AFK boot dodgers

[DamianFatale]

I have been reporting them under cheating when I see them, but only after messaging them a couple of times during the evening or day to see if they are actually there. I know people don't HAVE TO reply to you, but I still think most people will at least give you at least minor acknowledgement if you say hi. Usually the people I suspect are using these third party tools are.. probably doing so, because I have never got any reply from the people I suspected.

Some people on my friend list try to hide it by going into the inn, house, or a private apartment. They usually restrict all guess access as if we can't see what they are doing when they go "invisible" for 7+ hours a day.

The key things to look for are:

- AFK for SEVERAL hours in the same place.
- Busy icon
- Hiding the AFK icon
- In apartment, house, or private chambers
- No guest access in apartment, house, or private chambers
- No Teleport for friends in apartment, house, or private chambers
- Some people use the same emote all day in place. That simply isn't practical for the equivalent of an entire work day if someone is actively playing. The average player is going to change spots at least a few times in that period.
- Crowd blending. Some of these people will look for busy crowds and hide the AFK icon to blend in. I'm not fooled.
- Not replying whatsoever in any form. It's possible someone doesn't have a keyboard, because sometimes I swivel my TV around to my bed in order to play when I'm not feeling well, but its not hard to to at least use the auto translation feature. They have phrases for letting people know that you don't have a keyboard on you at the moment. You can also type a sentence with a controller, but it isn't fun.

[Exosapien]

I have been reporting them under cheating when I see them, but only after messaging them a couple of times during the evening or day to see if they are actually there. I know people don't HAVE TO reply to you, but I still think most people will at least give you at least minor acknowledgement if you say hi. Usually the people I suspect are using these third party tools are.. probably doing so, because I have never got any reply from the people I suspected.

Some people on my friend list try to hide it by going into the inn, house, or a private apartment. They usually restrict all guess access as if we can't see what they are doing when they go "invisible" for 7+ hours a day.

The key things to look for are:

- AFK for SEVERAL hours in the same place.
- Busy icon
- Hiding the AFK icon
- In apartment, house, or private chambers
- No guest access in apartment, house, or private chambers
- No Teleport for friends in apartment, house, or private chambers
- Some people use the same emote all day in place. That simply isn't practical for the equivalent of an entire work day if someone is actively playing. The average player is going to change spots at least a few times in that period.
- Crowd blending. Some of these people will look for busy crowds and hide the AFK icon to blend in. I'm not fooled.
- Not replying whatsoever in any form. It's possible someone doesn't have a keyboard, because sometimes I swivel my TV around to my bed in order to play when I'm not feeling well, but its not hard to to at least use the auto translation feature. They have phrases for letting people know that you don't have a keyboard on you at the moment. You can also type a sentence with a controller, but it isn't fun.

None of the housing things you suggest are valid. People can do all of those things and not being dodging a queue, and if I'm playing on my PS5 (though I wouldn't be playing on PS5 with the queue as it is anyway) I don't use chat whatsoever, even the auto-translate because I just can't be bothered. No single part of, or combination things you listed aside from legitimately verifying that someone has been afk for hours is evidence of dodging queues.

[Shibi]

- In apartment, house, or private chambers

Thats where I craft several hours a day. Also where I chat to my FC members.

- No guest access in apartment, house, or private chambers

Come on Damian, locking one's door doesn't mean one is a cheater! It could be that the house is undecorated, or you just want a place to be a lone a bit while sorting your bags, not have to deal with answering 100 random people coming into your space.

- No Teleport for friends in apartment, house, or private chambers

nah, considering you can't actually two-way remove people from a friends list, this isn't a reason.

- Not replying whatsoever in any form.

I ignore most tells. There is mostly little to gain from randoms.

[Eriane_Elis]

I have been reporting them under cheating when I see them, but only after messaging them a couple of times during the evening or day to see if they are actually there. I know people don't HAVE TO reply to you, but I still think most people will at least give you at least minor acknowledgement if you say hi. Usually the people I suspect are using these third party tools are.. probably doing so, because I have never got any reply from the people I suspected.

Some people on my friend list try to hide it by going into the inn, house, or a private apartment. They usually restrict all guess access as if we can't see what they are doing when they go "invisible" for 7+ hours a day.

The key things to look for are:

- AFK for SEVERAL hours in the same place.
- Busy icon
- Hiding the AFK icon
- In apartment, house, or private chambers
- No guest access in apartment, house, or private chambers
- No Teleport for friends in apartment, house, or private chambers
- Some people use the same emote all day in place. That simply isn't practical for the equivalent of an entire work day if someone is actively playing. The average player is going to change spots at least a few times in that period.
- Crowd blending. Some of these people will look for busy crowds and hide the AFK icon to blend in. I'm not fooled.
- Not replying whatsoever in any form. It's possible someone doesn't have a keyboard, because sometimes I swivel my TV around to my bed in order to play when I'm not feeling well, but its not hard to to at least use the auto translation feature. They have phrases for letting people know that you don't have a keyboard on you at the moment. You can also type a sentence with a controller, but it isn't fun.

