Bring back rule against idling

[Cherek]

I think the rule against idling should be brought back.

I do not understand idling, I never did. Whats the point? Can some idler explain it so I understand?

Here are the negative things with idling players:

- They are impossible to contact. Its frustrating when half your who-list is made up of idling people and you dont realize until you have sent them both mails and messengers and waited for a reply.

- True newbies get a false idea the game is full of people when infact it is not. I have seen newbies on the newbiechannel trying to contact idle players in vain.

- The elder list and wise one clubs are made up of many people who just got there by idling, nothing "wise" about that.

- Gorboth gets false data. Gorboth mentioned our playerbase is not declining because we have as many people logged in now as before. Well, it does not take into account all the idling players, and that number seems to me to be increasing. I mean some people are logged in an entire armageddon cycle.... no wonder statistics lie.

Positive things about idling:

- I cant think of one really.

Sure, if you need to walk the dog or make food iRL and dont wanna LD or quit, fine. What I am talking about is repeatedly idling for hours and days which I find strange.

[Alexi]

I think the rule against idling should be brought back.

I do not understand idling, I never did. Whats the point? Can some idler explain it so I understand?

Here are the negative things with idling players:

- They are impossible to contact. Its frustrating when half your who-list is made up of idling people and you dont realize until you have sent them both mails and messengers and waited for a reply.

- True newbies get a false idea the game is full of people when infact it is not. I have seen newbies on the newbiechannel trying to contact idle players in vain.

- The elder list and wise one clubs are made up of many people who just got there by idling, nothing "wise" about that.

- Gorboth gets false data. Gorboth mentioned our playerbase is not declining because we have as many people logged in now as before. Well, it does not take into account all the idling players, and that number seems to me to be increasing. I mean some people are logged in an entire armageddon cycle.... no wonder statistics lie.

Positive things about idling:

- I cant think of one really.

Sure, if you need to walk the dog or make food iRL and dont wanna LD or quit, fine. What I am talking about is repeatedly idling for hours and days which I find strange.

I believe some guilds actually have a variable about "time spent logged in to the game" mixed into their code. Now that's just an assumption, but from lots of people testing it seems plausible.

[Alorrana]

I idle, proudly, But when Im not at screen i remove my helper pin, but sometimes I like just standing loged in and help newbies when they talk via the Nline.

Make a rule against this..and its bye bye for alot of people i think. I LIKE to idle, just to be there.. And i see no problem in it.. I still answer mails and reply to wizards when im idle. So what if im not doing anything besides standing..

I would advise against making any such rule, Its simply lame, why cant I stay logged in if I choose to, ?? why do I have to do something when im online,?? and says who ??

This is telling us how to play the game, as you think it.. I dont. People are free to log in and out of genesis as they please. and NOBODY is going to tell me otherwise.

Make an Idle rule, Why not just be able to set an option, Idle on, Idle off. instead of all this.. rules and what not.

[Cherek]

Alexi: Well, if thats true, then its something that should be removed I think. Why get advantages just for being idle? I get if they want to reward activity, and it probably worked fine back in the days where idling wasnt allowed and people usually didnt idle anyway. (most played from modems or schools.)

Alorrana: Well, then you are one of the few idlers who actually reply. I doubt those who idle day and night while day are asleep or at work reply on anything. Or actually, I know they dont.

I gave you reasons why I think idling is bad. You dont agree with them?

I have sent a suggestion a few weeks ago about idling, my idea was that we should have a small sign in the who-list for idle players. If "Alorana*" means you are LD, then "Alorrana#" or whatever suitable sign, would mean you are currenltly idle. It would be automatical if you become idle, but also a manual on and off switch you can use if you want like you suggested.

But you would also have to recalculate stuff like wise ones and elder lists to not count idle time, and age as well I think. Player statistics should take this into account too, and possible guild advantages for "active game time" should also be fixed so idle time doesnt count.

Lots of work, thats why I suggested reinstating the rule for now...

And no need to get upset, I meant people who repeatedly idle for days without someone being able to contact them or anything should be included in this rule. If you idle only when you are awake, surfing the web or working or whatever and always glance at the screen from time to time to answer to mails or chats or something, than its all good.

Its the useless idling for days and nights without being near a computer that bugs me.

[Creed]

I know several monks idle a lot.. or, they're not seen as idle, since they got triggers for their forms running all the time.
Apparently you become a better monk and more in tune with specials, if you know your forms like the back of your hand..
So they stand somewhere, doing their forms.. Just as they do their forms always, no matter where they go. I think its an annoying and spammy way of "training".. specially when it ought to come from playing, not just being logged in.

I see that as 2 totally different things.
Playing is when you actually control your character, talking, walking, no triggers other than combat and no scripts.

Being logged in is everything else. I don't even see the scripters as being players.
But, thats my opinion.

[Chanele]

I agree with Cherek, Idling should not be allowed it is annoying as hell when you are met with silence.

[gorboth]

The problems that I feel are of serious concern with regard to idling can be found in <help botting.>

Cherek, if I had to choose between someone not being logged in at all, or being logged in but idle, I would choose the latter. The reason for this is that, false advertising or not, I think it is very beneficial to a prospective new player to log in, see 30 players, and feel that the game has a community. If 20 of those players are actually idle, and unresponsive, that may indeed be annoying, but it is less depressing than logging in and seeing a game with only 10 players present.

I think the first impression for new people is better with more people logged in. Might there sometimes be a newbie who receives no response to their questions on the ntell line? Perhaps, but I feel this is more the exception than the rule.

G.

[Chanele]

Yes and you statistic would drop significantly....
Why fool youself with false numbers? Get the campaign starting already but hey that's another thread.

[Alorrana]

Let people Idle, It dosnt really hurt anyone. and besides ill rather want to see more names on the who list, than no names at all. Idle people can be people on work who just likes to have an eye on the screen in the background, beeing in the guild, working on ideas for the guild, players and so on.

Telling a player that you have to play to be here, is controling hes or her game, and seriously do you want that, and where would the line be as to what we would get told next time..? you cant play more than 3 hrs, you cant wear a hat, You will all have to grow beards to play.. ect ect.. Ofcourse it will never come to this. But please dont tell people how to play the game, Some people actually like beeing online. not playing but listening to other people on nline and just beeing around. I like that, But im an old character aswell, and therefor Im not in a rush to go make myth, then I would just Idle even more..

Now appologizes if my first comment sounded a bit pissy, but I guess im just agains beeing told what to do..

Idle on or Idle off, then people could see you as idle.. we have the (*) for link dead, the (+) for helper. what if we added a minus (-) for idle players? It would auto set a - on your character if he or she have moved in 5 mins or more or less.

I agree the issue needs a bit of attention yeah Cher, No worries. But its not a problem as such. I dont think a rule to prevent ideling would help, Just an on off button, and then leave it up to people.

[Greneth]

Long as they aren't doing it with eq I don't see a problem with idling. Its not like you gain some super rewards for it. I don't see or even check my mail most the time and if your grinding its quite easy to miss the ntell, then sometimes you just don't want to talk.