepttip maroc, cause some guy on my server, I THINK, has a /decline, so he wont get in group. HE IS A MASTER for crying out loud, with NO AFK TAG.
Sorry, guess that is like starting a war......sorry...
Here is the full text of what I posted in the dancer forum. Just substitute dancing for playing music, and dacer for musician.
While going about proclaiming the doom about the mind buff changes resulting in more bots.. I had quite a stroke of inspiration.
Ravenmist pointed out that since the buffs are targetted they can't be done AFK, the botted entertainers will start to go away. I was in the middle of pointing out that won't make a difference because they are just there to bot their way to master.. When it hit me..
Make the buff give a new type of experience, say Mind Enhancement experience, or maybe Dance/Music Enhancement, or Entertainer Enhancement.. Anyway, the name isn't important. Then the idea is to make this type of experience required for advancing in the Technique line.
This isn't that far fetched a change. Experience is already given for the mind buff. Ever notice there are up to3 lines of entertainer healing experience given? The first two are mind wound and battle fatigue (I haven't actually worked out which order it is) but the third is for the mind buff. This is also why sometimes you see a slow trickle of healing experience when nobody around is hurt - it is because someone just started watching you, and is getting buffed.
The more I think about this idea the more I like it. As it is right now, each tick of dancing (Or playing music) you get up to four different experience gains, one corresponding to the abilities of each tree of the elite profession. However, the experience for technique isn't even usable for skills on it's own tree!
Furthermore, with the right implementation, this will also prevent a surge of AFK entertainers just trying to get the mind buff.
OK, The Nerf AFK Cursador will respond 
Actually, SOE has already adjusted xp-versus flourishes, XP should be left alone. What SOE should add is a function that prevents you from doing anything while AFK. People can by-pass auto afk. You can make a macro that toggles your AFK status. For an example for anyone who hasn't seen an AFK macro here goes:
/flouirsh 7; /pause 4; /flourish 8; /pause 40; /afk; /afk; /pause 2; flourish 7; /pause 4; /flourish 8; /pause 4; /ui action toolbarslot00
That macro is just a basic example, and there are tons of variations. The dual-afk command tricks the sysem into thinking you are there. That's how people can stay logged on for 12 hours while AFK and never get booted. If you are afk'ing to heal people, then fine, you don't need the xp, so go ahead and nerf xp while afk if you want. MOST PEOPLE THAT AFK DO IT TO EARN XP, not heal. Image designers cannot earn XP while AFK, isn't that unfair to one of our own? Artisans can't survey while afk, and fighters can't fight while AFK. AFK performing needs to be prevented period. SOE should make us stop dancing or playing the minute we go AFK, and make it independant of the /afk system. The minute we are idle, we get forced to stop performing.
Add a "silence" command amongst musicians. If player A is actually present and player B is macroing for the sake of customers at odd hours, let player A temporarily "silence" player B while in cantina.
This way, the present musician is able to get business and enjoy the profession. The "silence" command would be temporary so that when player A leaves, Player B's macro will eventually kick back in to help our beloved customers in need.
This is different than /ignore in that it suppresses the macro player to everyone else as well.
ANOTHER OPTION :
make the duel command stop all activity and require a response. That way, I walk in, I see a musician that is just hogging the floor while mowing his lawn, I challenge to a duel and he's toast.
sorry if this sounds mean-spirited, just an idea.
Best,
Ast'erix
Eclipse
ps. using an in-game macro while at the keyboard for purposes of musical composition and arrangements should be kept, composing with the flourishes available is a fun part of the profession, imho.