Hey Devs, how about booting afk players?

[skitatic]

Yes this is needed but I believe it shouldn't be on top of their priority list. Lets try expanding the servers so they get close to getting to the point where most people can actually log on and then fix the problem where a large population is having their computer randomly freeze and crash on them during game play.

What's happening Square can we have some feedback at all about the large amount of concerns that have been raised?

[GotShadow]

If they did kick players, let's say 1000, then most likely there's still another 1000 trying to take their spot. You'll still complain if you weren't one of the lucky 1000, and there's still no AFK kick timer in place to prevent the same issue.



I never said it was a good excuse, it's just the excuse that you'll get. It's also the excuse you HAVE gotten if you read the letters from the producer. He erred to be overly conservative with the projections and we kicked his projections' ass. There are way, way more people than they ever anticipated and the entire system isn't set up to handle it. I'm just as pissed as you are, but kicking AFK players with no timer in place is no different than kicking addicts out of a crack house. As soon as the cops are gone it's just gonna fill up with more addicts.

I would be MUCH less annoyed (not happier) if the 1000 spots of AFKers were full of ACTIVE players. There is more chance of someone logging off for the day/night in the time that people sleep (lets say 5-8 hours) than there is if people AFK'd for that time.
There would be a much faster turnover of players getting in and playing if they implemented the AFK system. It's true.

And no it's not set up to handle it, but they had an entire first release AND alpha/beta/open beta/early access to fix it. Alas Squenix is being as money hungry as ever.

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

i don't think running into walls counts as user input. it would still boot them i think. and doesn't this game have gms?

I don't mean "face a wall and press auto-run," I mean "wrap a rubberband around your controller so you're running in circles or into a wall whatever." That's still input. Or, if you want to get tricky about it, "set up a drinking bird above your keyboard and have it gradually tap W as you face a wall for 12 hours until you get back from work or school."

I know what you're thinking, "Just boot anyone who runs into walls." But that's discrimination against idiots.

(And, besides, even if you did have GMs go and start booting anyone running in circles or whatever, how long would it be until someone makes a third party app to make it appear that you're actually playing? A simple chatbot, even-- just program it to make random Chuck Norris jokes in /shout and nobody would know it isn't really human!)

I agree with everyone here who disagrees with the OP. They should focus on making the servers not crap.

[LionKing]

It is great too. Also prevent from Bot Gil Sellers that crowded up the server good for nothing. I see a lot of them lately!!!

[superkrill]

I don't mean "face a wall and press auto-run," I mean "wrap a rubberband around your controller so you're running in circles or into a wall whatever." That's still input. Or, if you want to get tricky about it, "set up a drinking bird above your keyboard and have it gradually tap W as you face a wall for 12 hours until you get back from work or school."

I know what you're thinking, "Just boot anyone who runs into walls." But that's discrimination against idiots.

(And, besides, even if you did have GMs go and start booting anyone running in circles or whatever, how long would it be until someone makes a third party app to make it appear that you're actually playing? A simple chatbot, even-- just program it to make random Chuck Norris jokes in /shout and nobody would know it isn't really human!)

I agree with everyone here who disagrees with the OP. They should focus on making the servers not crap.

i don't want to get into a whole thing here, but other mmo gms ban people who do odd bot-like things. because they are botting

[Nova_Dresden]

i think you misunderstand. he says the game does not boot afks. which means auto-boot. he wants a system/timer to do it

No, he's not asking for a boot system, he's asking for the devs to boot afk players. Entirely different.

i don't think running into walls counts as user input. it would still boot them i think. and doesn't this game have gms?

Yes it does. It's still communicating some action to the server which is the only thing needed for the server to not thing you're AFK.

I would be MUCH less annoyed (not happier) if the 1000 spots of AFKers were full of ACTIVE players.

You say that, but if you didn't make it on you'd still be pissed and people would begin blaming people for logging and being AFK again. Until the core issue of no server space is dealt with and there's an auto-kick we're all gonna be mad at people who can play when we can't.

[Destani]

I find myself using the Inns to log out everytime. Even if I'll only be off for 10-15 minutes. I'd rather sit trying to log in for a bit, than to selfishly hog that spot. Sad that even players who only want to be able to play for 1 - 2 hours a day can't even do that because of afk abusers.. Even worse Spammers/advertisers..

[Punisher12]

I was quite upset after asking the question "How long do you have to AFK before you get kicked?" when my guildies said there was no AFK Timer. Kind of upsetting because some people are just leaving their games on 24/7 loading the servers so other players cannot access them.

[Graylock]

The stock answer you'll get is that regardless of the number of AFK players the expectation was that they would NEVER have as many players as they currently do. Even if you booted every AFK player you'd still replace them with active players and have the same login issues. The server wasn't meant to deal with the number of players, active or afk, that they have because they never fathomed the number of people wanting to play the game that they currently have.

Sorry, but that isn't even a "stock answer," it's simply avoiding the question. The number of people has nothing to do with the fact that the major holdup is people battling with idle computers to get into the game, not people waiting in lengthy queues with other players waiting. I would have no problem waiting 2 hours in a queue while SE irons out their stuff, but to simply be unable to even queue up because we are literally battling against players leaving their computers alone is an entirely different issue.

[Destani]

Sorry, but that isn't even a "stock answer," it's simply avoiding the question. The number of people has nothing to do with the fact that the major holdup is people battling with idle computers to get into the game, not people waiting in lengthy queues with other players waiting. I would have no problem waiting 2 hours in a queue while SE irons out their stuff, but to simply be unable to even queue up because we are literally battling against players leaving their computers alone is an entirely different issue.

He has a point.. All we can do is wait for Square-Enix to engage and fix. Either countermeasures or More/Bigger Servers.