How do you know someone is AFK in the same place for several hours? They could be chatting with others / FC.
Busy icon is what people like to use when they don't want to be bothered, be invited to guilds / parties, or see spoilers.
Hiding the afk icon with what exactly?
Decorating a house takes days, and if you're really into it, you might also be doing R&D for some really interesting stuff. It's a big culture.
Not everyone wants to invite randoms to their house, I don't.
Again, this point is invalid
You can't use the same emote over and over, you'll get kicked. Same with pressing a single button.
Never seen anyone try to do "crowd bleeding" it sounds stupid to avoid afk. They can easily go in an inn
Your last point -- Not everyone cares to reply to people. There are shy people, antisocial people, people who don't want to bother with others. Lack of keyboard for PS players too, or people playing with a controller away from keyboard. Honestly, why would you bother people who you don't know? I ignore pretty much everyone who isn't on my friend list / guild.

[Chie_M]

- AFK for SEVERAL hours in the same place.

I'm probably talking in linkshells.

- Busy icon

I don't want /tells or trade requests.

- Hiding the AFK icon

Come on, man.

- In apartment, house, or private chambers

My friends and I hang out in my apartment regularly.

- No guest access in apartment, house, or private chambers

So that we're not interrupted, given that we're on an RP realm and I've walked in on people ERPing in my apartment before.

- No Teleport for friends in apartment, house, or private chambers

I only enable teleport when we're planning to meet up.

- Some people use the same emote all day in place. That simply isn't practical for the equivalent of an entire work day if someone is actively playing. The average player is going to change spots at least a few times in that period.

Why are you tracking people's emote patterns instead of playing the game?

- Crowd blending. Some of these people will look for busy crowds and hide the AFK icon to blend in. I'm not fooled.

Heaven forfend I make a cup of tea at the Sharlayan retainer bell.

- Not replying whatsoever in any form. It's possible someone doesn't have a keyboard, because sometimes I swivel my TV around to my bed in order to play when I'm not feeling well, but its not hard to to at least use the auto translation feature. They have phrases for letting people know that you don't have a keyboard on you at the moment. You can also type a sentence with a controller, but it isn't fun.

I generally don't respond to random /tells from strangers, especially not ones accusing me of circumventing AFK timers by hanging out in my locked apartment with my friends.

[ijuakos_xqwzts]

I have been reporting them under cheating when I see them, but only after messaging them a couple of times during the evening or day to see if they are actually there. I know people don't HAVE TO reply to you, but I still think most people will at least give you at least minor acknowledgement if you say hi. Usually the people I suspect are using these third party tools are.. probably doing so, because I have never got any reply from the people I suspected.

Some people on my friend list try to hide it by going into the inn, house, or a private apartment. They usually restrict all guess access as if we can't see what they are doing when they go "invisible" for 7+ hours a day.

The key things to look for are:

- AFK for SEVERAL hours in the same place.
- Busy icon
- Hiding the AFK icon
- In apartment, house, or private chambers
- No guest access in apartment, house, or private chambers
- No Teleport for friends in apartment, house, or private chambers
- Some people use the same emote all day in place. That simply isn't practical for the equivalent of an entire work day if someone is actively playing. The average player is going to change spots at least a few times in that period.
- Crowd blending. Some of these people will look for busy crowds and hide the AFK icon to blend in. I'm not fooled.
- Not replying whatsoever in any form. It's possible someone doesn't have a keyboard, because sometimes I swivel my TV around to my bed in order to play when I'm not feeling well, but its not hard to to at least use the auto translation feature. They have phrases for letting people know that you don't have a keyboard on you at the moment. You can also type a sentence with a controller, but it isn't fun.

Did you at least contact them before you start making accusations? The wording in your post strongly suggests you do not. Some "friend".

[DamianFatale]

Did you at least contact them before you start making accusations? The wording in your post strongly suggests you do not. Some "friend".

"I know people don't HAVE TO reply to you, but I still think most people will at least give you at least minor acknowledgement if you say hi. Usually the people I suspect are using these third party tools are.. probably doing so, because I have never got any reply from the people I suspected."

Did you even read. I conveyed that I tried to send a couple private messages first.

[Chie_M]

"I know people don't HAVE TO reply to you, but I still think most people will at least give you at least minor acknowledgement if you say hi. Usually the people I suspect are using these third party tools are.. probably doing so, because I have never got any reply from the people I suspected."

Did you even read. I conveyed that I tried to send a couple private messages first.

I would ignore a random "hi", and I would blacklist someone who repeatedly sent it after no response.

[Packetdancer]

I know people don't HAVE TO reply to you, but I still think most people will at least give you at least minor acknowledgement if you say hi.

To be fair, I turned off /tell messages in my chatbox for several days, because a friend on a different server encountered some jackass standing in Old Sharlayan sending unsolicited /tell messages of MSQ plot spoilers to people just arriving in the zone. I went "yeah, I'm not going to deal with that" and told my friends to poke me on Discord instead of in-game for a couple of days.

Once I hit the end of the MSQ, I turned all my linkshells and /tell back on in my chatbox.

But yes, generally people will reply to /tell messages; I just don't think it's a universal right in the beginning of an expansion, even when folks aren't using tools to stay online. Sometimes it's just trying to desperately avoid spoilers. :/

[PredatoryCatgirl]

I do not respond to tells from people I've never met before unless its clearly a newbie asking me a question. I know I'm far from the only one who does this.