Here's a possible solution: KICK WHOEVER AFKs FOR MORE THAN 15 MINUTES

[Orangewaffle]

Also imo, even if there was an auto-logout, we might still be in the very same situation where there's just not enough player space on the servers.
Cause it'd still be full of Non-AFK players.

Agree, this is why this isn't a solution to the login problems. The solution is fixing the infrastructure.

[SasaraiKorai]

I agree with an AFK-kick function, but it will do very little to deal with the problems we are all having now. That will be handled by the changes already outlined for next week.

That being said, 15 minutes is definitely too short. Most people in this thread seem worried about folks who stay logged in over night, go to work or fall asleep while playing. Those examples are a far cry from being away from you computer/console for 15 minutes. It should be 30 minutes at a minimum.

[Curagaja]

Could implement a feature like XI where you could choose how long until you get kicked from server for idle. But SE should have the default on 30mins or so and have the option to change it greyed out until they are confident the servers are stable and then let players choose to turn it off or adjust time.

[Jayplex]

15 minutes is too short but I'd totally agree with a 30 minute timer. There is no reason for people to be connected if they're afk for long periods of time because this game have no Bazaar system in place. People who are afk for that long are doing nothing but taking up useful space for players who are actually available to play at the time.

[Eunjio]

I doubt there are HUNDREDS of players in Eorzea just SITTING around doing NOTHING but AFK. Really....this will not help as much as you would like it to.

Maybe you should start by paying more attention around you, there are alot of AFK'ers around the sanctuaries.

[Jayplex]

it is kind of a problem caused by another problem. Right now everyone knows that there are issues with logging in during peak time so some people log in early in the morning so they can make sure they can play and others just never log out.

Some of my Free Company members NEVER log out of the game unless they know they are unable to play that day at all. I do agree that adding this will not fix the issue but every little bit helps.

I feel like this a long with optimizing each server to handle more players on at one would work wonders. Of course I know nothing about managing servers so I won't talk like I am some sort of expert.

[LessLoveLess8]

it is kind of a problem caused by another problem. Right now everyone knows that there are issues with logging in during peak time so some people log in early in the morning so they can make sure they can play and others just never log out.

Some of my Free Company members NEVER log out of the game unless they know they are unable to play that day at all. I do agree that adding this will not fix the issue but every little bit helps.

I feel like this a long with optimizing each server to handle more players on at one would work wonders. Of course I know nothing about managing servers so I won't talk like I am some sort of expert.

I would immagine that the reason it isnt implemented into a final fantasy game is because there is likely end game or in game content that requires you be pretty much afk for 30 minutes (or days in ffxi) in order to even attempt.

[Oopsboom]

Honestly it's to be expected given the current tragedy of the commons situation. People are trying to obtain the product they were promised and paid for. The fair and legitimate methods available to them would leave them with nothing in many cases. for a lot of people he amount of time they have available to play is shorter that the amount of time they would spend waiting in login lottery.

And...As someone noted earlier, idle characters are actually very light on the servers. If they actually had idle logoffs and every character online was actively questing/fighting/crafting they would probably have to LOWER the character limit to compensate because it would increase actual server load.

This whole discussion is the equivalent of neighbors standing around waiting for the fire dept to respond to a fire and arguing about whether the homeowner is violating lawn watering codes by using the garden hose on the fire. Once the real solution is in place there's no reason this even needs to be looked at, everyone can just log in and out or stay in 24/7, whatever they want, and it wont matter either way. There are any number of reasons a person might not want to log off and they shouldn't be forced to. Certainly not because of a temporary problem that will be resolved soon.

[Mysteryman2000]

I pay the same monthly rate for the game as you do. I have a right to be connected whenever I want, even if I'm idle. When I'm connected it's my business what I do, even if i'm idle. I may appear to YOU to be idling but I may be discussing strategy with my linkshell. Kicking people off for being "Idle"? Nonsense! Square simply over-sold this game by a large margin and now they're scrambling to add more hardware to support all the demand. You people are asking for ignorant things in your panic because you just "wanna play right now" and blame people who appear to be idle for your inability to do so. But remember that the login caps are artificial and intentionally added by SE to cover for their lack of sufficient infrastructure to support demand for the game while they try to add more hardware.

To correct you on this, the game would recognize if you are just talking on the linkshell as a form of not being idle. So it still stands you need to get booted for no action at all.

[Facespasm]

Won't people just make their chars automatically jump then? That's what people did in Aion during events where you got items for being online.

That's the thing though, there's absolutely no benefits whatsoever from staying online, idling 24/7 in this game.

The auto-kick function won't solve the major issues which lies with their hardware, software sadly as well as serverpark location, but it'd help a lot.