Idle/AFK Indication

[Alehk Thol]

A subtle animation would look better.

Do you mean the icon should have a subtle animation or do you think a subtle animation of your player model would make a suitable replacement of that idea?

[Quasar]

I meant player animation.

[Amoné Fayden]

On top of the command, I would still like a "time out" version of AFK that triggers after a prolonged time without player input (key strokes, mouse movement or text entries).
Both would be great but in the end people will still avoid being accused of AFKing in class (for example) and aren't optionally going to put their head on the block by typing the command!

Remember, this hypothetical timer isn't going to be unfair like 2 minutes. I'd think 10 minutes of no input would merit it.
Any "planned" AFK would see the use of the optional command.

Just like most MMO's.

[Delmi N'jork]

I would still like a "time out" version of AFK as well as an /rpafk command.
Both would be great but in the end people will avoid being accused of AFKing in class (for example) and aren't optionally going to put their head on the block by typing the command!

Just going to quote this because it's exactly how I feel too.

[Roza Wheikn]

On top of the command, I would still like a "time out" version of AFK that triggers after a prolonged time without player input (key strokes, mouse movement or text entries).
Both would be great but in the end people will still avoid being accused of AFKing in class (for example) and aren't optionally going to put their head on the block by typing the command!

Remember, this hypothetical timer isn't going to be unfair like 2 minutes. I'd think 10 minutes of no input would merit it.
Any "planned" AFK would see the use of the optional command.

Just like most MMO's.

I'd add to that, I'm torn between liking and disliking the "auto-disconnect" feature - I mean, I'll be honest, sometimes I'll mean to go afk for 10 minutes, and one of my roommates will ask me to run to the store and then 10 minutes turns into an hour. So, in that case, at least, I'd be for an auto-disconnect script running on the server - maybe 30-45 minutes or something. Just a thought.

[Arukh Bakh'tor]

I don't think an auto-disconnect measure is necessary at all.

[Kieran Orion]

Yeah I'd agree with a 30 minute disconnection. If you've not moved or said anything after thirty minutes then that just seems like a waste to me. If it were ten minutes however, I'd have to disagree. Phone calls or simple tasks that come up unexpected can come into play and I'm sure we all know what that's like. So yeah, 20-30 minutes auto discon's fine by me, anything less..Well I'd want to warrant some caution there.

[Azrael]

Would it be possible to have thirty minutes of no activity knock you into spec first? Then another thirty minutes on top of that simply disco's you?

[Arukh Bakh'tor]

Would it be possible to have thirty minutes of no activity knock you into spec first? Then another thirty minutes on top of that simply disco's you?

Even that is much better.

[Des Anaro]

Would it be possible to have thirty minutes of no activity knock you into spec first? Then another thirty minutes on top of that simply disco's you?

I like the idea, but what if, say, people were just spectating to watch a mission?
If RPMod could differentiate between people that are actually watching something and people that are AFK while sitting in spec that would be great - but if it can't, and people are kicked after 30 minutes of spectating then that could be counterproductive in some cases.

[Sai Akiada]

I'm not a fan of the auto-disconnect/auto spec. It's too rigid. I could be in the middle of setting something up and been distracted, had to take a call, gone to get students from msn/skype.. whatever, and lose whatever I've been working on. Binds.. whatever

There are instances where this would be more of a pain than anything else. I'd only like to see an indicator of when someone is absent so I know not to stop and interact with them.

If someone has been AFK in the middle of a corridor for 2 hours, admin can kick them.

[Desma Marr]

Okay so if I'm reading everyone's suggestions right here's what we have so far:

• A /afk command that can be used at will
• After 10 minutes, you're automatically slapped with the AFK icon
• After 30 minutes, you're automatically set into spectator mode
• After 60 minutes, you're auto-kicked from the server

I'm going to speak from my time with coding another game that is about as old as this one. (Albeit using a completely different engine) There should be some way for a script to call certain parameters from any client connected to the server, at least in the case of my example there's a way to generate a table of every key on a keyboard in it's unpressed form, and every time the script checks a client (the check could be made once a minute) it compares its activity since the last check to the table. If any key is pressed its state will be different from the one on the table, and thus they will fail the check. A failed check means that they are in fact there and not afk. For every passed check it makes a master table to keep track of how many passed checks there have been. Of course there would be a safety in check so that if at any point a check is failed after any amount of passed checks have accumulated the master table is wiped clean. At certain intervals on the master table (With the time we've measured out at passed check 10, 30, and 60) it runs another section of the script that carries out the desired command on the client.

Now you may be wondering "Well what about mouse movement? They could be sitting in class not pressing any keys and be marked afk even though they're just looking around!" The solution to that is an entirely separate table in the script. Every check the script can call for the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the cross-hair of the client, and every check it also compares the new coordinates to the ones from the previous check, if they're the same then the client passes that part of the test, meaning that their mouse has not moved since the last check, this data can then be funneled into the master table as a second column that is checked along with the one for key presses.

There's also the matter of the /afk command, this can be integrated into the master table as well, but it would require a special modifier be added to the first 30 checks (I.E. the ones that take no action aside from marking them as AFK) that states if the AFK state of the client = 1 and the other conditions are satisfied then the check is passed (this keeps people from running around with the afk tag still on). Meaning that if they have the AFK tag on and a check comes around and they fail it, it immediately removes the tag. (The only issue I see arising from that is the brief period for if they put the tag on before the next check, so at most they get to run around for 59 seconds with the AFK tag, now there's a way to fix that also but it would require an even longer script and honestly 59 seconds isn't worth it.)

Now of course none of this may be possible with the JK3 engine, but if something similar can be achieved this would at least give the coder a basic idea in normal words how to accomplish such a feat.

[Motoko]

Wouldn't that only check at that exact time if a key was pressed? Unless you're walking somewhere, there's a lot of time an active player isn't necessarily pressing any keys.

[Syrena Exan]

I would not support an auto-disconnect. For one, our server in recent times does not have an issue with reaching maximum capacity. Also, it allows for the possibility of someone leaving their character in a bed or something. If there are any idlers in strange places for a prolonged period of time, a knight or council member can easily take care of that by switching them to spectate.