Bring back rule against idling

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Cherek
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Re: Bring back rule against idling

Post by Cherek » 08 Feb 2011 01:52

Well if _we_ agree it must be a good idea. :)

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Alorrana
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Re: Bring back rule against idling

Post by Alorrana » 08 Feb 2011 01:54

Aye :D hehe *poke*
I’m not a complete idiot. Some pieces are missing.

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Re: Bring back rule against idling

Post by Booger » 08 Feb 2011 03:53

As a major idler I'm glad to see how this thread has turned out.
I am sometimes afk for hours, because I'm often with my kids and only having a minute spare now and then, and to connect to computer club, resize windows, connect to Genesis, equip and move often takes enough time that I've gott'a leave again before I can do anything.
I'm idling _with_ my newbie pin, because I want to hear what's being said. When I have time I check my logs to see what's happened, and if a newbie has asked for help and I feel there was something I could add, I'll send him a mail.
I'm also using a 30-sec idle-trigger. It's because I've been playing a lot with food and weights. I've kept it as a way of not being thrown out for idling, but am also often using it to measure time spans in numerous situations.
I haven't gained any bonuses from this, that I know of, and won't mind having my age reduced.
A flag to say how long I intend to stay afk would be useless for me, because I never know, but might be useful for others. To me, an automatic idle-flag would be the ideal solution.

I assume most idle-triggers are made as a single command, sent at a certain interval, to keep from getting thrown out for being idle. So I assume that if the game checked the last time two _different_ commands were sent, it could find all idlers, regardless of the interval, and add a minus sign to them (us) in the who list. You can easily script around this, of course, but the purpose here wouldn't be to catch anyone, but to show a more accurate who-list, and get more useful statistics.
Booger/Cindy/Enigma

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Earth
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Re: Bring back rule against idling

Post by Earth » 08 Feb 2011 19:33

I'm not sure if I am stating the obvious, but we already have a way of seeing if someone is idle (at least those you remember).

Using the <last> command when a person is logged in gives you that information.

Code: Select all

> last earth
Login time : Tue Feb  8 17:32:35 2011
Activity   :   1 m 23 s idle

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Cherek
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Re: Bring back rule against idling

Post by Cherek » 08 Feb 2011 21:34

Earth: I already mentioned why its not that useful in some of the posts above, but Ill do it again.

A) You have to type "last" on every player to know if they are idle.
B) You can only "last" people you remember, nobody else.

Just adding a (-) behind their names would save alot of trouble since I think most people already writes "who" all the time, and you will see it right away. And it would be much easier to explain for any new player that people with a (-) are idle and wont respond than trying to get them to use the "last" command, which they most likely cant anyway since they dont have many people in their memory.

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Re: Bring back rule against idling

Post by Booger » 08 Feb 2011 23:34

I am also unsure if I am perhaps missing something obvious...
I tried using that "last" command on the 8 people had in my memory, that weren't linkdead, and kept getting just "Activity : not idle". Perhaps they were all active.
But wouldn't I always be shown as active, having a trigger that does "v soaked" every 30 seconds? And doesn't everyone (many, at least) have similar triggers, to keep from getting logged out from inactivity? Even if I changed my trigger to kick in only every 2 minutes, that would make me look pretty active, wouldn't it? If "idle" flag kicks in after not doing anything within the last 60 seconds, I'd still be considered "active" during 50% of the time, and a "last" would show my idle time as max 2 minutes, which also sounds very misguiding.
(if I sound ironic or condescending, I apologize. I really feel I am missing some vital piece of information here).
Booger/Cindy/Enigma

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Cherek
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Re: Bring back rule against idling

Post by Cherek » 09 Feb 2011 12:53

No thats true Booger. But many have idle triggers every 15 min or so, and they show up as quite idle. You will always show up as active, even though you are idle, and to me thats the most annoying sort. No offence, but I think so. Since I would assume you are active and just ignoring me when I try to contact you. Dont you feel a little bad when someone tries to get ahold of you and you answer 6 hours later? If they could see you are idle right away, it wouldnt be a problem to idle for a week if you wish.

For that, the "idle on/off" flag Alorrana suggested could help If you really have to have a trigger every 30sec... Why do you have that anyway when you wont be idled out for 30min or more? Its really just fooling your friends to think you are there when you're not.

Creed

Re: Bring back rule against idling

Post by Creed » 09 Feb 2011 12:57

Idleness should just begin to work on people not moving, rather than not firing any commands.

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Cherek
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Re: Bring back rule against idling

Post by Cherek » 09 Feb 2011 13:05

Creed: Nah... that would mean everyone who is forging turns idle even if they are not. Also those who spend more than a few minutes in one room killing an enemy, a ranger killing X would always be idle (if we are to believe Laurel), people writing a long mail, reading boards or books in a library, a party standing still for a few minutes healing, people simple standing in a room talking for awhile would turn idle. And more I am sure.

No I am sorry, that would not work at all.

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Rhaegar
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Re: Bring back rule against idling

Post by Rhaegar » 09 Feb 2011 13:17

Cherek wrote:No thats true Booger. But many have idle triggers every 15 min or so, and they show up as quite idle. You will always show up as active, even though you are idle, and to me thats the most annoying sort. No offence, but I think so. Since I would assume you are active and just ignoring me when I try to contact you. Dont you feel a little bad when someone tries to get ahold of you and you answer 6 hours later? If they could see you are idle right away, it wouldnt be a problem to idle for a week if you wish.

For that, the "idle on/off" flag Alorrana suggested could help If you really have to have a trigger every 30sec... Why do you have that anyway when you wont be idled out for 30min or more? Its really just fooling your friends to think you are there when you're not.
This also depends on your internet connection. My router drops every idle connection every 5 minutes or so and I need my trigger to fire every 3 minutes just to make sure I won't disc unexpectedly. This of course doesn't change the fact that if I need to be idle for 20+ minutes I'll just go LD instead and if I need to be idle longer I'll just return to the guild, drop stuff in racks and LD or quit there.
I fear no evil for I am fear incarnate.

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